We stayed in Manaus one more night, after returning from our Amazon trip to make sure we got one good night of rest, before the upcoming 3-5 days on a boat. In order to sleep on the boat, you need to bring a hammock and rope with you, so we picked up a couple of hammocks from a street vendor in the city. Against my expectations, street vendors aren't interested in bartering in Brazil. We tried to get a cheaper price on the hammocks, since we were buying two, but the vendor wouldn't budge. At the end of the transaction, he gave us 2 BRL back, so we could buy ourselves a bottle of water, because we must've needed the cash more than he did. The boat tickets proved a bit harder to obtain. The tour company we used for the Amazon tour originally told us they could get us out tickets for 110 BRL each, or 150 BRL if we didn't have our own hammocks. The next day, after getting our hammocks, they told us it would be 120 BRL each, and no meals are included on the boat. The following day they informed us it would be 150 BRL each, even with our own hammocks, so we went to another agency to get them booked an hour before our departure, almost missing our boat.
We arrived safe and sound on the boat, however late, and found that there was no real space in which to string up our hammocks. I strung mine as best I could, wedged between two other passengers, and Rich strung his hammock in the middle of the boat, where there was a bit more space, but it was impossible to access. The mass amounts of people crammed into one small space made for an uncomfortable ride, but luckily for us, our neighbors were all very friendly and helpful. They ensured we received our dinners, shared their desserts, and even loaned us some eating utensils. All meals are served in an aluminum foil packet, with plastic cutlery. Trying to eat a slab of beef in a hammock is hard enough, let alone when you've only been provided with a cheap plastic spoon. Our neighbors, however, came prepared. Knowing they would be receiving plastic spoons, they brought... metal spoons. We're still not entirely sure why they wouldn't have brought forks and knives, knowing that all meals are rice, beans, pasta and meat, but metals spoons it was.
A twelve year old Brazilian boy, named Luke, found Rich. Luke spoke a little bit of spanish, and no English, so he decided this journey would be the perfect time to learn. After watching Rich talk to this boy for a couple of hours, I decided to investigate, at which point Rich pawned him off on me. We spent the next couple of hours pointing at things and saying their respective names in English. Then I told Luke I was going to read my book for a bit. Luke's idea of me reading, was to have me read a sentence out loud, and then translate it into Spanish, and then French, so he could read with me. When Luke's grandmother finally called him off of us to have his dinner, Rich and I got into our hammocks to have a nap. Unfortunately, at the same time our neighboring hammocks decided this would be the perfect time to have a recorder and harmonica jam session. After dinner, everyone started to calm down and go to their hammocks. I was just falling asleep when the man next to me decided he didn't have enough space, so he strung his hammock above mine. I slept badly that night, alternating between too hot, too cold, too cramped, and hearing loud forro music coming from the bar. At some point in the night, we hit some rough water, and all the hammocks were rocking into each other, making it impossible to rest. The rocking of the boat also knocked all the cockroaches out from their hiding places in the life vests that were stuck above us. After one fell on me in the evening, I was done.
The next day was much like the first. Same cramped space, same food, same music, same everything. I was really happy when we finally arrived in Santarem for our break before taking another boat journey to Belem. The only problem being: we had another boat journey to look forward to in 3 days time.
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