Yesterday’s gallery tour took a lot of energy. With the help of a few caipirinhas, a very hot, hot shower, I managed to recover enough to go on the free city walking tour. Although I didn’t manage to do the WHOLE tour, which is over four and a half hours. I still wanted to find and visit Batman Alley as well. The tour met at the metro entrance on Republican square. A lovely tourist office was there as well. I was a tad early so I had to wait. There was a local craft market and it was a pleasure just to look and walk around.
São Paulo is home to 21 million people! It has more sky scrapers than could be counted! The building on this photograph has its own postcode!! You can imagine that three days is absolutely nothing, it doesn’t even scratch the surface!!
The walking tour visited the Theatro Municipal, although we didn’t go inside. This building was begun in 1903 in the style of Paris’Palais Garnier. It’s facade is heavily ornamented, combining every style possible!
It would have been awesome to also visit the theatre on the inside! I just have to go back one day! We walked on to the cathedral Se. I know it took an enormous amount of time to finish this cathedral. I was shocked by the contrast between the elaborate cathedral, that cost billions, and the enormous amount of homeless, old people living in tents, surrounding this building! 
It was very in your face, unexpected, and very, very hard to deal with. The tour guide just skipped over this, like it wasn’t that important!
We did enter the cathedral, where the ” benches” were divided into ” chairs” so homeless people couldn’t stretch out on them, or God forbid, sleep on them! By now I had a hard time dealing with these destitute people. Most of them elderly and a majority of them black. It makes me feel that organised religion seems to miss the point that Jesus tried to make , love ” your neighbour” like you love yourself!!
The tour went on, I was tired, cold and quite shocked by what I had just seen. We all went to the oldest cake shop in São Paulo, but somehow I had lost my appetite. My knee was giving me grief, and I was feeling miserable. I said a polite good bye and caught the metro back to Vila Madelana, the artistic quarter, where my hostel was. I had had my map with me and this time I managed to find Batman Alley!
An area full of little boutiques, cafes, art and an enormous amount of murals. I walked for about an hour, visited two galleries and one shop. Then the rain started and I was back to being cold, wet and miserable! 
I had a hot chocolate. Did some drawing, and when the rain eased of a bit, walked back to the hotel. It was time to pack, sort and prepare myself for my flight to Santiago tomorrow. Then home! Another great trip has come to an end! I am ready! My body has had enough! Time to go home, relax and plan my next trip! Bon voyage!
Getting up, shower, breakfast and saying good bye. Always very hard to do. This family has embraced me, looked after me and locked me into their hearts. Their incredible hospitality was overwhelming. Never to be forgotten. Saying good bye to Jayme at the bus station, a big lump in my throat and I had to hold back my tears. It is without a doubt the hardest part of travelling. Meeting beautiful people and then saying good bye, over and over again! The bus trip to Macae wasn’t too bad. I fell asleep as soon as the bus left, woke up for lunch four hours later, only to sleep a further four hours!
Gina and Maria came onto the platform just as I arrived! Gina and I had met eight years ago, when I looked for accommodation in Rio de Janeiro, not realising that this was a province as well as a town! It was like we only met yesterday! We went to Maria Eduarda’s flat. Dumped my luggage and hit the town! The foreshore was amazing! Lots of restaurants, pizza places and bars. We shared some drinks, ate some food and were home by eleven. The next day we caught an Uber to the foreshore, walked along the beach and the lake. Our waiter told us that tonight there would be life music. Of course! There is life music EVERY night! Ah, Brasil! How I will miss you!
We all went to watch an amazing sunset, over the lake! There was an empty derelict hotel across the road and Gina and I fantasised bringing it back to its former glory! We then joined the party on the foreshore. My favourite song was played, “Let it Be” and “imagine”, and lots of Brasilian music afterwards! I even got up to dance! Later that night we all snuggled in the lounge to watch “Rocketman”, another magic day had passed. In the morning Maria Eduarda and Daniela needed to go to work, while Gina and I caught the bus to Barra de Sana. The bus took about an hour to Casimiro de Arbeu. Beautiful scenery, mountains, rivers and sunshine!
