February 10

It's 6:00 am. and it's still completely dark. The bus station we are dropped off at is approximately 10 miles from Manaus's city center and the docs from which we are to catch a boat to Belem. 

(Ryan)

(Aboard the 24 hour bus the previous night we did some reading about Puerto Velho, where we had originally planned to go, and it didn't sound too appealing. We felt mildly obligated to go and look for "The Cowboy In the Jungle" Who Jimmy Buffett sings about in one of our favorite songs but then what? About 2000 miles of buses and nothing very spectacular to do or see between there and Rio de Janeiro. To make up for not having such a lame story we had to come up with an equally lame story to justify not making the trip to Puerto Velho. We came up with "Marco Zero do Equador" (the equator) as a destination to go to for no other reason than the story and to straddle the Equator. At the end of the Amazon River where it meets the Atlantic Ocean our book mentions a small monument dedicated to the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. We are to catch a boat from where we now are now, Manaus, Brazil on the Amazon river and take it for the six day trip to Belem where we will catch another 24 hour boat to Macapa.)

We decide to make an effort to catch a city bus into town and save a surly expensive taxi ride despite being quite groggy form the all night bus. We only have approximately $15 changed over into Brazilian Reals and fear a cab ride would wipe us out not leaving enough for a room. We stumble a few blocks in one direction and look confusedly around. We study our not so wonderful travel guide which gives little information on where or what bus to catch to town when we are approached by another traveler that we recognize from our long bus ride. We're not sure where he is from but he speaks a little English and asks if we want to split a cab into town because he can't find the city bus either. It would be $7 for one or $7 for three so we agreed. The cabby nails it out of the station and we're holding on tight. He doesn't even have his headlights on. He is whipping around and making U turns and we're not sure what's going on but he seems to know where we are going based on the speed that we're getting there. We are hauling Ass! down the main street doing at least 90 miles per hour with no headlights on passing cars on the other side of the street and only slightly slowing for red lights. I wish I could drive like that at home! Minutes later we come to a screeching halt in front of a Pension (family run hotel) and the three of us hop out and pay before the cab speeds away. We are going on the Zen method and hope that we are  where ever we need to be. There is a small wait for the attendant to get to the door but at last we are ultimately let in and showed a room. We don't have enough to pay and while being shown the room we drop our bags and lock the attendant out. He certainly looks too tired to put up much of a fight. We fall into our beds and fall fast asleep. 

Dan's up before me and does a scouting mission; Bank, internet cafe, food, and returns with his findings. He has found an English speaking jungle tour guide that despite Dan's insistent decline of a jungle tour, allows to show Dan around town.

After a badly needed shower we are ready to go. On our way out we find that breakfast is included in the price of the room. Coffee, bananas, watermelon, tropical fruit juice and some bread. A great way to start the day! First we must to the great bank hunt and get that out of the way. Today it only takes about five banks with only a little waiting in each to finally find the right bank and the right floor. Wham-bam-thank you mame, the bank official sees me as the tourist that I am and my visa card held out and there is no problem. Using the ATM machine would be easier, by far, but I like it when it goes this easy. Next we kicked around town and looked at all the shops. Manaus is a free trade zone so everything is for sale. We needed a hammock for the boat ride and an electronic pocket translator sounded helpful so we went on the hunt. We bought our hammocks but none of the translators looked very helpful unless I need to tell someone my bidet leaks. We wind up at the docks to find out how much and when the boat to Belem leaves and unintentionally end up purchasing two tickets for the next day at 5:00 pm. It's not that we didn't want the tickets, we were just surprised when all we were doing was trying to find out when. More looking around and then the sun came out strong so we headed back to the room. Not much cooler there so we took off for the internet cafe which we hoped to have Air Conditioning. It did and time on the computer was cheap so we killed three or four hours until it was cooler outside. 

We were on our way back to the room when Dan spotted Mark, a guy we had met in Santa Elena, Venezuela, sitting in a restaurant. We went in and said hi and had a snack. A little more walking around and I was ready for bed. Dan stayed up and hung with the locals across the street from the hotel.

