Saturday, June 30, 2012

Travel logistics: Manaus-Santarem-Belem

Traveling downriver from Manaus, there are a few options.

Shaving on the boat—another option

A If you are short on time, you could take a boat directly from Manaus to Belem. This will take you about five days and will probably be the more economical option. The boats don't leave from the main docks in Manaus. They leave from behind the city's large municipal market. Although the guide books will tell you that it is more expensive, you should be able to find a ticket all the way to Belem for R$160.

B.1 Upon hearing that there is a possibility of making the trip even quicker and cheaper, we decided to take a boat to Santarem. We were told that the boat from Manaus to  Santarem would cost about R$90 with the onward fare to Belem running us about R$50 if we talked to the captain and told him we were poor backpackers.

If the boats were following their normal schedule, there is a good chance we could have arrived in Belem earlier and cheaper than taking a direct boat from Belem to Manaus. Unfortunately, we were traveling in the wrong week.

The boat to Santarem was great. We put our hammocks on the top level away, from the noisy downstairs (motor) and on the opposite side of the ship from the raucous bar. The one-day journey was a pleasure. We cooked our own food using a camping stove and pressure cooker. The stove was really useful on this leg of the journey because food was not included in the fare.


The "meeting of the waters." This happens outside Manaus and Santarem.

B.2 Upon arrival in Santarem, we asked around for information about an onward boat. Everybody in Manaus and the guide books said that boats left Santarem for Belem on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. There was relative unanimity on this fact. 


We arrived in Santarem on Friday afternoon, hoping to catch a boat Saturday morning to Belem. I walked up and down the port, asking about the next boat to Belem. Much to my dismay and contrary to what everybody else had told me, the next boat would be going to Belem on Sunday.

The reason for the schedule change was a huge party occurring in a town on The River between Manaus and Santarem. Boat companies realized they could make more money shuttling passengers to and from the party town than going all the way to Belem.


Because there was only one boat making the trip to Belem, that captain had complete control over the price. On a route that normally has a more negotiable price, the captain was able to charge an unreasonably high price because he knew people had no choice but to pay it.

This also caused for the most unpleasant experience of any of the boats because they jammed as many passengers as possible on the boat. While on previous boats we had enough, and often, ample space, this final trip had us packed as tight as sardines.  If no swinging room were any indicator, some people were forced to bunk their hammocks.
The  tiered hammock option


The ride from Santarem to Manaus takes about 48 hours but can take as few as 40. We had expected to pull into the port in Belem at midday but were awoken at 4:00 a.m. by the sounds of passengers getting ready to disembark.

Friday, June 29, 2012

Flooded forest

In the wet season, 350,000 square kilometers of the Amazon basin can be covered in flooded forest. Areas surrounding The River's tributaries get so full of water during winter that the water level can rise up to 9 meters.

There is supposed to be the white sand beach of Alter-do-Chao for at least 100 m towards the camera  and promenade.(And I think the bungalows are supposed to be dry)

To put that into perspective, imagine a flood that completely covers Montana to a height of 30 feet.

And during the dry season, 110,000 square kilometers can be flooded, which is only the size of Virginia. 

We traveled down The River during the dry season but were told that the wet season was unusually strong upriver, causing unusually high flood waters. 


This is not supposed to be a wet bar

Thursday, June 28, 2012

All about rubber

Where would the world be without rubber?

Without rubber, cars would have to find another durable material that would withstand the pressure and hardships of the road (or dirt trails, as they were at the time). (Where would Detroit be without rubber? Probably in the same place, but it's history would be completely different.)

Without rubber erasers, writing and art would be a slower, more tedious process.

Without rubber, prophylaxis technology would not have advanced as quickly.

Without rubber, it would have been much more difficult to secure the sterility of medical situations without latex gloves.

The list goes on and on. But the fact remains that rubber is one of those materials that launched and helped maintain the industrial world.


And, at first, it all came from the Amazon basin.