Gina and I talked about a lot of things, as Gina is a painter as well, also she told me about the Hawaiian meditation of Ho’Oponopono. “I love you, I am sorry and I forgive you, THANK YOU! “I had never heard of this before, but since then I have googled and read about this meditation. It is a better form of what I have been doing for years. Some people come into your life just to change your life! Gina is my guide, my inspiration, I think it works both ways, but I will certainly look into a course I can do in Oz!
Inside the church of Francis of Assisi.
K
The packing of my bag didn’t take very long! Discarded a lot of my ” rubbish”! I am allowed ten kilos of hand luggage on this flight, and I am determined to manage this!! The wonderful cleaner and cook at the hostel seemed very pleased with her bag of ” goodies”! Dear Amadeu had promised me on Friday a free ride to the airport! He also has very, very good wifi in his agency. So of the historic town I went! I have no idea WHY I thought it is ” incredibly” far! It all seems so close now!
The lovely driver, who took me on the weekend tour, also dropped me off at the airport! He spoke a bit of Spanish, and slowly in Portuguese, so we chatted all the way! I had been able to reduce my backpack to seven kilos! Very impressed!
I paid an extra couple of dollars to have a roomy window seat, it is only a three hour flight, but I saved a lot on the taxi, so there you go! Who would walk on board but Raoul and Mauro? This is so exiting! I had just published the story about him missing the boat! Oops! Plus I put his photo, that I took, on line as well! I normally DO ask people if they mind! But I didn’t have their contact details, so couldn’t!
The room was simple. Single bed, which is very unusual. Hot, hot water in the shower! After sending loads of messages to Vitor, his family and Nina’s friends, I finally went to bed at eleven at night! Slept like a babe, another very hot shower and an amazingly good breakfast buffet, one of the best so far! Vitor’s dad, Jayme, was coming to pick me up! I was invited to stay with them! A room had been prepared for me! I didn’t expect this at all. I thought may be a meal together or a few drinks one night, instead the Brasilian hospitality showed itself in full force!
Jayme and Liane took me out for a buffet lunch with all the special foods from the province of Minas Gerais. After my huge breakfast I overdid the lunch, as it all looked very delicious! In the evening we went to a pub to drink some local beer from the area. That night my stomach let me know that this was NOT the way to live anymore and I paid for it all with terrible stomach cramps all night! Bummer!!
On Wednesday I had planned to go to Inhotim, the largest out door gallery space in the world! Jayme dropped me off in the morning and I spend the whole day in artist heaven!! It was totally impossible to see it all. There are over twenty galleries. Each with their own exhibitions. My most favourite was the black and white photography from Claudia Andujar. A Swiss born artist ( Claudine Haas) who lived with the Yanomami, in the village of Maturaca (Amazonia) for over seven years. Her photos were just awesome! I took photos on my camera of the black and white photos, I spend a lot of time in this gallery and it was by far my favourite.
A lot of the art were video installations, in the dark, I felt I was living in the dark as most of it I didn’t understand! The complex is so incredibly huge that in the end it was my legs that decided where I would go to! Several of the pavilions were closed due to exhibition changes. Some of the galleries had long queues waiting to enter. These I skipped altogether, as I had only limited time. I have learned in my life that it is humanly impossible to see all that life has to offer us, one needs to make choices all the time! Although I do my best to see as much as I can, I am aware of my personal limitations.
The grounds of Inhotim are also impressive. Many artificial lakes reflect the pavilions into the water. Creating spectacular images for photographs. I wish I had taken more notes, but by the end it became a survival of slowly going from one to the next with the least amount of pain! There were small tourists carts driving around, but I should have bought my ticket at the entrance, which is interesting as there was nobody at the entrance when I arrived! All together it was an amazing day spend in fabulous surroundings, seeing so much creativity made me one to go home and draw and paint again!
Afterwards we went out and had lunch, I was in desperate need for a strong coffee, to keep the body moving. In the afternoon we went to the Fiat exhibition, were I saw my very first car on show, a Fiat 500, except mine had the door handle at the other side! I also took a photo of a sculpture and was told off, no photos! Interesting as the Paul Klee had no such restrictions except that you were not allowed to take “selfies” at the exhibition! Go and figure!
This park consists of 1500 sq kilometres of rolling white dunes. Rain water forms crystal clear lakes between the sandy hills. The main town is Barreirinhas’ on a bend of the river Preguicas.
