Brazil and the Amazon

Mayham is the only way to describe the port of Masusa where vessels set off from in Iquitos. With the help of a local man who knew his way around I was able to arrange for passage on the Maria Fernando.

Port of Masusa, Iquitos

The vessel got underway late afternoon and travelled for most of the night before making its first stop of many to take on / offload people, front end loaders, onions, coca cola, inca cola ( owned by coca cola ) rice, bananas, bricks, cement, oranges, and one guy who looked like a biblical profit from the group who call themselves Israelites, complete with a small flock of sheep.

M/V Maria Fernanda I

Everything is offloaded by hand

Most people sleep in hammocks on one of three levels of decks which is where I spent most of the day but at night once the air cooled I retired to a bunk in a small steel cabin that I had reserved to be sure that all the gear from my motorcycle was safe. The most amazingly strong people I have ever seen where the folks who moved the various cargo from shore to boat and vise versa.  Anything under two hundred pounds on your back and you would have been called a wimp.

Life on the river

Nearly half way to Iquitos

Locals fishing

This 36 hour journey down the Amazon brings you to the border towns of Santa Rosa ( Peru) / Leticia (Colombia ) and Tabatinga ( Brazil ) 

I got off in Santa Rosa which is where immigration needed to be done to leave Peru. This was a long affair in a very hot little office with an entire high school soccer team and their parents in line ahead of me. The date was July 28th which was independence day in Peru with the little town putting on an impressive parade not entirely unlike those held on July 4th across America - that is apart from these dudes.

Independence Day Parade in Peru

Being Independence Day the local customs folk decided to close up shop for the day and so I took a chance and left without getting clearance for my motorcycle. Then came the ritual of getting my motorcycle and gear off one vessel onto another, from the large cargo boat to what appeared to me to be a very unstable craft better suited to people than large motocycles, Negotiating the price to offload, renegotiating the price once I had been offloaded and there I was in Brazil in the far from beautiful town of Tabatinga.

A few tense moments loading on this little craft

The hotel I found was new and clean and had this fair maiden and a parrot to guard my motorcycle in the lobby.

Hotel lobby in Tabatinga

That afternoon I got my passport stamped at immigration but could not get any information about customs. The one office I was directed to was closed every afternoon and would not be open again until Monday morning. As things seemed pretty lax when it came to officialdom around here I was sure that I would be able to talk my way round it ( or pay for it ) at the port the next morning when I loaded onboard a vessel heading to Manaus. I found this great vessel with cabins that had windows and A/C !! This was going to be a luxury cruise compared to what I had travelled on up to this point but with 3 to 4 days for this next leg I was willing to pay the premium.

Saturday morning dawned and I headed  to the vessel with all my belongings only to be refused the right to board as I did not have the exit document from the office that would not be open again until Monday. The customs/federal police take their job extremely seriously and no amount of pleading, bribing or reasoning was going to let me leave on the midday sailing. So three unplanned days in Tabatinga.

Leticia ( Colombia )

Everything moves by motocycle in Tabatinga / Leticia

Built for a family of 3, 4 or even 5

Monday morning and the Federal office opened exactly on time and a very pleasant official issued my document that allowed for the temporary importation of my motorcycle into Brazil - no charge.

The next boat heading to Manaus was the following day and after much delay and baggage searching, drug sniffing dogs and passport checks we got underway in the late afternoon.

Floating homes

Flowering trees of the Amazon

Sleeping quarters

My cabin - steel cell

See the water level marks

A town on the way

Natural gas barge

Old style river boat

Life onboard for the next three days just slipped by with the Amazon river moving at its somnambulist pace for another 1500 km. I thought I might be bored but I could sit for hours on end just watching the jungle and river until I was hypnotized by movement, water, sky and trees. I was surprised how I saw no wildlife and almost no birds. - Have no idea where they were all hiding.

Manaus

Bridge Across the Negro River, Manaus

The Port of Manaus

Then finally Manaus, a city of nearly two million people and the joining of the muddy brown Amazon ( or Solimoes as the Brazilians call it ) and the Negro with its dark black water. Where the waters join the river is at least 3 km across. A few days in this city to plan my next move.