Character Building

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April 23 2013 and beyond...

On this morning we awaken to the sound of a marching band and what sounds like a parade. I hop out of bed and run to go see but by the time I get there all I see is students walking, the musicians have passed our hostel. Wide awake now we make fried potatoes, the gas runs out so we can't cook eggs but man were the potatoes delicious!

We went to the market which is quite large and very stinky as usual. This market has lot of interesting things like crocodile, turtles =( piranhas, pretty striped fish and more herbs, barks and oils than I can count. We buy a glass of juice, it's pink and delicious, never heard of the two fruits it's made out of.

Next we hire a boat to take us to the floating market. He asks for 20 soles and we agree on 10. It's a little handmade canoe. We have to duck for power lines. He tells us that during dry season there is no water here and there are streets beneath us. We can see the light posts, it's amazing that there is this much water right now but it's the end of rainy season and totally normal. There really isn't much in the way of markets here but we are enjoying the boat ride. A guy says yells hello in English from a floating house, then asks if we want some cannabis. Dan say no, gracias, ha ha. We are chatting with the guy paddling us around. He says he lives in one of the floating villages and asks if we want to see where he lives. We say sure and he takes us to meet his wife and four kids. One of his sons is really cute and very shy. His wife gives us cups of a wheat hot drink. We haven't had this before but I quite like it. Dan thinks it's meh. We scarf down the drinks and are on our way.

It is interesting because there are cats and dogs in these floating houses. The only way to get around is by boat so it seems strange for cats to be there. Meanwhile random kids are waving at us, we smile and wave back. I ask the captain if the kids in this pueblo go to school and he says yes. Later we paddle by the school which you have to take a boat to get to. There are kids in class, I don't understand why the kids that were school aged in his village aren't in school. When we come to the end we give him 15 instead of 10 since his wife gave us those drinks. He was a really nice guy and seemed genuinely interested in getting to know us. I didn't feel like he was trying to pump us for money. I know they are just trying to make a living but when people are fake for the sake of getting as much money out of you as they can it drives me crazy.

As we walk back thru the market Dan buys a hunk of crocodile meat. We head back to the hostel where he cooks it up and makes a sandwich. I sample the meat, not bad at all. I don't like fish but this I can eat =) Some hippies come in the kitchen and tell us how they can't eat meat, blah blah blah. No I don't think it's mean, crocodiles kill people, now a turtle that I wouldn't eat 😉 Dan buys us some soda at the corner market, they have cherry coke and mountain dew, two sodas we have not seen anywhere although had we looked I'm sure they would have had them in Panama. They are $1.25 each US which is a lot but we are pretty excited to have them.

After roasting in the sun all morning we are tired and a little burnt, we take a nap and then go find the port with boats heading to the border. The boats are 3 story cargo ships, it costs 80 soles ($32 US) per person and includes food. It will take about 3 days. This boat looks better than the rust buckets on the other river. He tells us we can pay tomorrow when we board the boat.

We find a place with decent internet, I check my email and such then I Google the route we will be taking and find a blog. The boat ride sounds horrible, I have Dan read it and he says are you sure you want to do this? I say "no but I was scared to ride on the top of buses or go on the gondola or so many other things on this trip but I have done them and survived."

We bought some snacks for the boat in case they serve terrible food the whole time, I don't want to starve. We make a delicious pasta dinner and have a nice wine with it. We hang out with some people at the hostel, some of which were on that rust bucket that we missed. They had waited for 7 days in Pantoja for a boat! Poor souls.