Outside of Manaus is the Museu do Serengal Vila Paraiso that tells the story of the rubber tappers in 19th century Amazonia. Housed in a replica of a rubber baron's mansion that was constructed for a movie in 2001 (Ao Selva), the museum gives visitors a sense of the miserable lives the tappers faced and the luxury the barons lived in.


A rubber baron could rule over hundreds of hectares, working his army of rubber tappers in slave-like fashion. While the rubber baron and his wife would live in a fancy house with all the amenities of a European nobility, their employees would toil away in miserable conditions.


The conditions were similar to those faced by slaved in antebellum South but with a different commodity.  "Employees" had to produce 50 kg of rubber per week. If they couldn't meet their quota, the baron would lower their food rations, further indebting their servitude.


Rubber in its pure form is the sap from rubber trees. Tappers extract it by making incisions into the bark and allowing the goo to drip into cups. This work had to be done at night because the goo would congeal during the day. 




At night, the tappers would be exposed to the jungle's malaria-carrying mosquitos, venomous snakes, and natives defending their territory with blow dart gun.


Once they finished collecting the sap, they would build a fire to solidify the rubber. If you ever wondered why most rubber is black, we assume that it is because of the black smoke. (The tour was in Portuguese. There were probably some bits of information that we missed, but I think I did a fine job translating.)

Logistics


To get to the rubber museum, take the 120 bus from the Praca Matriz in Manaus to Ponte Negra. Get off at the end of the line and walk down the street to the Marina David, where you take a boat to the museum. The boat ride costs R$7 each way, and museum entrance costs R$5.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Amazonian opera

The Teatro Amazonas is the crown jewel of Manaus - and seems strangely out of place...almost like a two million person city hundreds of kilometers from any real road.

The ornate building towers over the city, and, despite the architecturally-endowed city, it is something else. The roofing came from France, the steel from England, and the marble from Italy.

The building was constructed during the city's rubber boom at the end of the 19th century. Since most global rubber production has moved to Malaysia, the theater serves as a relic of storied past that seems out of place in an economy dominated by petroleum, timber and Brazil nuts.


Regardless, the theater continues to serve as a beacon of culture for the city's two million inhabitants — and for backpackers making their way down the Amazon River.

We heard that there was going to be a free opera our first night in Manaus. Everything I knew about opera I learned from Dirty Work. What better place to have our first encounter with the opera than the middle of the jungle?

We showered and dressed up in our finest clothes, which you may remember from our golf outing, for the occasion.


The show had elements of European opera (at least I assumed it was European opera) with some Brazilian samba rhythms. Avery and I were surprised with how many of the opera songs we recognized, but we couldn't identify any of them by name.

I don't know if it's normal to have big dance numbers in the middle of the show, but it was interesting nonetheless. The opening act was an interpretation of the meeting of the White man with the natives.

It was really fun to see the mixing of traditional opera music with the Latin beats. Beyond that, I didn´t really know what to think.


There was an Austrian opera student sitting across the aisle from us and he had very similar thoughts on the performance.  Maybe I should consider a job as an opera critic...

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Travel logistics: Tabatinga-Manaus

From the triple border to Belem, travel along the Amazon River is a well-beaten trail. 

Boats leave Tabatinga (the Brazilian town on the triple border) for Manaus on Wednesday and Saturday at noon.

If you are just passing through from Peru to Brazil, then you do not need to get your passport stamped in Colombia. If you are going to spend more than a day in Colombia, you need to get your passport stamped at the immigrations office at the Leticia airport. It is not far from downtown (a kilometer or 2) and can be reached by foot.

You need to get your entry stamp into Brazil before getting on the boat. You get this stamp at the Federal Police station in Tabatinga, which is about a 20 minute walk from the border on the main road. 

It is not necessary to buy your boat ticket ahead of time. You can pick it up when boarding the ship. They tried to charge us R$170. but we were told that it should only cost R$150, which is what we told the woman collecting money. She accepted R$150 without any complaints.

