July 18,

Jeff awoke at 0545. He said the lights were on then. I awoke at 0600 when the TV came on. I went out to go to the privy, and looked about. It was foggy – that was a surprise
– humid and quite warm already. We were already at the border shared with Peru and Colombia, which is the Amazon River. So we had traversed a long way through the night. Jeff came out and got me – we were served breakfast! Jeff said he forgot about that. It was a chicken sandwich with an apple, and an unknown, but good drink. Jeff had tea and I had instant coffee- had to add sugar – sometimes it is just fuel. Anyway, we arrived at our destination at 0800.

    Welcome to the TRIPLE FRONTIER!!!

This is the area of the country borders of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. We disembarked, and caught a water taxi to “Inmigracion” with the English chap we befriended, from the port in Iquitos. Once the little boat – like a long tail canoe – was full, the driver took off to the Colombian side first. Everyone but the three of us unloaded. Then we went back to the Peruvian side, at Santa Rosa, further down near the immigration. The boatsman at the front carried our luggage to a tuk-tuk and we were squired to immigration control. Jeff got his passport stamped…but mine was an issue. The official said I would need to do paperwork, pay to transfer my entry from the old passport into my new passport, and this would take 3-5 business days for approval!!!!!!! WHAT?⁉️ The lady added if I come back to Peru, without an exit stamp I will have to pay a daily toll. What a mess! We opted to just not do the exit stamp, because I have a new passport this should not be an issue, we are thinking and hoping.

So we loaded back on the tuk-tuk. Then we paid the tuk-tuk guy 10 BRL, $1.95 and reboarded to the water taxi to Tabatinga, Brazil to get an entry stamp. We paid the water taxi 20 PEN each ($5.90 each). Immigration here – went much better, and I got my first stamp in my new passport.

Now we walked to find the next boat, we want to book to take us down the Amazon River. The English chap continued with us. He said he was happy for someone else to lead. Mind you Jeff and I are schlepping our luggage all this time. Anyway, the Englishman wants to go on the same ship as us, but he’s willing to do the hammocks!! Not for us!😜 We want an AC room with a real bed. Anyway, he speaks some Portuguese and when we arrived, he inquired for us and himself. The payment is only in Brazilian cash, which neither of us had. So we shared a taxi that took us to Leticia, Colombia. We are both staying over there. (He’s at a hotel, and we have an Airbnb.) Funny, we came in from Peru, got stamped for Brazil, and are staying in Colombia…everything seems so integrated. Our taxi driver said he is Peruvian and lives in Brazil.

The Englishman got delivered first and paid half of the fare. We were delivered to our place and paid the other 20 BRL, $3.90. At our place, we had internet connection issues, but finally a message went through to our host. We decided to eat food across the street at El Punto del Consume. We both had Dorado fish, but mine was prepared “Frito”- fried and Jeff’s fish was “Sudado,” which is basically like a Marina sauce. Both were accompanied with rice, fried plantain slices, beans, and salad garnish. As we were eating, our host showed up and waited for us to finish. Brunch (it was only 1050) cost us 88,000 COP/Colombian Peso, which is $27.30.

We walked across the street and were checked into our place for two nights. It is a new Airbnb listing and we were pretty sure we are the first occupants…new stickers were still on appliances and it is pretty sparsely outfitted. We unloaded and tried to start a load of laundry – as there’s a new washing machine. But the hose was leaking so we called him back and he had to get a different hose attachment. We did one load of laundry, then went back out to get Brazilian cash – which was a venture. Finally, cash in hand we went back to the boat and booked us a “cabin” for Monday. Whew! That cost us 2,500 BRL or $488. The cabin room has a bed -not hammocks, a private bathroom, and a private balcony. Meals are included for our second Amazon ferry boat(this slow/cargo boat is around 80 hours).

We went back to our place – stopping at a hipermart for some things. Now all sweaty, hot, and probably dehydrated, we relaxed, cooled down and replenished ourselves. We shared an apple and nuts. Then I blogged and Jeff posted the entry. We heard and saw fireworks around 2000 then crashed at 2130. What a long transition day!