Flavours of another America wafted towards
the creaking doors warped with time and usage
I wanted some incense, sugar which is not refined
perhaps some coffee to take to my island of dreams
I took two packets of coffee from Colombia
walked towards the central American lady who was at the counter, giving her a warm Buenos Dias
This coffee, I told her smiling face, is cheaper here than in Colombia
As I was leaving, the guard came over, who must have heard my conversation , asked
Sir, are you from Colombia? he asked in Spanish
I looked at his face for some clue about his nationality
now obscured by a dark mask
No, I replied, but I do participate in a project near Leticia
A project with the indigenous people who live along the Amazon River
His eyes lit up
In two years, sir, I want to return to my country, go to Leticia and be a farmer
we chatted a little about Leticia and he asked me questions
He said, i will build a home in Leticia and sir, you would be welcome to come and stay there
In this short period of time, this human interaction had more value
than all the costs of petrol and cars and frozen chicken
People have forgotten the value of things while they
assiduously learn how to calculate the cost of everything including their time
I gave him my telephone number and when he removed his mask I could say
You do look Colombian,I said, in fact you have a vague resemblance to your famous compatriot from Aracataca.
I has a strangely content feeling while I drove back, to light incense and candles while I enjoyed the sun about to set .
Tabatinga on the Brasilian side is Portuguese speaking and the food is nothing like the Colombian fare just a few blocks to the west. For a good Ceviche, you have to take a small canoe powered by a motor to the island of Santa Rosa on the Peruvian side. Most of the inhabitants of Leticia are Colombians from the Interior of the country.
Along the river there are many Indian villages, they are mostly TICUNA but there are other tribes also present. Two hours by speed boat is the lovely village of Puerto Narino, the last of the Colombian town and a further 30 minutes ride will bring you to the Peruvian town of Caballacoche. That is as far west as I have travelled even though I wanted to continue to San Pablo, the former leper colony (you could see a reenactment of a scene at the Leper Colony in the Motor Cycle Diaries. Che Guevara was there in 1952 with his friend Alberto Granado.
All along the Amazon, especially on the Brasilian side there were Cuban doctors working as Internacionalistas until the current President of Brasil, shuttered the health care to the Indigenous people by sending Cuban doctors home. Benjamin Constant is an interesting town on the junction of the river where Peru and Brasil meet and I have had interesting experiences there.
Forgive me , my Ticuna friends, I have been absent since May 2019 but soon enough, I will be taking the fast passenger boat to Nazaret..