If the boat leaves at noon, it is important to arrive early to secure a good hammock location. We got there around 9:00 a.m., which was perfect. We took a boat from Leticia to Tabatinga, which dropped us at our ship. 

We waited in line with the other passengers and underwent an intense police narcotics inspection before boarding. They were really worried about our machetes. Like a good costeño, I reassured them  that they are simply knives, and that there was nothing to worry about.

Our original plan was to get on the ship early to secure good hammock spots so that one of us could then go to the market to buy fruits as the other one watched our belongings. This plan failed when the federal police wouldn´t let me off the boat. They said that we had already checked in and couldn´t go through the whole process again.

Luckily, there was a guy selling oranges at the next town downriver to provide us with some nutrients for the three-day ride. 
Benjamin Constant, the first town downriver from Tabatinga and hometown of the miracle orange salesman
The Brazil boats are really nice compared to the ones in Peru.

  • There is unlimited drinking water. 
  • People were frequently cleaning the boats
  • The boats were larger, so there was more space
  • They have a nice cafe and dance bar

Life on the boat was really tranquilo. Every few hours we would pull into a different port to load some cargo and passengers before continuing downriver.

The first night they served bread and meat soup, so we talked to the kitchen staff about being able to use the kitchen to cook lentils and rice. After much apprehensiveness, they were willing to let us cook. Luckily, every other meal had enough of a vegetarian option that we didn´t need to cook our own food again. 

The cafeteria
Breakfast was rolls and coffee, err, sugar with some coffee in it. Lunch and dinner had rice and noodles. If you were among the first people in line, you could be one of the few passengers to enjoy a salad during lunch. Twice they had fish for dinner, which gave us a source of protein.

For vegetables, we went to the cafe and asked for some ketchup packets. After we asked for this a few times, they were onto our tricks and stopped doling them out.

If you didn´t feel that the food in the cafeteria was enough, then you could go to the cafe and order a sandwich.

The journey to Manaus was four days and three nights. We pulled into Manaus mid-morning on the fourth day and spent the better part of the morning marveling at how a metropolis arose in the middle of the jungle. 

Monday, June 25, 2012

Wild monkeys in the city

Parque Mindu is a bit of an ecologic oasis in the middle of the urban jungle of Manaus. Although ti might not the city's largest park, it is the most accesible.

Located just 20 minutes from downtown, you are almost guaranteed to be able to see the pied-face taramarin, an endemic and endangered species.

What are you looking at? Can't a monkey climb a tree without having its picture taken?
Stop looking at me, Swan!

The park is primarily used for environmental education purposes, giving school groups a flavor of the local ecosystem. We were impressed by how accessible the park is for everybody. First off, it is free. Also, all the signs are in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Most impressively, the trails are wheelchair accessible.
The wheelchair trails are the main trails and the same ones for everyone.

We came across this cute guy on the trail, and he wanted us to take his picture. We obliged.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

If Sallah were Colombian...


This shoe repair joint was in a bathroom next to our hostel in Leticia.

It looks like some guy just claimed a public bathroom and took some spray paint to the door posts. He might make more money by renting out his shower than repairing heels. That's why you diversify.

Then again, it could have been a recent immigrant from Yemen who told border officials that he was a shoe repair man - despite no experience or small motor skills. He liked the idea so much that he kept the dream alive and finally opened his own bathroom.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

This post will not self-destruct in 10 seconds




I'm not sure why we never thought of this before, but bananas can be great notepads.  We came across this banana with a note written on it and immediately fell in love with this stationary.  While it may be a little slow for Ethan Hunt's "Impossible Missions," we really like how the notepad will biodegrade in a couple of days (fewer if you chop it up).

Why waste paper when you can use a banana peel?  This is truly a mixed use and fully utilized resource: fruit, compost, and notepad.  Any questions?