I engage in a conversation with a guy from Turkey. We are talking about all the garbage everywhere. I tell him I don't understand it. Most people literally sit in front of their house all day. You just see them sitting around all of the time, doing nothing. I say they obviously aren't busy why don't they pick up the damn garbage. He reminds me I don't know them or what is going on in their life. Maybe they are stressed out worried because they don't know how they are going to feed their family. I don't see how sitting there all the time is helping the situation. Why do they have so many kids to feed anyway? The Turkish guy says a lot of them are catholic and don't believe in birth control or can't afford it. To which I reply well the bible says you shouldn't be drunk either but they aren't abiding by that and most of the guys are alcoholics, if they didn't spend money on beer so much maybe they could afford birth control. Really the whole situation frustrates me. I know I don't understand their lives and I am being judgmental but it all seems so senseless to me and even if you try and educate them Mom or Dad decides the 12 year old is of better use working at the family business then going to school. How do you end the cycle, it's not an easy thing to do. I really would like to make a difference. Maybe when I'm done seeing the world I'll be a part of a project that addresses these issues.

The next morning we head to the zoo and it is so fun! There is a dolphin there and we get a really good look at him and he's a little pink on the underside like we have heard they can be. There are huge fish, probably 5 feet long, in a little moat thing that was around a monkey area, the monkeys were so fun to watch, swinging around on their branches. In fact in other parts of the zoo there were lots of different kinds of monkeys. One of them kept holding Dan's hand thru the fence, it was adorable. Then the female would come up and they were play fighting with each other, biting and stuff. It was hilarious! They had really nice teeth too. Another type of monkey reached out and gave me a perfect low five, it was totally unexpected and awesome! The same monkey kept trying to take Dan's bracelet off him. Monkeys have got to be one of the most amusing animals in the world.

There was a "baby" anaconda that you could hold if you wanted for 5 soles, it was about 7 feet long, no thank you! There was also an adult in a cage, quite the long snake it was. There were several types of cats. One of the ocelots in particular was purring extremely loudly it sounded like a little motor boat. They are so cute, I just want to cuddle with them! There were lots of beautiful parrots, Dan held on of them or rather it was perched on his fingers. We really had a lovely time there. We could have also swam in a lagoon, they had a nice area but we were out of time.

After lunch and some ice cream we headed to our boat. It was 4 hours early but we heard we would get stuck with a bad hammock spot if we didn't arrive around 3. I was quite nervous and preparing for the worst. We head onto the second floor where there are already hammocks set up but it isn't full. We start to head past the ones already hung and a local tells us to go upstairs. We do and much to my surprise there is no one up there yet. I like this floor better because there is more open air and it isn't as hot. We (and by we, I mean Dan) hang our hammocks up near the back of the boat which is where the open end is, we will get the most fresh air here and yet be far enough back that hopefully will be dry if it rains.

The whole time there are 3 vendors trying to sell us stuff. No we don't need a hammock or straps can't you see we have both already. A lady is trying to sell me a plastic bowl with a lid. She tells me we need it to eat that we need something to put the food in that they serve us. I go ask someone who works on the boat if there are plates in the kitchen and he says yes so I come back and tell her no I don't want to buy it. She is arguing with me now and I flat out tell her the captain said I don't need it. But how are you going to eat she says, I look at her in the eyes and say I don't know but I don't want the bowl. She stares at me very rudely then walks away.

My feet are all muddy from the area before the boat. For some reason this annoys me. No, this torments me, I know I'm probably not getting a shower for a while and here I am before the boat even leaves with extremely dirty feet. The shore is full of garbage and I wouldn't stick my feet in that water for anything. After some whining, like an act of God the water tank on our level starts overflowing. As I wonder to myself if the water is clean I see locals go wash their face in the water so I bolt over and wash off my feet. Thank you God!

The level we are on which is the top level has a metal floor, it slants downward on each side of the boat. There are metal poles along the center and pipes for us to hang our hammocks on. There is a tarp for a roof and tarps rolled up on the sides of the boat for us to roll down when it rains or at night if we like. There are benches on the edge of each boat. You can sit in most places but the hammocks are in the way in other areas. There are bars that separate our area from the back of the boat where the water tank is and some other working parts. We cross it every now and then and look at the sky. The guys also pee off the side of the boat from there. I see a little boy just pee on the boat in that area. Guys are just spitting on the floor where our hammocks are too, it's so gross. Sometimes I think these people act like animals. I don't comprehend how they have no desire to live in a cleaner environment. We had previously walked around barefoot a bit but the peeing and spitting ended that.

