Brazil - from Amazon to beach

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So the plan was to head to Leticia right in the southern tip of Colombia at a point where Brazil, Colombia and Peru all meet together and right on the banks of what would become the Amazon some 1500kms downstream. Our flights were delayed and involved an overnight stop in Bogota but we eventually made it to Leticia. The heat hit us as soon as we stepped off the plane, much more humid and hot then we had experienced so far. After getting stamped out of Colombia, so we were now illegal aliens becuase we hadn´t yet been stamped into Brazil but were planning to spend the night in Colombia we headed into town (a 5 minute walk according to a helpful local). We arrived in town about 20 mins later soaked in sweat and tempers fraying and settled on the first guesthouse we found, worryingly with a large open window at the top of our bedroom door which we had to block as there were some loud drunk aussies staying the night also. The first thing we did was catch a tuktuk across the border into Brazil (the towns of Leticia and Tabatinga are side by side and you barely notice going across the border and you can freely move from one side to the other with no checks at all). We found the police station across the border and got our stamps into Brazil which meant we could just go straight to the boat in the morning. We headed back across the border to Leticia and spent the evening there before an early start the next day.

We had heard that the boat to Manaus from Leticia is very very crowded and that you have to get there first in order to get the best spot. Accomodation for the four day trip is in hammocks on the deck (unless you´re rich and can afford a cabin). You have to bring your own hammock and rope and there are definately good and bad spots to hang them so being ealy was important. So as the boat was leaving at 2pm we got there about 8.30am to get in the queue, more than enough time. The problem was that the boat actually left at 11am, which we didn´t know until we got there and the queue was already huge and we still had to buy a hammock and rope. So while I, Tom went with our very helpful taxi driver (and his young son who was along for the ride, apparently no school that day) to the local market to pick up the first hammock I could find (we already had one), some very expensive rope (I guess they could tell I was in a rush) and a couple of mosquito nets just in case, Kat joined the queue. When I got there most of the queue had gone but all our luggage had been arranged in neat lines across the floor. Kat said that the scary looking police, equiped with machine guns, pistols, large knives and bullet proof vests that made them seem even bigger than they already were had asked them to do this. Fortunately they weren´t too unapproachable as Kat found when I was away when she tried to explain who the exptra luggage belonged to, saying it belonged to her ´esposa´. After much laughter and confusion from the guards Kat realised that she had meant to say ´esposo´, that slight difference turning me from her husband into a wife. The lines of luggage were so that the drugs dogs could sniff all the bags. Passing this test we were then moved to another room where they literrally took our carefully packed bags apart and searched everything. Passing this test also, despite the guards interest in Tom´s Epipens (needles for an alergic reaction, of course any needle you carry will raise suspicions) we proceeded to the boat but not before Kat was practically strip searched in a side room also.

Because we were later than others to the boat the middle deck of three, the best deck, away from the engines and the kitchen was already full to bursting. We were the first ones to get our hammocks up, with a little help with the knots from one of the guards, on the lower deck (the top one open with the bar). There are bars than run parrallel across the ceiling of the deck and it is on to these that you tie your hammock. We were happy with the amount of space around us and settled in while a few more boarded. We were on the deck just above the engines but the noise wasn´t too bad. We travelled for half and hour or so before we docked again at another smaller port. This time lots and lots more people started to board and the boat was filling up fast. It is supposed to carry 200 people but there already seemed to be more than that and more were still boarding. All the available space around us began to be taken up and hammocks were slung between all the others so you were literally rubbing shoulders with the stranger next to you and hammocks were hung from every conceivable place. The boat also carried a little cargo as we had heard they do although ours just seemed to be carrying large quantities of frozen chickens in the hold underneath our hammocks. After more police checks we eventually got going again. The boat was travelling fairly fast helped by the downstream current but the banks were aready quite far away. The banks were lined mainly with thick forest with the occasional small village where the houses were arranged on stilts for when the Amazon flooded in the wet season. We quickly settled into life on the boat which was fairly monotonous but it was great just relaxing and watching the world go by. We spent our time lying in our hammocks reading, playing games and entertaining the small kids who were travelling on the boat with their families. Most of the kids were so well behaved and very polite and even though we spoke no Portugese and they no Spanish it was great fun to interact with them. The only punctuations to the day were either the meals and when we docked at small ports along the way. Breakfast was served between 6-7.30, lunch was 10.30-12 and dinner was 5-6.30. At each meal time everyone lined up and served themselves from the food set out on the table. All very well except they seemed to have 10 plates between 200 people so unless you had your own plate ( as a lot of the locals did) you had to wait by the table while people ate and then wait for the plate to be washed. The food was basic and not a piece of fruit or veg in sight. We risked scurvy if we´d had to spend and more than 4 days on the boat. Along the river we stopped at various ports letting people off and somehow squeezing even more people onboard. The boat also met up with various little boats along the trip and would load and unload cargo without even stopping the boat. All very suspect especially when they did it in the dead of the night in pitch darkness.