February 11

My dad had informed me that he has successfully cleared up some problems I was having with my web space providers and I was anxious to do an update. I had one ready for some time but had exceeded my allotted disk space on my server so needed to add more. We had our free breakfast and I did a little work on the web-page. We then went to the internet cafe and hoped for an open line to plug-in. The owners of the internet cafe were more than happy to help me out and cut off a third of their computers so I could do the update. They weren't very busy and I'm pretty sure I would pay a little extra. The up-date went successfully up and it was a big relief. 

Rumor had it that we should be as early to the boat for Belem as possible and that despite having a ticket, it filled up fast. We thought three hours early would be good but due to the up-date only got there two hours early. Not nearly early enough! It was a mad house! There were so many people crammed onto the two decks you could barley move. There were guys on board that would string up your hammock and packed people tighter than a can of sardines. One grabbed my hammock strung me up right in the middle of a family. I had one half of the family on one side and the other half on the other. They looked at me a little funny but weren't that surprised or perturbed. With no bodies in the hammocks they were resting against one another and I wondered how we would all fit and then I realized that we unquestionably would not. I went with the "when in Rome" attitude and climbed into my hammock with a big smile, resting firmly against brothers on each side of me. There was even one more hammock in-between me and one of the brothers but a piece of paper couldn't have slipped through. Dan was about 15 feet away and just stood there laughing and looking at his hammock stung up in-between two complete strangers. He wasn't nearly as amused as I was with the situation. 

After we shoved off we met up on the top deck where they sold 25 oz. beers for $1 and laughed under the stars as we headed down the Amazon River.

February 12-14

This close to the equator, as you can imagine, was like standing on the surface of the sun and the swarming mammal size bugs that threatened to take off limbs not give small bites...Well that is what you would think, isn't it? That's certainly what I thought it was going to be like... It was actually cold. Not freezing, but pleasantly cold. Cold enough to bundle myself up in my North Face sleeping bag and not want to get out of my hammock for the next few days which was fine with me. By now I had moved to a lower deck with Dan and some other travelers and had enough space on either side of me to only occasionally bump into my neighbors. These cold and rainy days were the kind of days I hated going to work on back home, and more than ever I was glad not to be there. (no offence CCD) There weren't even any bugs! I know you don't believe me but it's true. The next two days I slept and watched the jungle go by from my hammock. The sights were reminiscent to the short cruse we took down the Rio Dulce in Guatemala so I don't feel so bad for not having a camera while there any longer. That same perfect green that I saw from the plane flying over Venezuela lined the banks of the Amazon. Children hearing our boat coming down the river would paddle out in their dugout canoes and would scream and flap their arms up and down. Some of the passengers would bundle clothes or food in plastic bags and pitch them overboard for the kids. Other slightly more ambitious youths would paddle right up to the bow of our rapidly approaching boat and with huge steel hooks lash on to the side of the boat and board with fruit or hears of palm or some other snacks before casting off for their long paddles home or to catch a boat going in the opposite direction. Some of them weren't so lucky. They would either miss the boat completely or have difficulty getting their canoes under control after hooking and capsize. It was crazy! I couldn't buy something from everyone but I bought some hears of palm from some extraordinarily brave kids who came close to death more than once trying to get on board. The ailing waterfront homes were picturesque but it was difficult to imaging how the Indians of the jungle managed. I concluded, quite well, probable not wanting for much. Fishing the day for food breathing the cleanest air in the world without even knowing what a BMW was or yearning for the latest beanie baby. They certainly could do much worse. 

It doesn't make for a good story, having it too easy, so I'll tell you a little about the bathrooms and meals. 

