Down the mighty Amazon...

We haven´t updated the blog for a while now - the main reason being that there is no internet access on a riverboat on the Amazon River! After our jungle trip we climbed on board a riverboat headed from Manaus to Santarem, probably about 600 km down the Amazon from Manaus. Riverboats that ply the Amazon River have two decks with nothing more than hooks from which to hang a hammock. There doesn´t seem to be a limit to the number of people allowed on the boat and the arrangement of hammocks can get pretty chaotic! The trip from Manaus to Santarem took 36 hours, supposedly leaving Manaus at 3 PM (actually 7 PM) and reaching Santerem at about 7 AM a day and a half later. The boat we were on fortunately had an upper deck where we could get away from the squashed hammock quarters. Sleeping in a hammock is a bit of an art, especially when the boat reaches some turbulent waters (the Amazon is big enough to develop a decent swell in windy weather) and you start swinging into your neighbours! Food is served at odd hours and consists of rice, overcooked spaghetti and a meat stew, plentiful but not inspiring. Still, the river trip is preferable over the bus trip which has to negotiate several washed out bridges and apparently takes a VERY long time.

Instead of staying in Santarem we decided to stay in the nearby village of Alter do Chau, on the Rio Trapajos, which reputedly had some nice beaches. We were in for a pleasant surprise, because the village overlooks a sandbar on in the beautiful clear Lago Verde. With a water temperature in the high 20´s, this Lake is perfect for swimming. We spent a few days chilling in Alter do Chau before resuming our journey down the Amazon, from Santarem to Belem. This time the riverboat was slightly smaller without the upper deck, which meant more time in hammocks. By this time I´d mastered the art of hammock sleeping, but Toby had not, and was a bit of a zombie by the time we arrived in Belem. The river in the lower reaches is actually more interesting than in the upper section, because the numerous islands result in narrower channels, so the boat is closer to the banks and you get to see more of how the people live, in grass huts built on stilts on the waters edge, each with their own dock for the canoes that they use for fishing. The kids seem quite independent and we often saw kids who looked about 5 or 6 years old paddling themselves across the river.

After 48 hours of being on the boat we arrived in Belem, only to get ourselves mugged!! Such is an odyssey, a long journey with many changes in fortune! Two guys posing as beggars were hassling us, and when we tried to get away from them, they grabbed our watches and ran! Toby almost caught the one guy, but they got away. While being timeless is a bit of a nuisance, at least we still have the important things, our lives, our passports and our credit cards.

Till next time,
Meris & Toby