Brazil

Belem

Kruse Leave a comment

Well – made it down the mighty Amazon river. First night – was a young fellows birthday, so I brought out the bottle of whiskey I’d bought as emergency supplies. Fairly good night. Slept in my hammock – very tight quarters. But better than some of the areas – where there were literally people touching on all sides – including top/bottom. I was to discover what this was like for the final two nights.

In general – the scenery was fairly monotonous. Some riverside houses/huts on the final couple of days were interesting, along with the people in canoes who would try to attach to our moving ship, in order to sell stuff. Or, in some cases, for the fun of it? Practice, maybe? I discovered the lunch/dinner schedule/system on the second day. Food wasn’t too bad at all. Although I didn’t “carefully scrutinise” it like the guide book advised. Toilets weren’t as bad as could be expected. Certainly not pristine – but not bad. Probably due to them doubling as showers. I got to know most of the people on board. Certainly the ones who went up to the top deck where the bar was. No tonic water at the bar, so my 2nd emergency bottle, of gin, was drunk with delicious guarana soft drink.

On the 3rd day, an extended family boarded, and started setting up around my hammock spot. Several people moved, as they were a little smelly. And then the nice ship doctor lady moved me. To what looked like a good spot. Right next to the ladder down to the bottom deck, hardly ever used. So – it seemed like I’d have one side with nobody next to me. A couple of hours later – I saw that this was a deluded hope. I had people very very close to me on all sides, including above.

I lent my MP3 player to folks at night time. My newfound friend who borrowed it for the final night, avoided me all day, and then told me that he didn’t know where it was. Lost it overnight, apparently. Offered to pay me for it, but then again tried to avoid me. I couldn’t be bothered with the little shit, so took off.

07 May

Arrived in Belem – got the business card from a nice man at the port for a hostel. Was offered a ride to the hostel. Turned it down, walked around for some time in stinking heat – and ended up going to the hostel. Went to the plaza – some live music, many stalls and people. Watched some capoeira (the martial art that was designed by slaves here to look like dancing, to disguise the training).  Sat at a bar in the park watching people.  Talked to a young guy who wanted me to go to a heavy metal concert.  Instead, I went for a siesta.

08 May

Went for a walk.  Saw the Market – landmark of Belem.  Long, heavy rainfall while I was there, so sat at a bar for quite some time.  Kids letting off very very loud fireworks.  Band playing drums/saxamaphone.  Watched the news on TV – gathered that the local futbol club had just won some kind of trophy or championship.  Seemed to have created a lot of fuss, including – I assume – the fireworks and live music.

Rain mostly stopped.  Went to look at the fort.  Closed, and no real vantage point to get a good photo from outside of it.  Dumb.  Drank at another bar.  Some guys talk to me, tell me it’s a dodgy part of town.  Shouldn’t let people see my camera.  Ask for $R2 to go buy some liquor.  I only have a 50 note.  But – give it to them.  Stupid, stupid Kruse.  They never come back.  One that may have been associated with them does – nearly gets lynched by another group of guys.  Me – no cash.  And have just ordered a beer.  Group of english speakers comes past (CocaCola employees?) – give me a fiver to pay for beer.  Sweet.  $5 actually buys me two.  After two – go to ATM, get cash, back to bar.  Possibly silly, but determined not to let the thieves ruin my day.  And to stop them from being able to go back to their favourite bar.  Get taxi home though – don’t want to push my luck too far.  Dinner at street stalls.  Watch political demonstration.  All good.

Amazon River

Kruse Leave a comment

Thank you all for your messages of support/derision after my recent ordeal.  Sorry parents if I worried you, but I thought it best to describe the event properly.

And – am just making quick update to let you know that I will not be giving updates for 4 or 5 days.  Catching boat down Amazon, which should take 4.5 days or so.  Leaving tomorrow, will update from Belem as soon as I can.  Have new camera – so will get boring photos of ridiculously wide river for Nathan.  Spent today drinking with locals on side of street.  Apparently, the Brazilian tradition for a birthday is breaking raw eggs on one’s head.  Got action photo.

Am currently carrying iRiver in pocket, with only backups of photos from stolen camera.  Hopefully won’t get robbed in Manaus tonight.

Am expecting more messages of sympathy or laughter in 5 days time.  Cheers.

UPDATE: morning of trip.  I went to the port, and slung up my hammock on my riverboat.  The smallest crappiest ship in the port – and certainly not the one in the photo shown to me by the nice unofficial hawker man who sold me my ticket.  I also have to go to a different port and catch a speedboat to the ship – rather than using the official port entrance.  Pretty sweet.

And I know you’ve all been worried – so thought I should let you know I’ve now replaced my compass & thermostat keyring now as well.  And my voice is back – with only some lingering sexy huskiness.  Only things left to replace now are a bottle opener (just remembered that, will try to do that now), and a wallet (not sure if I’ll bother).

Back to Brazil

Kruse Leave a comment

Hi all, have returned to Brazil.  Without camera, wallet, watch, or voice.  But we’ll get to that soon.