At two o’clock there was lots of confusion of who should go where. In the end instead of sitting on the top of the truck I sat inside with Carla and her eldest daughter, Ellen. The 4×4 needed to be loaded onto a ferry, which was then pushed by a little boat to the other side! Fabulous. Our car played up at one stage, lots of rattling and screeching noises, nothing a lot of water in the radiator couldn’t fix! As soon as the radiator was filled up we went on our merry way! Slipping and sliding.
When we arrived at the desert we had to climb this enormous sand dune! So much for not having to walk with my crook knee! Quite steep! The view was amazing! Just a shame there were hundreds of other people doing the same thing on a Saturday afternoon! My Italian friends went for a four day hike, with a guide! How magical that would have been! Although walking in the sand dunes was certainly not easy. This sand dune desert is unusual as it has lakes every where.
Walter, Carla’s husband, explained that it was underground waters that filtered through into the desert. It was most certainly impressive. I sat down and swam for awhile, waiting for the big mob of people to disperse. Then I wandered of in a different direction, where it was possible to sit, watch and take photos. I was making large abstract paintings in my head, it was not easy tuning out other people, but I am practising silence in the market place, and I am getting quite good at it!
We watched the sunset from the top of the first hill and hundreds of people stood with their backs to this spectacular sight, just to get the perfect selfie, or social media shot. I left my iPad in my bag. I locked the picture in my head, and smiled at the antics of my most favourite “animal” on this earth, humans! (Human behaviour interests me enormous, and I should have gone on to do a Master’s in Social Science!) and lately I am more and more baffled, but still humoured, by some strange behaviours! First their backs to the sunset for the “perfect” shot, than the rest of the time is spend “watching these perfect shots”, meanwhile nature gives a free show of gigantic proportions, witnessed by a few die hards!!
Time to return in our wild west fourwheel drive! Wheelies on the way! By the time we arrived by the river, there was a huge traffic jam of tour vehicles needing to cross, so we were all let out, just in front of, yes, you guessed it! Souvenir shops, bottle shops and people selling food!! Ah, a cold beer! One of the people who crossed through the water to the boat, was bitten by a snake! There was a lot of screaming, while her guide told her it was not a poisonous snake! How could het Ell in the dark? The woman showed us the bite and her very swollen foot! According to her it was a cobra. I would have shat myself, but every body around me was rather blase about the whole thing! Another fabulous day! Mind you, I realise now that it would have been smarter to go on a longer, smaller, more private tour, but time and (by now) money, constrains made me choose a ” tourists packed tour”. These tour I normally avoid at all costs, but………..ah, choices!
Somehow I fell asleep after my wonderful, hot, shower! First one in a long, long time. My back has been giving me grief on top of the knee! It took me awhile to realise that this must be due to the fall I had two days ago! Shit, this body is getting old! Can’t even fall flat on my face without consequences! (No, I had NOT been drinking!) The back injury from Tanzania, flared up big time! Sigh. Luckily I had some Ibrufen left over. Two pills, a hot, hot shower, and NO jazz! ( which was a shame)
At seven it was breakfast time. I put the iPad on the charger, asked Carla to tell the owner about the ” black out” which only happened in my room! Ah, the Power of ONE! I enjoyed one of the bests breakfast yet! Lots of different fruits, fruit juices without sugar, fresh crispy bread rolls, eggs, cheese and ham. It was a magnificent spread. Four different types of cakes that needed trying! I ate too much, but as I only eat once a day again, it should keep me going till tomorrow’s brekky!
At 8.30 am there was our boat pick up. Fast and crazy ride along the Preguicas river. Lovely and early, first stop more sandy desert with lots of lakes. Here there were wind mills generating energy. It was like watching a silent ballet! I had learned from yesterday, to walk away as fast as I could! Along the shore of the river I walked fast to the furthest away sand dune! Climbed up and was rewarded with spectacular views across the desert! Without any people!! By now I have been working on a series of abstracts in my head, and I took photos with these compositions in my mind. Hope I can hang on to these images for another four weeks when I am able to paint again!
