Going to Leticia and need help!

Juanes says on Apr 21, 2008, 16:10:

first of all great choice my friend, the people there will appreciate your pesitos.

second, you will be bombarded with offers when you arrive by plane from bogota presumably if you havent taken the long boat from manuas or iquitos which is worthwhile doing after anyway while your there. ignore these people and head straight for the town and research things around the marina and get a hotel first.

third, take wellington boots of your heading out in the boat, jungle exploring,etc and if you plan to visit the village tribes some sweets,etc for the kids is a good idea.

fourth,malaria tablets and spray are essential but the spray worthless, 90 mozzy bites on my legs but i did fish for piranhas in swampy conditions there. take pletny of bottled water and watch what u drink there, in 13 months of travel through the americas i never been as sick one morning there..

fifth, binoculars are very good cos when you go on a tour and it does rain there, the animals hide more and to see birds, changos, monos, delfinas rosas, you need to have a basic pair.

check my travelblog for more ideas and if you need help, feel free to message me..oh, this is a pic of the tour guide in our foto who is excellent, i managed to get him for 40-50 us a day including food,water,etc with two aussies and paid for the driver too. you cant miss him in small town there, he is missing part of his fingers after numerous piranha/caymen encounters there in the rivers, im sure his name was joe..

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

tejasmarcos says on Apr 21, 2008, 16:21:

fantastic shots! what kind of camera did you use?

god is in your head

Juanes says on Apr 21, 2008, 16:30:

thanks, just my sony cybershot 5.2 compact digital with carl veiss lens, got me through snow, ice, fire, volcanoes, from mexico to argentina........the thing is there the scenery is amazing enough for all shots....i also have a travelblog with more of colombia if you have time...gracias..

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

tejasmarcos says on Apr 21, 2008, 16:41:

i cannot believe those were taken with a sony cybershot! amazing!

* i have looked at alot of your pics. i am interested in speaking to you about a few of the finer details as i am going to be doing some more exploring soon. ok to email you?

god is in your head

annieb says on Apr 21, 2008, 16:58:

So is it best to book a tour ahead of time or just do everything when we get down there??

slguy says on Apr 21, 2008, 17:09:

"you cant miss him in small town there, he is missing part of his fingers after numerous piranha/caymen encounters there in the rivers, im sure his name was joe.."

sure it wasn't Lucky? ;)

Before you throw me out, make sure I pay my bar tab

adrimm says on Apr 21, 2008, 18:10:

I'd say that what you do depends on your level of spanish - if it is pretty good, or you are travelling with someone fluent then just wing it, but get some guide-recomendations. If your Spanish isn't so great, you might find it much easier to pre-arrange something, or go via the various agencies.

The best deal is when you can share a guide with several others.

the wiki section here has some good info about Leticia:

http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/travel/LeticiaGuide/#


How long will you have.. what are you interested in? If went again, I would try to arrange some time in a native village a few kms up one of the tributaries. I pre-arranged most of the activities I did, and while it was fun, it also felt very "packaged".





While the climate is Malaria climate, the incidents of Malaria is cyclical... it's always best to take anti-malarials, but they can have some side effects.: from: http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/full/73/1/140

adrimm says on Apr 21, 2008, 18:19:

A promo video from the National Park (hand-held)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJe_tj4DdIs

annieb says on Apr 21, 2008, 18:20:

Thanks everyone for your help! I will let you know what we decide. Soo excited.

bufalo says on Apr 22, 2008, 04:33:

lived there for six months. bring SUNBLOCK and use it. I kept laughing everytime I saw the lobster-red tourists trying to scratch their bug bites....YIKES!

Just show up.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

Mononoke28 says on Apr 22, 2008, 08:03:

I also recommend taking candy with you. The children down there go nuts when you give them some.

Diana

Juanes says on Apr 22, 2008, 10:31:

of course teja, feel free to ask anything my friend and thanks for looking at my travelblog. it is a sony cybershot dsc120 which i bought back in 2004...i owe a debt of gratitude cos when i went to parque nacional los nevados near manizales it snowed and i took snaps and got water in the lense, but as you can see it is thanks to a camera repair man in cali where i waited for five days that he fixed it for my trip to leticia and onto buenos aires....u been to san cipriano in colombia teja ?

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

Juanes says on Apr 22, 2008, 10:34:

oh yeah something important about the water there, if visiting later in the year , i was told by our guide that there is less rainfalll and the water routes become harder/take longer to navigate cos you have to follow the deepness/river bends more as oppose to just plowing straight down the middle.....i was there april 2007 for 2 weeks so this time was fine i was told...

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

bufalo says on Apr 23, 2008, 09:52:

when we got there in december, you could MAYBE jump over to isla de la fantasia due to the water being to low, then about 3 months later, the whole island was underwater - cool place. go to the main park at dusk with some earplugs.....

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor