Amazon River and Manaus

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Oi!

As Greg mentioned, we arrived safely in Manaus! Our boat was not overloaded and looked pretty safe (however this didn't stop me from imagining every exit plan and hoping that if the boat went down we'd be in a narrow section of the river). But none of that materialized, apparently Peru boats are much worse than the Brazil ones!

On Saturday, we started off our 3 day adventure on the Amazon with a full day of waiting at the port for tickets and then to board the boat. The boat is meant to start boarding at 4pm, but people start putting their luggage in the queue as early as 8am, so we arrived at 11am to get our bags near the front of the line (as recommended to us). Our wait till 4pm was made much more enjoyable with the company of a dutch couple that we ended up spending a lot of our river time with! After a thorough dog search and hand search of our bags by police, we boarded around 5pm and quickly scurried to the second deck to set up our hammocks. There were already lots of hammocks hanging and we knew that we need not waste any time because your hammock space is essential (you'll be spending day and night either hanging next to a bathroom or with someone hanging above you if you don't get it right). We got pretty good spots and for the next few hours we guarded our spots to make sure no one hung above or way too close to ours. We ended up having our hammocks beside a cuban-american man in his 80's who was just travelling down the Amazon, sleeping in a hammock for the adventure of it all. He was such an interesting guy and I couldn't stop thinking, MY joints are hurting in this hammock already, what are his feeling like? He ended up having to relocate in the middle of the night because our area was blocked in on all sides by hammocks and his midnight escapes to the bathroom were near impossible with his mobility/balance.

As you can tell already, this was a very interesting amazon adventure. Hammocks littered everywhere, high, low, side to side, in the way of most directions you wished to walk in. You were constantly ducking and contorting your body in interesting ways to try and get through the herd. One of the hammocks beside us, somehow fit a mother and her three young children...we felt a bit cramped just with ourselves in the hammock! We originally were unsure what the safety of our bags (which were just kept under our hammocks) would be, however we didn't need to worry because we set up our hammocks beside a squad of national police officers who slept in their hammocks with their huge guns. We had three meals a day, breakfast (which i never made it to) was saltine crackers and butter and coffee (see why I didn't bother getting up?), lunch: beans, rice, spagetti noodles, chicken/veggie mix, salad and dinner: leftovers from lunch! Everyone lines up for meals from one side of the boat to the next waiting to get into the lunch room seating about 14 or so people. Between meals, we laid in our hammocks, read, listened to music or ventured up to the top deck where there was a bar with beer, pop and snacks that served as great treats when you were sick of the daily meals. Our bottle of rum came in handy for the nights of enjoying company and playing cards on the top deck.

We saw some beautiful scenery along the river (although there are areas of the Amazon River that are so wide you can't see the shores, the area we travelled always had both shores in sight). We saw a bit of wildlife, some small villages here and there along the banks and some remarkable sunsets. Greg got up one morning at 4 (not by choice) and saw a beautiful sunrise from the top deck. As our boat was approaching Manaus, the Rio Negro (with black water) and the Rio Solimoes (milky/tan water) converge but do not mix, this was a very interesting sight and is due to the two rivers differing densities, temperatures, pH and velocities.

So an interesting and unique way to spend 3 days. We were two of very few travellers on the boat, the rest being locals which is always a nice change. We had a good, relaxing time on the boat...although we both agree we probably wouldn't do it again anytime soon. We generally were comfortable, the food was tolerable and we had good company but time passes slowly when you don't have far to go and much to do! If you're interested in this trip, we would recommend bringing lots of good books to read, small games, and alcohol (both to pass the time at night and lull you to sleep on the sometimes noisy deck). But recommend it to anyone wanting a unique experience in beautiful surroundings!

We got into Manaus on Tuesday afternoon and found a nice hostel to spend the next few days while we wait for our flight to Florianopolis in the south of Brazil. Again, apart from jungle tours (which we've already done) there is not a whole lot to do here so we've spent the time relaxing and went to see the Sex in the City 2 movie (a disappointment on the whole for anyone that wonders if they should see it). We went to a churrascaria (Brazilian steak house) the first night we got in for a nice meal after a few days of repetition. Its buffet style side dishes (sushi, salads, rice, veggies) and then chefs come around with meat (filet mignon, different cuts of beef, pork, sausage etc.) on a skewer and cut you off a piece. It was some of the best meat we have ever had (juicy, soooo tender and delicious flavour...sorry vegetarians). There is a dial on the table, one half says Sim, obrigado (yes, thank you!...bring on the meat!) and the other says Nao, obrigado (No, thank you....we are stuffed and need to go home and lye down). Anyone that knows us, knows that we ate much more than we should have and did exactly that afterwards.

Tonight is our flight at 12:30, connecting in Rio and then on to Florianopolis!

Only 26 days, 4 more destinations, a few more blogs and we're home!

Thanks for reading,
Laura and Greg

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