Pictures of a jungle bitch
At the western end of the Amazon river, where Peru, Brazil and Colombia meet, there is a conglomeration of strange little jungle towns. On the far south-eastern corner of Colombia, the city of Leticia borders directly with the Brazilian city of Tabatinga and together they make up a local hub for trade and tourism - even if they have no road connection to the outside world. From here I went on a boat ride into the many rivers that come together to make up the Amazon, finally ending up on a river bank technically located in Peru. It was there I met her.
She was a good little pooch. On the river bank we found an encampment apparently long forgotten and left behind, but still she seemed well-fed and groomed, and was curiously engaging with us when we set foot on land.
The “encampment” itself seemed to consist of one building containing an old school and a small jetty for river boats. The river bank contained a little stretch of rainforest - let’s say about 20m - before there was another stretch of river on the other side. We found a couple of boats, one half sunk, another apparently recently used with leftovers from a fishing trip floating around in the hull.
But she would follow us around, obviously excited to be visited by strangers. Our group of people consisted, except for me, of Colombians flown down from Bogotá for a long weekend in the jungle to experience their own country. We all enjoyed the company of the dog, and stayed on the river bank for a days outing - using it as a nice little starting point for a swim in the Amazon river.
The dog, however, would stop at nothing to be photographed, and would strike up a pose the moment a camera was pointed towards her. It was like she sensed a golden opportunity to get out of these backwaters (literally) and strike it big as a famous dog in the big city - if only the pictures turned out good, she would get discovered. Not being a dog scout, I couldn’t really offer any fame or opportunity, but taking photos was good fun anyways. The dog would roll around, look into the camera, sit up and stare thoughtfully into the horizon. And I think the pictures turned out worthy of the respect and effort she put into it - I still think of them fondly when I look at them - and she is still what I remember from this day. And this was a day that also included seeing the pink freshwater dolphins of the Amazon river.
But, I couldn’t do much to get the pooch out of the backwaters. But at least by publishing the pictures, her little existence will have made a difference outside her little world.
