Students on strike

When university students in America are upset, they write letters to the editors, crash board meetings, and complain a lot…but they still go to school.  In Brazil, as in many other countries, this would seem ridiculous.

Students at the (over 40) federal Brazilian universities are currently on strike. (This is almost 250,000 students!)

When we were in Belo Horizonte, our Couchsurfing host’s school was currently on strike.  The professors have demanded a 5% wage increase, better hours, and other remunerations that have incensed a quarter of a million students to join them in solidarity.

Instead of wallowing away their protest, the students at UFMG School of Architecture, and Design decided to have a massive exposition/party to celebrate their protest...this also coincided with some popular holidays in Brazil. So the students closed off the street in front of their school, put together a display of their best work from the past year, bought a bunch of beer and liquor, found some DJs, got a few student bands, put up a foosball table, and threw an outstanding shindig.

The open selling and consumption of alcohol on the school premises was something an American college student would find interesting. Normally alcohol consumption in American universities is left to before class, a flask, or after class. You would be hard-pressed to find students selling cans of beer in front of the university entrance - unless things have changed a lot since I graduated. 

Passersby could check out student projects, buy the student magazine, sample some of the cookies and cupcakes the students had prepared, or just pick up a can of beer at a reasonable price.  (The beer was Brahma, which Avery says tastes like PBR—perfect for hip art students.)

Once the sun went down, a band started playing some popular Latin American songs (a good mix of Spanish and Portuguese). The students really seemed to dig it.

As the band was winding down the set, they left stage for a moment - only to be brought back from the cheers for an encore of one more song, “mais un.” The band obliged.

But rather than play just one, as requested, they kept playing and kept playing until its encore set was just as long as their normal set, if not longer.

Seven songs and one more “mais un” later, the band finally finished its encore.

Ouro Preto in photos

I'm a sucker for colonial architecture. 

Throughout my time in Latin America, I have really enjoyed the maintained historic centers of the area's old cities. Whether it be Cuenca, Quito, Cuzco, Lima, Cartagena, Panama City or any of the other historic cities, they all offer great places to stroll and marvel at the buildings.

So when we were in Belo Horizonte, Avery and I had to make a day trip to the old gold mining town of Ouro Preto, which had some of the largest gold reserves in the world - until they were used to finance the Portuguese empire. 

What remains in the area are a few charming, old mining towns that are full of classic architecture. If we had more time, we would have explored more of the surrounding cities. Since we only had a day, we spent it walking around Ouro Preto.

Between the barroque churches, red-roofed houses, and cobblestone streets, it's easy to think that you travel back in time when you visit Ouro Preto. The main reminders of the 21st century would be the cars on the streets and Visa signs in store windows.

In the main squares of Ouro Preto, there are some great artisan markets where people carve while you shop.

Look! It's Ian and Avery with a colonial city in the background.

While waiting for our bus at the Belo Horizonte bus station, we came across this outstanding purple suit. Just outstanding.

They are getting ready for a big festival in Ouro Preto, which meant installing a church-sized stage in front of the church.

Tomato ≠ tomahto

We arrived at the airport in Salvador, expecting an uneventful day of travel. We would go smoothly through security, make our first flight without any issues, and have a few hours to burn in Vitoria before our connecting flight to Belo Horizonte.

If it were that plain, I would not be writing a blog post about it.

The sign on the monitor said "last call for the flight to Vitoria."

I was a little concerned because Avery was still in the bathroom, and I didn't know how much longer he would be. Once he finished his business, we handed our tickets to the gate agent and proceeded onto the bus that would take us onto the plane.

We were standing on the bus for a few minutes when the gate agent walked out to the bus and pulled us aside. He told us that we weren't supposed to go to Vitoria. We were booked on a flight to go to the city of Vitoria da Conquista. We went back into the terminal to await our actual flight.

No worries, we thought. We'll just look into our guidebook and find a way to fill the four-hour layover. We opened our Lonely Planet Brazil to find our destination, figuring that any city large enough to have an airport with flights to two major cities would be in the book. We couldn't find it.