————————————————————————————————————

During our recovery in Leticia, we tried to have as much bland food as possible.  Before I became sick, Avery took me to lunch.

The place we went to did not have any fish—the fish boat from Peru had yet to arrive—but given Avery's precarious situation (standing, sitting, and generally not being in traction), I went for the vegetarian standard of rice and fried eggs.  While the portion of rice was nowhere near large, I still managed to take down 1.5 plates of rice.  Avery had 3 spoonfuls during what became an eating show—so proud!

In addition to rice, which we kept a constant supply of in our hostel's fridge, we also ate a healthy amount of bread, soup, oranges, and bananas. (The BRATS diet—bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, soup—was successful.)


Thursday, June 21, 2012

Digestive struggles

Last week, Avery and I suffered through some stomach issues.

One would think that digestive bugs don't offer much in the way of blog-worthy material.

There just isn't anything funny about amoebas, parasites, and bacteria. (Did you hear the one about the amoeba, the Pope, and Raquel Welch?)

What is funny, though, are the things said and done in the diarrhea-induced delirious state.

Digestive low point.
Avery is very social when delirious. The first night he got sick we were on the boat from Iquitos to Leticia. He woke me up at around midnight to inform me that he had gone to the bathroom several times and was running a fever. We treated the symptoms and made him as comfortable as possible until we arrived at our destination the next morning.

Any time someone would walk by his hammock, he would start talking to him or her.  Avery didn't really care if this person was paying attention to him or not. He was relentlessly social. Sometimes he would talk to them in English, sometimes in Spanish.

I, on the other hand, think about really heavy, important topics in diarrhea-induced delirium. Here is a list of some of the topics I was rambling about when trying to overcome this unfortunate situation:

  • Death Star architecture, design, and construction process
  • Who comes up with the Death Star name? Does the Empire have a marketing department?
  • I was singing the Camp Ramah song.
  • I was singing some Spanish song.
  • I was actually singing in gibberish.
  • I had a dream about an argument with grilled plantain saleswomen. I told her that her used charcoal would work well on her worm bed. I guess I had talked to her about building a worm bed.
  • I had a dream of my ideal deli sandwich at the moment: steamed corned beef on Detroit rye with a Vernor's Ginger Ale or Dr. Brown's (not Cel-Ray). Or maybe we just grab some ketchup and mustard packets.

Obviously, there is nothing funny about diarrhea at the time. It's only after the fact, when everyone is better, that you can find humor in these situations.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Travel logistics: Iquitos - Leticia


Cargo boats from Iquitos to the triple border (Peru, Colombia, Brazil) depart from Puerto Pesquero.

We were told that boats typically leave at the end of the week, but the best way to find out the schedule it to go to the port and ask the captain directly.

This is what we did.

We hoped to leave on Thursday, and one of the boats was supposed to leave that day. There was a problem with the boat's motor, and we had to postpone our departure another day.

We spoke to another boat captain who confirmed his boat would leave Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. He recommended that we arrive by 3:00 p.m. to reserve hammock space. The boat didn't end up leaving until 8:30 p.m., and we don't know why.

The five hours between when we got on the boat and it finally departed were the five most entertaining hours of the entire trip. Vendors were walking around the ship selling a potpourri of foods and miscellaneous goods. If you got on the boat and realized that you didn't have any toilet paper, they'd have you covered. If you got on the boat and realized that you didn't bring a pair of scissors on the boat, they took care of you. If you got on the boat and realized that you were jonesing for rice and chicken, they could take of those needs, as well.

We put our hammocks on the top level of the boat because other passengers said that is where long-distance passengers put their hammocks. It worked better for us because the lower level was much louder.

The ride from Iquitos to Santa Rosa, the Peruvian town in the three border area, takes two days. We arrived in there midmorning and went to immigrations on that side of the river before taking a boat over to the Colombian side.

If you are going to spend a few days in Colombia, it is important to get your passport stamped. You can only do this at the airport in Leticia.