There was a bit of confusion, trying to find ” my” boat amongst the enormous quantity of moored boats!! They all looked alike! I should have taken notice of the name ” India”, but I didn’t! Last one on board. We went of to a little fishing village,a light house, and souvenir shops!! Lighthouse was not open, so no climbing up to see the view. There was a lot of alcohol for sale made out of cashew fruit! I regret not trying any of it! There is another interesting drink, no idea what it is called, but it is strong and has crabs or lobsters inside of the bottles! This baffled me, until I was told that the bottle is cut, animal preserved inside, bottle glued back together, decorative rope over the cut and voila! Delicious interesting drink, which I didn’t try either!
Another hot, hot shower, scrubbing all the sand of my body. My hair is a different matter! Dreadlocks are an enormous amount of work! Who would have thought?? Sand and water needs to be washed out, re rolled, let them dry, which I didn’t have time for! So wet and sandy hair, fell asleep in the bus on the way home. Ah, life it is just so amazing! I arrived back at my hostel just after ten o ‘clock and found a man in my bed! Oops! Prayers answered? There was NO staff on duty, until eleven o’clock that night! Shower, sleep until I was woken up by two screeching cats in the dormitory! The red tomcat was willing and able, the grey one wouldn’t have a bar of him. Great! Was having a marvellous dream. Michelle, my daughter, and I at a party in El Viajero! Colombian! Welcome to my life!
Thanks, but no thanks. I am not getting up at four after just spending over thirteen hours on a bus! Plus I have decided that it is better to do a one day tour. The hostel is way out of the old town. In the afternoon Nico, Kate and I caught the local bus to the historical centre. (Soren had to work!) The old town is not large, but fascinating. 
We walked around, visited some souvenir shops, and the others needed to go back much too soon for my liking! Before we reached the hostel, the bus stopped and we were sort of kicked of, onto another bus, the trip back took incredibly long. Kate went on and on complaining about this, and everything else what is wrong with South America.
I get this, when one travel a long time, one can get tired, this means you need to move on. But Nico had just arrived from France after three weeks on a cargo boat and everything delighted and fascinated him. (If Kate said one more time ” oh, but you just got here, give it time” , I swear I was going to slug her one!) That evening we all walked to the beach to watch the sunset. For one reason or other I tripped over and fell smack bang flat on my face! I had forgotten to put on my shoes and was wearing my thongs! ( flip flops for the foreigners reading this!) Beside a few dents to the ego, no damage was done, (I thought.)
The next morning the bus picked the young ones up at eight! So much for an early start! After a leisurely breakfast it was too overcast to go to the beach. I caught the bus into the historical centre. Oh, what a delight, to wander by myself, into little alley ways, climb the stairways, walk into galleries, shops and musea at my own speed. It was an immense pleasure. Finally I came back to the tourist information centre, where the only person speaking English or Spanish was very busy. (I can understand Portuguese, but I can’t speak it, only Spanglish comes out of my mouth).
Beer time, while waiting for this woman to find time. I passed an hour watching people go to and fro, only to find out that the tourist information woman now had gone for lunch! I had hoped to discuss a few tour options. As luck would have it there was a travel agency right next door. Due to the very poor wifi at the hostel, I had not gotten very far in my search for flights south, and the main one, a flight to Santiago de Chile, for my return home! The wonderful owner, Amadeu, spoke awesome English, and before I knew it, I had booked and paid for my flight to Chile, and a flight to Belo Horizonte ( five times more expensive!)
It is possible, in Australia, to get a flight pass for Brasil. The problem here is that you need to know your days and cities that you want to visit, more than six months in advance! I find this impossible, and I find it hard enough, when a flight is booked, that I NEED to be there, and miss out on other things on the way. Anyway, two flights all done and dusted in fifteen minutes!
Just before I left I asked if he did know of an agency that would do tours to the desert. Of course his agency did!! Except, oops, four people had not shown up, and there was nobody for a day tour! ( minimum of four people required, always) Ah, well, you can’t win them all. It was obviously not meant to be. So be it! Life goes on. I walked to the palace of the lions, where a delightful young woman, Julia, guided me through the five rooms with excellent English! All musea, galleries are free! This impresses me greatly! Also the tour was free. She showed me a tapestry, made by a Moroccan/ Brasilian woman, which was stunning! ( I wrote down her name somewhere! Can’t find it!)