We looked in the index. Nothing.

We looked in the section about the state of Bahia. Nothing.

We looked in the section about the state of Minas Gerais. Nothing

We looked in the section about any other neighboring state. Nothing.

With no clue where we were headed, we got on our rear-loading prop-plane. We figured that wherever this plane was going to take us, we would be able to make our connection flight - as long as it left from the same airport. 

No worries. Airline magazines always have those nice maps of their routes...but this airline didn't have any magazines.

It wasn't until we were 20,000 feet off the ground that I asked the woman sitting next to me where we were going. She said we were going to the city of Vitoria da Conquista, which is hundreds of kilometers away from the city we thought we were going to.

She said Vitoria da Conquista was located in the state of Bahia, right on the border with Minas Gerais. She pointed it out to me on the map in the guidebook. Apparently, it is the third largest city in the state, but there is absolutely no reason for tourists to go there. So there is no reason to include anything about it in a guidebook. 

Our experience at the airport gave me the inkling that we were headed somewhere different than we had expected, but I pinned that up to not understanding Portuguese. 

For example, every time I told the ticketing agent that we were going to Vitoria to get a connecting flight to Belo Horizonte, she would say Vitoria da Conquista. I thought this was formal name of Vitoria, and they were really up tight about the name of their city being pronounced correctly.

The time on the gate monitor for the first flight was a half hour earlier than our scheduled take-off time, but it was our scheduled boarding time. I thought that, because we had to taxi out to the plane on bus, that they moved the time up on the monitor. 

Now that we knew the name of the place we were headed, I had to find out a bit more about the area.

The woman next to me told me that it was a big coffee-growing region. The view from the plane looked like the area was really dry and barren. She told that it's not normally this dry. The city was in the middle of a big drought, and the local water company was rationing water (Unlike the water company in Ecuador that cuts the water without warning, the water company in Vitoria da Conquista tells customers when the water will be out). 

Apparently the downtown area was a big commerce hub and a very bustling place during the day. My new friend was kind enough to drop us off in the central plaza. We walked around the town for a few minutes in the direction of the central bus stop to head back to the airport.

After reading about the Bahian cuisine and visiting a museum dedicated to it in Salvador, we wanted to have the experience of eating some good Bahian street food. What we had read said that almost all traditional foods were not vegetarian-friendly. In talking to the woman next to me on the plane, she explained that acaraje, a typical food that is normally made with shrimp, can be ordered without shrimp.

We came across a delicious-looking acaraje stand on the corner and sat down for a bite.  Acaraje is a black-eyed bean patty about the size of a baseball.  The patty is cut in half and then filled with a chopped salad, spicy pepper puree, and some sort of grain spread. It was delicious.  The patty reminded Avery of the spiced breading on good shnitzel patties.

On a side note: Don't you feel a great sense of relief when your plane ticket says that you are seated in the first handful of rows? That means you aren't going to have to wait to get on or off the plane. When we got our seats in row 3, we felt that sensation - only to be disappointed when we learned it was a rear-loading aircraft.

How they could have two similarly sounding cities take off from the same gate within twenty minutes of each other was a question for another day.

Salvador: city by the bay

If you like Afro-Brazilian culture, colonial architecture, and beaches, you should check out Salvador de Bahia.

We spent two days in the city, which, considering it is not beach season, was just the right amount of time.

After arriving at our hostel in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood and eating a little breakfast, we took a bus to the city's historic center, which was the first seat of Portuguese power in Brazil.

It turns out some of the paintings are actually hand-made…

Our first stop in the downtown was at the artisan market. The signs on the wall say that you aren't allowed to take pictures. You'll notice an unsuspecting tourist and unsuspecting artisan getting photographed here. 

So much great architecture!  And the churches are supposed to be very beautiful.

After the artisan market, we took the elevator up the hillside to the Pelorinho neighborhood. The weather was a little overcast and misty, so the streets weren't as lively as we imagine they normally are. There was some Capoeira happening in the parks, but not nearly as much as we had hoped for/expected.

