Iquitos to Manaus

And now, after several weeks of playing around in the headwaters, we start our trip down the Amazon. First leg was a 10 hour speedboat ride from Iquitos Peru to the border cities of Santa Rosa Peru, Leticia Columbia, and Tabitinga Brazil. Along the way we stopped at Pevas to visit local artist Francisco Grippa, and then another small town to visit a leper colony. The artist was the more joyful of the two, as he collects various animal and plant parts, makes his own canvas from tree bark, and mixes his own vibrant oils, but the lepers more poignant. Didn't take any pictures of the later, that seemed like too much of an invasion of privacy. Pretty grim, though.


























Traversing the maze of 3 different immigration and customs offices, all in languages we don't know, was an adventure - do not try that without a local guide! After successfully running that obstacle course we boarded the Itaberaba I, a 500 passenger/cargo ship that makes the regular Tabatinga-Manaus run.
Our travel agent, and all our guides so far, were very nervous about that ship. Not the ship itself, but about us on that ship. This whole trip has been super luxury, and we often laugh at ourselves as we realize how far out of our league we are staying in some of those places, and having our own private cars, boats and guides.

The Itaberaba I is just as far in the other direction! She's a 4 deck ship. Deck 1 below the water line is engine and industrial cargo, and we didn't get to see it. Decks 2 and 3 are for people, cargo, animals, and anything else anyone wants to send up or down the river. Deck 4 has officer quarters and bridge, 4 private cabins, one big cabin with room to hang 20 hammocks, the bar and sitting area. A little arithmetic will show that leaves approximately 236 hammocks to each of the middle decks. Cozy doesn't quite capture it.

Our cabin on Deck 4 was 2 meters cube (keep in mind that Phil is 1.9 meters tall) plus a small private bathroom, and was far and away the nicest place on the whole ship. We had an air conditioner that worked, a toilet that was
persuaded to work after Phil attacked it with
his Swiss Army knife, a bed with an old 4" foam mattress on a steel frame, and a door that locked. Engine vibrations were constant, and very effectively blocked out all noise from the bar, which was deafening at the other end of the ship. Every time we felt like complaining about our little love nest all we had to do was wander any other part of the ship, to come home smiling.

An interesting way to travel, one we're glad we did, and one we don't feel the need to repeat. And we're VERY glad we sprung for the cabin instead of the much cheaper hammock space!