Tri-border area: Tabatinga (Brazil), Leticia (Colombia), Santa Rosa (Peru)

Originally, we had planned to fly directly from Manaus to Lima. But once we arrived, we came up with the idea of ​​taking a ship through the Amazon to Peru, mainly to save costs, but also because it sounds quite adventurous, doesn't it? We inquired and found out that there was no direct ship. First, we had to take an Amazon river ship to Tabatinga on the Brazilian/Colombian/Peruvian border, and from there continue by speedboat to Peru. Since we were traveling upstream in this direction, the river ship journey would take 7 days. The cheapest option would be to sleep in a hammock on the upper deck, but you could also rent your own cabins. We came across travel reports on the internet that were similar horror stories, overcrowded boats, hundreds of hammocks hanging on top of each other and next to each other, stolen belongings, not to mention the hygienic conditions and food. Anyway, the hammock thing was not an option for us from the start (sorry, but do I really have to justify that?). But the idea of ​​having our own cabin was quickly abandoned in view of the fact that we would be hanging around on this ship for 7 days and there was absolutely nothing to do except fight mosquitoes. As adventurous as it may sound to travel thousands of kilometers on the longest river in the world by ship, in reality it is rather boring (at least that's what all the locals in Manaus say) and very tedious. One must also consider that the Amazon is several kilometers wide in places, and you usually travel quite far from the shore, so you wouldn't see anything, wild animals or the like. So no.

Alternatively, there is a speedboat to Tabatinga 3 times a week, the journey officially takes 36 hours. We approached a few people at the port and asked if we could visit such a ship. We could. Well, one should imagine it as a travel bus. Except that we usually avoid 36-hour bus rides. And based on experience, 36 Latin American hours are likely to be more like 40, if not more. Jörg was actually in favor of taking this trip on this boat! Especially him, who couldn't even sit on the seat without his knees touching the front seat, not to mention the headrest, which was not high enough for him! And there were also 3 seats per row on the left and right, so one of us would have to sit in the middle. Trapped for 40 endless hours! I knew that we would regret this decision just a few hours after departure. I am usually up for adventures, but here I vetoed! Without me! I definitely would not do that. So another solution had to be found...

The solution was finally to fly from Manaus to Tabatinga, and from there take a speedboat "only" 10 hours to Iquitos. From Iquitos to Lima, you still had to fly, but domestic flights are much cheaper than international ones. And right from the start: the "only" 10-hour trip by speedboat to Iquitos ultimately took 15 hours and it was hell on earth! So it had been a more than good decision to take the flight to Tabatinga.

It's a strange place, this tri-border area of Brazil / Colombia / Peru. The border towns of Tabatinga (Brazil) and Leticia (Colombia) are so close to each other that they are technically one and the same city. Only a small house next to a crossroads that marks the border indicates a border post. As a tourist, you can freely move between the two cities without any border formalities. Only if you want to go further inland in one of the countries do you have to officially enter and exit. The "town" of Santa Rosa (Peru) is located on an island, which can be reached from Tabatinga by a small ferry. More on that later.
The complicated thing about all of this is mainly the issue of currencies. Naturally, each city has its own national currency. If you don't want to exchange money in all 3 currencies from the start, you can be sure that you will always have the wrong one. Of course, you can pay with any currency everywhere, but usually at a bad exchange rate. This means that it is hardly possible to visit this godforsaken corner of the world without suffering a significant currency loss.
The second unusual fact was that Spanish is spoken in Leticia and Santa Rosa, and Portuguese is still spoken in Tabatinga. But that suited us better. It was a joy to finally be in a place where we could speak with people, and only then did we realize how much we actually appreciate the fact that most people in this continent speak Spanish. We have traveled to many countries (especially in Asia) where we did not know the local language, and we managed well with English. But it is a completely different quality of travel when you can speak the language of the people who live in the country and can communicate with them. I became very aware of this during our time in Brazil.
The last unusual thing was the issue of time. The travel guide had stated that there was a time difference of 1 hour between Tabatinga and Leticia. We assumed that was true all the time. Actually, this is no longer the case nowadays, but there is a time difference between Manaus and Tabatinga. At some point, however, we realized that we were always somehow off with the time.

Since there is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Tabatinga, we booked our hotel in Leticia, which brought us back to Colombian territory. Hurray! Even after all the countries we have traveled since our time in Colombia, Colombia is still our favorite country. As mentioned before, we had long considered which country we wanted to visit the Amazon in, and Colombia and Leticia were also part of the debate. Interestingly, with our spontaneously chosen route, we visited the Amazon in 3 countries at once. Why not?

In the 3 towns, apart from the usual tours to the jungle lodges, there is not much to see, and we had already done that in Manaus. We spent an afternoon wandering around Leticia and were punctual at Parque Santander to watch a very special spectacle at sunset. At sunset, thousands of little parrots fly into the park to seek shelter for the night. Ironically, a small park in a city apparently offers them more safety than their natural environment in the jungle. And there were truly thousands of them, the sky was black with them, the screeching was deafening. And one by one, they settled on the trees in the park, crowded together. At first glance, one might think that the black spots on the branches are leaves of the tree, but no, they were all birds.

