Steaming up the Amazon


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South America » Brazil » Amazonas » Tabatinga
July 18th 2007
Published: July 18th 2007
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We had returned from our jungle trip thinking we would be a day or two in Tabitinga awaiting a boat to take us up the Amazon. We spent the morning getting passport stamps at the Letitia Airport, the taxi we caught took us to the Brazil airport, so a bit of confusion. We eventually found where we needed to be and walked down to the Zoo to find it was closed - in the middle of being relocated, so we walked into town thinking we would get a water taxi back to Tabitinga, but we found a 'shortcut instead'. We walked down to the waterfront and saw a path in the grass that was well used. We came to a creek with boards to walk on. Paul went across and the mud and water was very dirty - he said I would hate to fall in there because it is close to pure shit. Guess what! One of my feet slipped and I ended up to my thigh in shit. Paul just laughed and laughed and I did not see anything funny about it. I needed to get Paul to pull me out and my jandal got stuck in the bottom of the hole. I got very upset because they were nice jandals and I had just got them comfortable and Paul was still laughing. I had to put my foot back in to try and get my jandal out but that didn't work, I ended up with mud up my arm to my neck, but I saved the jandal. By this time I was very upset and a nice man had gone to get a bigger plank of wood to try and help me. South American men are very kind and helpful to women in distress, and Paul was still laughing and was trying to take a photo of me. The nice man showed me a puddle to wash in and I had to scrape the mud and stuff off - not nice. I eventually got sort of clean and off we went and found a bigger mud creek that was impossible to cross. Another nice man came across us and showed us the way around the creek. He was going over to Santa Rosa by water taxi and we went with him to get the passport stamped again. He was catching a boat that night to Iquitos so we quickly went back to get our packs and organise money and stuff.

When we got back to Santa Rosa the boat had arrived and was being unloaded. This boat was about 100 meters long by 20 meters wide and a barge type out the front with 2 floors for swinging hammocks. We were fortunate to get a cabin for a bit more money so we could sleep easier at night with our stuff locked up. The bunks were steel with wood slats and the mattress was well used and at its thickest point was about a half an inch thick and hard as hell with every slat felt through it. The Captain told me we were sailing to Islandia first to unload and reload and then we were off to Iquitos after that. So we got a few more hours sailing for our buck. Lots of hammocks hanging everywhere with no privacy. The toilets were basic and Paul complained about the mens toilet leaking water onto you while you sat there and when it was flushed, the contents came up around your feet. The ladies one was not so bad. Paul said it was use it or burst.

Watching the men load and unload was interesting. The men here work too hard, carry too heavy a load and on the journey we saw them load huge cattle with no ramps, just man power and ropes, engines, pigs, sheep, fish, canoe fulls of coca cola, empty bottles and every other conceivable thing need for life up the Amazon. I was very surprised to see how many people lived up the river. Lots and lots of villages, some very big towns and some solitary houses. The boat stopped whenever someone waved it down or a boat pulled up beside it and took on more people or dropped them off. The boat just drove up onto the bank and people jumped off or on, then it backed off and away we went. It was very beautiful with houses and jungle and a wide, wide river. It looked just like a postcard, but in real life all the saw mills spew their waste into the river, all the towns threw their rubbish into the river, and everyone on the boat tipped every bit of rubbish into the river - it will take a major change in culture to stop the abuse of the river. We could not believe how much they abused the river yet say how much they are proud of it and think it is the greatest river in the world. It wont be for long at the rate it is being trashed.

The trip was a really pleasant three days and nights with lots to see. We were entertained with a deer swimming in the middle of the river and men jumping in and trying to catch it, with the ship swinging around chasing it full steam ahead. The deer would turn again and the ship would swing around and chase it again and then a long wooden boat joined in with a lady with a sun umbrella giving chase as well. Never seen anything like it before - a ship chasing a deer. We thought they were chasing it to release on land - we were wrong. It probably would have died of exhaustion anyway as the chase went on for over half an hour. Then the boat had to collect all the men who had jumped off and were along the river bank. Imagine the Cook Straight Ferry doing this!

We had interesting meals: hot, sweet, milky rice in a cup and two very dry buns for breakfast and lunch was rice and a fish and tea was rice and a bit of chicken, about 1 " square. One lunch was rice and noddles. Most meals had a boiled banana as well, these are very hard like a kumara, but not so nice. Paul thought it was worse than prison tucker but we did not starve or feel hungry and there was a place to buy food if we needed it. The cook house was between the toilets and was very basic, but we never got sick. I actually enjoyed the meals. People got on and sold food at some of the villages as well so no need to go hungry. We only bought one extra cooked fish and it was very tasty.

On the boat we met a man from Iquitos who became a good friend - Cesar - and he tried to help us with our Spanish language. He sometimes hunted us down for another lesson and we called him the professor. I handled it OK but Paul was like a naughty school boy, very inattentive, being more interested in watching the men load and unload the boat and watch the river go by.

The boat arrived in Iquitos at 2 am and some people got off then but we hid in the cabin until daylight. At daylight we could hear lots of noise and Paul went out to see what was going on, the boat had turned into a fish mart, with people on board buying fish that had been on ice and it was chaos. People packed so tight you could not get on or off. We waited for the crowd to disembark a bit and then we left the boat. On the way off I felt myself being felt down and hands in my pocket, they got nothing though.

Out onto the busy streets in a 3 wheel motorbike to find a hostel, the first two were full so were happy to get a bed eventually. The taxi driver offered to give us a city tour for 40 soles, so we agreed to meet after breakfast, shower and clean clothes. He took us to a really good Zoo with well fed and cared for animals from the region. We met a really big tapir (?) and a pink dolphin and really huge river fish at least a meter long, monkeys, birds, panthers, tigers, pumas, snakes and other things. Then we got taken to a wharf and told about this other tour to take by a registered guide. We were sucked in again, this time the boat taxi and trip to an Indian village and a snake place cost us another 130 soles. The Indian village was a huge rip off and was to purely take money off tourists, they said they would dance for us for 30 soles each and when they saw we were going to leave they dropped it to 20 soles each. They danced for 10 minutes and then tried to make us buy necklaces and when we wouldn't, the children just asked for money, every single one of them. What are they teaching their children?

Off to the snake place that was really interesting and well worth the 30 soles to visit. We got to hold a sloth, anaconda, python, monkey, toucan, parrots, prehistoric turtles, and touch a huge rodent with webbed feet, it looked like a huge over sized rat without a tail.

After the trip we really felt ripped off and only wanted to get out of the place so we tried to get on the next boat out of town, but there were no cabins, only hammocks. I said to Paul, I feel unsafe here, lets get out, so we booked a flight out that evening (Sunday) to Lima.

WE caught the plane and it came into land and over the speaker they said welcome to Pulcapa. We both looked at each other in horror and cracked up laughing. This was where we tried to get by boat. A few minutes later they announced the flight was carrying on to Lima and stay seated. This made us laugh even more. WE landed at Lima about 8pm and caught a taxi straight to the bus station to get on the next bus, but alas, they were all full for our destination. The next bus was the next day (Monday 23rd) so we found a place to sleep and caught the bus last night. Here we are in Ariquipa, awaiting our next bus to Puno at lunchtime. Catch you later.


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