If you would like to have your passport stamped in Brazil, you need to make sure you do that at the Policia Federal in Tabatinga within 24 hours of getting your exit stamp from Peru. The Policia Federal in Tabatinga is located near the military hospital.

If you would like a nice, affordable hostel, Selvaventura Hostel is a great option. The staff is great. There is wi-fi, a kitchen, and a laundry machine. Best of all, it is small and doesn't have that party hostel feel to it. 

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Nine iron or machete?


I hadn't played a round of golf in four years and was expecting to wait at least another year until I hit the links again.

Then Avery and I learned about the Amazon Golf Club where you can play 18 holes, rent all necessary equipment, get 12 golf balls and five tees, and come back with tons of stories for only $25.

The Amazon Golf Club doesn't quite have the same mystique as some of the famed cathedrals of the game.

The road might be unpaved and full of potholes. There isn't not even a sign advertising its existence.

The clubhouse looks as if it were designed in the rural, jungle house style. That's probably because it is a rural, jungle house. Some guy greeted us in his boxers when we showed up at 8:30 a.m.
This is the "chicken coup free drop" rule. How many golf club have their own chickens?

We mixed and matched clubs from their sets to put together two "full" sets. Because of the potential "hazards" one might face at the Amazon Golf Club, no set of clubs is complete without the machete wedge. It's not actually used to advance the ball. Its utility is in the killing of snakes, slashing the high grass as you search for your errant drive. and opening coconuts that have fallen on the course.

After a couple of minutes on the practice green, which was also the 9th green, we were ready to hit the course. The course manager said it had been raining a lot lately This meant that we came on the only dry day in the last two weeks and that he hasn't mowed the greens for awhile.

The greens played like fairways. The fairways played like the rough. And finding your ball in the overgrown rough was almost a lost cause.

Avery started his day well with a nice drive and chip on the opening par 3 to set up a par putt, which he missed. I, on the other hand, was a little errant off the tee and couldn't find my ball in the rough. I dropped one and made an up and down for a bogey.

On the second hole, I took a pitching wedge from 100 yards out (at least that's how long it looked) and stuck it to within a few feet of the pin. That was the highlight of the round. In fact, I told Avery as soon as we got up to the green that I should just call it a day.

Fortunately, we didn't. Although we didn't put up a really low number, we had a great time.

The course itself is an old cow pasture that an expat and some of his investor friends converted into a nine-hole, par 35 course. No one is going to confuse this with a Robert Trent Jones Masterpiece, but there were some definite local quirks .

The old irrigation and drainage lines became the water hazards. One of the par threes featured something close to an island green, and the eighth fairway doubles as the driving range.

While walking the course, we picked up a handful of balls (while losing our fair share) that we obviously had no use for after the round. We went to the clubhouse and bartered the manager to exchange one beer for the balls. He agreed.  (Backpackers become economists. again)

I don't think I'll play another round on this trip. The opportunity to golf in the middle of the Amazon, on a converted cow pasture, was a surreal experience and something we couldn't turn down. (I'm not a big fan of cow pastures in the rain forest, which made this even better).

Note: Every day on The River we wore the same two shirts. But when you're golfing, you have wear collared shirts, right?

Monday, June 18, 2012

Is this the Iquitos equivalent of The Environmental Center?


The butterfly is an amazing creature.

After starting its life as an almost indiscernible egg on a leaf, it becomes a larger-but-still-minute larva. Then it grows into a much-larger caterpillar before rolling itself in a cocoon for at least one month and emerging as a colorful, airborne butterfly.

I know this is something that we all learned in elementary school, but it still amazes me 20 years later.

Avery and I saw this cycle play out at the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Center outside of Iquitos. Located in the community of Padre Cocha, the Butterfly Center has spent the last ten or so years propagating native butterfly species and educating the community on their benefits.

The tour showcases the life cycle of the butterfly and explains the work the center does. He pointed out the eggs, which are so small that it proved difficult for a guide with 10 years experience in the butterfly center to find them. He showed us some larvae that were nibbling on leaves. Each species has a preferred species of leaf and they have to make sure they have enough of each plant to support the larvae and caterpillars.

We spent the duration of our time marveling on the different colors and designs on the butterflies.

In addition to a controlled forest that is covered in mesh so that predator species cannot enter, they also have a "laboratory" where they take care of the larvae and caterpillars in even more controlled environments.

Apparently, there is a rumor in Peru that caterpillars are poisonous. I had never heard this before, but the tour guide said that one of the points he stresses with school groups is the fact that caterpillars are not harmful to human beings. There is one species they have that will sting you if you touch it in a threatening manner, but the sting is not poisonous and cannot kill you.

In addition to butterflies, they have a rehab center for jungle animals. They currently have a jaguar, a capibara, an ocelot; several monkeys, a variety of birds, and some Gringo volunteers.

Logistics:

To get to Pilpintuwasi Butterfuly Center from Iquitos, take a bus that says "Nanay" on the front and take it until the end of the line.

From there, you can either take a collectivo boat to Padre Cocha, which will cost 3 soles per person, but will not leave until there are 10 people on the boat, or pay 10 soles for someone to take you Padre Cocha without waiting for 10 people to show up.

Once you get off the boat in Padre Cocha, you walk 15 minutes through the town to get to the center. 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Iquitos is an anomaly.


 It is an industrial city in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

It is the world's largest city that is not accessible by roads., but its streets are crowded with over 50,000 mototaxis and open-aired, windowless school buses that move people around.

It is a launching off for jungle excursions and the center for many petroleum operations and lumber companies.

It grew during the rubber boom at the beginning of the 20th century, but no longer plays a major role in the world rubber market.

Walking through the streets of the city of half a million people, you realize that every good that was brought to Iquitos was brought as its final destination.

The network of communities along the jungle rivers that flow by Iquitos supply the city with almost all of its produce. Last year, one of those rivers suffered from serious flooding and lost almost all of its harvests, which caused an increase in local food prices.


A cornucopia a tropical fruits adds vibrant color to the city's Belen Market while the populations that produce those fruits eat yuca at almost every meal.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Look at that punim

My high school friend had a shirt that said "save the manatees."


I didn't really get the allure. They're cute, but so are a lot of animals. Why would the manatee receive special attention?

After a visit to the Manatee Rescue Center outside of Iquitos, I now understand why.

They are extremely cute and have very funny mouths. Very funny mouths.

Most people don't get to see the workings of a manatee mouth up close and personal. But when the manatee eats banana slices out of your hand, you see it open its mandible to take in the sweet fruit.

When the manatee opens its mouth, it looks like it has claw-like contraptions projecting from the sides of its mouth, which it uses to direct the food toward its teeth. Unlike other claw representations made popular by crabs and lobsters, these ones are fuzzy with whiskers, seemingly cute, and won't pinch your nose..

I had never seen anything like it before.

Speaking of seeing, I can't let the manatee description go without talking about their eyes, which look like those beady eyes that you glue onto arts and crafts projects.

We spent twenty minutes massaging the manatees’ rubbery, seal-like backs and feeding them.

All the while, one of the center's employees shed more light onto this incredible species and the work of the rehab center.

Manatees are a prized commodity on the black market. In addition, habitat destruction in the Amazon basin is also putting their ecosystem at risk. These factors combine to make the Amazonian manatees, the world's only freshwater variety, endangered.

The Dallas Aquarium teamed up with the Peruvian Amazonian Investigation Institute to create refuge to rescue and rehabilitate baby manatees. Since opening, it has released eight manatees back into the wild.

Listening to this guide explain the dangers that these seemingly cheerful animals faced was rather sobering but served as another reminders of the complex factors shaping the crises these and other animals face in this part of the world.