Later that wonderful day I caught the bus back. I wanted to go for a long beach walk. I snoozed on the bus, suddenly woke up, thought I recognised the gourmet supermarket behind our hostel, and got off the bus! Of course, there are more then just ONE gourmet supermarket and this wasn’t the one remotely near my hostel. Oops! Now what? Trying to ask people where the hostel’s street was, was a waste of energy. It gets dark here rather fast. As soon as the sun sets, the dark rolls in. Great. I am somewhere, it is getting dark and I have NO idea where the hell I am! Welcome to my world!
Suddenly there was a car beeping! As I looked up, this man is waving at me madly! Great! Now I am lost in the dark with a lunatic on the loose! Until he called my name! It was the owner of the travel agency! All exited! As I hopped into his car, he told me he had been thinking of me all afternoon! ( yeah, I know, I have this effect on people! Poor man!) he had found four people for a two day tour, but as I had left NO phone number, nor contact details, nor my hotel’s address, he had NO WAY of letting me know! He was beside himself! He had recognised my dress at the bus stop where I was asking people where I should go!! Now to me this is Serendipity, a meaningful coincidence! (Happens to me! A LOT!!!)
The Amazonian tour started at nine o’ clock. Pick up, drop back pack at the office and a drive to the other harbour. I was in the car with three older people from Austria. They asked where I was from, Australia, we had a laugh about the fact that people always confuse Austria and Australia! Then asked asked how long I was travelling and after that never spoke another word to me again! Oops! Is it the dreadlocks?? Weird!
We had to take a boat ride. This boat stopped at the meeting of the waters! This is where the two rivers, rio Negro and rio Soliminos. There is a distinct line. The Rio Negro, the black river, is much warmer, much slower and the water has a different density.for these reasons the two rivers don’t immediately mix. So for kilometres the rivers run along side of each other, before their waters mix and become the Amazon river. In English we call the whole river the Amazon, which has to be so, if they want to claim that it is the longest river in the world!! Due to the fact that it was cloudy, the line was difficult to see.
After the boat ride we went on to a bus!! Unbelievable! I had NO idea that there were ROADS and a BUS service in the jungle!! I am aware how terribly ignorant I am! I am learning new things daily! When we finally arrived, I have no idea how long it took as I promptly fell asleep! We were all given a most delicious lunch. All together we were ten people in the group. Four young people from Italy, a young couple from Spain, the three Austrians and myself. So much for never more than EIGHT!
A couple of us had a swim in the Amazon! I can’t tell you how incredibly exciting it was to have a swim in the Amazon!! I have now swum in the Nile, Zambezi river and the Amazon!! Hm! Might see if I can swim in the five major rivers! Afterwards we went to a jungle bar. Amazingly the price of the beer was the same as the price at the Manaus hostel! On the way back we stopped for the sunset! And what a sunset it was! Unbelievably stunning. Another great day was finished!
That evening we all went to the camp’s bar. It was time to have my first caipirinha. The bar man, Toucanero, was a recently widowed elderly man , who has fourteen children! No television in the jungle I reckon! Since he was in my age group he took a shine to me, and my caipirinha although lovely, totally floored me! My father always told me to lead a balanced life, so I had a second one, one for each leg!! Marina, the Italian girl and Tiziano, played the guitar and started singing! Then one of the young guides, Sarmento, joined in. Stunningly beautiful voices. How unbelievably beautiful. Here I am in the middle of the Amazonian jungle listen to live music of total professionals. How blessed I am. How incredibly blessed!
I was up at five am the next morning, walked to the boat ramp. James and four people in his group were already there. In what should have been a beautiful quiet morning was disturbed by angry voices. His group was meant to go on a boat for a sunrise tour, but their boat driver didn’t show up. So lots of yelling, angry voices, no dolphins no monkeys, the man kept saying, but they also missed all the birds waking up. Poor James kept saying “why are you yelling at me?I am HERE!” The woman wanted him to ring the driver, except there is no reception out in the Amazonian jungle!! In the end there was NO sunrise as it was too cloudy! But all four people had missed the Here and Now of another beautiful morning.
When we came back from the walk after four hours of walking it was lunch time. People got terribly upset that I wanted to miss lunch!! Couldn’t make them understand that normally I only eat once a day!! My stomach is upset again, which has a lot to do with the two caipirinhas last night! James fussed over me like, I was going to say an old woman, but since I never fuss over anybody, I can’t use this expressions! So he fussed, a lot! Made me lemon grass tea. This did help, but since it was self inflicted, I didn’t want ANY fuss whatsoever!! An afternoon nap, and I declined to go Pirahna fishing. I had already done this before. Three hours on a boat without a toilet nearby didn’t seem such a good idea!
