Leticia

I did not do much in Leticia, and did not think I would need to make an entry for this rather dull city, but something happened to me hours before I was supposed to leave. Something that I thought I had done everything in my power to avoid, and therefore did not even conceive the possibility of it becoming a problem.

As I have metioned, the boarder between Tabatinga (Brazil) and Leticia (Colombia) is pretty non-existant. When leaing Brazil (i.e. walking down the street), you have to go to the Policia Fedral, for them to stamp your passport. This means you have officially left Brazil, and you are either going to Colombia, or Peru. This much, I knew, and got out of the way when I first arrived in Tabatinga on Friday.

A few days later, when trying to get a plane to Bogota, I went to get my passport stamped. The man refused to give me a stamp, saying that I had left Brazil serveral days before, and that I had been in Colombia illegally for that time. I found this a bit strange, seeing as Rotem had had her passport stamped just that morning (by a different guy). I kept askin him what I was to do now, and each time he just kept telling me that I had been in the country illegally for several days. Not only was I stressing out, because he was telling me this, but I was getting seriously annoyed by the fact that he would not tell me what he expected me to do about it.

I can not be sure, but I think I saw him rub his thumb over the tip of his index an middle finger in the international "money" sign. I only saw him do it once, and it was very quick, and possibly a part of my imagination, but it seemed for a moment that he was looking for a bribe. I know that I am not tactful enough to be able to do such a thing discretely, so I just kept on asking him what he wanted me to do about the whole situation.

Eventually, he told me to go back to Tabatinga, and ask the Policia Federal for a new stamp with today's date. This made me slightly nervous, as I had no idea how long it would take the Brazilians to do what I asked of them.

When I went to have my first stamp on Friday, we met a woman in a similar predicament who had been told that she would have to pay a fine, and wait in the office until said fine was determined. She had been there several hours already, and this poor woman's story came back to me when I was in the taxi on my way back to Brazil, because there was only one hour left before my flight to Bogota.

I ran out of the taxi into the office, and started yelling at the poor "boarder" patrol-man trying to explain my situation in Spanish, completely fogetting that this was Brazil, and that he might not understand a word I am saying. He did not. It took maybe five minutes of me yelling at him before he understood what I wanted, and he re-stamped my passport, for the sole reason of getting me out of there, I think. I impressed myself with how easily my Spanish flowed despite the stress I was under. I managed to confuse someone using a foreign language.

When I got back to the Leticia Airport, I shoved my passport in the imigration guy's face, and smiled as he was forced to give me the damned stamp that I deserved. All this with about 40 minutes before the flight, and enough time to go have lunch. Success! For now...

I know now, that I could have ended up like that woman, being stuck at the Policia Federal for hours, and not missed my flight. It turns out that President Bush was in Bogota for the day, and everything was closed. Including the airport. We left several hours late, and landed in Cali, where we waited another hour or so before going directly to Bogota, like it said on the ticket I was sold. Despite all these delays, other than a bread roll with some butter, they did not feed us on the plane. By the time we got in, it was about 9:30, and we were starving, but Bush's visit had meant that EVERYTHING was closed.

Our luck turned at about 11 o'clock, when we found what must have been the only place in the whole city serving food. A hot dog has never been more welcome on my plate, and never tasted so good.