By the time everyone is on I am relieved that there aren't other hammocks touching mine, the boat is not as crowded as I had imagined. Don't get me wrong there isn't a lot of space but it is totally reasonable. The lights stay on well into the night which is annoying but I manage to fall asleep.

The guy next to Dan is more than snoring, it is so incredibly loud. I watch his enormous belly jerk up and down rapidly with short breaths. I comment on the snoring and Dan says he's got a real problem, I start laughing, it's late and I have woken up after a couple hours of sleep, I'm not quite in my right mind. Dan says it's not funny he could die and I start laughing even more. I am a terrible person I know; delirium is my only "excuse".

The next morning I wake up hot, I had put pants and a long sleeve shirt on as there was a lot of air and I got a bit chilly. Dan was up much later than I and is still sleeping. I head downstairs for breakfast which is 3 white rolls and a hot wheat drink. It's the same stuff that we had a couple days before. I come back upstairs and sit on the bench and start talking to one of the locals. He's nice and interested to talk to me.

After breakfast I use the bathroom which I knew from the previous night was not pleasant. A very dirty toilet with no seat, a valve on PVC pipe to flush, no toilet paper, a disgusting bin to put your TP in, a filthy floor and a PVC pipe next to the toilet coming out of the ceiling which was supposed to be a shower. This little metal room is a sauna as well. Anyway this morning I walk in to see poop all over the floor. It appears someone tried to take a crap in the shower drain hole. Poop got on the trash can which is now in front of the toilet. It is a truly repulsive sight. The other stall doesn't lock and it is nearly impossible to squat over the toilet (since there is no seat) and reach over to hold the door and relax your muscles enough to actually pee. Again all I can think is what animals! I want to exit and yell in Spanish on a bullhorn "who is the idiot who shit all over the floor?"

Thankfully a short while later something pleasant happened. We were on the back of the boat near the water tank brushing our teeth and I saw a huge fish, I'm telling Dan what I just saw and as I'm speaking I realize it was probably a dolphin rather than a fish. Sure enough it reappears and we see a couple more. It was beautiful! It is so amazing to me to see these creatures in a river. Throughout this trip we saw more dolphins, I would wake up from a nap and as soon as I opened my eyes see dolphins from where I slept. I got a fantastic view of one the next day, almost all of it's body was out of the water and it was grey and pink! Yay, finally a glimpse of a pink dolphin! The crazy thing is you can look out the side of the boat for hours and see nothing but when you aren't trying to see them they appear.

Lunch was noodles, a tiny piece of chicken and rice. The day was slightly boring. Around 3:30 we pulled into a port. We watched the people on shore, woman with their hair covered and men with beards. We moved a little further down shore and sadly were here for nearly 5 hours! It seemed like such a waste of time. They were dropping stuff off and picking stuff up but very inefficiently I believe. Because we weren't moving the bugs started to attack. Our bites are strange, not sure what all has gotten us. Also in that few hours tiny spiders were all over my backpack, bigger spiders had created webs all over the edge of the ship and on Dan's guitar bag. It's only after traveling that I can just say whatever and not freak out. I'm in the Amazon I can't just take them all out so I have got to live with them.

We decide to break out the tablet for the first time. We never want to make ourselves a target but we are quite board and everyone has phones and we saw a laptop. We watch an Irish movie that we got from Debbie the Scottish woman at the ranch. Then we go to get dinner, it's 7 and they say they are done serving dinner, they served it at 5. What!? No one told us and I even looked to see if people were eating while we watched the movie and I saw no one with dinner. I am so annoyed! Apparently you can pay for dinner, someone is cooking stuff so we order chicken, rice and fried plantains cause that is what they have. I am happy we have food but annoyed that we have to pay.

