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Amazon River Boat – Day 1 and Meeting of the Waters

We checked out of the hotel at 11am and took a van like taxi to the harbor. The next five days we will spend travelling on an Amazon River boat from Manaus to Belém. When speaking about a river boat I don’t mean a five star cruise ship but a ferry boat which the local people use to travel along the Amazon River. They use the boat to visit relatives, travel to see a doctor or transport all sorts of goods on the boat. Therefore, this boat trip will be more a cultural experience than a natural one.

We boarded the river boat around 12pm. Our leader Ross had reserved a cabin for us which was so tiny that at a time not more than two people could stand in it. Actually the cabin was not supposed to be a spot to hang out or to sleep in but to store the luggage of the nine of us. Having a cabin is especially important since we don’t just carry our clothes but also camping equipment and valuables such as passports, credit cards, money, laptops and cameras with us which we don’t want to get stolen. Therefore, it is better to lock everything up in a cabin instead of closely watching our stuff for five days.

One of us was also asking for the price of an additional cabin to sleep in but the price was very much expensive (approx. 400 USD) so that it wasn’t an option for any of us. If you read 100 USD per night for a twin-shared cabin you might think that this is something you can afford. Actually it is but when you are not just travelling for 2-3 weeks but more than a year you try to spend your travel money wisely. This is also the reason why we camp a lot. It’s not just because it’s nice to sleep outside in the nature but also to save significant amounts of money.

After we have stored our entire luggage in the cabin, we were hanging out on the upper deck waiting for the boat to depart. The boat has three decks and we have chosen the upper one to sleep on. As the majority of the people on the boat, we have no cabin to spend the night in but a hammock on the open deck. When the boat is moving there is a monotonous sound of the engine and a fresh breeze which helps you to fall asleep right in the middle of the local people and their luggage.

The boat departed in time which was 3pm. After a short while we arrived at the so called “Meeting of the Waters” where the muddy brown Solimões River meets the black Rio Negro River to form the Amazon River. It’s very interesting to see that the waters don’t mix straight right away but for many miles run side by side. The river has an incredible width of five miles at this point and it is simply amazing and breathtaking.

After spending some time walking around on the boat and laying in my hammock I decided that the hammock will not be the space where I will actually sleep during nighttime. Due to the movement of the boat and the wind the hammock was swinging quite a lot and it was also impossible to lay somewhat straight in it. Therefore, I got my camping mattress out and slept on the ground underneath my mattress. This was much better and I had a good sleep. I only was very much exposed to the public, closer to the dirt and from time to time people were stumbling over me so that I woke up from it.

The Jungle City of Manaus

Manaus is also called the Jungle City and so I greenly thought that I can use my free day in Manaus to go on a day trip to the jungle. Actually, I was wrong and told that it’s half a day drive to the jungle so that you need to have at least two to three days’ time to see it. On one side I wish I had known this before and flown in 1-2 days earlier and on the other side I have already seen plenty of rainforest in other parts of the world. I had a look at the pictures my roommate Molly had taken during her jungle trip in the last days and I think that I didn’t miss too much.

Instead there were two other options offered for a day trip which was either to go and swim with dolphins or to climb some trees. Both were with around 300 Real (176 USD) quite pricy and so I decided to spend the day in Manaus. So far I wasn’t even aware of dolphins living in rivers. I always thought that they live in oceans only. While diving in Egypt a few years ago I was lucky and ended up in the middle of a school of dolphins which was a wonderful experience. It simply happened in nature and these are the kind of experiences I seek for and not for dolphins which get attracted for the reason to show them to tourists as it is the case here. However, the Amazon River dolphins are somewhat special since they are smaller and said to be pink. Now, a few days later when I write this blog entry, I regret that I didn’t go to see them but probably I will have the opportunity at a later point in time.

In my hotel in Manaus I also met two guys. One was from Iran but now living in Cologne (Germany) who has quit his job to spend several months travelling around South America. Funnily he ended up helping hostel owners to improve their business and got free accommodation for his efforts. The other one was Sam, a guy working for Dragoman. Sam has just finished leading a trip in South America and will return home for a couple of months. Interestingly it turned out that he will be a crew member on my trip from Istanbul to Beijing departing in April this year. Sam told me that the guys in the Dragoman office are currently having a look into the political situation in Iran and that the trip might get re-routed through Georgia and Azerbaijan.

