Amazonas’ biggest attractions are found outside Leticia. These include the abundant wildlife of Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacu, jungle hikes and stays in Puerto Nariño, upstream of Leticia – a great base for dolphin-spotting trips.
Puerto Nariño
Eco-friendly PUERTO NARIÑO sits around 75km upstream of Leticia and makes a great base for spotting the Amazon’s pink dolphins; half-day excursions to Lago Tarapoto cost around COP$55,000 for up to three people. You can learn more about the endangered creatures at the riverfront Fundación Omacha (omacha.org), located right near the docks. The village itself, peopled mostly by the indigenous Yagua, Tikuna and Cocoma, is a shining example of recycling, organic waste management and rainwater collection; other Colombian towns could learn a great deal here, and this may well be the only Colombian settlement with zero motorized traffic.
PARQUE NACIONAL NATURAL AMACAYACU
Around ninety minutes upstream from Leticia, the 3000-square-kilometre Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacu is a spectacular slice of wilderness, home to five hundred bird species, plenty of crocodiles, anacondas and other reptiles and 150 mammal species, including big cats. Here you can go hiking, kayaking and birdwatching, but come prepared for squadrons of mosquitoes.
LETICIA
This compact riverside town, its partially unpaved streets abuzz with a fleet of scooters and motorcycles – the local transport of choice – has worn many hats during its lifetime. Founded in 1867, LETICIA was part of Peru until it was awarded to Colombia in 1933 in a ceasefire agreement following a war between the two countries in 1932. A den of iniquity and sin (well, drug trafficking) in the 1970s, Leticia had to clean up its act when the Colombian army moved in, though visitors are still warned not to wander out into the outskirts of Leticia after dark. Today it’s a hot, humid, yet relatively tranquil place, with a lively waterfront and houses hidden amid the greenery. It makes a good base for short trips up the Amazon and for crossing over into Brazil or Peru.
The main attractions lie outside the town, but in Leticia proper you can stop by the Museo Etnográfico Amazónico to check out the collection of indigenous weaponry, splendid (and scary) ceremonial masks, pottery and more. For high-quality crafts made by local indigenous tribes, the best selection is at the Galería Arte Uirapuru.
EL VALLE AND AROUND
Way north up the coast, and near Bahía Solano, a town famous for sports-fishing and whale-watching, compact EL VALLE is a good spot for surfing, as well as visiting Parque Nacional Natural Ensenada de Utría, where it’s possible to see whales close to the shore during calving season.
In En Valle itself, there’s some good surfing, and between September and December it’s possible to see turtles nesting at Estación Septiembre, a sanctuary 5km south along the coast. You can also do a day hike through the jungle to the Cascada del Tigre, a splendid waterfall with a refreshing waterhole (guide necessary).
BUENAVENTURA
A busy, gritty and charmless port city, BUENAVENTURA is the only gateway to the region, so you will end up overnighting here. The boats to various coastal destinations run from the muelle turístico (tourist wharf); the area around it is reasonably safe (which is more than can be said for much of the rest of town), and you’ll find a number of guesthouses and eateries nearby.
Buenaventura doesn’t lend itself to sightseeing, though if you’re a surfer it’s well worth visiting Ladrilleros, an hour’s boat ride north, where enormous 2–3m waves lash the shore during the August to November rainy season and where you can stay in a number of basic digs. To reach Ladrilleros, take a boat to Juanchaco, from where you can either walk the 2.5km or get a ride on the back of someone’s motorbike.
AROUND POPAYÁN
The colourful market village of Silvia, an outstanding national park and some invigorating thermal springs are all within 60km of Popayán.
THERMAL SPRINGS AT COCONUCO
The village of Coconuco, 26km from Popayán, is a short hop to two rudimentary outdoor thermal baths. The better maintained and more pleasant of the two is Termales Agua Tibia, 5km southwest of Coconuco on the road to San Agustín. Set at the base of a steep-sided valley with great views, the complex has five lukewarm pools, a bottom-jarring concrete waterslide and a mud spring rich in rejuvenating minerals. There is no place to lock up valuables.
The indigenous-run Agua Hirviendo, 3km east of Coconuco, is less picturesque than Agua Tibia but it’s open around the clock, its sulphur-reeking pools are far toastier, and the on-site waterfall is a refreshing shock to the system. Basic cabins are available for rent and a restaurant serves meals until late.