Instead I sat at the boat ramp, solitary, silence, meditation, and nature just came to me!! Canaries flew in sat nearby. Bright yellow, orange and birds that were mixed. I took photos with the camera, but didn’t want to disturb this precious moment with getting the iPad out of my bag! It was just like Henry Theroux wrote in Walden Pond. All you need to do is sit still , be quiet and nature will roll at your feet in pure ecstasy. It is just so silent, boats puttering along, staff going home, and me taking it all in, to be alone for a couple hourswas pure, undiluted bliss!
One of the guides, who was waiting for his boat ride, heard monkeys nearby. We went in search of them, and right there, not ten meters away, was a group of Capuchin monkeys in a nearby tree. Ismael grabbed some bananas from the kitchen and we watched the action. Ismael tried capturing the action on my camera, but I had not set it on the movement setting. I just watched in awe! Then the group returned with nine Pirahnas. It was dinner time! Pirahna is not my favourite fish to eat! Too many bones, too small, although utterly delicious, a lot of work for a few mouthfuls.
That night, after eating the Pirahnas, we went caiman hunting. This was a bit of a farce. Gillman caught a baby caiman, we got to hold it, several photos were taken,( non on the iPad) and back we went. Mosquitos, the size of helicopters, had been biting me through my travel trousers, on my bottom! Great, now I walk around all day scratching my backside!
Then next morning I was back on the jetty, for another attempt to see a spectacular sunrise on the foreshore. This time it was Sarmento with the four Chinese people. He asked if I wanted to join them for a river sunrise. I believe whole heartedly that one should never, ever say NO to unexpected offers. So of I went, on the boat, waiting for a new day to begin. The Chinese man played one video over and over, the sound effects getting on my nerves. A beautiful quiet morning, constant chatter of the two Chinese girls, the video making its intrusive noises, while birds flew over our heads, starting their new day with a spot of morning fishing!
The next day we visited a native house! We knew this as the sign on the wall said so! We had a look around, didn’t buy anything, walked through the garden and returned to camp! Another great day!!
The sunrise was beautiful, it all happened very fast, one minute waiting and waiting and suddenly the new day has arrived.We walked amongst butterflies to the dinning area. One huge blue one, like we have in Queensland. After breakfast, it was time to pack, a morning boat trip and getting ready to return to Manaus. The trip back was so much faster then the getting here. David and Jennifer, from Barcelona, had to get to the airport, but not until much later that night. We agreed to meet each other in my new hotel’s lobby. Ah, a hot shower, change of clothing, and I felt like a new woman. Tomorrow I am catching the slow boat to Santarem. Another adventure awaits.
The boat arrived at four o’clock in the afternoon. There was no police check on arrival. Laureano led the way, I followed. Finally we stood outside the port buildings. I realised I should have e mailed the hostel, asking how much a taxi would be from the harbour to the place I was staying. As it was the driver over charged me, but since it was in reals, it didn’t bother me too much. Manaus Hostel is fabulous. Lots of wood carved animals, which are painted. A jungle in the courtyard! Lovely friendly staff. I settled in to my bottom bunk in the all female dormitory. Showered and changed. When I got back to the lobby to check my e mails and log in on Facebook, I found that Briyan, from the boat was staying at the same hostel! We arranged that we would go for a bite to eat, and may be have a beer as well! He walked to the hostel and it took him less then fifteen minutes, with all his luggage. He is also just twenty two years old!
The main square was fascinating. A young woman was just opening a museum. As I was in need of a toilet, I ordered a coffee and used their loo. My stomach is rather upset and I am wondering if it can have anything to do with all the carbs I have been eating for four days. I walked around the square and found the Theatre Amazonas. A magnificent building, build in the rubber boom era. I went in, received a half price old farts discount, and waited for an English tour to start. I was in awe. It was just stunning. There were just two of us on the tour, an unfriendly fellow from Queensland and me. The whole tour lasted less than half an hour, and soon I was to be on my way again.
