Day 1
The only way to get to Amazonia is by a boat. After a couple of nights in disgusting Belem and the even worse hostel/hotel Amazonia we took a boat for three days trip to Santarem. It was a hell to get to the port where our boat was anchored. Bus drivers would ignore us at the bus stop. We tried to stop the bus three times unsuccessfully. We got some locals involved to help stop a bus for us. Eventually, with the help of five locals we finally managed to get on a bus. Apparently if you don't jump on to the running bus, you won't get on board. We were patient and eventually we succeeded. It was 'mission impossible' for a backpacker to jump in... When we arrived at the harbour in Belem, which was far away from the main one at Docas, we were shocked. The area was so dodgy that passengers recommended that we stay on the boat. The amount of garbage on the streets and the poorest houses, built over sewage ditches, was shocking.
Favelas on the way to the harbour to catch the boat from Belem to Manaus - Amazon River
We came on board few hours earlier to occupy our space for hammocks.
The boat was made of a deck and two upper decks. The deck was occupied by all sorts of merchandise such as cases of fruit, vegetables, flour and other food related items. Not only that, it also had large numbers of people going to Amazonia.
The first and second decks were for regular passengers. If you have ever been on a cruising yacht, this is nothing like that. There were no cabins and beds. Instead there were hammocks next to each other so you could feel your neighbour breathing next to you. I picked up a pretty good spot with a direct view onto the river. My hammock was the last one or the first one at the back of the boat. The only problem was that the smell of the engine was with me throughout the whole three day trip.
Either you stay on the first floor by smelly bathrooms or you go directly next to the engine on the top deck. I chose the last option. We left the harbour after three hours delay, with tons of goods being loaded on board in addition to hundreds of people despite it being such a small engined boat. I thought we were going to die by the end of our trip. The bathrooms didn't work from the start and the smell awful. The first night sleeping in a hammock went well. In the morning when I opened my eyes, dawn had just broken.
In a fraction of second someone pulled the curtains down! I asked this foreign girl why did she do it and she explained it was to protect herself from the wind. In the end she admitted that it wouldn't help at all, so I pulled the curtains back up to enjoy the beautiful sunrise. I'm not going to die because of the bad conditions without at least a nice view on the river on the way to Amazonia.
The Amazon is, apparently, is one of the biggest rivers in the world, competing with the Nile. Both are estimated to be 7000km long, which is almost the length of Brazil, which is 9000 km. The heat during the day on the boat was unbearable so I had to look for shelter. Eventually I found some, in the restaurant on the first floor. That was the only air conditioned area and it was empty because it was early and outside meal service hours. I took advantage of this and started making friends with some crew members. They offered me some coffee and crackers on top of some I brought along myself. The most important thing was the kindness of their gesture. I was getting used to the boat and its poor hygienic conditions. I must say that the natives were doing very well, they are all clean and perfumed. When I pass by the bathrooms area in the morning there is an intense smell of perfumes - maybe just to cover the disgusting smell of urine. Some Brazilian passengers are showing off and drink as much as they can. The table hardly can hold the number of empty beer cans. They drink throughout the day so in the night they can sleep well. I don't get it, why some people have nothing better to do than getting pissed. This is not my problem but I wish I could influence the way they are thinking. They get all swollen and look fat. Europeans are recognised by being slim. There were only a few foreigners on board, around ten, and everyone courageously kept on going without complaining. Being honest I wish I could be on the most comfortable sailing boat of my friend R.
Day 2
I slept much better, it was raining therefore all the curtains were pulled down during the night. It makes sense while it's dark and, because of that, I wasn't cold. It was a pleasant night. I got up, had a shower in one of those 1st World War bathrooms where the water comes out of all possible holes in the pipe. Then I managed to do a barre work out (Ballet by the barre) on the edge of the boat. It was early in the morning therefore there were only few members of the audience. I can not imagine what they were thinking while seeing me doing classical dance moves. Who cares! They should start exercising by themselves so they can keep healthy. They throw out to the river the plastic bags full of garbage and nobody reacts to it. They literally have a fun by doing it. The ignorance and primitivism of locals is really embarrassing. I feel so uncomfortable on this boat. I've got only one more day to go. Then, unfortunately, I have to catch another boat from Santarem to Manaus. It's apparently a two day trip, but I'm not sure if I can handle it. I'm very tolerant and easy to adapt to the current circumstances but to be honest, in this case, I wish I wasn't here. Today at least it is not too hot because of the clouds. I can enjoy sitting outdoors on the boat and watching the nature as opposed to sitting indoors in the restaurant to cool down. This morning had some breakfast on board. As the AC was too high, it was unbearable to sit in the restaurant and have some kind of breakfast (5B$/1.5€). In fact what they serve is corresponds to the price. The breakfast consists of a transparent omelette, made of one egg, with a transparent slice of some sort of ham and cheese, sweet coffee with milk and a slice of fruit, supplemented with a white flour, spongy roll. They don't have a proper ham here as it would cost them a fortune. The cheese is very expensive, actually more expensive than in Europe. 0.2kg of sort of Gouda cheese, costs 8€.
