Brazilië: Porto Velho - Manaus

The trip through Bolivia has been a quite fast one, as we unfortunately were getting closer and closer to the planned date of our flight back to Holland. At that time we still had to travel an awful distance from Bolivia to the place of departure all the way in the north-east of Brazil: Fortaleza. Because of the risk to get stuck with the bus for a longer time in the Amazonion mud, we decided to take a plane from La Paz to the border with Brazil: Guajará-Mirim. After asking for it, we as 'flying Dutchmen' had the great privilege to enjoy the flight with the Dutch Fokker F-27 from between the cockpit and the cargo compartment, all the way from start to landing! Although there was just enough space to just stand between the cockpit and the cargo, it was a great experience!

Once arrived at the border we wanted to change onto bus as quickly as possible. Unfortunately that day appeared to be thé black day of our trip (no further comments). Finally we were able to catch that bus only the next day. It took us to Porto Velho where no roads existed to continue our trip, which made further transport to the next city on land impossible. The only options were travelling by plane or by boat. We decided for the option over water, which happened to be great:

• Three days non-stop on a boat,
• showering with Amazone river water,
• the freshest and purest air on earth (!),
• annoying Brazilian tunes that left the underdimensioned sound speakers on board all day long,
• relaxing in its highest form and enjoying the sun all day long,
• playing chess for a thousand times,
• playing our recently bought Bolivian ' djembé' at the front dek together with the locals and other travelers,
• staring at the stars and enjoying the silence at night,
• and so on, and so on...

After three days of travelling on water, we finally reached Manaus, capital of Brazilian's province of the Amazone. At first sight it was just some first bigger city on the way, but soon it became obvious that this city in the middle of the Amazone was huge and stretched with its 1,8 million inhabitants! Again, as before, we only had a short stay in this city.

Get ready for the presentation of "Travelling over the Amazone - From Porto Velho to Manaus":



Beautiful view over the quiet Amazone river





The upper deck of our boat; the bar, music,
dance and games compartment




The lower deck; the relax, sleep, eat and shower
compartment




Yes, these were the ' beds' (so-called 'redes')




The morning view at the back; still water,
water and also beautiful skies...





The view over Manaus' port from our hostel




Some other buildings as seen from our hostel

The view from the other side of our hostel




Out of the blue this impressive building while
exploring the city




It was too big to catch in one picture; here's part two!




And here its entrance




At the end of that same street this square