On the other side of the border, just a kilometer (0.6 mile) from downtown Leticia, is that Colombian city’s Brazilian cousin, Tabatinga (pronounced ta-ba-CHEEN-ga). If you want just a little taste of Brazil, its cooking and fine Garota chocolates, you don’t need to do any formal border procedures. Just walk down Avenida Internacional in Leticia southward. At the border it becomes Avenida Amizade.

Its principal port, Porta da Feira down by the market, bustles with peque-peques arriving from indigenous villages and the next Manaus-bound boat loading up. If you’re heading downriver, do stop into the Policia Federal to get your passport stamped.

Although it is the larger city, Tabatinga has fewer services than Leticia, where most travelers prefer to stay. However, there are hotels and restaurants , as well as money and communication facilities. Many people here speak Spanish, or at least portunhol (a pidgin of Portuguese and Spanish).

(Altitude: 85 meters / 279 feet, Population: 45,300, Phone Code: 97)