I decided to look for Hotel Manaus, which is supposedly around this square somewhere. A man, speaking excellent English, asked if he could help me, and I told him what I was looking for. He told me he used to play cricket against Australia, in the Ian Chappell days. So we talked about cricket, of which I no nothing about, just being honest here! Anyway, I reached the hotel, he said good bye and I booked a room for when I get back from my tour on Wednesday. It is central, close to the harbour. When I get back from the tour I need to buy water, fruit etc. so a central place is what I need.
From the hotel I wandered to the harbour, where I booked and paid for my boat trip to Santarem. I met a lovely young man from Suriname, so we ended up sitting in his office talking Dutch! I have been trying to apply, unsuccessfully, to apply for an e visa so I can visit his country. There are problems with the website. As he had to get back to work, and I wanted to see more of this city, I left. Who would I bump into outside? Laureano, from Argentina. He had trouble contacting his couch surfing host, and for some reason or other, his phone wouldn’t work. We went back inside, I introduced Laureano to Stephen, from Suriname, who promptly let him use his phone! We then shared a beer, and both realised that we probably would see each other again in Santarem! This is one of the fun parts of travelling, bumping into people who you have met before!
I wandered back to the hostel, totally exhausted. My knee is still giving me too much grief for my liking, and although I had planned to go to a performance at the Theatre Amazonas, I was too exhausted to do anything else. Manaus is very hot, and humid. I can’t say it is a pretty city. The main square has been beautified, but the city could really benefit from a total overhaul. Here, too, all the buildings are just tagged. A lot of the amazing old buildings are derelict and falling apart, which is such a shame. I walked around fantasising of repairing and restoring these stunningly beautiful places, and bring the city back to its heyday splendour. This kept me amused!
Part of the deal with the tour company is that I need closed shoes to do a jungle walk. Unlike the tour company in Leticia, they do NOT provide boots! So shopping I had to do. I went to the huge market, which is housed in an incredibly beautiful building, but only sold souvenirs and fruit and vegetables. What I had not realised is that it was Sunday and all the cheap stalls were closed! Oops! Luckily I found a shop open with cheap canvas shoes! Just for one day! Hmmm! Wasteful!
On the way to the shops a lovely old man, from Colombia, selling something, called me over and asked where I was from. He was lovely, eighty years old, looking sixty. We talked about the state of affairs of the world, fixed all the problems of what we thought was wrong with it! He lives high in the mountains a week away and was in town to organise some paperwork for the government. He invited me over to his place, while pouring me some concoction, as my stomach is really giving me a lot of grief right now. Since he was drinking the same stuff, made from plants, I figured it couldn’t do any harm. It helped!
He was a shaman, from the mountains in Colombia, who has lived in Brasil for over forty years. A Pachamama worshipper ( Mother Earth) he proceeded to tell me the mythical believes of his native tribe. Since this always fascinates me enormous I sat down and listened for quite a while. My Spanish is getting so much better as I understood nearly everything! I did ask if I was allowed to take a photo, on the camera, which didn’t do him justice at all. His incredible energy, youthful appearance were much more evident in real life. Time to go! Searching for another toilet!
On Friday the 26 July, I was picked up early by the travel agency. Anthony walked me to the boat. Nobody had explained to me that he wouldn’t come with me!confusion when the boat guy asked me if I was to go to Puerto Alegria. I had no idea!After 1,5 hour on a very full boat I was dropped off. Puerto Alegria. The joyful port. Or the Happy port, take your pick.
I was welcomed by Benjamin and Freddy, who was to be my own personal guide. It took awhile before the decision was made in which room they were going to put me. What a lovely surprise, a large room, big double bed with a mosquito net, and a single bed also with a mosquito net! Plenty of space. Simple but functional. I would have liked a few hooks for my towel and clothing, but that was a minor little detail.
After a short break Freddy and I walked into the village,Irapay. There are about eight hundred people living here. The houses are mainly stretched out along the river front. Only one more street running parallel , which is set back a tad. On the 28 of July it is the Peruvian Independence Day. Eight days after Colombia. I was quite surprised that I was now in Peru, since we never crossed a border. I worried for a while that I had left my passport, and the two copies I carry, locked up in the safe at the hotel. Needless worry, as nobody else seemed to bother at all.
At the local primary school the children were practising their Independence March. I am against anything military, but this was quite funny to watch. Especially the lower grades. They weren’t marching in step with each other, which was quite cute!