Bahian cuisine is the love child of foods from European colonists, African slaves, and central Brazilian climate and  indigenous traditions.  The most famous dish is Acaraje (see tomorrow's Vitoria de Conquista post).

The province of Bahia is famous for its regional cuisine, which contains a lot of everything that is locally available. It is so famous that is has its own museum. Don't let the fact that there are only two rooms in the museum fool you. There's a lot of it.

Pineapple with pesto, salty cheese, and a raspberry is apparently a Bahian food.  We support this tradition.

Like any good food museum, there is an attached cooking school, book shop, and restaurant. The culinary students master their craft by preparing a daily lunch buffet of regional foods.

The Afro-Brazilian Museum provides a great introduction into the culture's origins and belief system. Many of the slaves that arrived from Africa maintained their traditional belief systems, despite having Christianity imposed upon them. The museum explains the pantheon of African gods and how Afro-Brazilians still maintain their culture. The most impressive room in the museum was the 27-panel, hand-carved cedar display by Carybé, an Argentine-turned-Salvador artist, that depicts the animal and anthropomorphic representation of each god.

Next to the historic center is the used book district. We came across a Jewish cookbook with an interesting take on the spelling of cholent. The Brazilian equivalent to cholent is called barreado and is the state dish of the Parana state.

Despite being from Michigan, I have never been inside of a lighthouse before (Avery has been to a few). We decided not to go inside this one, either. Instead, we just walked around the perimeter.

Here is the view of the neighborhood we stayed in while in Salvador, Rio Vermelho. It was described to us a the city's bohemian neighborhood with great, live music at night. We were there in the middle of the week, but there was still a bit of nightlife. I can imagine it getting a bit more exciting on weekends.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those keeping track at home, this is the fifth shoe repairman that we have visited on this trip. There was one in Santa Marta, Colombia (guy on the street with neon glue), one in Quito (real shop), one in Leticia, Colombia (household operation), one on our boat from Santarem to Belem (Argentian architect with rubber cement and his apprenticed French musician who has had some shoe experience), and this one in Salvador, Brazil. Unlike the previous four, I believe that this guy actually fixed my boots. Only time will tell.

Chapada Diamantina in photo

Even ants bring gifts to their queen in Chapda Diamantina

The caves in Torrinha have the most complete stalactite formation in Brazil

Pritinha has some very cool sandstone caves that you can swim. We didn't. We heard that there was a lot of sediment in the water. 

This is the view of two strapping Americans on top of Pai Inacio

There is so much iron and dead plant material in the rivers that they turn red.

Second tallest waterfall in South America, or so they claim. Some say there is a bigger one in Bolivia. I visited one in Peru that they said was bigger.

Don't let its small-town charm fool you. Lencois knows how to pump the jams.

Natural waterslide

Lencois: Successful community development

On any night of the week, the central square in Lencois is a bustling place—the cafes are full, tourists are milling about, locals are sitting in the plazas, and guides are trying to recruit for treks and day hikes—there is a vitality in the air.

But it wasn't like this 35 years ago.

In the mid 1970s, Lencois was one of the poorest areas in the region. While the city was in the heart of a diamond mining area, the mining boom occurred 60 years ago, and the accessible deposits had all but dried up.


Young people didn't see much economic opportunity, and many left for Brazil's booming big cities. The people knew that diamond mining was no longer a very profitable business, but it was all they knew.

So in 1978, when Roy Funch arrived in the area, he came to a bunch of distressed, former-diamond towns. But as a Peace Corps volunteer working with the national parks system to develop protected area management plans (he was placed in the national capital of Brasilia), he came to see much more.

What he loved most during his visit were his treks into the countryside. Walking the hills, swimming in the pools, and scrambling over rocks with miners helped acquaint him with the beautiful region, roughly the size of Holland.

One day, while walking through the hills with the miners, Funch paused to look at the view and he thought to himself, "In the United States, this area would be a national park, and people would pay a lot of money to see this."

From that epiphany came the idea for the creation of the Chapada Diamantina National Park.  For the next seven years, Funch worked with members of the community to turn this thought into a reality. In 1985, his hard work paid off and the Brazilian government declared it a protected area.

