Manaus - Bélem

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After a night in a bed (at long last) in Manaus we headed for the docks early to find ourselves a boat to Santarem. We found one that was already quite packed but slung our hammocks on the upper decks and waited to set off. little did we know that about a million other hammocks were yet to be slung! It was a very cosy journey to say the least, but quite an experience . Fortunately just before we set sail we bought some fruit and cheese sandwiches to keep us going and had plenty of books. The sunsets on the Amazon are indescribable! After around 30 fairly uneventful hours on board we finally arrive in Santarem late evening and so decided to stay on the boat on the dock with some people we met to save the bother of looking for a hostel.

The next morning we got up early and headed straight for Alter do Chao, a little town that has a shoreline consisting of white sand beaches and spits on Lago Verde. It was absolutely beautiful and so lovely and hot! We had a little boat take us across all 20m of water to the main beach, the rower wearing a life jacket though I think it was about chest deep. We rented a kayak for an hour and explored the lake and the forested shoreline, which was incredibly fun though we both got a bit frazzled in the heat!

As we made our way back to our hostel it became apparent that some kind of huge party was starting up in the street, the main give away being the vast amount of beer stands and a huge party bus parked outside our hostel. We found out it was the Carnaval preview for the town so decided to join in the festivities. Caipirhinas and cheese and meat on sticks got the party going pretty quickly and there was so much dancing. The next morning was painful as we had to get up at 6.30 to make our way back to Santarem to get the last boat to Belem of the week, the next being the following Friday. Fortunately we made it, though ended up getting rubbish spots for our hammocks and feeling quite fragile most of the day! That evening, after massive siestas in our hammocks we spotted some pink river dolphins (quite rare) swimming about when we were docked up and they were a really special site, though they are incredibly ugly. The second day on board (yesterday) we managed to speak to locals all day and brush up our Portuguese, which was really fun if not a little bit exhausting! We were also able to try lots of different foods made from fruits we didn´t even know existed.

This morning, after being shaken out of our hammocks 2 and a half hours before we got to Belem, we finally got back on land. The hostel we are staying in for the night is run by a really friendly man and we are both incredibly excited about sleeping in a bed, which is something of a luxury at the moment. Today we have visited the market on the river front, the structure of which was exported from England in 1900 and spent the afternoon in the zoo. The zoo is only just out of the centre of town set in 5.2 hectares of
rainforest which sprouts from between skyscrapers, and although the big cats were in sorry states, small bland cages, it was nice to see such a wide range of free roaming animals, including sloths which were fantastic to watch.

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Comments

[Jade]

Ola!
Sounds like you guys are having a wicked time! im stuck in an office in Portugal writing mission statements HA! Where will you be this Sumer slagbag? (Chris appolgies ive never met you and im not calling you a slagbag, just your girlfriend!) Big big love and Feliz Ano Novo x x