Amazon River 2: Manaus to Belem
14th - 18th January 2026
15th January – Thursday
I woke yesterday feeling tired and not looking forward to getting the boat. The taxi driver compounded this by taking me to the wrong area of the port, stating that he would have to pay to park and blaming it on me, telling me I had given him the wrong location. I had told him I wanted the port for Manaus to Belem, I did not tell him I wanted the unloading and loading bay. He charged me double the Uber quote, but I wasn’t in the mood to argue over £3.50, and paid him what he asked for.
Unlike Tabatinga, we could board the boat as soon as we checked in, which was very convenient. The first place I set up was a bit cramped as I insisted on being near the window. The guy I was next to was not happy but he still helped me. This boat is very different, it does not have hooks so you have to use the scaffolding poles that run across the ceiling and ropes. The poles are so high up I cannot reach them! After the guy set up my hammock I went for a little walk and found an area where there was far more space so I returned and, much to his delight, asked him to take my hammock down. In the new area I needed help again, but it was not difficult to find. Everyone is so lovely, when he saw me struggling another guy, the one next to me, came to my rescue.
This boat has ‘rooms’, unlike the first which was more open plan. It also has a lot more toilets and showers which is a plus, but they are not kept as clean. The only real negative is having to pay for your food. Lunch and dinner are 25 reals each and the full breakfast (coffee, fruit and an egg, cheese and ham roll) is 20 reals. So all in all it’s about £10 for 3 meals a day. A lot of passengers have coffee makers, one ring electric hobs, frying pans and tons of food with them. Obviously they have done this journey before and I suppose if you are a family of 4 then buying food onboard is expensive, but for one it is ok. The breakfast was good, two bananas and a decent size piece of papaya, far better than the free bread and butter on the other boat and the lunch and dinner portions are far bigger, but it is basically the same, chicken or beef, rice, noodles and beans, but this time with a little bit of salad.
Not much is going to happen over the next couple of days, so I am going to use this time to do my diary entries for Manaus and the first boat trip. Not wanting to get my laptop out on that boat broke my diary habit. I’ve decided to take the risk this time. There are far less people on board and due to the layout I feel a lot more confident doing so. It’s just a shame the internet is so intermittent, I’d catch up on my website if it wasn’t.
17th January – Saturday
Uhm, why did I think not much was going to happen, I couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, too much has happened. Yesterday morning the lady two hammocks away from me, the two in between are her brother and his daughter, offered me a coffee, which was awesome except for the fact the milk had curdled. She told me to mix it well, which I did, but after a couple of mouthfuls realised that drinking it was not a good idea. I put it down for a while and when she wasn’t looking poured it down the sink. Last night I woke to go to the toilet and had the shits, and guess what, there was no toilet paper and I had left my roll by my hammock. Uhm, don’t ask how but I managed to get my toilet paper and a spare pair of shorts and return to the loo without making a mess and I didn’t need the spare shorts. I took one of the imodium things I bought while out here, which worked. Although I do keep meaning to take another as my stomach is still feeling a little gentle, but that could also be all of the booze I drank yesterday.
I’m not sure how I manage to do it, but I always seem to get adopted by those that like to consume alcohol and yesterday was no exception. I had actually watched them the day before, they had set up in the far corner of the boat with a BBQ and music. Obviously the more they drank the louder they became. Yesterday I was sitting minding my own business, having a beer and reading my book, but they were not in the far corner due to sun blazing down. They were next to me. When my beer was finished one of them came over and gave me a free beer. Well, that was the start of it. It wasn’t before long that I was drinking with them and they invited me to moved over to the far corner for the BBQ. OMG, the food was delicious, obviously mainly meet, which they cook and then slice up and everyone simply helps themselves. I was not the only female. There was also Laura, she was all over one of the guys even though later, using G translate, she told me she has a boyfriend. Two of the guys were all over me, both claiming to be my boyfriend and wanting to marry me – lol – in their dreams. One tried to teach me to dance, I kept treading on his feet and the other kept feeding me! At one point we stopped at a port and two of them disappeared, when they returned they had so much beer with them. It was lots of fun and a good boost to my ego, although I did have to fight off the kisses. Due to starting so early I think I was in my hammock and asleep by 10pm, but cool as we would have probably got thrown overboard for disturbing the other passengers if not.