The newly created park boasted Brazil's tallest waterfall, its most complete cave system, breathtaking grottos, unique geological formations, numerous accessible cascades, spectacular landscapes, and - thanks to the miners - an extensive trail network.

Slowly, a tourism industry developed. Miners who had spent their lives walking through the hillsides in search of diamonds were now leading tourists on treks along those same trails while colonial buildings constructed during the diamond boom were converted into hostels.

The industry continued to pick up.  All of the growth happened on a grassroots and local scale, employing the community and providing new opportunities to towns that surround the park, like Lencois, Palmeiras, and Capao.  It took a while for the park and the related tourism industry to establish itself. By the time big-scale tourist companies were interested in investing, urban growth boundaries and local incentives prevented them moving in.  According to Funch, every Chapada tour agency in Lencois has a local connection.

Local youth are training to be guides instead of heading to Salvador and Sao Paolo.  The industry is so attractive that people are moving into the communities to open cafes, pizzerias, or even start organic farms to support this eco-tourism economy.

This park has completely reversed the areas economic fortunes. With diamonds near-impossible to get at, the locals have unanimously championed the national park, natural resource conservation, and eco-tourism as their new lifestyle.

Funch has stayed in the area since the late 70s. He worked as the park's first director and continues to be involved in park-related activities. After years walking through the mountain trails with the miners and hearing the local legend, he published a visitor's guide to Chapada Diamantina, which contains directions for the area's most popular hikes and the local legends which explain their names and origin. He has since put out a revised edition in both Portuguese and English.


In more than three years of working in community development in South America, this seems to be the most successful example of sustainable economic development I have seen. It was the perfect storm of factors that allowed it to happen: an area with unique natural features, a local population base that was ready for an economic revolution, a population base that was enthusiastic about the changes, a community developer with the skills required to make the change happen, a government interested in natural resource conservation, etc...

Lencois

The river that runs through Lencois. Feels weird to type "the river" and not capitalize it.

We didn't waste any time basking in the completion of our river journey. Twenty-four hours after arriving in Belem, we had already left on a plane for Salvador.

After traveling almost exclusively on boat and mototaxi for a month, getting on a plane felt strangely unnatural. Reaching our next destination by bus and mototaxi would have taken too long.

The next destination on our itinerary was the charming highlands town of Lencois, located in the state of Bahia. The flight took about two and half hours. We got to the bus station in Salvador with enough time to buy our ticket, walk around the neighboring mall, and eat lunch before our 1:00 p.m. bus. 

Because of construction on the highway, we pulled into the Lencois bus station at about 10:30 and were promptly greeted by an entreprenuring guide trying to get our business. Paolo whisked us from the bus, and we were haggling with a hostel owner over the difference of R$5 per night within minutes.

Once we found a hostel that fit our needs (free wifi, big breakfast, kitchen access) for $15 per night, we got a good night's sleep at Pousada os Mineiros. It's three blocks from the main square on a charming, narrow cobblestone street (all the streets in Lencois are charming, narrow and cobblestoned.

I can't tell you how nice it felt to sleep on a bed. We realized it had been six nights since we had slept on bed (five on hammocks and one in airport terminal).

The next day, we walked around town and asked about hikes and treks that we could go on. We had told Paolo, the guy who took us from the bus station to the hostel, that we would find him the next day to see about going on a trek with him. 

Apparently, we didn't look for him soon enough. Above, you see him, on his bike, tracking us down in the main plaza.

We found that the best way to learn about the different hiking and trekking options in the area was to go to the different tour operators and see what they were offering. Then, we cross-checked this with information on the Internet. What we realized was that prices listed on the Internet and in the guidebooks were a couple of years old. In that time, Lencois experienced a bit of a tourism boom, and prices jumped quite a bit.

Many websites said that it would be possible to find a guide to lead you on trek for $20 per person per day. We found it difficult to find anybody willing to take us on a trek for less than $50 per person per day.