The next morning I wake far too early. It's a little after 6 and we are at another port. Many have gotten off the boat. I slept in my shorts and tank top last night but even so I am covered in sweat and it is extremely humid. When Dan touches me he comments on how hot I feel. I make some smart remark about probably having yellow fever. (I got the vaccine so don't worry about that =)

Breakfast is the same this morning. The day is quite boring. We watch Mad Men on my tablet and before we know it we are at the border. We pack up our hammocks and get a little canoe to take us to immigration. Everything is under water so we can't walk. Our boat leaves with our bags, the guy with us says they are just picking someone else up and will be back. They better be! Just about everything I own is in my backpack. After immigration we have to go to the police office, no idea why but they give us another stamp. The boat comes back and everything appears to be in order. They take us to the Brazilian city. Columbia, Peru and Brazil all meet right here so it's an interesting location.

After a short walk we are standing there not knowing what to do first. The boats are right here, we can go book our next boat, we could find a hostel or go get our entrance stamp for Brazil. A guy asks if we want a taxi to get the stamp, sure...oh wait you have a motorcycle. Umm no, I don't want to die and we have huge backpacks, a guitar and a gallon of water to carry. While he looks for a car another guy tells us about a hostel really close. We decide to wait on the taxi, would be nice to loose all of our stuff. We get to the place and you just hang your hammock up. Thanks but no thanks, we have slept on a hammock 3 nights and have another 3 or 4 nights on the next boat, would like a bed tonight and are sick of guarding our stuff. By the way, hammocks are not that fantastic to sleep in all night. The next place he takes us has a spacious room, a TV, air conditioning and a private bath. The bed is complete crap but by the looks of this town we aren't going to do much better. It's about $10 US per person.

Next we get some Brazilian currency and walk to the place to get a stamp for our passports. The guys speak English, yay cause we don't speak Portuguese. They are nice and tell us we can come back tomorrow to save losing a day on our visa but we don't want to come back tomorrow so we just get the stamp while we are there. We come back and head to the boat. it's $100 US per person! Holy moly that is more than we expected. We leave without a ticket, got to see if there is a cheaper way.

Finally it's shower time. The water is hot...no!!! Of all the times to have hot water not now, I'm going to faint right now, it's so hot! Thankfully the water gets cold. I very much enjoy washing 3 days of filth off. I get out of the shower and am sweaty almost instantly, fantastic.

After some research a flight will be much more expensive and there are no other boats leaving soon. We get dinner, find an ATM stop by a store and go back to the hotel at which time we enter our insanely hot room. What the heck I left the AC on!? I ask for a fan and then go examine the AC, our room is hotter than the lobby which does not have AC. Oh it’s on some sort of vent setting, not AC, turn the knob and now we are talking, cold air! At this point I pass out for the night; the heat has zapped me of all my energy.

The next morning we pack up and head to the dock. There are lots of people waiting. We buy tickets and go wait with everyone else. They don't let you just get on the boat like the previous one. Meanwhile the guy who got us the hotel brings a gringo over to us. He's quite proud and happy to unite the only other gringo with us. Ha ha, the look on his face is priceless. Her name is Emma, she is from England and has been traveling 10 months.

As we wait in line we see that they are searching bags, that is what is taking so long. When I finally step up the guy speaks a little English. He is pleasant enough. He looks thru my stuff and sends me to the female police officer who pats me down quite thoroughly. They must have a problem with smuggling. I guess the Columbian border is here after all.

Dan gets upstairs before me but it's no use, it's crowded already. We hang our hammocks where we can. This boat is nicer than the last but more crowded. The bathroom has a toilet seat and it nicer but hotter. There is soap and more sinks and drinking water. There is a little “café” where you can buy stuff upstairs. I see someone picking up trash as opposed to letting it fly off the boat or throwing it off the boat. Just when I'm thinking things aren't too bad some lady comes and puts her hammock between me and the next guy. Super, her hammock is touching mine and his and there are two people sleeping in it. Grrrrr, every time they move my hammock moves.

