Colombian Petting Zoo

Leticia, Colombia, October, 1993.

I don't know where I picked up a flyer about traveling to the Amazon, but in short order I'd booked myself and a pal onto an Amazon steamer for a week-long expedition from Iquitos, Peru, to Leticia, Colombia and back. It was my first time going anywhere that didn't involve Europe (including then-Leningrad) or North America. If only the trip had sucked, maybe I'd have a job and a normal life now.

But the trip didn't suck. It was great. There was bingo on the plane. And I was introduced to a whole new world of traveling for adrenalin and adventure.

Looking back at it now, the trip was pretty tame. Once the ship got stuck on a sand bar; we had almost no food and had to eat fried bread with sides of toast. And at the zoo in Leticia, the keeper personally took us into the cages to pet the animals. Which would have been less weird if the animals were goats and dogs, but no, they were monkeys, anteaters, and giant snakes.