Just before entering Manaus port we passed a poin in the river called ´the meeting of the rivers´. It is a point where the black river and the white river meet but don´t mix. It is a very strange sight as there is a clear line between them in the river where they meet but don´t flow into the other.

The 4 days passed fairly quickly although we were glad to get back onto dry land when we reached Manaus. We stayed one night in Manaus with some people we had met on the boat. Manaus is a strange place as it is a city of 2.2 million in the middle of the Amazon. Having sailed down the Amazon it doesn´t seem right that anything like that could exist there. After spending the day seeing some sights we took a bus to the airport for our flight to Salvador.

Our flight was in the middle of the night and the flight was more like a bus than a plane, stopping around four times before it even reached its final destination. Fortunately Salvador was the second stop and we arrived the next morning after catching a little sleep. At the airport we grabbed another bus to the hostel. Now, there´s a little bad design when it comes to Brazilian local buses. Bearing in mind that the bus was leaving the airport and that most people who have been flying have large bags with them, we no different with our large backpacks on our back and day bags on our front. When you get on a Brazilian bus you pay your money to the conductor who sits on a little seat near thge door and you then pass through a metal turnstyle. The turnstyles are all the same, very narrow and extend from the floor to about chest height. Now, even the slimmest people have to squeeze through these to get through. Anyone with bags, especially large backpacks that turn you into a rather wide and long load, it is impossible to get through. So we´ve had to employ a rather strange system to get through these, Kat goes through after leaving all her bags on the driver´s side. I then have to lift the heavy bags up over the turnstyle and pass them to Kat who stands on the other side until all four bags are through and then I follow. How anyone thinks that this is a system that makes any sense we can´t understand. For anyone with bags, pushchairs, elderly, disabled it´s a nightmare.

Anyway so we go to our hostel which was actually really nice and went for a wander round the city. Lonely Planet descibes Salvador with the words ´If you´re going to be mugged or pickpocketed in Brazil its likely to be in Salvador´and we had also met a (rather drunk) Brazilian in Manaus who wouldn´t stop going on about how dangerous it was too. So we stepped out in Salvador expecting to be running under hails of bullets. Instead what we found was beautiful old colonial buildings surrounding narrow cobbled alleys and grand squares with the usual contingent of men and women sitting around talking at all times of day. We were admitedly staying in the old town and the view to other parts of this large city were less romantic so all the grandeur and seeming safety had to be taken with a pinch of salt but we were pleasently surprised. There were also plenty of police standing around so we felt pretty safe. We still took the necessary precautions but enjoyed wandering tyhe streets looking at the old architeture and museums. The following day we did much of the same, including visiting a market. That night, we had heard that Salvador comes alive on a Tuesday of all nights, we headed out to one of the sqaures. A drum band was setting up and starting to play some tunes and stalls were being erected around the sqaure. We went off for some dinner and came back later. When we returned the square was packed with locals and also a handful of gringos all dancing away to the live music. We grabbed a couple of caiparinhas (very drinkable and strong Brazilian cocktails made with suger cane spirit, suger and crushed limes, so good) and joined them. The band that were on at that time were brilliant, with a really carismatic singer with a dancer on each side, all of whom seemed to be really enjoying themselves with huge grins on their faces. Salvador is in Bahia which is the region where a lot of slaves were brought into, so the musical influence is amazing. We stayed for a few hours before it wrapped up at a rather early midnight.

So we left Salvador having been surprised how much we enjoyed it and also with all our possessions intact. Leaving was rather difficult for other reasons also. To get out overland the best way is to take a ferry across the bay (about 45 mins) and then get a bus south on the other side. Simple we thought. Firstly we couldn´t get a bus or taxi to take us in the right direction of the port. We eventually got there and walked into the port. The queue literally went round the block and was not moving. We could be stuck in it for hours. So we pushed through to the ticket terminal and stood there looking like two very confused gringos, unable to read or speak and Portugese. Some of the locals, seeing us began to point round the corner but we could´t understand what they meant. Then a lovely middle aged woman (this always seems to happen when you´re looking lost in a foreign country) took us by the hand and lead us through the lines of people queueing, hundreds of people. So deposited us next to a security guard and pointed at some ticket desks that had no queue right at the end of the terminal. We were utterly confused but the security guard let us through the barrier and we just walked up and bought our tickets for the next boat, an hour later. None the wiser we walked through into the waiting area. We could only guess that all these people were buying tickets for some date in the future, maybe for cars, possibly closer to Christmas. We never found out but got on the boat anyway. Several hours later, having got a bus on the other side we were nearing Itacare, a beach resort. On the bus we had met the only other gringo there, a french guy who lived there with his wife. Well he actually lived in a sort of eco village with lots of other expats a few miles down the beach from Itacare. We spent that night having dinner with him and dreaming of moving there ourselves which he made sound very easy and cheap. Itacare itself is nice, mostly one long street with lots of bars and restaurants, clearly with money from some of the more well off visitors, and a chain of picturesque surf beaches. Unfortunately it started raining when we were there an drizzled all day so we decided to leave after two nights.

