Day 106 - Day 1 of Amazon Boat Trip

DAY 1 OF THE AMAZON BOAT TRIP (17/04/09)

Liz didn´t really want to go on a boat trip along the Amazon wheras Adam really wanted to take the 6 day slow boat. As a compromise we settled on the 1.5 day fast boat. However as it turned out the fast boats now only run once a fortnight and we had just missed one so, to Adam´s great pleasure, we ended up on the slow boat anyway- the Itapuranga III.

Our last view of Manaus before we set off, with the boat´s large Brazilian flag flying in the foreground.



The boat was not just for passengers, one whole deck was packed with cargo. We got there when the last few things were being loaded, it was not until later in the trip when we saw how much stuff they had managed to cram on.

Local people waving off their friends and family from the dock. There was no one there to wave us off!

An easy solution to the problem of turning a large boat in a small harbour. There were 2 small boats pushing our big river boat in the right direction.

On the 2nd deck was the communal bedroom, you bring your own hammock and string it from any pole you can find. Later on it got even more crowded than this with people so close they even touched each other.

We decided on the luxury option. We were lucky, since most of the cabins weren´t occupied we were upgraded to one with a bathroom.

Looking suprisingly happy at the prospect of six days on a boat.

Very happy at the prospect of spending six days on a boat.

The famous "Meeting of the waters" just outside Manaus. This is where the sandy coloured water of the Amazon river meets the dark water of the Rio Negro (black river). Due to differences in speed, density and temperature they don´t mix for some distance creating this strange line through the river.

The waters as they start to mix.

The first of many Amazon riverside villages.

While mostly the river was extremely wide we occasionally went up narrow channels such as this.

Due to high rainfall the river was exceptionally high. This meant that much of the land by the banks was flooded.

Happy to be cruising along.

Look near the top right of the tree and you will see one of the fearless local children leaping in to the river.

Nearly all the houses were built on stilts, something of an essential decision on the banks of the Amazon.

Chugging along. The flag is the flag of the Brazilian Amazon.

Spectacular sky at dusk.

Day one almost over.

Days 104 & 105 - Manaus,Brazil

MANAUS, BRAZIL (15/04/09 & 16/04/09)

We arrived in Manaus at about 7.30am which coincidentally was almost the same time that we had left Santa Elena the previous morning. Our hostel was cheap and served great breakfast but unfortunately had no guard against the hundreds of mosquitoes. Adam came up with this plan which is number three in his 101 uses for a camera tripod (after holding up your camera and drying your swimming trunks).

The beautiful backstreets of Manaus. We arrived here expecting a fairly small riverside town but instead we were greeted by a grimy city of 2.5 million. There was really nothing else of interest to take photographs of.

Day 103 - Travelling Venezuela to Brazil

TRAVELLING FROM SANTA ELENA, VENEZUELA, TO MANAUS, BRAZIL (14/04/09)

Having a coffee just over the Venezuela/Brazil border. We had an eventful early morning when the taxi broke down half way up a hill in the middle of nowhere. The driver was very apologetic and flagged down a small Corsa with a sticker in the window saying taxi, of the kind we had been avoiding throughout our entire trip so far. We had no other option but as it turned out the driver was very friendly and much cheaper!

Everything seemed very organised after Venezuela - one ticket office, and a destination written on the front of the bus. Also the buses were fairly comfortable which was just as well since we were due to be on them for the next 18 hours.

Days 101&102 - Santa Elena, Venezuela

SANTA ELENA (12/04/09 & 13/04/09)

After our nightmare journey we decided to take a couple of days off in the tiny border town of Santa Elena before crossing into Brazil. As with every Venezuelan town we have been to the main square, or Plaza, has a statue of Simon Bolivar. The legendary Venezuelan made his name by a forming an army and sweeping through the Americas liberating country after country from Spanish colonialism. He is immortalised in the names of streets, towns and squares across Central and South America as well as providing the name of Venezuela´s currency (the Bolivar) and even the name of the entire country of Bolivia.

The sign pointing to Brazil and hopefully freedom from confusing bus stations and even more confusing exchange rate system (Venezuela has two exchange rates, the official one set by the banks and the black market rate apparently set by the government who do not agree with the banks. To put this into perspective on the official we can get about 3 Bolivars to the Pound, on the black market we can get nearly 8. Crazy...). Despite this we will both miss the landscape of Venezuela, which was way more impressive than either of us had ever imagined.

Day 100 - Travelling Ciudad Bolivar to Santa Elena, Venezuela

TRAVELLING FROM CIUDAD BOLIVAR TO SANTA ELENA. (11/04/09)

We both know how lucky we are having the opportunity to travel the world for a year. However we thought we would share with you how sometimes it is not all waterfalls and wildlife.

In Venezuela especially travel by bus can be very confusing and very frustrating. The bus terminals are noisy, dirty, chaotic and to make it worse there are at least 20 different bus companies, none of which have permanant timetables and don´t let you book tickets in advance of the day you are travelling.

Anyway we had been to the bus station on the Tuesday before we visited Angel Falls and found a bus company running a bus to Santa Elena, our next destination, on Easter Saturday. Being that Easter is a very busy time we turned up early on the Saturday to buy our tickets despite the fact that we knew the bus did not leave until the evening. There were hoards of people around forming huge queues to closed ticket offices but we were confident which desk to approach and asked for our tickets in our best spanish. To our shock the lady behind the counter after ignoring us for 5 minutes just said NO! despite what we had been told on Tuesday.