First let me say that the six day trip cost roughly $50 per person including 2 1/2 meals a day. Meals are served on a first come first serve basis at one of two long tables down wind from the bathrooms. If there is a seat open for a meal you sit down and wait, if not you stand next to the table and stare at everyone eating. We stood in the same place everyday waiting for our meals and Dan referred to it as the cocktail lounge. Now there were two types of bathrooms that were right next to the eating tables. On the upper deck, the table was next to the men's #1 stalls which doubled as showers which were 2' X 2' rooms with a hole in the ground and a valve for the shower. To shower you latterly stood in piss. Due to the close proximity of the eating table to the latrines and due to the large quantities of beer everyone aboard the over crowded boat was drinking you can imagine the olfactory sensations you experienced while eating or waiting to eat. On the bottom deck were the men's #2 stalls directly below the #1 stalls. You couldn't do your business without a light golden shower from the #1 stalls above due to the leaks in the floor. Moving aft, or backwards from there, the exposed engine room bellowed exhaust and diesel fumes which merged with the noxious fumes from the heads before reaching the dining table. Anyone still hungry? Bon apitit! 

February 15

At roughly 10:00 am we neared the city of Belem. From the boat it looked as big as New York City, much bigger than I thought it would be. We docked and got lucky booking passage to Macapa on a boat next to us leaving at 10:00 the next morning and, even allowed to stay there the night. This time we had first dibs on hammock space and studied our options. After careful consideration we chose our spots on either side of a pole hoping it would run blocker for someone trying to squeeze in-between us. Feeling confident in our decision we headed off to go look around the city of Belem. Again we studied our South America Lonely Planet Guide and got noting in the form of help picking a bus to the city center. Dan studied it long and hard as bus after bus went by. I was carrying the the camera and the Football, which we now call the computer backpack. It was hotter today than it had been and I was schflitzing against a wall watching Dan try to decipher the guide book. He eventually looked up at me with a confused look and asked if I wanted to give it a try. I walked up, flapped my arms at the next bus and got on. I'm so tired of that dammed book but we're helpless without it. Not knowing where the hell your going always creates a little tension and part of me wished I had stayed in my hammock but soon Dan spotted a Post Office and I had a few post cards that needed mailing so we hopped off. After that we thought we would find an internet cafe and let some people we were alive. We wrote the word "Internet" on a piece of paper and began asking around. A big city like this was bound to have some, right? Some of the people we asked looked as if they had never heard of the internet and others simply didn't know where one was. We got a few fingers pointing in directions and wondered aimlessly until I spotted a Hilton Hotel and asked Dan if he thought they would have one. He thought for sure they would have one but it would probably be expensive. They did and it was but we were able to get some messages out which was a relief. I too got two new pin #s that I was overjoyed to get. My banking is bound to be better than it has provided I have any money left. On top of that good fortune there was an ATM machine right outside the hotel. Across the street there was a cart selling pork sandwiches grilled with soy sauce and a pile of other stuff. It was the best food Dan and I had in some time. Dan was even going to rate it better street food than tacos el pastor from Mexico. It was good but I wasn't about to go that far. We finished our lunch and saw an outdoor bar across the street and thought we'd split a beer. In the shade it was cool and there were some locals there that spoke a little English and were eager to hear where we were from. After relaxing in the shade of the cafe for some time I had a look (and a smell) of myself and determined I was in bad need of a shower and a change. So we headed back to the boat for a shower and a rest. 

Latter that evening we met up with the other travelers from the first boat and went into town with someone they had met, a local who knew the town, to show us around. Our guide meandered around the town and after a while I couldn't take it any longer, I had to have another one of those pork sandwiches so I pealed off from the group to meet up with them latter at the outdoor cafe before going back to the boat for the night.

February 16

We woke to find the boat bustling with activity. Cargo was being loaded and passengers were boarding and setting up camp all around us. As an extra precautionary we hung our luggage from the remaining hooks between us and waited. All we had to do was squat on our territory until the boat left to protect our boundaries so we both fell back asleep. Yep! You know what's coming... When we woke, we found some guy had strung up in the tiny space right between us. Unbelievable! Now none of us would sleep the slight bit comfortable. Oh well. 

The cruse was even better than the first plying narrower rivers and with clearer skies of bright blue. We skipped lunch but had the mediocre dinner that was served. The bathrooms on this boat were 100% better than the last but an occasional whiff filled your nostrils as you took a bite. 

I spent the rest of the night catching up the web page.

No Further South than North as We Straddle The Equator