When I went to write a blog from Brazil, I suffered somewhat of an identity crisis when I realised I was down to my last country, so as I am in fact only two miles from Columbia, and spent yesterday there, I am writing a blog from Leticia instead. I´m actually staying in Tabatinga, a most uninspiring town, and were I to come here again I would definitely stay in Leticia instead.

I got my speedboat here fine, it was quite unexciting, mainly because of the speed, by its very nature we whizzed past all the scenery. I also finished We Need To Talk About Kevin one hour into the journey and was left to be entertained by the atrocious action film in Spanish. So good was the in-sail entertainment I was actually excited by the Britney mix.

I was met off the boat in Santa Rosa by a chap called Miguel, who followed me around "helping" me with my immigration and find a boat to Tabatinga. The speedboat actually goes to Santa Rosa in Peru, on the tri-border between Peru, Brazil and Columbia and just across the river from Tabatinga/Leticia. When I got on the boat he turned out he was actually from the hostel I was planning on going to. After telling me I would have to wait three days before there was a boat to Manaus, he tried to persuade me to do a jungle trip with him. After telling me he could guarantee we´d see sloths, maybe some dolphins and probably scorpions and tarantulas (I told him I´d pay not to see the latter two close up), he quoted me $200 dollars for a day trip. I declined. Aside from the fact I can´t afford it, I´d be spending the next couple of weeks on boats anyway and I´m a bit bored of touristy trips. If I went to the jungle I´d want one of those scythe thingies to swipe and cut my way through (for five minutes until I got bored), not be paddled around in a boat for 10 hours and see a sloth in the distance. He also told me we may see "tribal people" living in the jungle. I´ve grown very sceptical of these "native tribes" outings; none of them seem removed enough from modern society to not be waiting with a cooler full of overpriced coke cans and "handmade" bracelets which look the same everywhere. Anyway, Miguel was obviously disappointed in my non-custom, and the hostel doesn´t seem to be doing a brisk trade, so he´s spent the time since in a permanent drunken stupor. As he´s the only person I´ve met since I left Cusco who speaks English, it´s a little lonely here.

As I said, Tabatinga is a bit of a dive, and most people go out of their way to rip me off which doesn´t help. Last night I was overcharged for undercooked chicken, which didn´t make me entirely happy. Anyway, yesterday I trotted across the border to Leticia, which for a border town is a lovely place. I didn´t actually realise I was leaving Brazil and entering a new country, I just noticed the chicken adverts had changed from "frango" to "pollo" around the same time the road seemed to dwindle in its state of repair and the number of trees increased. They had a nice park where I sat for a while, feeling the effects of the humidity, which is really strong here. I did make friends with the landscape gardener in the park, who in Spanish told me (I think) he´d designed everything. It´s dry season now, I don´t know what the wet season is like but there´ve been at least six thunderstorms since I arrived and the water level seems quite high. Miguel did remark to me as we got off the boat that "as I could see, there wasn´t much water at the moment". I looked back at the half-mile wide Amazon and the houses near the banks submerged up to the tops of their stilts. The entire town must be flooded in the wet season! As it is when it rains lots of wooden planks come out to get between the street and shops, which are fairly narrow and I´m just waiting to fall in the water one day. Especially not good when one is wearing a big rucksack.

Last night a drunk Miguel assured me there would be a boat to Manaus today, so I ran around getting and changing money (necessitating a trip back to Leticia, which is nice, but a two mile walk away). Today it transpired the boat did in fact leave on Saturday, not today, but I´ve been feeling somewhat under the weather today (possible undercooked chicken related) so I´m not too heartbroken to have to wait. I did go down to the harbour today and saw my boat and the captain, who seemed nice, and I´m getting quite excited about my epic Amazonian journey. Provided I feel well enough tomorrow to get onto the boat, then I can just lie in a hammock for four days. A crisis is looming in that I have only one book left and no idea where I can find another. So I may be bereft of literature by the time I get to Manaus, which is unsettling me somewhat. At least We Need To Talk About Kevin would merit a re-reading should I get desperate.

Adios Amigos!