They make their own to avoid buying imported cheese. They have no clue how to bake the bread or cakes. It's like being back in Poland 20 years ago. The poor conditions and economic imbalance reminds me so much of my past. I don't want to experience it again, it was rough. The only bonus was the wonderful natural setting and a warm climate. After three months traveling I have had enough of the constant tropical heat as much as the cold in Europe. Not to mention the insects. I was quite lucky this time not having to have too many insects to deal with, and hopefully it will stay like that. Though being in Amazonia the insects might be an addition to the fantastic natural experience. I am looking so forward to the last day of the trip - Day 3!
Day 3
I was sick during the night and day. High fever and stomach cramps. It rained all night, water was dropping down on my hammock. Everything was wet. I was shrivelling but somehow managed to survive until morning. I was so sick, almost unconscious so that nothing really mattered to me. I felt I was about to die. We were supposed leave the boat on the third day (Friday 17th Feb) and stay near Santarem at a lovely village by the Amazonian river Altar do Chao. As the matter of fact there were no boats crossing the river over the weekend and there was only an expensive speed boat (500B$/140€) on Tuesday going to Manaus. Our flight back to Rio de Janeiro was on Wednesday the 22nd of Feb and we couldn't take a risk of missing that flight. The Brazilians don't seem to very time conscious and you never now when you are going to arrive. Sometimes I wish we had not booked all those flight in advance. It would have been much more be more relaxed. But on the other hand we would have to pay much more for our journey. In the end we managed get so far so good, and we are almost at the finale of our three month trip across North East Brazil.
Day 4
Two more days left to before Manaus - our final destination. I'm still not well with the food poisoning but unlikely to have any more high fever. Eventually I got off my hammock where I had lain forty eight hours in a row. Life seems to be more positive and the trip more manageable.
There were less people on board compared to the start of our journey. I saw a few small dolphins playing in the river Amazon. Is that possible to see the dolphins in a river? I think so. Everything is possible in Amazonia. I remember when I lived in Trinidad, the Caribbean island, thirteen years ago in 2004 in Chaguaramas, every morning and evening, there were playful dolphins. In fact the water coming in to the bay was from Amazonia. Apparently those are fresh water dolphins called, in Brasil, 'boto'. I'm feeling better but I still suffer some strong stomach cramps. I even ate some lunch. They serve it very early from 11.30-13. Every day, the meals are the same for lunch and dinner: beef, chicken, rise, pasta and salad. Probably it's better this way because, in fact, this is the only traditional meal they know how to cook. Everything else tastes differently than in Europe. I made a friendship with one of the pilots of the ship, Leandro, who showed me the layout of the bridge. It's all very laid back, like it used to be in old days in Soviet Europe. They still don't have an automatic pilot. They employ four pilots to navigate. A pilot's monthly salary is 3000B$/800€. It's ridiculously low comparing how much work they have to put in. They clean the boat, load all the merchandise (180t) and navigate the boat. My pilot friend has four more years and he will become the captain. His dream is to earn enough money to be able to purchase his own sailing boat and travel around the world.
Day 5
Feeling better, still with some stomach cramps. When you travel by ship on river Amazon you have a lot of time to buy from traders when the boat stops. I bought some fruit to supplement the breakfast and meals served on board. The crew members treat themselves pretty well, they have all the fruits and vegetables imaginable. The passengers have just tiny amount of it. So to have good nutrition you need to supplements your diet with fruit such as mangos, papayas, pineapples bought from local vendors. The fruit purchased from the locals is very cheap and tasty. For example for 1 kg of mangos you pay 3B$ /0,8€. I made friends with three Argentinian girls who were traveling across Brazil. Like most Argentinians they did this without much money by hitch hiking. They go from one place to the other, couch surf and get invited to have some meals. If they haven't found free accommodation they ask in a hostel if they can work for the stay. They get some cleaning job, or make the breakfast to cover the cost of their stay. For people from the West, not having any money would make it impossible to travel. Whereas Latin Americans never had any money and they often had to travel across the countries due to the political reasons. Like, for instance, Che Guevara.
