Amazon: Upstream to Manaus, and into the Jungle

Photos: Meeting of Rio Solimoes & Rio Negro / Hammocks-sleeping area for people not in cabins / Me-holding a caiman / trying to get walkway for people at first stop / view in the jungle from canoe / sunset from lodge / dusk from boat / boatside vendors hooked to boat

Amazon River: Upstream from Belem to Manaus in 6 days
I arrived in Belem in the northern state of Para really late in the night. It was past midnight by the time I reached the hostel I was staying at. Most people at the hostel were also on their way up the Amazon and chances were we were on the same boat. The next morning I came down with a bad cough and congested throat which basically put me to bed for most of the day. I found my way to the agent office where I had reserved my cabin on the boat and picked up my voucher. I took a stroll around Belem to check out the town. At the Ver-o-Pes market I saw a couple of Malaysian fruits: rambutan, durian and mangosteen. Ver-o-Pes market is in the oldest part of Belem and has many food and drink stalls. I stopped to get a drink and chat with the locals. This area was an area known for pickpockets so I was extra diligent in guarding my pockets. I stopped by a grocery store to pick up provisions for my trip and returned to the hostel. Back at the hostel I met a few fellow travelers who were also headed in the same direction as me, and most likely on the same boat.
The boat the M/N Santarem is not a tourist class cruise boat. It is a cargo and people transport boat which travels between Belem and Manaus each week, 6 days upstream and 5 downstream. People who have not booked cabins bring a hammock and hang it in the hammock assigned areas, on levels 2 and 3. The area has a designated number and typically overcrowding occurs and it gets quite congested and you really get to know your neighbors. The cabins are mostly all taken up by tourists as the average price is quite high for the Brazilian travelers. A couple of the other backpackers in the hammock area showed me their tight confined sleeping space and I was very glad to be in a cabin. There were 2 toilets and showers for each gender to be shared among 160 people in the hammock area. One would expect that over a 6 day period these would begin to stink, but the stench was pretty by end of Day 1. I was lucky in that I was upgraded to a suite. Basically I had a bed and not a double decker and an extra little room to throw my pack and spread my stuff around. A few of the backpackers left their bags in my cabin as it would be safer instead of leaving it lie near their hammock for 320 hands to pick at. This “cruise” is by no means a luxury liner. You get locals who speak little or no English. The English speakers were limited to the boat captain and the other “gringos” (myself included. Gringo equates to anyone not Brazilian). Checking in was quite an experience too. I took a cab in mid afternoon to the loading dock where cargo was being loaded as well as people boarding. Once I got off the taxi, I spotted a couple of travelers I had hung out with at the hostel the night before. One of them helped me carry my daypack and groceries onto the boat to the check in desk. With a 22 kg pack on my back, day pack strapped to my front, I was grateful for the help as it was rather clunky to carry all with my 2 hands occupied. So I checked in (all in Portuguese, no English spoken) and was told to go upstairs. Once upstairs, I checked in with the manager. Again, there was no English. I was very glad I knew enough Portuguese to communicate what I I wanted. Those conversational session helped! There is not clear system to check in. You just wander around until you find someone who knows what is going on. With the 22 kg on my back and 10 kg on my front, I was anxious to unload my bags. The next thing was that the “manager” yelled to the old cranky lady to get me into cabin no 6. She insisted on cabin No 3. This went on back and forth for some time before she finally threw the keys at me and I headed to no 3. Once inside I saw there was no towel. So I tracked down the cranky old lady, who just seem to snap at me each time I approached her. Now during the week, she seems to be getting more polite. I had seen the closet where the sheets and towels were kept. I stood there and waited until she showed up. I attempted to ask her for a towel in Portuguese and she kept yelling in my face none of which I understood any of. Then the captain called Douglas who spoke some English passed by and asked what the problem was. After explaining the problem to him, I left to go to my cabin. A few shorts moments later, the cranky old lady knocked on my cabin door and threw the towel at me. A frustrating time getting check in to my cabin but I was finally checked in.
The boat was to stop at 10 stops, including mid way at Santarem and final destination, Manaus. So far [March 14, 2009] there have not been 10 stops.
Days 1-6
The days were spent getting to know the other gringos, drinking Brazilian beer. Brazilian rum, drinking lots of water, playing the card game “shithead” and sitting or standing on the boat walkways, visits to the hammock area to socialize with the other backpackers as well as to view the locals, and taking pictures of each other (us gringos) and just about anything down the Amazon of interest. Day 4 saw the boat get pushed downstream into the bank of the Amazon and having a tree trunk smash into the side of the boat. A huge cargo container going upstream came by and tugged the M/N Santarem out from the bank and against the downstream and on her way towards Manaus. Talk about getting an adventure, this was an interesting event. Day 3 saw me get hammered on beers and passing out and missing the sunset , the only one the whole time we went upstream the Amazon, where there was hues of orange of pink. What a pisser! I tried to catch up on Days 4 and 5 but the sunsets proved miserable with the usual blue and grey. It rained 2-3 times during the cruise upstream.
The Breakdown
The boat broke down on Day 4 and the downstream current (imagine the strength) pushed the boat into the Amazon bank crashing into a tree branch in the process. A passing cargo container came and pulled us out and we were back on out merry way. As a result of the breakdown, we got an extra night on the boat.
The Amazon Vendors
There are these small boats with people from the villages which line the sides of the Amazon and they row up to the passing large boats (like the Santarem) hook on come onboard to sell their goods (usually fruit). Some of these “vendors” are kids not older than 10. It was pretty amazing to watch them hook on and hook off.
Days 7-9
In Manaus, a group of us from the boat met up for dinner again on Day 6 and bid our good byes. During the day a group of us went to see the meeting of the rivers, where the white Rio Solimoes and black Rio Negro meet. The 2 flow side by side and do not mix. Some of us continued on a 4 day trip into the jungle. I left on Day 9. We took a bus (3 hours) and boat ride (1 hour) to get to a lodge on the Urubu River, a tributary into the River Negro which joins the Amazon downstream. Slept in hammocks in a pre set up camp near a running stream with a small waterfall. It was very pleasant. We rowed in canoes during the day and went looking for caimans(photo) during the day. The hike into the jungle took about 3 hours with frequent stops to have trees and critters explained. It rained quite a bit as we are in the wet season and fairly muddy, though not as much as the trip I took from the Iquitos side (Peru) 5 years ago. I left on Day 9 with a bag of muddy clothes which eventually got cleaned in Bogota, my next destination.