After a very delicious lunch, I had a mini rest and promptly fell asleep for nearly two hours! Then it was time for real Amazonian explorations! We went Pirahna fishing!! Hm! I quite fancied some of these fish for dinner! My very favourite book is ” Pirahnas don’t eat bananas”, nor do they eat plums! Only BUMS! Of we went in a wooden boat, which had too much water in it for my liking! We saw so many birds! Big green parrots, birds of prey and vultures!
The fish started to bite as soon as the hook and bait were in the water! Shame they only ate the bait and kept refusing the hook!! Suddenly the rain came! So fast, hard refreshing, and on going! Within five minutes I was soaked to the bones. Just in time I managed to store my bag, with iPad, camera and note book, under the life vest! Soon it became cold. When thunder and lightening arrived, I feared a repeat of my Okavanga Delta experience, ( in Botswana) I preferred to go back to the camp!
I slept deeply and dreamlessly, unheard of, only waking once for a toilet break. A new day emerged as fast as the night had come! I was up early. The pond near the dining room had new lotus flowers! The flowers only last for 24 hours, but they are stunningly beautiful. The lotus leaves can grow to two meters in diameter, according to Freddy. 
The largest lotus leaves in the world. I take his word for it! There is now way to fact check his statements as there is no wifi in the jungle!
Freddy literally had to slash a path through the jungle! It was so overgrown. The first thing we saw were a big family of very small monkeys, the name which I have forgotten. Lots of butterflies, enormous centipedes. A huge tree, over fifteen hundred years old, according to Freddy!
Different medicinal plants. Lots of bird sounds but no birds to be seen.
The trip to Leticia was fast and easy. I slept all the way! If only I could do this on the long haul flights! The taxi took me to my hostel. I had a four bunk dormitory all for myself. Not bad for twelve dollars! I dropped all my gear, showered and changed and went for a walk. The first thing I saw was the travel agency across the road! I went in to inquire about the boat to Manaus, Brasil. I forgot that I had decided not to do a tour here, I booked and paid for a two day tour. So bank, buying water, long sleeved top that isn’t a thermal one! Most important of all, anti mosquito spray! Bought one with DEET! I had bought TWO aerogard tropical strength, but used them up on the Galápagos and in Tayrona.
My original plan was to leave on Saturday, but it seemed to much of a rush! Couldn’t possibly deal with leaving so fast. Okay, next boat is on Tuesday. Hm! Losing important days here. I had worked out that if I have more than fifteen days left over I WILL go to Suriname! Even for two weeks it is worth it, I reckon! Anyway, the tour was booked, get on with it. Do other travellers have this problem? I work everything out on paper and then there is this inner child that just takes over. I suppose it is because it really doesn’t matter one way or another.
Leticia is in the south east corner of Colombia. It is isolated. The nearest highway is over eight hundred kilometres away. It is splendid in its isolation. Motor bikes fill the streets, as do tuk tuks. There are nightclubs everywhere and I saw a few casinos too. Leticia is right on the border of Brasil and Peru. Hard to believe that just an hour away you can be in the middle of the Amazonian jungle!
In the end, I got fed up, no longer polite, and I firmly told him he could go now. I did notice that at ten o’clock in the morning the man was already smelling of alcohol. As I wandered more, I was offered drugs, thank you dreadlocks, by a very drunken local person. I declined. The bars were already full. Sunday morning ten o’clock. I had seen enough, was tired after my full on two days away and decided to go back to the hostel and work in my diary. I am very far behind.
I did buy my boat ticket. At sunset time I wandered back to the harbour, the day was winding down. The drunks are now laying all over the streets. Not a pleasant sight.
People watching is my favourite pastime, and watching the comings and goings at a small harbour is interesting. Found a wonderful restaurant, had a zucchini boat filled with vegetables, delicious, and as it was Happy Hour, ordered two zombies! Delicious! One more day in Colombia. It is hard to leave!!
On my last day in Colombia I got up very early to watch the sunrise. Saw thousands of birds, parrots, making a racket in the Central Park. I was in awe! Never seen so many birds in one place! Today was a day of boring stuff such as migration, getting a stamp from the Colombians. Then onwards to Brasil getting an entry stamp from a very unfriendly Federal police man! My last meal was fried piranha !! All set and ready to go!!