I spent the day with some travel organizational work such as re-planning parts of my journey as you can see it on the page My Itinerary. I decided to squeeze two additional trips into my schedule, one going to Tibet (Xi’an to Kathmandu) and one to Central America (Mexico City to Panama City). In order to be able to fit these trips in I shortened my second stay in Africa to three weeks and will travel from Nairobi to Victoria Falls without making a loop to Uganda and Rwanda to see the mountain gorillas. Actually, I was in Rwanda on my very first overland trip from Nairobi to Accra and have seen the mountain gorillas already. My plan was to return to Rwanda and spend some more time with these faszinating animals but time wise it simply doesn’t work out  without delaying my overall trip into 2013, so I will spent some time in Central America instead.

In the afternoon I was wandering around in Manaus and also went to the supermarket to shop for our five days trip on the Amazon River boat. Our leader Ross has given us a list of things to buy such as cutlery, plastic containers out of which you can eat and some food. The river boat we are travelling with is no luxury cruise ship but a local ferry boat and therefore we need to prepare for the journey accordingly. Shopping was kind of expensive since the Real is currently quite strong. Most items I bought were much more expensive than home, e.g. I paid 2.50 Real (1.50 USD) for one liter of milk or 8 Real (4.70 USD) for some fluffy bread. The local prices were also reflected in the payment which we had to make to our travel kitty which is 970 USD for the three weeks between Manaus and Salvador da Bahia. The high kitty payment is also due to the fact that there will only be three camping nights on this trip so that we have to spent quite some money on accommodation.

Hello Brazil, Hello Manaus!

Brazil, here am I! My flight arrived in São Paulo in the early morning around 5am. After I went through immigration and customs I checked in my luggage for the domestic flight to Manaus departing at 9:30am. I killed time by wandering around the airport and getting some money exchanged. The flight to Manaus took four hours and when the plane landed I was welcomed by hot and humid air. I actually like the heat and was happy to be far away from the cold and rainy weather back home.

When speaking to a lady at the information desk, I found out that the cheapest way to get to my hotel in town is by bus and I thought I better save some money and go by bus rather than taxi. I spent approx. 30 to 40min waiting at the bus stop but neither the bus with the mentioned number didn’t show up nor was there any timetable on which I could have looked up when to expect the bus. So I started to chat with the locals hanging around at the bus stop to find out when the bus might be arriving. Nobody seemed to know it and since it started to rain heavily I thought I better change my plan and go by taxi. In this moment I was chatting to a guy who offered me that his driver brings me to the hotel and I happily accepted his offer.

The drive to the city was maybe another 30 to 45min or so. I arrived around lunch time and when leaving the car, the driver invited me to join him for a drink in the evening…  I checked into the hotel and while doing so I met Kim which turned out to be a fellow traveler of mine during the next months. Kim has just finished her law studies in the UK and before starting to work she is taking some time off to travel around in India and South America. Her future boss actually recommended her to travel with Dragoman and so she joined this tour.

After dropping my bags in the room, I went off with Kim to have lunch in a little restaurant around the corner. Compared to the restaurant prices in Africa and even to the prices back home the meals where quite pricy. The cheapest option was to share a meal which was 38 Real (22 USD) not including drinks.

In the afternoon my roommate Molly arrived. She is from the UK and a very lovely and lively girl. Compared to the business women I was dealing with during the last years, Molly and her hippie like lifestyle is a welcomed change. It’s nice to see people who simply enjoy their live without being obsessed to follow a strict career path.

The Dragoman joining meeting was at 6pm. Here I met the other travelers joining me on this trip and our leader Ross. In total we are eight people travelling from Manaus to Salvador da Bahia, four boys and four girls. Three people are from the UK, two from the US, one from Australia, one from New Zealand and then there is me from Germany. The ages range from 23 to 70, so we have a quite colorful mix of people. Most of my fellow travelers are long-term travelers as me thus taking a sabbatical leave from work. Our leader Ross is an artist from the UK who integrates his art with the travel he’s doing. You might want to visit his website Unglue My Limb. Our other crew member Anki from Sweden will join us at a later point in time since she is currently doing maintenance work on our truck in Belém.

After the group meeting all of us went out for a group dinner to the central plaza of Manaus where the Amazonas Opera House, the cities largest attraction, is situated. Molly, who is a vegetarian, had a four-cheese pizza and honestly I never saw more cheese fitting on a pizza than on the one Molly had. The Brazilians seem to love their cheese.