ur nights as I headed down the Amazon to Belem. This was a much cheaper option than flying as I had left it too late to get cheap flights. Not quite a luxury cruise but not as bad as it could have been.
The bar and dining area - breakfast was served so early I missed it every day and lunch and dinner was pretty much the same every day - rice, beans and beef - I ended up opting for only one meal on the boat and had brought some snacks and I was able to pick up some fresh fruit etc when we stopped.
The agent who I bought my ticket from even went on board early and put my hammock up so I got a good spot -but it was not going to last as more people got on the boat things got busier but still not as busy as I thought it would be - I was in the Air conditioned section
But for some reason the deck below which was open at the side was much busier - the spaces weren´t allocated people just chose for themselves!! Although a couple of foreign & Brazilian tourists on the boat the majority of the people were local and had obviously done this trip a few times before - some of them go from the smaller villages to the bigger cities for work so travel up an down to visit family etc.
I got to know this view from my hammock pretty well........
The scenery didn´t change too much over the four days - but it really is impressive just how big the Amazon river is......
This little girl just thought it was strange that the grown up didn´t make any sense when she spoke!!
I had plenty of time to catch up on some reading.
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I met Luisa & Elisa on the boat who are Brazilian but speak perfect English and their friend Sam from the US.......not many others on the boat spoke any English including the staff so the girls were great at letting me know how long we were stopping at the ports etc - otherwise I would never have gotten off the boat as they don´t head count - you miss it that´s just tough luck!!
We stopped about 10 times at mainly small ports for people to jump on and off and of course for the local vendors to re-supply us.
The kids watching the action at the port.
The boat is actually a Cargo ship and had all sorts of interesting things being loaded - vehicles, fridges, sofa and at this port all these empty beer bottles!!
Like Manaus the ports most of the way down the river were flooded making it a bit harder work for those locals with work to do.
The Bull is of course a popular symbol in BRazil - this one was at the local market as there had just been a festival the week before.
Chom Poo Moo just can´t go anywhere without getting into trouble.....
The local kids on their way home from school.
Just napping and chilling out on the hammocks - it was impressive how well behaved the kids were given a lot of them were also on the boat for 4 days.
Another small port we stopped at.
There was a couple of nice sunsets on the way.
These little boys were so polite and came up to introduce themselves and wanted to ´chat´to the Gringo´s on the boat only it turned out that they stole the wallet of the other American couple on the boat when they left in the early hours of the morning - one of the guys sleeping near us found them at Luisa & Elisa´s bags so that´s how w knew it was them - at least they dumped the passport and credit card in the toilet!!
Full Moon on the Amazon.
Lets spend our Saturday morning queuing up for the bank!!
With all the fishing boats and food being transported their were plenty of hawks and vultures about the pier.
Sam hanging out on her hammock.
Not too much to see when we were actually moving as usually too far from shore but here we were a little closer so saw some birds.
Elisa has enough of sitting on her hammock so stretches off on the hammock racks - cabin fever setting in!!
Another port and change of scenery.
Time for bed.....the most annoying thing about the boat was the really loud and bad music that they played all day from about 9am till 1am - add to that people who would then listen to their own music on their mobile phones - the concept of headphones obviously hasn´t reached North Brazil yet.....
This smaller boat met us in the middle of the river for a scheduled passanger transfer.
At one of the ports we got off to stretch our legs and when we came back there was 6 more hammocks in the space right beside mine and all but on top of the girls hammocks - would not have been so bad if it hadn´t been for the fact that there was much more space just a bit further away so we ended up moving - well it was for their safety as even in a hammock I tend to be a wrestless sleeper and move around - would probably have ended up kicking one of them out!!
At one point we went past a serious of small houses where they are really poor and the locals all come over in their canoes an the people on the boat through down to them bags with clothes and food which they fish out of the water.
The phrasebook (which I inherited from Eduardo & Gill from my jungle trip) brough some amusement on the boat not only as it ´sounds out´the pronounciation but for the actual phrases it contains especially in the Romance section: ´that was weird/wild´ ´ Don´t worry I can do it and ít helps to have a sense of humour´!! mmm if you need the phrasebook to say that how do you get that far!!!
One of the local villages and a cemetery.
This was one of the other passanger boat that did the same route as ours but takes a day longer!
Eating, sleeping, reading, card games and we even resorted to charades to pass the time - all in all though it wasn´t too bad and the time passed faster than I thought it might - helped by the fact I met the girls and had some company.
Then suddenly there was all these high rise buildings as we came into Belem which is situated at the river mouth of the Amazon.
The friendly policemen who gave me a lift to my hostel and warned me that I shouldn´t be walking about the port area - it was 9am and my hostel was a 10 minute walk away!! But with guns like that I wasn´t going to argue with them.....
Ver-o-Peso Market in Belem is the largest open air market in Latin America allegedly though I wasn´t convinced (but I was there very early!!).
The dock area near the market (not the unsafe one!!) - the fisherman were busy getting their stock ready for the market of course....
I went to the Fort and got a tour of this de-commisioned Military ship.
Praca de Republica and the Teatro da Paz (Theatre) - lots of families, stalls and entertainers and what is that poor dog wearing!!
This lady was selling some craft things but I have no idea why she had a black mask over her face- that´s the biggest disadvantage of not speaking Portugese is I am unable to ask people to explain some of the thigns that I see - getting lost and not knowing what I am eating ar just mionr inconveniences!!
Chom Poo Moo love the minature transport options here.
I spent the afternoon at the Museu Emilio Goeldi - gardens and zoo - where they do research into local wildlife and plants. This big bug thingy was gaurding he toilets!!
Victoria Amazonica - giant floating lily´s that are famous in the Manaus area - unfortunately due to the high water levels when I was in the jungle they had all died but at least I saw some here.
A colourful plant.
These arewild rodents who go into the other animals cages and steal food/eggs etc - suppose they are a cuter version of the rat....
I can´t remember what these guys are called but they were pretty cute in an ugly sort of way!!
There really wasn´t too much to do in Belem itself - the main attraction is an island 2 hours away - but after 4 days on a boat I decided to give it a miss and just stayed for the one night before heading off on my 38 hour bus journey to Recife......the scenery wasn´t spectacular but there was a few nice points and we went through some quaint towns - of course all had big churches and prominent religous statues.