This sparked a mad rush around the other desks claiming to have buses gong to Santa Elena but they all said no as if it was a rediculous question for us to be asking. In desperation Liz joined one of the big queues whilst Adam continued running around the other desks. After 45 minutes Liz´s queue had still not moved and Adam had got nowhere. Getting to the end of his tether Adam again approached the 1st ticket office to try to find out what had changed since Tuesday. Only to find a local buying a ticket for the 7.30pm bus. After that he was inexplicably able to buy two tickets for the evening bus with no problem whatsover.

We then returned to our hotel room, packed our bags and checked out. Having all our bags it was impossible to do anything else apart from go and wait for six and a half hours at the bus station. We managed to find a quiet, reasonably unused corner of the bus station but this didn´t stop us being harassed by various beggars, taxi drivers, tour operators and an insane ice cream sellar who tried to steal our bananas!

The hours passed very slowly and the paranoia grew as to whether the bus driver would accept our dodgy looking hand written ticket. One reassuring thought was that we had heard of the superior quality of the long distance buses in Venezuela, although we had been given the advice to take plenty of jumpers as the air conditioning was so fierce.

Once the bus arrived our relief from having our tickets accepted soon turned to dismay when we realised the bus was filthy, boiling hot and the air conditioning was broken. Having frantically tried nearly every window we found one that we could open, sat in our seats and were on our way. As we pulled out of the bus station and started to retrieve our books from our bags to entertain ourselves on our 12 hour journey all the lights went out on the bus and left us sweating in the darkness.

The bus stopped every hour for the 1st six hours for various reasons, which meant every time we managed to fall asleep we were soon woken up again by all the lights coming on. The worst of the stops was a military checkpoint at half past midnight when a soldier with a huge machine gun looked at our passports on the bus, then announced he had to take them off the bus. When he returned he ordered us off the bus to be checked by his superior. In the middle of the night and the middle of nowhere this was pretty terrifying but we did as we were told and everything went smoothly without even having to bribe the officials!

Finally getting to sleep after the buses last stop around 2am we were again woken up by another military check point at around 6.30am but their lack of interest in us and the daylight made it much less unpleasant. Unable to sleep again we watched the scenery go by until about 8.30am when tired and dirty, we finally arrived at Santa Elena 13 hours after we set out.

Day 99 - Cainama back to Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela

LEAVING CAINAMA NATIONAL PARK (10/04/09)

Disappointed to be leaving this amazing part of the world. One consolation was that our fantastic guide Miguel came to the airport to wave us off. If it wasn´t for Adam maybe Jenny would be having an indiginous indian son in law!



Canaima airport made a nice change from steel and glass.

So, so happy to be in the co pilots seat on the way home.

Although his legs kept getting in the way of some of the controls.

Rather disturbingly Adam noticed just after take off that both fuel tanks were registering empty. Due to the fact that we made it in one piece we assume it was the gauge that was broken and not the fuel tanks.

Our last view of the lagoon and the tiny airport.

More spectacular aerial views on the way home.

This system of streams looked like a tree from the air.

After dreaming about this trip for about 24 years the excitement finally got too much for Adam.

An epic trip over we finally came into land back at Ciudad Bolivar. In the distance is the famous Orinoco River which they named after a womble.

Day 98 - Angel Falls, Venezuela

CANAIMA NATIONAL PARK AND ANGEL FALLS (09/04/09)

An early breakfast and then a trek back up to the top of the lagoon waterfalls in order to start the long boat journey to Angel Falls.

Liz ready to fall in!

An hour in to the journey the rapids got too rough for a full canoe and we got out and walked for an hour while the boat with all our belongings sped through the rough water.

The river wound through many imposing Tepuys.

Our canoe that 12 of us travelled in for 4 hours upriver.

We stopped for lunch at these beautiful waterfalls flowing into the main river.

Many interesting plants lined the banks although we saw virtually no wildlife. This was probably due to the large number of tourist boats travelling along the river.

The scenery was so spectacular that most of the time it allowed us to forget the hard wooden benches of the canoe.

In some parts the Tepuys towered on both sides of the river.

Even without the dramatic backgrounds the river itself was extremly attractive.

The river was quite shallow in parts which caused the boat to scrape the bottom.

The boat captain and his assistant were very capable and managed to navigate us through these enormous boulders at speed. They only crashed into one!

As we rounded one of the many bends in the river we were greeted by our first view of the highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls.

After five hours we were dropped off on this stoney outcrop in the river to start our hike into the jungle and ultimately to the base of the falls.

The dense jungle was very gloomy but was home to an amazing variety of plant species.

The path was very difficult to walk over since tree roots and rocks meant that you had to watch where you were putting your feet at all times.

The spectacular Angel Falls - 970 metres high making it about 16 times the height of Niagra Falls.

Tired but so happy to finally be there.

Once again we were very lucky since the top of the falls is often obscured by the clouds.

The much smaller bottom of the water fall was impressive enough on its own. Climbing up it is considered fairly dangerous although Miguel our guide clearly had experience. You can see him on the top left hand side.

After our exciting day we went back to our camp and got our hammocks ready for our night in the jungle. Suprisingly we managed to get a few hours sleep.

To finish off our almost perfect day we found a quiet spot in the jungle to view the bright full moon. Interestingly if you look directly above the moon near the top of the photograph you will see a small green dot - the light from a glow worm.