Experience the best of Leticia

Leticia is the capital of the Amazonas department, on the north bank of the Amazon River where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. No road links it to the rest of Colombia, so people arrive by plane or by boat. It runs straight into the Brazilian town of Tabatinga, with no obvious boundary in the streets, and a short boat ride crosses the river to Peru.

At dusk thousands of parakeets come to roost in the trees of Parque Santander. Boats leave the waterfront for Monkey Island and for the lakes where pink river dolphins surface. Upriver, Puerto Nariño is a quiet village on the water near Lake Tarapoto and Amacayacu National Park, and Indigenous communities such as the Ticuna keep their languages and crafts.

River fish dominate the table: pirarucú, also called arapaima, and gamitana are grilled or fried and served with plantain and yuca, and juices come from Amazon fruits such as açaí, copoazú and camu camu. Heat and damp hang over the town in every month, rain can fall at any time, and the river rises and falls by several metres between its high and low seasons.