There are quite a few Hations on the boat, apparently they moved a lot of refuges here after the earthquake. Emma says the locals like them cause they work hard. I don't doubt it, many of the locals don't seem to know what hard work is. I am hoping to get to know them a bit.

Dinner on this boat is run a little differently, they tell you when it's time to eat and you go sit in a specific room at a table which is nice. Tonight we had a delicious soup with rolls. There is only so much space so we go eat in shifts. I am quite hungry, I didn't have a proper breakfast or lunch.

After dinner we go snag one of the few tables upstairs and play rummy. One of the Haitians asks to take Dan's chair when he is away for a few minutes so I tell him it's occupied but that there are more chairs inside; he does not however go get one. A little later with success I communicate that there are chairs inside. He thanks me and tells me he only speaks Creole and French. Some boat this is, we don't speak either of those languages or Portuguese!

We have a spare deck of cards on the table and the Haitian's ask if they can use it. One of them had been watching us play rummy and finally said in Spanish that he didn't understand the game and walked away. They start playing on one of the seats of a chair. After telling them they could probably bring one of the tables from inside out I think we have made friends!

After Dan kicked our butts at rummy we gave up our table and sat at the back of the boat. There was lightning off in the distance and it was beautiful to watch! Dan played guitar, Emma and I sang along when we knew the words. It was quite windy so a little hard to hear some of the songs. We call it a night and as I am heading towards the stairs I hear one of the Haitian's say something in English so I turn around and they start talking to me. Obell tells me he can speak some English, I ask how long he has been in Brazil and he say's a month, not sure if he understood the question. He says he will work here for 5 years and then go back to Haiti. When I tell him I am from USA he says he really wants to go there some day. I try to ask about the state of Haiti since the earthquake but he doesn't understand the word in English. One of his friends comes over and says he speaks some Spanish. He tells me it's easy for him to learn because it is similar to French. We exchange some more small talk with difficulty. Between the language barrier and the accents it is really hard to carry on a good conversation. I excuse myself after a while feeling quite happy that I have been able to talk to them a bit at least.

Sleep is nearly impossible, people bumping into me and waking me just as I nod off. We stop at a port and the woman sharing the hammock below me is talking, no chanting, no, praying? I hear her say Spiritus Sante and then I know for sure she is praying. It's kind of creepy because she is so close it sounds like she its talking directly into my ear but at the same time it sounds beautiful. Portuguese really might be one of my favourite languages to listen to. I hear a glorious and hallelujah and that's it. As if right on cue there are more people boarding our boat. Are you kidding me! Hang your hammocks downstairs please! I know it's louder down there but honestly there is no more room up here. I am wrong, dead wrong, they make room.

I maybe sleep 45 minutes at a time, it is terrible and all I can think of is that I have three nights of this. We are at another port and I'm wondering what time it is, a crew member runs upstairs, rolls up the tarp that is now on the sides of the boat and yells instructions in Portuguese. I make out that the police are boarding and we need to get out our passports. I ask Dan what time it is, 3:30 am. The lights are on now, babies crying and the Haitian next to me turns on some music. Why not, it's 3:30 am and we are all awake anyway =0 The police aren't just checking passports they are searching luggage. I get out some peanuts, this is obviously going to take a while. When they come to me they ask where we are going and if we came from Tabatinga which we did. The search is pathetic really, I could totally have been smuggling something. They move on to the pregnant lady next to Dan. After an hour they finally exit and we leave. Dan is quite irritated and I am laughing as I tend to do when I'm starting to lose it. Thank goodness when I'm mad he is cool and vice a versa.

I wake up hearing that breakfast is ready, it's 6:30 am. No big deal I only wanted two more hours of sleep anyway 😉. There is music playing, not the Haitian's anymore, someone else's. Who thinks this is a good idea, seriously! Breakfast is coffee, crappy bread and some sort of poudcakeish thing. I eat the cake and go right back to bed and get about 3 1/2 hours of good sleep. Yay! I go find Dan and we discuss last night’s events with a Brazilian girl who we had previously talked to some. She has been traveling South America for a year and a half and his headed back home. She is only 19! I tell her she is brave and she starts laughing and thanks me.