We decided that the best option for everybody was to take it easy that day. Our legs were jelly after spending a month on The River, and our minds were jelly after sleeping only a few hours the night before.

We walked around town and took in the calm atmosphere as our bodies recovered from a couple of hectic days.

I've heard of tire gardens. I've never heard of tire chairs before.

Gen. Burnsides takes over Belem

Traveling on The River for a month gives one the opportunity to let his facial hair go, which is exactly what I did. I went with the Castro look for a while, except without the revolutionary inclinations. 

Arriving in Belem, allows one to sport celebratory facial hair for a day. So General Ambrose Burnsides Robinson was spotted in Belem on June 26.  

Here he is at a vegetarian restaurant. This lasted for about twelve hours.

The River: General logistics

In the case that you ever want to follow our - and Orellana's - trail down The River, here are some basic considerations to take into account before hitting the water.

General planning

• Allow yourself four weeks for The River
• If you plan on coming from Ecuador, make sure you are with a large enough group to ensure an inexpensive ride from Pantoja to Santa Clotilde (we heard of groups that did it for $90 per person for a group of seven people) or directly contact a boat captain for the only reliable information
• Make sure you have a comfortable hammock. Know that you are going to have to spend several nights in your hammock, not nap in it for a couple of hours.
• Bring a pair of flip flops for walking around the boat
• It might be possible to spend the night in your hammock on the boat the night before or after you arrive in port.
• Bring ear plugs if you have trouble sleeping with noise.
• Eye mask might be a good idea if you think that'll be a problem
• Bring a towel for bathing on boat

Food

• Bring snacks (trail mix, crackers, fruit, and water)
• Most large passenger boats have a cafe, but it is cheaper to bring your own food and water.
• Bring a bowl, spoon, and cup. 
• Boats don't provide food for vegetarians.
• If you want to cook your own food, you can be met with a variety of responses. Boats come equipped with kitchens to prepare food for hundreds of passengers. Some of the boats let us use the kitchen after they served the other passengers. Other boats let us cook with our camping stove. One of the boats said that we couldn't use our camp stove but invited us to use their kitchen.

Security

• We brought a chain to secure our bags to poles on the boat. It would have been hard for someone to run off with our bags, but we felt more secure. One of the passengers on our boat had his wallet taken from him in the middle of the night. The stuff might have fallen out of his pocket, but we are not sure. It's best to keep your valuable in the most secure place possible on your person.  
• There are many drug checkpoints on The River in Brazil. Some of these inspections also include drug-sniffing dogs.

Jungle experience

• One benefit of coming from Ecuador is that jungle excursions are cheaper in Ecuador than anywhere else, except Bolivia. In Ecuador, jungle experiences cost about $50 per day.
• Don't expect to see animals from the boat.

Book exchanges

• Reading material is important. Bring enough - especially if you don't speak the language and don't want to learn.
• There are decent book exchanges at the Hostel Manaus and Manaus Hostels. You will also find many book stores in the Praca de la Policia where English language books cost about $2-3. There is a book store in the shopping mall that sells new English language books. Hostal Amazonia in Belem has a pretty good book exchange. Iquitos hostels have subpar book exchanges, but you can exchange book at the Yellow Rose of Texas restaurant. There is also a book store in town that has a mediocre. We can't speak with any authority on the book exchange at Leticia hostels. 
• The Kindle holds great potential for the backpacker who is comfortable using his or her digital reader in public

The River: By the numbers

Sunrise in Santarem

Travel days on the journey from Quito to Belem: 29

Days spent traveling downstream: 19

Nights spent sleeping on a boat moving down The River: 9 

Nights spent in hammock: 12

You´ve heard of Map My Run. This is May My River.

Kilometers traveled: 4360 km (2711 mi)

Different boats traveled on: 9

Countries visited: 4

Cost of boat travel per person: $440

Showers taken: We'll just keep you guys guessing

Bucket baths: 1 each

Superhero toothbrushes used: 2 (Megazord and Batmobile)

Pounds of legumes consumed: 14

Pounds of rice consumed: 6.5

Pounds of lentils consumed: 3

Pounds of garlic: 4

Pounds of salt: .5 (mostly by Ian)

Bowel movements: More than normal

Books finished: 13 (Disclaimer: Three of Avery's books were 1,000 pages each. Ian was halfway through two of his before starting on The River. By the time this post is up, we will each have finished at least another two.) 

