Man, what a trip.
Trip Start
Oct 23, 2006
1
186
228
Trip End
Apr 15, 2009
Loading Map
Manaus,
State of Amazonas,
Brazil
Sunday, July 6, 2008
We are delayed as the second barge is loaded, and it's afternoon before we're hooked up to the front of it, and off we go!
There are 4 crew, the cook, 8 truckers/helpers, and us. It's an instant family, and everyone's in a relaxed mood, ready to enjoy the time off from the road.
We whiz along downstream, in the fast moving Madeira river. The water level is very low, but the water is rising, and trees, grass and junk all float along with us, competing for space on this massive river. Going with the flow means that we are doing 15km/h, so this first afternoon is a blur of color; coffee con leche waters, red river banks (about 15m tall in lots of places) and the lush green tropical rainforest. As the river is low, there are a few places where we must slow to a crawl because of rocks, and eventually, we have to nudge the river bank to tie up for the night: the captain's not going any further today. Instantly, the bugs are on us, and we retreat inside while the other passengers just deal with it, out there in the very black night.
Morning comes, and just as light starts to sneak across the sky, the ropes are taken aboard, and we're off, away from the flies and mosquitoes. for the next 4 days we don't touch land, until Manaus.
For 3 days we enjoyed the downstream Rio Madeiro, but for all of the last day, it was up the Amazon, to it's beginning, at Manaus.
The rivers change quite dramatically as the very low Madeira gives rise to the swollen Amazon, it's very unexpected.
The banks of the ol' Madeira
The coffee with milk colour of Madeira, becomes the black coffee of the Amazon, and its banks are not visible at all, in fact, the river seems to be at the same level as the land, in many cases, it is. It was also great to finally see what we could only speculate was on top of those very tall banks of the Madeira. Gong upstream also meant that we got to hug the sides of the river and see much more wildlife than previously. All day the passenger boats slide past us, going a little faster, and allowing us to see the rows and rows of hammocks strung along their 3 decks. It made us glad we had our own rolling hotel.The food is plentiful and tasty- rice, beans, usually two choices of well cooked salty meat and cafezinho a sweet strong coffee. We were served this twice a day- 10:30 lunch and 5:30 dinner. Breakfast of cafezinho and bread was served around 8 and a snack of cafezinho and bread between 3 and 4 o'clock. We lined up for these special treats.....not really but we did enjoy the cafezinho with our own breakfast and snack.
Everyone loved Gillie and she was crazy for the meat. She expected it and refused to eat her own kibble. I don't blame her because the kibble here is not the most nutritious so we'd rather her eat our food than none at all. Eventually, after two days of starving she will eat her food again. We often supplement her kibble with our cooked meat to keep her strong.
The river is alive with wildlife. Fish leapt, all kinds of birds flew here and there, and pink dolphins swam along beside us as we sat in our chairs on the front of the barge; front row seats for an amazonian experience.
Finally, we reach Manaus in the dark, the beginning of the Amazon, where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes lose themselves in the greatest river.
We waited until 10:30 before our barge is nudged up to the ramp, and we can find a cosy spot in the sand amongst the trucks waiting to go their ways in the morning. We were about to pull into a roomier spot but a dock hand said "not there because there are cobras in that ravine" and he showed us to a safe spot tucked amongst the trucks. Safely tucked at port, a perfect end to a magical experience.