This morning I passed one of them, he was laying in hammock and tried to pull me in, uhm, no thank you matey. Today I am feeling worse for wear. I keep feeling a little dizzy. I am not sure if it is from yesterday or just the motion of the boat, probably a combination of both. It is still pre midday but they are at it already. I may join them later but right now I think I need another imodium and a catnap. Talking of which, the first two nights in my hammock were so uncomfortable. Yesterday I noticed that at one end the ropes was twisted. This caused a ridge to run down the length of the hammock which irritated my sciatica. Yesterday I took the hammock down and re-hung it. Once again it is one of the most comfortable things to sleep in and today, even though my head is not right, my back is feeling awesome. Ok, enough for now, time for that catnap.
I am actually writing this on 24th March and it is just to explain the photos. The large insect I found lurking on the deck, it is mole cricket, it’s body looked quite soft, almost cuddly and I am really mystified as to how it got on the boat as it is not a water insect. The two girls befriended me and we took lots of selfies, they were cute and enjoyed practising their English with me. During the we turned off the Amazon and went down one of the rivers that run down to Furo Santa Maria. It was along here that we encountered lots of Amazonian people that had huts built along the river banks. As they saw us coming they jumped into their little motor boats and hovered around us. The people on board our boat started throwing plastic bags full of goodies down to them and it was almost like a race as to who got to the bags first. It was so lovely to watch and I so wished that I had some treats to throw to them, but alas I didn’t. A couple of the children tied their boats to ours and boarded and sold fresh sea food to some of the passengers. Lacking funds I wasn’t able to purchase any.
Not long after that we sailed past the police station and for a moment I thought we were not going to get searched. How wrong was I. They sent a boat out to great us and several officers and a dog jumped on board. We followed the same routine as before in that we tied up our hammocks and made our luggage available for sniffing. However, by the time they came to our area they were only really interested in the pile of life jackets that the dog would not leave alone and one of the guys that I was with the day before. It was all quite intense as they searched him and went through half the life jackets. They then appeared to give up and after much deliberation they left out boat and we went on our way. As you can image that was topic of conversation for hours to come.
18th January – Monday
(Written on 24th March) Even more excitement was to come. I must admit it was a relief to see the port of Belem come into sight. It had been a long trip and my head and stomach were not feeling great and the thought of land, a good bed and decent food was motivating me to stay upbeat. It took ages to disembark but once we did I made my way up to the road and called an Uber. I was definitely in the wrong place for an Uber but in the right place for all of the action. Armed police had blocked most of the road and were searching cars as they were coming from the port. I think that the police that raided the boat had found drugs but probably couldn’t pin them on anyone due to them being in the life jackets, so they alerted the land police who were eagerly waiting for us. It wasn’t long before a car with the boot stuffed so full that the lid was wedged open came up from the port, the police tried to wave it down to stop but the driver put his foot down and just kept on going. Oh wow, it was quite funny to see a couple of officers try to run after this car, and at the same time about 6 more armed officers came out of no-where jumped into their parked armed vehicles and off they went – car chase. OMG, my heart was pounding, the exciting was overwhelming, it is just a shame that the result of the car chase was well out of view, but no doubt they got caught and I expect they had a boot full of drugs. All that I kept wondering was if it were the guys I had been with and the one that got searched yesterday. I will never know. Anyway, I was glad for all of the excitement but the Uber drivers kept cancelling as they could not get down the road. It was only after all the action had moved on that I finally got an Uber and made my way to my accommodation.