The Amazon Awaits

Leticia was hot and sticky. The airport was small and the bags arrived shortly after we touched the ground. We caught a taxi and arrived at the hostel within minutes. Heather rushed out to greet us. It all seemed so unreal; I couldn’t believe we had made it.

She showed us to our room and invited us to play cards. We couldn’t do it. We were walking dead. We sunk down on the hostel couch and learned about the week’s plans. The boat would leave tomorrow morning. The Amazon River was flooded. It had been over 20 years since it had been so high. All the places to go on the Amazon in Colombia were too flooded to visit, so we would be staying in Peru. It was a 4-hour boat trip. More details were shared, but neither of us could concentrate. We climbed up the stairs to our room and were asleep before our heads touched the pillows.

The next morning we rose early, took a cold shower and repacked our belongings. The hostel stored most of our stuff, since anything we took was almost guaranteed to get soaked. We packed our cameras and kindles in plastics bags, along with a change of clothes. This was all thrown into our backpacks, along with bug spray, water and the tall socks Heather was kind enough to loan me for use with the rubber boots. We ate a quick breakfast and were on our way.

The boat was smaller than I had imagined. It was just long enough to seat our driver, Rueben, all our bags and supplies, the 5 of us, and our guide, Jorge. The middle was shielded from rain and sun by a blue tarp, but Rueben was exposed to the elements, as was the bow of the boat. There were long wooden benches down each side and two short benches across the bow. The floor was made of wooden slats secured a few inches above the actually bottom of the boat which was filled with water. The boat was precariously balanced and if we didn’t sit just so it would tilt wildly from one side to the other. It was green and white and looked well used.

The trip was simple. We drove in a straight line down the river for hours on end. At one point we pulled off to a dock so I could pay a man to pee. The boat rolled back and forth in a soothing rhythm that when combined with my motion sickness quickly rocked me to sleep. I awoke sporadically throughout the 4 hours. Once when it began to rain hard and the tarp sides were dropped to protect us, another when river dolphins were spotted off the side and finally when our accommodations came into sight. I have no idea what the others did to pass the time, beside mock me for sleeping.