peru at last

Flew to trabatanga on friday and had to wait 2 days for connecting boat. Amazing place with no roads and thousants of bikes. Busy harbour and on border of peru and colombia. Great 2 days wlth locals speaking spanish. Sunday 4 am boat to iquitos arrived 17.00hr and what a place. It is very busy and yet laid back exept for loads of streetkids who will rob you blind before you notice. went out today and met with local indian tribe ´bora´but a bit contrived. also encountered first crocodile and boa constrictor. Typical touristy day. Last night had crocodile for dinner. Tomorrow going into jungle for 4 days with explorama. Food in peru unbelievable, only dolphin is of menu because protected. 40C plus now and waiting for storm later garanteed. Visited marvellous market downtown called beneim, part of iquitos, hope I didn´t catch disease but very fascinating. Typing here on spanisch keyboard with worn keys, gettong on my nerves. I will try to find another cybersafe.

2 days of relaxation

flew back to manaus yesterday and booked a new trip to peru for friday. My regular lodgings were full so some friend offered his boat to me, great time. Whole vessel to myself. Fly out to trabatinga on friday (border with peru) and then have to make my way to iquitos which is another 500km. Still long trip and some unchartered waters as it comes to border issues and drug problems in that region. Luckily I am dutch and single so no obvious connections there???Today thursday a day of 2 halves, spend morning on ornithological pursuits, toucans, eagles and many varieties that are not in the spotter guide, then 2 kinds of monkeys. Went for a walk after that for lunch( about 15 min. walk) and had to spend 4hr eating and drinking in bar because couldn't leave due to tropical storms and massive downpours. Now it is dark and another day over, these have been some restfull days. Peru trip is going to be my last long trip before returning to manaus and visit some local ecoparks.

some advertising

If anyone reading this has the idea of going to amazonia I must recommend my first stop at Clive and Naicee Maguire´s guesthouse. They are wonderfully friendly and very knowledgable about Brazil and Manaus. Furthermore they can get you started with the right contacts and help out to book things or find out what goes from where at what time. These are essential logistics and can be vary hard to obtain especially if you don´t speak portugese. Travel to anywhere is possible if you have the time, by coach or boat, but roads can be far and few between and the rivers go where they go, no choice. Their house is also situated on the edge of the rainforest and I probably saw more wildlife in their garden than I have sofar. Also they operate their business close to european standards of hygiene and comfort. That is a world removed from the rest as you start to travel.

my next plan.

Sao Gabriel is a great place for a day so I just booked a ticket to fly back to Manaus tomorrow morning. I feel I need to get to Peru otherwise run ning out of time. Plan is to fly from Manaus to Trabatinga on the Peruvian border and then by fast boat to Iquitos. I would love to have another slow-boat trip but this will take a week. Flying not that cheap but consider the distances still cheaper than at home. Also they speak spanish there and that will help greatly. Getting quite proficient in spanish as nobody speaks any english and very few speak spanish. One friend on the market today said he knew someone english, but what he ment was he had seen someone english once. I made mistake on getting a taxi to the airport to buy a ticket because it is just a clearance in the forest and certainly no offices. As it turned out the agent ´TRIP´sells tickets and is right next to my hotel. Would have been a wasted journey if it had not been for the taxi trip (half hr each way) through rainforest. Saw butterflies the size of dinnerplates around a farm growing flowers. Great big yellow ones. There is surprizingly little wildlife around towns but also very insects, mayby lucky I travelled at this time of year.

sao gabriel da chacoeira

This is frontier town par excellance, hugh military presence and a fantastic setting on the river. Time has only just begun here and as I wandered around today people are so friendly and unassuming, it´s great. Met many people from the boattrip in town who live here. There is nothing here, shops sell usefull things like food, hardware, shoes etc, but nothing ostentatious. Boys will be pleased to know that jungle knives (3ft long) are about 6 pound but noway I can get those to UK. There are also no restaurants or bars of any significance, just communal places for mass cooked food etc. There is a local market with some produce and some people operate a ´bring your own food´BBQ. Such a shame I cannot produce any pictures yet because connection is very slow. I found a cafe selling just fruitjuice and bread with cheese (grilled) and that set me back 50 pence. I tried to get some money out from the bank but it didn´t want to know so ended up changing dollars in a local shop. It is strange to be the obvious foreigner in this town but nobody will bother you, not even shout out to sell you things. When in contact the first thing they ask is ámericano`, and when I reply ´no I am dutch´they are very pleased. Wander why?

some more today

Still time left on my internet cafe credit. Spend my time on the boat trying to interact with fellow passengers mainly indians returning home with goods from Manaus. River boats are special, they take massive loads of cargo and empty space is filled with people swinging from hammocks. Once the boat is loaded, movement on the 2 lower decks is near impossible and all life evolves around top deck. We left in a terrific electric storm with heavy downpour and it was near dark. Life on the topdeck therefore limited but enjoyable. I only found out during the night that my hammock was not really build for sleeping. You automatically get forced to one side and is very uncomfy. Luckily place so crowded that hardly space to fall out of it, but all of that later. I arrived today in port and took a lift to town centre and got a room. Really in the middle of nowhere and soon will get something to eat and drink. It is incredibly hot and humid, much worse than Manaus but have airco-will sleep. I keep a diary of events and experiences because so much going on that I lose treat otherwise, can´t believe it´s only a week since I left. Also wonder how wales did in the rugby this weekend?

boat trip

Left friday morning for boattrip to Sao Gabriel Da Cachoairo. Sign-in time, i.e hang hammock at 11.00am and sail at 18.00hr. Unbelievable trip for 3.5 days through the jungle and only just finished today. A journey back into time with local transport and local customs and which lasted for ever for various reasons. Planning to right up my travel notes when I return so I can do some justice to my experience. I have traveled over 1000km in rainforest up Rio Negro and just enjoyed a shower and fresh clothes in local hotel. 99% of people are indian here and little spanish or english, the centre is like a western film but fortunately the cyber cafe is right next to the hotel entrance. Going to spend a few days here to rest and maybe make it into the highlands with a guide. I am completely exhausted from the trip and experience over the last days and concerned that travelling is going to take up so much time that I might not make it to Peru. The distances are incredible and transport is efficient but far and few between. Now that I am back in contact will post some more info over the next few days.