Times Ian applied anti-fungal cream: 1 

Underwear left behind: 1 pair
Parlantes left behind: 1

RPCVs met along The River: 1

Graduate school acceptance letters received: 1

New fruits tasted: 11

Times we used our machetes: :C

Cheese sandwiches in Brazil:  45

Operas attended: 1

Holes of golf played: 9 each

Beers consumed: 2 (Neither of them deserved a blue ribbon)

Kichwa families we stayed with: 1

Kiddush pastries we tried: 4 (two kijel and two boxes of kiddush cookies)

Different nationalities represented on our boat from Tabatinga-Manaus: 12 (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, U.S., Haiti, Mauritania, Canada, France, Austria, England, Australia)

Dolphin sightings: 2

Dolphins seen: 1

Monkeys seen in the wild: 5

Towels lost: 1

Days spent spent growing beard: 29

Soccer games watched: 5

Push ups Ian did: Not enough

Time spent in traction: Never enough

Photos taken: 397
Actual gold found: None

Stories: Enough for several nights at the bar

Why does this have to end?

When we started our journey down The River, we knew it would end at some point. Our boat pulled into to port as darkness still blanketed our destination city - Belem.

We had spoken so romantically and longingly of this place for so long that it should not have ended this way. There was always Coca - the beginning - and Belem - the end.

Belem was where our adventure culminated. After 4,360 km (2700 mi) of being carried by The River's currents, we would disembark.

We had elevated Coca to a poetic position, despite its petroleum industry-related grime. We had arrived there the day before setting out on The River. We had time to sit on its bank and reflect on what lie ahead of us. The next morning, as the sun was just peeking over the horizon, we set off downstream.

We wanted to do the same with Belem. Our ideal arrival into Belem would have been in the late afternoon. That way the city and its skyline would appear on the distant horizon. As sunset approached on the opposite bank, the buildings would slowly become clearer and clearer until the entire scene built to a crescendo - a spectacular sunset on one bank reflected onto the city. We would triumphantly step off the boat, machetes on our hips, basking in the days last rays of sunshine.

But alas, it was not meant to be.

We were awoken at 3:30 a.m. to the noises of rustling and milling about. I was told that we were arriving Belem. No, this can't be. It's much too early. I'm not going to be able to city come into focus over the horizon. Heck, the rain flaps are down. I can't even see where we are going.  

We arrived at the docks in Belem and were rushed off the boat by the crew. We walked down the gangways in pitch black and settled on some benches in the terminal, awaiting the day's first lights to be able to safely walk to our hostel.


In many ways, it was the opposite of what we had hoped for. Instead of sunset, we arrived before dawn. Instead of taking our time and stepping off the boat in triumph, we were rushed off the boat. Instead of wearing our machetes on our hips, we strapped them securely to our backpacks.


We had observed a medium-sized river snake its way across a continent, slowly growing in size until we could barely see the banks. Only at the end, when we were in the midst of the delta, did we get good look at the jungle shoreline again.


We waited an hour or so until we felt comfortable enough to go our hostel. As if to welcome us to civilization after weeks on the water, the city lit up with a brilliant red sunrise.

And with that, our time on The River came to a close. What started on the docks in Coca finally came to an end at The River's mouth on the Atlantic coast. 

We spent the rest of the day basking in the glow of our achievement. 

Belem has a famous market, Ver-o-Peso, where we sampled jungle fruits.

We took in some of the sights of Old Belem, including this church from the 17th century.

We were in Belem for the celebration of Sao Joao, which is another reasons for Brazilians to dance and have a street party.

This guy walked around that street party with a tray full of charcoals and a box full of cheese. He was an ambling, roasted cheese salesmen. Do you think there is potential for the ambling s'more guy?

