After parting ways with Kirk, we hopped a plane up to Manaus. According to people that we had met along the way, Manaus and its surrounding area were "not to be a missed". We jumped onto a bus to get from the airport into the center of town. As we came into the city Brandon and I both found ourselves wondering if we were in the right Manaus. Our first impression of Manaus was a dingy, ill-kept port city. We were hoping that we just hadn't hit the nice part. After we found a hotel and wandered a bit we came to the conclusion that the advice we were given was WAY OFF.
We shook off this let down and reminded ourselves that we had come to Manaus in order to hop on a boat and ride the length of the Amazon River. Four days from Manaus to Belem...the end of the Amazon. We headed down the the dock to see what our options were. Once again, not exactly what we expected.
Yes, we DID know that river travel was the primary mode of transportation in this region. Yes, we DID expect to buy a hammock space as our passage. No, we didn't know that we couldn't catch a boat to Belem until Wednesday...we would have to spend 3 days in the "lovely" city of Manaus. No, we weren't exactly prepared for the amount of people they smash onto these boats.
After speaking with a couple touts and captains we took an evening to evaluate our options. Long story short, we decided to catch a boat to Santarém (two days travel from Manaus) on what we determined to be one of the more seaworthy passenger vessels. Another contributing factor was that the boat to Santarém left Manaus the very next day. We thought we'd give river travel a two day trial run and decide how we would get ourselves out of the jungle from there...boat or plane.
When we bought our tickets at about 9am the 110 foot boat was relatively empty. We figured we should have plenty of room for our hammocks. When we returned two hours later ready to board, we witnessed a much different scene...the boat was PACKED! Full capacity...250 people. There weren't even two hammock hooks together. Keep in mind that the hooks are only about a foot apart. After we sized up our surrounding and settled in we thought that maybe two days was the better course of action.
Once under way, we were pleasantly surprised at the level of comfort. Even while constantly bumping into our neighbors, the oversized hammocks provided an illusion of sufficient personal space. The weather also held up pretty well. There were only a couple hard rain showers over the two days so we were able to stay dry.
We got plenty of rest and reading done in the two days to Santarém. Given that everybody's baggage is on deck, our maine concern was robbery, but we were able to walk away with all of our belongings. By the time we arrived to port we were thinking that another two days on a boat to Belem would actually be a nice way to relax.
From Santarém we decided to head to a small town called Altar do Ciao, but were postponed when I came down with the stomach flu. Not surprised considering the volume of people on the boat and that there was only one set of dishes at mealtime that was rinsed and wiped in between groups of twenty. Two days later I was able to make the short 1 hour bus trip, but was still feeling fragile.
Altar do Ciao ended up being a perfect place to recuperate. It's an Amazon tributary just west of Santarém. The coolest part of the town is a sandbar that separates a lake from the river. During the wet season the sandbar with its white sand beaches disappear. Luckily, there was still plenty of sand above the river level when we arrived.
For Valentine's day we found an abandoned hut on the sandbar and hung up our hammocks. Thank goodness we had some shade because the sun was INTENSE. We enjoyed the day reading and by the evening I was feeling much better.
On the way back to our hotel we stopped to catch a bite to eat...the first since I had come down with the flu. Nothing special, but it did the trick and it felt good to finally have food in my stomach.
Both Brandon and I woke up in the middle of the night with a solid case of food poisening...what luck? Given the state of our health we voted down two more days on a boat and hopped on a plane to Salvador on the north coast.
We shook off this let down and reminded ourselves that we had come to Manaus in order to hop on a boat and ride the length of the Amazon River. Four days from Manaus to Belem...the end of the Amazon. We headed down the the dock to see what our options were. Once again, not exactly what we expected.
Yes, we DID know that river travel was the primary mode of transportation in this region. Yes, we DID expect to buy a hammock space as our passage. No, we didn't know that we couldn't catch a boat to Belem until Wednesday...we would have to spend 3 days in the "lovely" city of Manaus. No, we weren't exactly prepared for the amount of people they smash onto these boats.
After speaking with a couple touts and captains we took an evening to evaluate our options. Long story short, we decided to catch a boat to Santarém (two days travel from Manaus) on what we determined to be one of the more seaworthy passenger vessels. Another contributing factor was that the boat to Santarém left Manaus the very next day. We thought we'd give river travel a two day trial run and decide how we would get ourselves out of the jungle from there...boat or plane.
When we bought our tickets at about 9am the 110 foot boat was relatively empty. We figured we should have plenty of room for our hammocks. When we returned two hours later ready to board, we witnessed a much different scene...the boat was PACKED! Full capacity...250 people. There weren't even two hammock hooks together. Keep in mind that the hooks are only about a foot apart. After we sized up our surrounding and settled in we thought that maybe two days was the better course of action.
Once under way, we were pleasantly surprised at the level of comfort. Even while constantly bumping into our neighbors, the oversized hammocks provided an illusion of sufficient personal space. The weather also held up pretty well. There were only a couple hard rain showers over the two days so we were able to stay dry.
We got plenty of rest and reading done in the two days to Santarém. Given that everybody's baggage is on deck, our maine concern was robbery, but we were able to walk away with all of our belongings. By the time we arrived to port we were thinking that another two days on a boat to Belem would actually be a nice way to relax.
From Santarém we decided to head to a small town called Altar do Ciao, but were postponed when I came down with the stomach flu. Not surprised considering the volume of people on the boat and that there was only one set of dishes at mealtime that was rinsed and wiped in between groups of twenty. Two days later I was able to make the short 1 hour bus trip, but was still feeling fragile.
Altar do Ciao ended up being a perfect place to recuperate. It's an Amazon tributary just west of Santarém. The coolest part of the town is a sandbar that separates a lake from the river. During the wet season the sandbar with its white sand beaches disappear. Luckily, there was still plenty of sand above the river level when we arrived.
For Valentine's day we found an abandoned hut on the sandbar and hung up our hammocks. Thank goodness we had some shade because the sun was INTENSE. We enjoyed the day reading and by the evening I was feeling much better.
On the way back to our hotel we stopped to catch a bite to eat...the first since I had come down with the flu. Nothing special, but it did the trick and it felt good to finally have food in my stomach.
Both Brandon and I woke up in the middle of the night with a solid case of food poisening...what luck? Given the state of our health we voted down two more days on a boat and hopped on a plane to Salvador on the north coast.
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