Saturday 29th July to Tuesday 1st August 2006: BRASIL, Tabatinga to Manaus: AMAZON RIVER CRUISE

The Voyager IV cruise ship left Tabatinga around 3pm on Saturday and we had been fortunate enough to sleep on the boat the previous night whilst it was still docked in the port enabling us to save some money by not paying for a hotel.

We decided to pay a little extra and reserved a cabin instead doing the usual backpackers choice of sleeping in hammocks, and we were very glad we chose this option as the boat was extremely crowded and hammocks were hung from every available space! Our cabin was perfect with a small double bed with a single on top, en suite, refrigerator and a tv, but this was useless to us as there was only one channel in portugese.

The boat had three levels (our cabin was on the second) and it had a bar on the top deck (with music constantly blaring out of the speakers!) and there were sun lounges and showers there for those who wished to sunbathe. There were a few stops along the way to load and unload cargo and passengers otherwise the journey was just one long boat ride however it was made bareable by the ever changing spectacualr scenery and weather as we headed towards Manaus.

We spent the next four days (3 nights) reading lots (we each finished two books in this time!) and waiting for the knock on our door to let us know when each meal was ready. We were glad we´d stocked up on fruit and snacks before boarding as the food did become very monotonous and there was no fruit and very few vegtables with the meals but after four months of not really enjoying the food in Central America we weren´t that bothered.

Finally on Tuesday afternoon we arrived in Manaus, happy to be back on land and looked forward to a few days on 'still' ground before taking another boat to Belem and the end of the Amazon river.

A sunny afternoon on the Amazon river

Storms brewing over the Amazon

Sunset over the Amazon river