Parque Nacional Natural Puracé
The high-altitude Parque Nacional Natural Puracé, 58km east of Popayán, encompasses 860 square kilometres of volcanoes, snowcapped mountains, sulphurous springs, waterfalls, canyons, trout-stuffed lagoons and grasslands. The park’s literal high point is Volcán Puracé (4700m), which last blew its top in 1956. It’s a lung-straining four-hour climb to the steaming crater where, on a clear day, there are sensational views of Cadena Volcánica de Los Coconucos – a chain of forty volcanoes. There are also less strenuous trails, including an orchid walk, and thermal baths. Enquire at the visitor centre near the park entrance if you want to hire a guide. The weather is best for climbing the volcano in December to January; it is worst in June to August.
TIERRADENTRO
After San Agustín, Tierradentro is Colombia’s most treasured archeological complex, though far less visited. Its circular tombs, some as deep as 9m and reachable by steep, smooth original steps through trapdoors, are decorated with elaborate geometric iconography and are as impressive as San Agustín’s statues. Monumental statues have also been found here, indicating a cultural influence from San Agustín, though again little is known about the tomb-building civilization other than that it flourished around 700–900 AD, with the statue phase occurring around 500 years later.
No large population centres have been discovered, lending credence to the belief that the original inhabitants belonged to a dispersed group of loosely related farmers. The modern Paez Indian population, 25,000 of whom live in the surrounding hillside, is not thought to be related to the creators of the tombs.
Tierradentro means “Inner Land”, an appropriate nickname to describe the rugged countryside of narrow valley and jagged summits. The area receives far fewer visitors than San Agustín, thanks to the poor quality of the road from Popayán, though that’s likely to change, given the ongoing road improvements and with the area currently safe from guerrillas.
The main village is tiny San Andrés de Pisimbalá, 4km from El Cruce de San Andrés, the junction on the main Popayán–La Plata road. San Andrés has a picturesque thatched-roof chapel that dates from the seventeenth-century mission. Two kilometres along the road to San Andrés, where you’ll find a smattering of guesthouses, starts the Parque Arqueológico Tierradentro (daily 8am–4pm; COP$10,000), which comprises the five burial sites. The trail begins behind the Museo Etnográfico (daily 8am–4pm), where you pay the park entry fee and receive a wristband, valid for two days. The well-presented displays in the museum focus on the history and customs of the indigenous Paez, while the Museo Arqueológicoacross the road has an archeological display including funerial urns, some statuary and information about the park’s tombs; both are worth visiting before you visit the sites.
It’s possible to visit all five sites, spread out over a sublime landscape, on a full-day, 14km walk that runs in a loop from the Museo Etnográfico and the Museo Arqueológico, with San Andrés making a convenient lunch stop. Be sure to bring your own torch to explore the tombs, as some are unlit, as well as plenty of water, and wear sturdy footwear. The guards at each site who open the tombs for you can answer most questions (in Spanish). It’s best to do the loop anticlockwise, since a clockwise route would mean tackling a long, tough uphill climb first thing.
Start with Segovia (20min walk uphill), the most important of the tomb sights. There are 29 of them; you descend into the trapdoors and down large, steep stone steps to peer into the gloom; note the black, red and white patterns that have survived the centuries. From here, it’s fifteen minutes up to El Duende, a smaller site with four tombs and very little colour on the walls of the tombs. It’s then a 25-minute walk to El Tablón – where you’ll find nine weather-worn stone statues which look similar to the ones found in San Agustín. To get here, go up to the main road and head left; El Tablón will be well signposted on your left. From here you can either take the main road into the village or else descend down the muddy trail that joins the other road that runs up into San Andrés from the two museums.
The best place for lunch is La Portada, after which you can pick up the trail again along the side of the restaurant. A ten-minute walk gets you to Alto de San Andrés, its six tombs boasting well-preserved wall paintings. From here, it’s a good hour and a half to the last and most remote site, El Aguacate, with spectacular views of the valley and a style of tomb painting not found in the others. Allow plenty of daylight time for the hour-and-a-half walk down to the museums as in the past there have been several robberies along this isolated trail.
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