Into the Amazon

I write this from a little village on the Amazon by the name of Indiana. How I got here in this vast river system is a little bit of a blur.

Muddy Fun on the Amazon

Starting in the the town of Coca in Ecuador the Napo river is one of the major tributaries of the upper Amazon and is part of the area know as Amazonia.

Arriving in Coca after the cool, high altitude of Cotopaxi was a little bit of a shock as the humidity was near 100% and when it wasn't raining it was about to. It rained almost the entire day and a half I was there and at times it was so intense that it was impossible to see across the river.

Tight Quarters

I found a boat that was able to take me as far as the Peruvian border at Nuevo Roquefuerte. It took a little manhandling to get my bike on board but it was achieved without too many cuss words being heard - from me that it is. Having loaded up the bike the night before and hoping it was there in the morning I embarked in driving rain with 59 other passengers who came and went at various little settlements along the way, sometimes no more than a clearing in the jungle. 8 hours traveling this day with fantastic views along the river banks with very few breaks in the forest.

Nuevo Roqueforte

Offloading

Carving a dugout canoe

Hand tools used for the job

 We arrived in the village of Nuevo Roquefuerte just as the sun was setting and tracked down the immigration official to get an exit stamp for Ecuador. Usually the boat leaves all the passengers in Nuevo Roqueforte before returning to Coca but luckily for us the captain was willing to take us over the border the next morning to Pantoja, on the Peruvian side of the border which was a short 1hour boat ride.

Peru Border in Pantoja

Pantoja was a smaller town and once again we found a place to stay the night - alas the hostel was right next to the discotheque with base that easily penetrated my ear plugs until the electricity to the villages was turned off at 2.30 in the bloody morning!!

The night before departure, in a much smaller boat, my moto ( as all motorbikes are called in this part of the world) was loaded aboard the vessel via the stern in a manner that closely resembled stuffing a turkey

The outboard quit every 1/2 hour or so

30 Passenger Launca

The slowing moving river was negotiated by this 30 passenger craft with great skill but the 12 hours sitting on an aluminum bench was rather tedious, and painful even though we were navigating through one of the most amazing places on the planet.

A lunch stop

Mariposa

A local craft

A passenger pick up spot

Living in paradise

One of the gringo passengers was a 76 year old Hungarian/Dutch man, Scabba, who was traveling alone for three months ( one of many adventures he told us about ). The captain of our vessel flagged down a passing dugout canoe and had them take Scabba to the village of Santa Maria from where he was heading into the jungle. Scabba had two very heavy bags and transferring him and his belongings into a small canoe in the middle of the Napo river was a sight to behold.

Schabba heads our into the void

Onwards to the village of Santa Clothilde after numerous stops to take on more passengers, chickens and turtles ( all of which I suspect would end up in the pot once they arrived at their destinations. A long 12 hours on hard benches  and then another night in a little hostel with loud music preventing sleep until the wee hours of the morning.

Seen on the river - oh for such luxury

Not so bright and early (4am) we departed for the village of Mazan which is the last stop before the Napo River joins the mighty Amazon. This is where the turkey was unstuffed ( or is it destuffed ) and with many helpers standing in the water and mud the KTM arrived safely to shore. A short ride of only a few kilometers brought me to the banks of the Amazon with the expectation that many vessels would be ready and willing to take be across and upriver to the town of Iquitos — wrong!!. Not much happens during the  afternoons here and the only vessel I could find wanted to charge me more than king’s ransom I decided to spend the night in the village of Indiana ( I am going to need to find out how the heck it was so named ), however with the next day being Sunday I might be getting to know this little hamlet quite well. 

Indiana

This town is thousands of miles from the coast where the Amazon empties into the Atlantic but is a mere 300 ft above sea level so for the most part the river is really just one huge lake that creeps, inexorably eastwards across a flat densely forested plain.

The good ship Aurorita came to my rescue and after loading every bit of cargo they could possibly find and my moto we set off up the Amazon with barely inches of freeboard ( I think that is the nautical term ) - meaning “ I hope we do not sink.

The Aurorita

Onboard with the locals and plantanos

Offloading in the town of Iquitos was a little stressful with the local stevedores being very aggressive with trying to get the business. Non the less the task was achieved without the KTM  ending up in the murkey waters of the Amazon

Tense moments

The town of Iquitos has some wonderful old architecture but it also has it’s seedy side as well with some small casinos and many of the vices that seem to go along with that industry.

The Belen market is a very cool place to wander around and take in the riot of colors, smells ( not all good) and sounds.

Armas Plaza Iquitos

Governors House - now a museum

Police Headquarters

Olives

I splashed out and got a more upmarket hotel here as when else I am I going to be able to wake up in bed and watch the sun come up over the mighty Amazon.

From my bedroom

A few days in this town and I will hopefully find a cargo boat heading down the Amazon to the Brazilian border where I will need to find another vessel to take me all the way to Manaus. These boats all tend to be slow and crowded but offer the chance to see local life and watch the mile after mile of forest creep by on the banks which can be almost hypnotic.