2017-02-07We left the small Amazon town of Leticia to start are adventure at our new hotel which is right on the Amazon River. It is actually a floating structure which rises and falls with the seasons. It floats on huge balsa wood tree trunks. 

After an down payment of 1,000,000 pecos we we directed to a small wooden boat for the short ride to Kurupira Cabanas Flotante, or Floating Cabins. We were greeted by the smiling faces of Nancy, the cook, and Feliz, the care taker. We immediately fell in love with the place. 

A few hours later we realized that there was absolutely no where to walk. Da!, it was truly a floating structure with no firm land. 

After we settled in and took the self guided tour (10 minutes later) Feli came over and offered to take us on a boat tour. Shyly he said we would have to pay 20,000 pesos. About $7 US. I said that that sounded too little, he smiled and we were soon off. 
What an incredible tour is was. He knew every type of tree and what fruit it had or medicine it contained. Then we spotted pink dolphins, fished for awhile. Even though we didn’t catch anything with our lines a fish just jumped in our boat. We screamed like little girls as we thought it to be a piraña. It wasn’t! Then we spotted a double rainbow which filled the sky. Later, as it was getting dark, we watched as thousand of noisy birds came home to rest for the night. 

And this was just our first day living in the Amazon jungle.

My plan was to wake up early and make my way down to the Amazon River just to see what’s happening I town, and maybe get some early morning shots. I set my iPhone to wake me up at 6 am. When it rang something didn’t look right. That was because it was really 5 am. My phone reset itself in the middle of the night to the Brazil time zone which is literally 4 blocks from here. 

So needless to say I was just a little early for sunrise. No problem the port city soon sprang into action. 

People arrived and left with fruits and fish and all manners of things to sell and buy. 

Later, after the sun was up, I went back to the room for Kim and we walked back to where the people actually lived with their houses built on stilts high above the Amazon flood plain.  

What a great great day!

To catch our 2 hour flight from Bogota we arose at 4 am.  Arriving at 9:30 am you could already feel the heat and humidity. After checking in we walked over to the river…..the Amazon River! 

Immediately I knew that we were  somewhere special. Sure it was dirty and filled with workers but still it was the legendary Amazon. 

But then we had to get down to business and book our Amazon adventure. 3 nights and 4 days in the jungle. We had to meet a guy in the park. Many pecos later we had our reservation. 

It is kind of an adventure doing anything in a south of the border country. Today was no exception.  Since this was to be out last day in Bogota, we thought that we might do something touristy and interesting. We settled on The Catedral de Sal (Cathedral of Salt) which was voted by Colombians as one of the “Wonders of Columbia.”  You guessed it, it is an underground church complete with 12 stations of the cross made completely of salt!

No it was not as easy to get to as our guide book said. It never is. Walking-taxi-walking-bus-walking-getting lost many times, and we were there by noon. Boy was it worth it as you might be able to see from the photos?

The size of this structure is amazing.

Here you can see one of the angels guarding the church

They hold services here on Sunday. 

One of the many many chambers of this church.

Here is Kim photographing one of the many salt sculptures. 

Getting home was much easier as we were now experts.