Brazil: Tabatinga

Tabatinga is the border town just beside Leticia in Colombia. Actually, it's kind of the same town... except that people doesn't speak the same langage.

From Leticia, there are no order posts into Tabatinga, just a small control for cars. If you're travelling on foot, you just walk down Avenida Internacional in Leticia. After you cross a street, it becomes Avenida Amizade and that's it: welcome to Brazil!

You know that you're in Brazil when you see that football is everywhere. I was walking a street not far from the border and some 10 folks were seating outside at a bar watching a football game (and drinking Nova Schin Beer of course!).

Just a few meters away, there was a bar painted with the colors of the Brazilian flag and it was written “Brazil Maravilha no futebol”

But the best thing was the football game we witnessed. Some kids were playing football at a park, and they were damn good!

They had no shoes, and they were playing in an almost improvised football field, with old goals and long grass. These guys played with so much passion! No wonder why so many football stars come from Brazil!

Tabatinga is the largest town of the Triple Border Area. It has some 45000 inhabitants, while Leticia has some 35000. Nevertheless, Leticia's tourism infrastructure is much more developped, with more hotels, restaurants and tourism friendly nightlife options.

As part of this giant with a developing economy named Brazil, Tabatinga is a magnet for workers on the region.
There are a lot of Colombians and Peruvians working there, some of them are employees, but a lot own their own businesses.

I actually felt less safe in Tabatinga than in Leticia. Everyone I talked about this had the same feeling. I don't mean Tabatinga is a dangerous place, but there's a lot of people, a lot of noise, and the streets feel less welcoming.

Tabatinga has many churches from many different sects or beliefs. Lots of them are quite improvised, in building that could be storage hangars.

Brazil is a very religious country and in Tabatinga believers have several options: Jeovah witnesses, baptists, Assembleia de Deus...

The lands around Tabatinga have been inhabited for ages, but the first Portuguese settlement was founded in the 18th Century.

The settlement, called São Francisco Xavier de Tabatinga, was a military border post between the Kingdoms of Portugal and Spain.

Since 1983, Tabatinga is an autonomous municipality in the Brazilian department of Amazonas.

The highlight of out visit to Tabatinga was the market and the harbour.

Fishermen were coming with the catch of the day, people finishing their day at the office came to party and relax.

Good music, and the sunset over the Peruvian shore of the Amazon River. Those are the momennts when you feel how good is it to be alive!

And the best part... the next day we planned to navigate on the Amazon River!

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