Irrational thoughts

In the previous post, I broke down the economics of our decision whether or not to charter a boat from Nuevo Rocafuerte to Santa Clotilde.

But I'm not a completely rational actor and feel the need to justify my actions in other ways.

The boat on the right is the one that would take on the next leg of  The River.

So here is how Avery and I justified spending $400 on the boat ride, aside from the previously explained economics:

We just had a feeling that this was the right decision by continuing along The River. This adventure was about being on The River, not stuck in some town along it.

After talking to people in Nuevo Rocafuerte, it became obvious that no one knew when the next boat would leave Pantoja.

The hostel owner in Nuevo Rocafuerte told me on the phone that a boat was on its way to Pantoja from Iquitos. He didn't tell me the truth and would make a profit off his lie. If we were to sleep in Nuevo Rocafuerte, he would earn $10 a day. (He owned the most economic hostel option in town)

Avery and I didn't get a very friendly vibe from the tourism community in Nuevo Rocafuerte. The hostel owner had told us a boat was on its way when it wasn't. His wife had told us that we could use the kitchen at the hostel and then recanted. The tourism guy who we were directed to seemed like he wasn't being very forward with information. It all combined to create a rather cold environment.

The people on our boat from Coca to Nuevo Rocafuerte were really nice, though. I had gotten the phone numbers for some of the other passengers on the boat, and we would have connected with them if we were to stay in Nuevo Rocafuerte longer (We were told that a Michigan ecology professor was working with a reserve in the area, and we could try to connect with that project if we had stayed).

Each day that we stayed in Nuevo Rocafuerte was one fewer day we could spend in Brazil.