Advertisement
Published: October 11th 2010
This morning we were up early, and once again stepped out into the sweltering heat. We headed first to the airport just outside town to get an exit stamp from Columbia (that’s where the immigration police were based) - then back to town, exchanged some U.S. dollars and Columbia pesos for Brazilian reals - got our stuff and legged it over to
Tabatinga on the Brazilian side of the border, where we got an entry stamp in police station from the Brazilian Police - and finally we headed to the port to catch the cargo boat down the Amazon…
We were a bit early in arriving - as we needed to make sure we had time to figure out what to do. Luckily it was relativity straight forward, so we handed over our newly acquired Brazilian reals and queued in line to watch our bags being opened up, and have a dog drool all over them - as everyone was searched for drug smuggling by some well trained K-9’s!! Then it was on to the bag searches, and everything and I do mean EVERYTHING, was emptied out onto the desks in front of us for a thorough inspection.
I
was then put against the wall and frisked. Once complete, I naturally grabbed the camera - ready for when it was Nicola’s turn to get a cracker of a photograph... but darn-it, she was hauled off into another room to get the “pat-down” - so no legendary photograph folks! Then we hauled our bags on to the boat, found our… err… shoebox “cabin” and settled in for the trip.
The history Bit Brazil’s history, like many of its neighbouring countries in South America, has one common theme - Colonization!! But this time it’s not the Spanish in question - but the Portuguese. It’s the only Latin American country which derives its language and culture from Portugal.
The early Portuguese explorers, who claimed territory here, brought back a wood (Brazil wood) to Europe, from which a red dye could be extracted and used to colour clothes - hence the country was given the name Brazil!
Fearing Napoleons encroachment in the early 19th century, the Portuguese King fled to Brazil and setup court here; Portugal was the only European country ever to be ruled directly from one of its colonies. He was later drawn home, due to revolution in
Sardines in a tin!
It’s hammock city out on the open deck!Portugal, leaving his son in charge.
When Portugal tried to re-impose colonial rule, his son declared independence and he himself as the first emperor of Brazil. Following three centuries under Portuguese rule, the country gained independence from its former task masters.
Much of its recent history can be summarized with populist and military governments up until 1985, when power was transferred peacefully to civilian leadership. Although there were a few stumbling blocks along the way, Brazil continues today to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development, while exploiting vast natural resources and a large labour pool.
Today it is the largest economic power in South America and the regional leader. The country covers nearly half of the South American continent, as well as being the continents largest nation. Nearly one third of the country is drained by the mighty Amazon and its tributaries.
Back to our trip… There were smatterings of western travelers onboard, who all looked very sheepish amongst the local Brazilians. Cargo boats are not for the faint-hearted or for the weak stomach! No one is going to ring a bell for you; and we pretty much had to figure everything out for ourselves,
by watching locals who were more adept at this sort of travel. The food was mundane to say the least. Bread rolls for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, and rice and beans again for dinner that evening. This menu was repeated for three days!
In fairness, at least we had what you could loosely call “a cabin”, where you could get some peace, quiet and privacy. Most of the locals just strung their hammocks up on the open deck and slept there for 3 days - squashed together like sardines.
In other ways the journey was pleasant at the same time; we got to travel through very remote parts of Brazil for over 1,400km downstream. It was just so peaceful to sit outside our cabin with the sun shining down, a cold drink in hand, and just watch life pass us by, as we slowly drifted down this mighty river. The many stops along the way, as well as the sheer location, all made for some interesting diversions.
Manaus
Three days later we were still cruising away. Traveling down “the Amazon” is an incredible and interesting affair. No, you’re not going to find spear-touting locals along
the river banks (even if you do work for national geographic), but the experience was priceless.
We finally did arrive in Manaus at 6am and managed to lug our stuff uptown and get local accommodation. No time to be wasted - it wasn’t long before we were out and about looking for someone to take us to the Amazon jungle for a few days and nights.
Very few westerners in town, with the exception of a few from the boat, and it wasn’t long before we were “spotted” walking the streets - probably due to a tip off by someone - and we were willingly picked up by one of the touts. Two hours later we’d organised a trip out to the
jungle for 4 days staying overnight in various places.
Early the following day we headed out on a boat, and after a few hours got deposited on an accommodation pontoon; basically a makeshift accommodation structure in the middle of the river. Here we were to spend our first night…
Over the next few days in the jungle we did lots of cool stuff…..
• Saw the incredible "
Meeting of the Waters" on the
Amazon. This is where two distinct bodies of water meet - but don’t mix - namely the
Rio Negro and the
Rio Solimões. Both river waters (one black and one yellow) run side by side without mixing for 6 km, which is the oddest thing in the world to see.
• Took time out to do some
Piranha fishing with make shift fishing rods & using pieces of red bloody meat as bait… it wasn’t long before the Piranha’s bit!
• Night time
alligator spotting in a canoe…. scary!
• Catching
Sloughs (lazy monkeys) in the trees, and even getting to hold one!
•
Watching birds in there native habitat and learning about their daily routine each evening. We watched as thousands of swallows over head descended at exactly the same time into the trees on
Parrot Island, where they sleep at night. Truly fascinating sight to witness.
• Stayed overnight with a
local indigenous family who live in the jungle, and hung out for the night at the local “bar”.
• Went to visit the local school “
Escola Municipal São João”, where we were brought into the class rooms to meet the kids.
•
Camped out overnight deep in the jungle staying in hammocks with mosquito nets. There’s not much to do in the jungle once it gets dark, besides listening to all the strange sounds!
• Did a
walking trek within the jungle, tasting all the different sorts of fruits, drinking water from water vines, and learning about all the drugs, which are manufactured from Amazonian plants and trees for the pharmaceutical industry.
After coming back from the jungle we spent two days in Manaus and then caught a flight to
São Paulo where our luggage got lost and our connecting flight was delayed. We spent about 10 hours hanging around the airport and eventually managed to get a connection to
Falls-de-Iguaçu - luggage to follow the following morning.
Iguaçu Falls
There was only one main reason why we had come here and it was to see these incredible water falls. And after spending the first day wandering around town and taking in the cinema, it was straight off to the waterfalls the following morning.
To say that they were simply spectacular is still probably an under-statement; Niagara falls are like a little trickle compared to these.
We both felt that the Brazilian government could really do with carrying out some marketing for such an incredible natural resource to increase the awareness around the world.
Rio de Janeiro
That evening we took an overnight bus to Rio de Janeiro which took 24 hours. The following day we got dumped out at the main bus station. Luckily we managed to get a nice place to stay in the centre of the city, and spent our last 3 days in South America here. What’s to do in Rio de Janeiro you might ask? Lots…
• It wasn’t long before we took a trip up to the famous
Christ the Redeemer monument on the hill top overlooking the city with breathtaking view of the surrounding areas. We were a little disappointed though to find scaffolding on the statue, so it didn’t make for great photos.
• We got tickets for a football match in the famous
Maracana Stadium, where we watched -
Fluminense (local team) v's
Vitoria. We just couldn’t leave Brazil without taking in a game!
• We also wined and dined in several top cafes, enjoyed taking leisurely walks around the city, as well
as taking in some beach scenery for a few hours on one of the days. We especially enjoyed hanging out at the world famous
Copacabana beach.
All in all, we are sad to leave South America; we had a great time here and got to experience so much in such a short time.
No time for feeling nostalgic though - we have a flight tonight to London with an onward connection to
Spain a day later, and yes we definitely need to be on it….
Europe here we come!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0233s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
