There are a LOT of ways to experience the Amazon…from super rustic to super luxurious to everything in between. Because we knew this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we decided to maximize our experience and not to stick to our normal $50/day ($1500/month). If we had wanted to do so, it would have been close to possible by staying in Leticia and doing excursions from there. However, we definitely would have missed out by not staying in the jungle.
Instead we chose two experiences far from the town. The first, which we called “Amazon Light,” took us 30 minutes up the river further into Colombia to “Glamping Amazonas” where we slept tucked back into the jungle inside a burbuja (bubble), which was absolutely unreal.
Our two nights in the little bubble cost $67 per night and included dinner and breakfast, plus and additional $12 for airport pickup and transfer. It sat up on a platform and was ringed by nature on all sides.
Inside, there was basically only a (reasonably comfortable) bed with a sheet and light blanket, a rug and a fan, which shockingly we didn’t need because our first two days in the Amazon were curiously chilly.
It also included a fully functioning outdoor bathroom, including a shower (sin hot water of course), which unfortunately we never tried because of the aforementioned cold.
The butt of our bubble structure. Here you can see the entry chamber to the right. In order to enter a bubble, you have to enter this side chamber which has zipped doorways on both sides so that the bubble does not lose air pressure upon entering the main bubble. We ended up calling it “the foyer” and leaving our icky jungle shoes inside.
Testing out the dynamics of our new home, from all angles.
The fan…which would undoubtedly be needed in a plastic sheath, if it were actually Amazon temperatures.
We quickly learned that sleeping in a bubble is a bit trippy as we gazed up at the ceiling and tested out the acoustic reverberations, which was like being in an echo chamber. There is a constant whir of the air coming in and when you talked, you could hear your voice outside of your head. Thus, if you were traveling solo, it would be a superb place to have a conversation with yourself.
After we had some conversations with ourselves, admired the view, did some reading and took a nap, there wasn’t a lot more to do so we decided to venture out into the nearby property and trails. In our immediate vicinity, we found the luscious lip flower…
…the water tank, which fed our bathroom….and the surrounding swampland, which we disappointingly heard none of all night because we were in the sound-masking bubble. Ah yes, the thing nobody tells you about sleeping in a bubble.
We would soon learn that fungi were incredibly prevalent in the Amazon.
Greg pretending to be Bear Gryllis.
As we often do, we wandered a bit far, and by the time we returned, night had nearly fallen making our burbuja all the more inviting.
By this time, it was the hour of dinner so we more cautiously walked the five-minute path back to the dinner circle, where our sweet host, we’ll call him Olafo, for the evening awaited our arrival as his only guests.
And of course, that meal would be prepared over an open fire…and be happily rationed with our new friend, Tin Tin.
Our dinner was very simple and consisted of chicken and plantains over the fire, as well as rice and potatoes. So basically, all the Latin American staples, minus beans, in one meal. Groan.
But at least there was also complimentary cerveza, our first taste of Brazil’s national called Itaipava…a typical light lager. Before eating, we dropped into position to let Olafo take our photo when a rip, followed by a crash, was heard in the nearby trees causing our heads to simultaneously spin like Reagan in “The Exorcist.” Welcome to the incessant feeling of antsy-ness that follows you around in the Amazon.
To distract us, Olafo gave us some sugar. Good call.
Now we were all distracted, including our guard dog.
Olafo informed us that he would actually be our guard dog and he was there to “serve” us all night long. In other words, he was there to make sure the burbuja didn’t suffocate us on accident.
…but not necessarily to protect us from these man-hand sized guys.
Although he knew exactly where to find these extraordinary lavender tarantulas that looked like they’d been dunked in ice crystals. The Amazon has several species of these huge, hairy arachnids including one with a leg span of 13 inches (33 centimeters.) Although we didn’t see that one, we were lucky to see two.
At least this girl was a bit more manageable, although she was big enough to make us think she was a bat before landing.
Breakfast the next morning before our tour…eggs and a cheese arepa.
And aromatic tea, with lemony herbs plucked from the earth. In order to go on a tour that day, we had to go back to Leticia, which ended up adding more transportation expense just to do so. Thus, although it was really cool, in the end, we decided that one night would have been sufficient in the burbuja.