We capped off the evening with a visit to the Estacao das Docas brewery where Avery sampled some of the local beers. They make four different beers, one of which was called The River. Although it didn´t live up to his standards, it was a fitting way to finish out time on The River.

Agua es la vida

Water is life.

It's a refrain I'd harped on countless times in environmental education classes the last few years, trying to motivate Ecuadorian youth to care about their environment.

But, in reality, the waters of the Amazon River basin were the lifeblood of our journey.

Its constant flow has been a force propelling us toward the Atlantic Ocean. But not just in the sense of physical movements. It has been the source of our drinking water (we filtered it well, don't worry), shower water (hard to believe, but we occasionally bathed), cooking water, dishwater, and water to flush the toilets.

After three weeks on The River, we came to the realization that we had never actually been in The River.

We knew that we couldn't adequately complete our source-to-mouth journey on The River without immersing ourselves in its waters.

I have spent countless hours staring at the vast waterway, wondering what goes on beneath its opaque surface. I'm sure there's a wonderful world under The River, with Sebastian the Crab and his friend Flounder Fish telling me that life is better Under The River. (…Or maybe it is Pedro the Piraracu and Dalia the Dolphin around here.)

So what did it feel like?

Forty minutes from Santarem is the white-sanded beach town Alter do Chao, often referred to as the Caribbean of the Amazon. Although its beaches were hidden under a few meters of flooded forest, the swimming holes were as accessible as always.

We arrived there on a particularly steaming Amazonian afternoon, which made the dive into its turbid waters that much more refreshing and rewarding.  We frolicked and splashed about in the flooded forest for a few minutes, jumping off tree limbs and scouring ourselves with white sand.

That plunge helped put The River into perspective (as well as wipe off a few layers of sweat). I have spent several days in my hammock, mesmerized by its volume and length. But upon dipping into its warm waters, I realized that, if it weren't for the jungle plants and worries about fish swimming up our urethra, we could have been in any freshwater body of water.  At some points, it seems more lake than river while at others it is more port city than the greatest point of biodiversity in the world.  But whatever it is, it felt great to experience The River in a new light.

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

The River is a truly magical place.  Within this incredible ecosystem, there are millions of species of plants and animals working in harmony to produce over 20% of the world's oxygen.  From our boats, we have been witness to barely a pixel of this landscape, but what a pixel it has been.

The verdant greens, the shape of trees, and the competition amongst plant—it is all beautiful. There is green, green, brown water, and more green.  Having spent about three weeks traveling The River, we must unfortunately confess that at times, the shores have seemed boring, redundant, and simple. While we know this to be anything but, and frequently catch ourselves being awed by the thousands of kilometers of jungle surrounding us in every direction, we do fall into this trap…

…Well, at least for a couple of hours.   What truly makes The River awe-inspiring are the sunsets. For a couple of minutes at the end of the day, the sky and water erupt in a colorful performance. The sinking sun captures the silhouettes of trees and boats alike; painting them on a colorful canvas that is much more than green and brown.   While it is difficult to say that one sunset (or sunrise) is better than another, our limited photographic skills make it much easier to represent The River in its Technicolor best.

In addition to these polychromatic landscapes, on clear nights, the stars have been fantastic.  With almost no luminescent settlements, the middle of the jungle is a haven for stargazing.  While we never learned the constellations, we imagine they are all there, hanging out with the Milky Way and Southern Cross.

And on those unfortunate nights when there is a storm that blackens the sky and bars us from the sunset and stars, the accompanying lightning storm is also quite a sight.

In short, if you like beautiful landscapes and simply observing the ever-changing environment, The River should be on your Bucket List.

351 years of Santarem

Do you know twelve songs about your hometown?

Well, the people of Santarem can.

We were lucky enough to be passing through on the night of the anniversary celebration. The Amazonian Jazz Band played a tribute to the town. We stayed there for about a dozen songs - all of them were about Santarem. What amazed us the most is that all the partygoers sang along with all the tunes.

The concert also doubled as a 100th birthday tribute to a famous local musician, and most of the songs were written by him.

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.