In the city of Mocoa, on the fringe of the Amazon Rain Forest, there’s nothing to see or do. The main plaza is quite boring and lacks any wow factor.
Mocoa is a small city on the fringe of the Amazon jungle in the department of Putumayo. It’s an unattractive and rather unfriendly place, which is understood given its difficult history with guerrilla forces (it’s safe now). As unappealing as my description may sound, a couple days in this city on the road to Ecuador is worth the trouble – not for the city, but for the natural beauty and wildlife around it.
Usually involving a big gathering of friends and family, sancocho is one of the most popular Colombian dishes. It’s a stew with a mishmash of meat and vegetable ingredients, so much so that the people cooking it sometimes forget every single ingredient that went into making it.
On the final day of our Amazonas tour with On Vacation, we visited Puerto Alegría, Peru, in the morning before heading to Leticia and Tabatinga. They’re sister cities in Colombia and Brazil that share an open land border.
The third day of our Amazonas tour with On Vacation began with an excursion to visit a Yagua community. The Yagua are an indigenous tribe who settled in the specific area around the late 1970s. This excursion was included in the package.
On the second day of our tour to Amazonas with On Vacation, we took an excursion to Puerto Nariño and a Ticuna community. The trip started at 9am and wasn’t included in the package (it was a bit pricy). If you’re going on your own, you have to pay an entrance fee to get into Puerto Nariño.
We decided to do a four day trip to Amazonas, the Colombian Amazon region, with On Vacation. I normally avoid all-inclusive tours like the plague, but the price with On Vacation was just too good to beat.
A vast area of Colombia is made up of virgin jungle which is part of the massive Amazon River Basin. Much of the land is protected area. Some of it is populated with indigenous tribes, including a few that refuse contact, and unfortunately, in some areas, paramilitary forces. Due to these and other factors, it’s a wild and quite dangerous section of the country – definitely not a tourist destination.
Fortunately, there is a small section in the southeastern corner of Colombia that is extremely safe and quite developed for tourism.
Parque Explora is an award-winning hands-on museum in the Aranjuez district of Medellín near University Station (Estación Universidad). It’s a great place to take kids to learn about the human body, physics, and nature.