As there is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Tabatinga, we booked our hotel in Leticia, which brought us back to Colombian territory. Hurray! Even after all the countries we have traveled since our time in Colombia, Colombia is still our favorite country. As mentioned before, we had long considered which country we wanted to visit the Amazon in, and Colombia and Leticia were also part of the debate. Interestingly, with our spontaneously chosen route, we visited the Amazon in 3 countries at once. Why not?

In the 3 towns, apart from the usual tours to the jungle lodges, there is not much to see, and we had already done that in Manaus. We spent an afternoon wandering around Leticia and were punctual at Parque Santander to watch a very special spectacle at sunset. At sunset, thousands of little parrots fly into the park to seek shelter for the night. Ironically, a small park in a city apparently offers them more safety than their natural environment in the jungle. And there were truly thousands of them, the sky was black with them, the screeching was deafening. And one by one, they settled on the trees in the park, crowded together. At first glance, one might think that the black spots on the branches are leaves of the tree, but no, they were all birds.

As there is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Tabatinga, we booked our hotel in Leticia, which brought us back to Colombian territory. Hurray! Even after all the countries we have traveled since our time in Colombia, Colombia is still our favorite country. As mentioned before, we had long considered which country we wanted to visit the Amazon in, and Colombia and Leticia were also part of the debate. Interestingly, with our spontaneously chosen route, we visited the Amazon in 3 countries at once. Why not?

In the 3 towns, apart from the usual tours to the jungle lodges, there is not much to see, and we had already done that in Manaus. We spent an afternoon wandering around Leticia and were punctual at Parque Santander to watch a very special spectacle at sunset. At sunset, thousands of little parrots fly into the park to seek shelter for the night. Ironically, a small park in a city apparently offers them more safety than their natural environment in the jungle. And there were truly thousands of them, the sky was black with them, the screeching was deafening. And one by one, they settled on the trees in the park, crowded together. At first glance, one might think that the black spots on the branches are leaves of the tree, but no, they were all birds.

As there is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Tabatinga, we booked our hotel in Leticia, which brought us back to Colombian territory. Hurray! Even after all the countries we have traveled since our time in Colombia, Colombia is still our favorite country. As mentioned before, we had long considered which country we wanted to visit the Amazon in, and Colombia and Leticia were also part of the debate. Interestingly, with our spontaneously chosen route, we visited the Amazon in 3 countries at once. Why not?

In the 3 towns, apart from the usual tours to the jungle lodges, there is not much to see, and we had already done that in Manaus. We spent an afternoon wandering around Leticia and were punctual at Parque Santander to watch a very special spectacle at sunset. At sunset, thousands of little parrots fly into the park to seek shelter for the night. Ironically, a small park in a city apparently offers them more safety than their natural environment in the jungle. And there were truly thousands of them, the sky was black with them, the screeching was deafening. And one by one, they settled on the trees in the park, crowded together. At first glance, one might think that the black spots on the branches are leaves of the tree, but no, they were all birds.

As there is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Tabatinga, we booked our hotel in Leticia, which brought us back to Colombian territory. Hurray! Even after all the countries we have traveled since our time in Colombia, Colombia is still our favorite country. As mentioned before, we had long considered which country we wanted to visit the Amazon in, and Colombia and Leticia were also part of the debate. Interestingly, with our spontaneously chosen route, we visited the Amazon in 3 countries at once. Why not?

In the 3 towns, apart from the usual tours to the jungle lodges, there is not much to see, and we had already done that in Manaus. We spent an afternoon wandering around Leticia and were punctual at Parque Santander to watch a very special spectacle at sunset. At sunset, thousands of little parrots fly into the park to seek shelter for the night. Ironically, a small park in a city apparently offers them more safety than their natural environment in the jungle. And there were truly thousands of them, the sky was black with them, the screeching was deafening. And one by one, they settled on the trees in the park, crowded together. At first glance, one might think that the black spots on the branches are leaves of the tree, but no, they were all birds.

As there is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Tabatinga, we booked our hotel in Leticia, which brought us back to Colombian territory. Hurray! Even after all the countries we have traveled since our time in Colombia, Colombia is still our favorite country. As mentioned before, we had long considered which country we wanted to visit the Amazon in, and Colombia and Leticia were also part of the debate. Interestingly, with our spontaneously chosen route, we visited the Amazon in 3 countries at once. Why not?

In the 3 towns, apart from the usual tours to the jungle lodges, there is not much to see, and we had already done that in Manaus. We spent an afternoon wandering around Leticia and were punctual at Parque Santander to watch a very special spectacle at sunset. At sunset, thousands of little parrots fly into the park to seek shelter for the night. Ironically, a small park in a city apparently offers them more safety than their natural environment in the jungle. And there were truly thousands of them, the sky was black with them, the screeching was deafening. And one by one, they settled on the trees in the park, crowded together. At first glance, one might think that the black spots on the branches are leaves of the tree, but no, they were all birds.

At last, back in Colombia