These days, the whole Latin population seems to explore the world. They have nothing to lose. I must say that I thought that I knew how to travel cheaply, but still we spend per month 1000€ per person. In total, the budget for one person for a three month trip in high season 28th Nov 2016 - 28th Feb 2017 in North East Brazil is 3000€. This includes traveling, accommodation and food plus a return air ticket, 500€. It's a very low budget trip including mostly free accommodation and the majority of expenses are for transport and food. In the most touristic places very often there is no street food available, you have to pay the tourist price. But, in most of the cases, the local, cheap street food is everywhere and you can spend really little, rarely more than about 10€ for all meals during the whole day.
Overall, the average daily food cost for one person is 25€. If you eat in restaurants: 5€ full breakfast: juice, fruits, eggs, bread, cake, coffee; 10€ lunch or dinner: fish it meat, rise, pasta, beans, salad. So 25€ x 90 days comes to 2250€.
If you stay in a hostel or pousada, a bed in a dormitory costs 15€ per night. So 15€ x 90 days @ 1350€.
Traveling is relevant to the distance and the mode of travel. We used six internal flights which cost more or less the same as bus transport but it saved a lot the time. Four bus journeys and one by boat, came to 600€. In total the whole cost of traveling excluding the main flight is: 2250€ + 1350€ + 600€ = 4200€ My budget was lower because I didn't pay for most of the accommodation. We used a tent or stayed with friends for free. Therefore my cost was: 2250€ + 150€ + 600€ = 3000€. If you stayed all the time in the hostels, you can decrease the cost of your trip by buying your own food and still can manage to spend in total 3000€.
At the end of today there was a lot of activity on the boat. We stoped in the evening for a a very short time, nobody was supposed to get off the boat. When we were about to leave the harbour suddenly we heard screaming. There were two boys left on land. They found a motor bike driver to get them to a little boat. They paid 10B$/3€ for a speed boat ride to catch our boat. Eventually they got on board. It all took just a couple of minute. Apparently the natives are pretty used to this sort of situation. On the boat there is never any clear information about how we will stop. Nobody really knows what time the boat is leaving, so it's all very confusing. Even if the captan is aware that's someone is not on board, he doesn't care and won't wait. He takes off to teach a lesson to others that they have to follow like rats, just using their intuition. There are no rules at all and the passengers have to obey the decisions of the crew. It's like the crew are taking revenge for all their hard and exhausting work.
Day 6
This is our last day on the boat. It was supposed to arrive at 5am in Manaus. However, due to the huge amount of merchandise loaded and unloaded the trip has was extended until 1pm. So we have been offered a free lunch. This is another way in which people become confused. Even in this case, where something is offering for free. There was no official announcement that there is a free lunch voucher for each passenger. We only got to know about it by world of mouth. Most of the passengers didn't take the advantage of this offer because clearly they didn't know about it. Everything is a mystery.... We decided to stay on the boat for another couple of days. We were offered it for free. We left the boat during the day to come back later in the evening. I did lots of clothes shopping as everything was on sale for 10 or 15 B$/8€. I went also to a beautician to remove the hair on my legs. It wasn't easy to find the salon during the trip, so I went into Sport Unity salon as soon as I saw one. Almost the whole body depilation cost only 50B$/15€. On the way back to the boat it was completely pouring down with rain.
When we arrived at the dock, the boat had disappeared. We looked at each other and walked ahead to look for it. I asked someone and eventually we found our missing boat in the next entrance to the harbour of Manaus. Happy days ...;)
Day 7
We were still on staying on the boat in the harbour. It made no sense to leave the boat when were offered two nights free accommodation. We accepted the free invitation and spent another night on board. We took a local bus and went to the Amazonian beach - Punta Negra. It was a like peaceful paradise. Nothing special in terms of view, a few blocks of flats and hotels. All of a high standard, made for foreigner tourists. The colour of water is almost black because of the Amazonian vegetation. I even swam in the river. It felt pleasant if you ignore completely looking at the water colour. The afternoon was rainy. While sitting by a drinks stand in front of the river a 70 year old man with 20 year old girl came over. They were completely drunk. He tried to speak some broken English to show off, but honestly it would be much better if he spoke Portuguese. We would have understood him much better. I did not develop a good opinion about the Brazilian life style. I can see across Brazil such a big tendency to get drunk. It reminds me of the old days in Poland. People are so desperate because of the poverty and lack of prospects that they kill they disappointment with a huge amount of alcohol. The boat was moving again to another harbour in Manaus, but this time with us on board.
Day 8
The day of departure from Manaus to Rio de Janeiro. After the six days of a boat trip and two days staying onboard in the harbour of Manhaus, finally we were getting ready to get to the airport. Our flight is at 3.30pm and we arrive in Rio at 8pm. We had some breakfast at the local market (tapioca and juice 15B$ each). I can't recommend it enough. Please just have some as soon as you get off the boat. The street breakfast cooked in front of you is the cheapest and the most tasty option.
Go for it!!! You can save half for later.
