Brazil Baby.............

We crossed the boarder from Venezuela to Brazil and I swear everything felt just the little bit better. We had to wait to get our passports stamped but the ladys came out from their lunch break to do it and were very smily and chatty - a big change from Venezuela where they just steal your stuff and stop you for no reason. From the boarder we continued to Boa Vista, we travelled in a jeep with a man called Frank who kept finding excuses to touch my leg when we were driving. We were all quite minging from the night before- Nightclub, beer and lots of Rum- so we decided the only thing to do was to get back on the wagon so we drank a number of beers throughout the day. After making good time we stopped just outside the city and went for a dance at a bar, we stuck out like sore thumbs but the people seemed to enjoy some Gringo entertainment. I was made to attempt to dance the Samba, it was not good, the samba is like having sex with your clothes on, if we danced it in Liquid we would be asked to leave!

Just in time we made to Boa Vista for our night bus to Manaus. It was another long and cold night. The next morning we arrived in Manaus and checked in to our hotel. We stayed in Manaus fot two night and three days. Did quite alot of exploring through the numerous market stalls and street sellers also went to Manaus zoo which is on an army base so every so often you could hear loads of gun shots and shouting which was a bit weird.

After Manaus we got a 5 day, 4 night boat down the Amazon river to Belem. The boat was like a really old cruise ship, that didnt look like it had been serviced or maintained for about 50 years. But i call it character...
We slept in tiny little cabin that had bunk beds and the bathrooms were like the pods at uni, however this was first class. The ferrals (as our tour guide has taken to calling them) slept down stairs in cramped hammocks! We also had our own bar and eating time, to make sure that the rif raf dont try and mix with us, hehe. The first night I just had a few drinks and retired to my room, the second night we got absolutely rat arsed and I get into trouble for hanging of the front of the boat in a titantic esq style, they were not happy! The next day I didnt leave the cabin, the swaying of the ship only made the feeling worse. Cabin fever set in so the next day I ventured out on deck, only to be photographed and filmed by some very persistent brazilians. Played some cards and learned some more dominos games, exciting stuff...The last night we dranks some beers then the manager of the boat anounced that it was his birthday and pulled out some bottle of Cashca ( the cheap drink of Brazil which Im now getting quite a taste for) that he had confiscated of the Ferrals, ha the upper class rip of the poor again! So we drank some cheap booze and generally got merry. The next day we arrive in Belem.

In Belem we stayed in a hotel the had the hugest Harley Davidsons in the front area, The boss of the hotel was the owner and thought he could make a cheap buck by putting it in the reception and charging people 5 reais for a photo and 10 reais to have a photo taken on it... rip off! We stayed for two days in Belem and I got very very sick on the second day. I descibed my symptons to my tour leader and he said that it sounded very much like Dengue Fever...Hell.

We had to get the nightbus and it was hideous although i had taken quite alot of painkillers to help.

Run out of internet time now...bye

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