And is a reason that my friend had that t-shirt in high school.

Logistics:

The center is located ten minutes outside of town, on the road to Quistococha.

To get there, take any bus labeled Quistococha and ask the driver to let you off at manatees. The ride will cost 1 sol.

Best of all, entrance to the center is free.

A few minutes down the road from the manatee center is the Quistococha Zoo where visitors can see jaguars, pumas, caymans, monkeys, a dolphin, capibaras, otters, and many other Amazonian creatures. The entrance fee is 3 soles per person. There is a lake at the zoon with beaches, soccer fields, and restaurants.

A visit to the manatee center and zoo are a great way to fill a half day in Iquitos. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Travel logistics: Santa Clotilde-Iquitos


Travel Logistics: Santa Clotilde to Iquitos

There are two main ways to get from Santa Clotilde to Iquitos:

1. The fast boat
2. The cargo boat

The fast boat costs 80 Soles and gets you to Iquitos in a matter of hours.

The slow boat costs 50 Soles and gets you to Iquitos in two days.

We opted for the slow boat.

The boat leaves from the dock near the market in Santa Clotilde and is supposed to leave around 7:30 a.m. You need to get there early, though, to secure a good hammock spot.

The boat didn't end up leaving port until around 9:30 because it took a little long to load the cows onto the boat.

They make food on the boat, but make sure to bring your own bowl and spoon. As vegetarians, we couldn't eat a lot of the food they were serving on the boat. The chef was nice enough to let us borrow the stove to cook our own food.

The boat stopped at communities along the river to pick up cargo to take to Iquitos. Most stops followed the same pattern.

Arrive at the village. Load about 80 plantains onto the boat. Bring about 60 bushels of chonta (similar to heart of palms) on board.  Struggle to convince a cow and a pig that instead of enjoying the pasture or slop, respectively, they should get on the boat. This typically required a lot of pulling, several ropes, and a lot of people. After about three hours, they would finish getting all the cargo on board and move on to the next village.

We did this three times on the first day.
This is Pilar, Avery's best friend from the boat. They don't really understand each other, but a smile needs to translation. My best friend from the trip was the drunk driver from our previous boat. Unfortunately, I understood too much.
At night on the boat, most people take a little bucket bath in river water before heading to their hammocks for the night.

When we left port, the ship was particularly full of hammocks. But by bedtime, it is difficult to move on the ship without bumping into someone's hammock. Getting around often requires one to crawl on the ground under hammocks to avoid waking passengers up.

Dawn on The River
We pulled into Mazan around 7:00 a.m. We could have stayed on the boat and arrived in Iquitos that evening. Instead, we decided to get off the boat in Mazan and take a fast boat to Iquitos, which ended up being cheaper than staying on the cargo ship.

We got off the boat at the Napo River port in Mazan and took a mototaxi to the Amazon River port in Mazan. It costs 2 soles per person. Mazan is located on an isthmus and has ports on both the Napo and Amazon Rivers.

Once on the Amazon River side of Mazan, we hopped on a ship that cost us 7 soles per person to Iquitos.

We arrived in Iquitos at the Puerto del Productor at about 10:30 a.m. Before reaching the dock, our ship had been boarded by no less than 15 port workers eager to unload the ship's cargo. This made trying to get off the boat with a big backpack a struggle. Luckily, we were able to escape the situation unscathed and caught a mototaxi to a hostel near the Plaza de Armas in Iquitos.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Soccer: the great uniter


Nothing unites a Latin American country like the national soccer team.

Whether the team be among the best in the world or a doormat for the giants to smash on their way to the World Cup, the enthusiasm surrounding these matches brings everyone together.

Even in a country like Peru, which hasn't classified for the World Cup since 1986, a World Cup qualifying match is reason enough for everyone to take a pause from their routine and watch the "Selección."

Peru was playing Colombia Sunday afternoon, and the only thing on everybody's mind was the make sure that we got to Santa Clotilde before the 5:00 kickoff.