The next day after some change of plans we were headed to Rio and some 28 hours later we got there. After fighting with the taxi agents about the ridiculous price they wanted for a taxi to Ipenema we decided to take a local bus. Clearly not designed for any type of luggage beyond a miniscule handbag as they make you go through a tiny turnstyle to get to the seats after paying the conductor. Do they not think that people leaving a bus station or airport may have some larger luggage? 90 minutes we amarged from the bus and made our way to the area we wanted to stay in. We finally found what is known as Ipenema´s ´hostel row´. It´s an alleyway of houses with a gate at the end with a central courtyard. The alleyway contained about 6 hostels so it was like a little backpacker community. After checking and and taking a long overdue shower we took a walk along Ipenema and Copacabana beaches. They ara amazing beaches with white sand and Copacabana seems to go on for ages. Unfortunately as it was saturday you could hardly see the sand for bodies. That night we relaxed in the hostel with a few beers before getting an early night.

The next day we took a bus to Cristo Redentor ( Christ the Redeemor or the big statue of Christ on the hill.) We arrived at the cog train that you take to the top of the hill just after a massive cruise tour so had to wait over an hour to baord the train. Once on the train it is a 20 min ride to the top. At the top you get an escalator, yes an escalator, to the next platform where the stautue sits. It is a pretty amazing sight and from the hill there are great views across the sprawling city of Rio. After taking some pictures and admiring the view we quickly made our way back down- the crowds at the top were very claustrophobic.After taking the bus back to Ipenema we had a wander round the Sunday Hipi market which was full of local artists and craftmen selling their goods.

Since being in Brazil we have discovered the local drink Caiparinha. It is a cocktail made from Cachaça spirit, muddled limes, sugar and ice. Very potent but so tasty. So we decided to buy a bottle of Cachaça, some limes, a bag of sugar and have a go at making them ourselves. After 4 we fianlly mastered the perfect quantities of spirit, lime and sugar. At oly $5 a bottle of spirit we will definately be investing in another bottle.

On our second day we had booked a ´favela´tour. This was a 3 hour tour of two ´favelas´( poor shanty towns) in Rio by a guide who lives in one of the favelas. There are 786 favelas in Rio and they have the reputation of being very dangerous and full of drugs. Hence it is usually not a good idea to go wanderin into a favela as a tourist on your own. This tour allows tourists to visit the favelas safely and to learn about life and the social and poiltical dynamics of the favelas. Our guide took us to a small favela of 2500 people where we wandered round the area seeing in people´s houses and speaking to some locals. The favela was made up of tiny oppressive alleyways consisting of several stories of houses, shops and even churches. TB is a major problem in the favelas due to the damp and dark conditions. We also visited a social project in the favela which runs workshops and classes for the local children. Interestingly, literally just across the road from this favela is the richest area in the city with huge houses, 6 foot electronic gates and flash cars. After getting back in our van we drove to the biggest favela in the city- Rochina- which has 160,000 poeple living in it. Here we stopped a few times to take pictures from designated spots- many locals do not want tourists taking pictures of their lives and so we were not allowed to photograph the street. Our guide told us that one drug dealer ´used to´ live in one of the houses we stopped outside and had in the past complained about people taking pictures.

When we returned from the tour we spent the aftrenoon on the beach. The beach is an extremely good place for people watching. My bikini was clearly oversized as most of the women wear bikinis that cover as little as possible and many of them do not have the body to be showing it off. Tom was very overdressed in his board shorts as unless you had white speedos on you were clearly out of fashion!

That evening we went out for dinner with some very nice people we met. All the hostels in the alleyway had a very strict rule that they closed at 10pm and you were not allowed to sit anywhere around the alleyway after that time so we ended up sitting outside on a shop doorstep drinking beer until 2am. Very classy!

On our last day we visited Pao do Açucar ( sugar loaf moutain) which you reach by taking a cable car to the top. This gave us more amazing views of the city. Unfortunately the weather had changed and we just managed to get some pictures before the clouds and rain came in. Due to the weather we spent a relaxing afternoon and evening in the hostel.

The next day we made our way to the bus station to catch a bus to Paraty four hours south of Rio.

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Photos

Marcus with Juan and his big sister