Lunch is ready soon after, early but I am not complaining. After lunch we sleep for quite a while. I guess sleeping during the day is going to be our best bet. Oh and the hammock that was under me/next to me has moved. They must have thought it was terrible as well or maybe someone got off the boat, I can't tell, it still looks just as crammed as before.

When I wake up I look for Emma but can't find her. I realize I haven't seen her since breakfast which was 6:30 am, it's now like 4 pm. I wait a while and she doesn't appear. I start to fear she has A: fallen off the boat B: Has passed out in the bathroom (one of them has been locked for a very long time and no one is answering when I knock) or C: Was left behind at a port. I do another sweep of all 3 floors and she isn't anywhere. I wake Dan up and he says "I suppose you want me to go look for her" Sheesh some friend he is! If someone hadn't seen me for 10 hours I would hope they would look for me and be concerned. I'll give him a break, I know I can be a little dramatic but it is a boat and it is odd that he doesn't remember seeing her after breakfast either and there are only so many places you can be on a boat. After he does a sweep and can't find her, I tell a crew member I can't find my friend the only other gringa on the boat. He asks if we looked upstairs at the front of the boat. No, we haven't because there is a gate blocking access and it says restricted. I rush upstairs and find her sitting comfortably in the shade reading. She says she has been up there for hours. Thank God she is alright!

It is a magnificent view from this area. We all are feeling better rested after napping and have a better outlook. The sky is blue with big puffy white clouds. The jungle lines both sides of the river as always. Now some red dirt has appeared on the banks, which is interesting. There is some pink in the sky ahead just above the tree line. The thing is you can't help but love and hate these boats. One minute you are sleep deprived and irritated and the next you are looking out at the water, the trees, fishing boats, beautiful sunsets or star filled skies. It's a unique experience.

Later that night one of the Haitian's wants to learn how to play rummy, this is difficult as he speaks almost no English. We somehow manage to get some of the basics down. Dan isn't playing so he helps him with his first hand, it's clear he is getting it but explaining rummy itself is impossible. When it comes time to explain points he understands the values but not that when you have cards in your hand they go against the points you have on the table. His friend explains it to him in Creole. Collectively we make it happen!

It starts raining and the wind kicks up and there go our cards, nooooo! Thankfully the Haitian grabs the ones that are about to fly off the deck. After a quick count all of the cards are accounted for. Thank God, we can't exactly buy another deck on this boat.

There are giant flying bugs that have been tormenting us on and off and now Emma is just plain skittish. She is running around shrieking at a month and I'm laughing uncontrollably. I mean I was shrieking earlier at a bug but it wasn't a harmless moth. She is running away and Dan yells that it's on her butt, I look over thinking he is just messing with her but nope, it is actually on her butt. I don't know the last time I laughed that hard; outside of my loony bin delirium moments that is 😉

The 2nd night was actually great; I slept almost the whole night through! We wake up at 6:15 and get breakfast which is an interesting array of things I have never had. A rolled up chewy doughy thing that basically tastes like margarine, a pastry puff of some sort that is better than the other thing but pretty tasteless and some cornmeal goop in a pan that is gross. Whatever, it's only a few days of this.

It's time to bite the bullet and shower. This shower as I described previously is better than the last boat but it smells like an outhouse in there and it's quite a repulsive smell. I don't know if it's river water or not but I sure did feel better after my shower and I'm sure the people around me appreciated the effort 😉

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Photos

Boat
We spent 3 days on this boat from Iquitos Peru to Tapating Brazil .

Hammock!
This was the last day on this boat, we had dropped off a bunch of people, I failed to get a picture with all the hammocks up.

More Crowded Boat
This was on the boat from Tapatinga to Manaus. More hammocks were added after this photo...