Expectations for the game were relatively low.

Colombia has one of the hottest players in the world. None of Peru's players play in the top league in Spain or England (generally considered the two best leagues in the world).

Like any good home team, Peru had some great chances in the first half. And like any team without a realistic chance of qualifying for the World Cup, it wasted its opportunities. Then it decided not to take the second half seriously after ceding a goal to Colombia five minutes after the break.

The next forty minutes were full of my favorite conversation: a South American soccer fan who wants his national team to be good but realizes they aren't. So then he starts blaming the coach for everything while still holding out hope that a miracle could happen.

It's this mix of endless pessimism and eternal optimism that makes watching national team soccer games in Latin America priceless.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Cousins for dinner


On our last morning on boat to Santa Clotilde, we stopped off at a Kichwa family's house along The River.

Pepe said that he wanted to pick up some plantains and yucca, which are the two staples of the Amazonian diet.

Once we got into the house, we saw that the family was preparing to cook interesting-looking meat. It turned out to be monkey.

Although an outsider might think it's a little weird to eat our cousins, monkey meat is considered a delicacy in this part of the jungle. This made it the perfect gift for the cook on our boat to bring home to her family.



Some people bring home souvenirs after three weeks on the road. Other people bring home monkey meat.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Travel Logistics: Nuevo Rocafuerte to Santa Clotilde

We left Nuevo Rocafuerte on Friday evening, just in time to catch a spectacular sunset on The River.

The ride from Nuevo Rocafuerte to Pantoja takes about three hours. If you are just going from Nuevo Rocafuerte to Pantoja, you should be able to find someone who can take you there for $50. Luckily, our price already included this fare.

On the south bank of the Napo River, Ecuadorian territory ends just after Nuevo Rocafuerte. But on the north bank, one does not leave Ecuador for another two hours — near the union of the Napo and Aguarico Rivers.

Along this stretch of The River, there isn't much aside from incredible beauty, Kichwa villages, and some oil supply ships.

As soon as we pulled into Pantoja, it started raining. Regardless, we went up the hill to the immigration office and had our guide's friend, Cesar, stamp our passports.

We cooked dinner on the gas stove on the boat and spent the night in a hostel in Pantoja that charged 5 soles per person (a little less than $2 per night). Aside from foam pad mattresses, this place didn't offer much. That was all we needed, though.
Pantoja, from The River

The next morning we set off at around 6:00 a.m. and were joined in the boat by two members of the Peruvian army who were given one-month leave and a member of the Peruvian environmental police. All of them are stationed in Pantoja and jumped at the offer of a ride to Santa Clotilde.

We spent all day riding down The River. We stopped off at a farm near Pantoja where our guide picked up 50 pomelos. We then stopped at another farm where he owed the owner for a chicken he had bought last time he traveled upriver, but the owner wasn't home to collect on the debt.



We spent the night on hammocks in a Kichwa family's house on The River and set off early the next morning for Santa Clotilde.

In this photo, Avery displays proper pineapple-consumption technique.
We pulled into Santa Clotilde at 2:30 in the afternoon and searched for a hostel. Hostal Cielo is apparently the most affordable option in town at 10 soles for a room, but there was no vacancy. Next door is another hostel that cost 15 soles. Split between two people it came out to less than $3 per person.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Napo River advice


Before hitting The River, I was given two important pieces of advice.

If you have to kill a Coral Snake with a machete, don't try to kill it with the machete blade.


Instead, you should go after it with the flat of the machete to stun it. This is because the head might continue to come after you, even if you manage to separate the head from the body. The head is where the venom is. (The ideal would be to have a stick or pole you can beat it with and a machete you can use to finish the job)

Don't pee in The River

This has nothing to do with the idea of not contaminating its waters. There is a more pressing concern. A tiny, barbed fish can swim up your urine stream and lodge itself in your urethra.

Both good pieces of advice.