After a rather productive afternoon on Friday, despite decent sized hangover – I was feeling pretty happy with myself.  Had done the internet update thing, backed up all photos to my iRiver (timely, as it turned out), and done a little sewing.  I then rewarded myself with a few drinks.  And, told there was a ‘club party’ at the Blue Iguana (the bar owned by people on drugs/firearms charges) – decided to check it out.  Had been told it was a must-see part of Georgetown.  I went there – very large establishment.  But, got told the ‘disco’ doesn’t open until midnight.  So – just had a couple of beers in the sports bar, then walked home.  Early night before the cricket final.  Didn’t quite make it home.  One block before the guesthouse, I heard two bikes coming up behind me.  One came in front, and pulled in.  I thought “Hmmm…. this could be trouble.”  Just had enough time to finish that thought, but not do anything about it – when I was hit on the back of the head, and as I staggered a little, a forearm placed around my throat, and pulled to the ground.  The guy behind me kept choking me with his forearm, while the guy in front ran up and went through my pockets.  After about 10 seconds of struggling, I realised I could’t do anything.  Tried to give them my wallet, while trying to keep hold of camera.  The fellow choking me was doing it very hard, and very effectively – so I quickly decided to try and show that I wouldn’t resist anymore – so that at least I wouldn’t die of strangulation.  No avail – the bastard kept choking very hard.  Eventually they got everything they could find – and took off.  Leaving me on the ground, struggling to breath.  So – they got my camera, my wallet (with about $1000 Guyanese dollars – NZ$7, and debit card), and old semi-broken watch.  Funnily enough, I’m most annoyed about my keyring which was attached to my camera.  Compass, thermostat, bottle opener.  Useful, and may be difficult to replace.

Also, I’m a little embarassed to admit I shat myself.  Not figuratively, neither.  Only a little embarassed, though – as it was bound to happen.  I’d had dodgy guts for the entire week, with the sudden shock of being pulled to the ground, lying in a rather uncomfortable situation, and spending all my bodily strength trying to get enough oxygen to stay conscious – I don’t feel overly ashamed at doing pooey-pants.  Feel free to comment.

Anyway – neighbours had watched this happen – and called the police.  The woman who came down and gave me a glass of water seemed more shocked that they’d do this to a foreigner, than anything else.  Repeatedly shrieked indignantly at the cops “He’s a foreigner!”  The cops did respond fairly quickly, and in force.  Two cars, and the local version of a SWAT team.  A ute with four guys on back in full body armour, and automatic weapons.  Probably would have been fairly effective against two guys on bikes.  And then, the bit that made it worth being robbed started.  I’ve only really lost a $500 or so camera.  So – $500 for the story of the robbery, and for experiencing the Guyanese police force.  Firstly – taken to gang house.  Despite me telling cops that there is no way I could identify either of the guys.  Taken into gang house, probably making many enemies in the process, as the cops weren’t particularly polite to the people inside.  Then – taken to police station.  Have to wait for detective.  A guy, obviously drunk, wants to interview me.  I finally figure out he’s the head detective – but works dayshift.  Is very drunk, and as the people here do when drunk, told me “I’m a detective sergeant” multiple times, and repeated himself several times on other subjects.  Was suspicious of my struggling to speak in a husky whisper.  Night-shift guy turned up, apologised for his boss – and took statement.  Slowly – as because I was a foreigner, certain people had to be alerted immediately.  And as other people around the town found out, they kept telephoning for details.  Useless details, that could obviously wait until after statement was taken (thereby only needing to ask me once – as it would be all on record) – or even the next day.  I was, of course, very tired, with pooey-pants, and just wanted to get back to guesthouse.  Eventually – statement was written, for me to check & sign.  I didn’t point out the numerous spelling mistakes.  Eventually, I could leave.  They were initially going to let me walk home.  Which would have taken me along the exact same route as I’d used earlier in the evening.  But – the night-detective suddenly thought about it, and offered me ride.

So – that was Friday night in Georgetown.

28 April

Got up, went to police station as requested.  Nothing happened, as expected.

Went to a hotel, booked minibus to Lethem for 8pm that night.  Was planning on leaving tonight or Sunday anyway – and turned out they were only driving tonight – so took that.  Does kind of feel like I’ve been run out of Guyana, but isn’t really the case.

Went to the Windies Sports Bar to watch cricket.  Watched replays of the two semifinals while it rained in sunny Barbados.  Eventually – watched Arsetralia perform their normal boring thrashing of another team.  The farce at the end was spectacular.  I only discovered a couple of days later that Sri Lanka actually had accepted the bad light.  At the time, I thought somebody had forced it on them, and it was even more of a farce than it really was.

But – took minibus that night.  Much more responsible driver (although still 120km/hr on dusty potholed road).  And, leaving at 8pm from this end (8pm actually meaning 9 or 9:30), meant we got to the region of National Park which is closed overnight just as it is due to open.  Much better system than the northward trip, waiting for 4 hours at a roadside restaurant/bar.  As usual, we had to stop about 5 times for beauracracy to check the passenger list against our passports.  Not including being stopped by police car in Georgetown to do the same thing.  I was pretty angry at that point.  Car with 4 police, stopping buses to check passenger lists against passports – when they could be patrolling their infamously dangerous streets.  When the same thing is going to be checked multiple times later.  But – we got through, after pushing a truck through a lot of mud, and then our minivan and another.

29 April 

Got to Lethem, immigration guy thought he recognised me.  I reminded him, and saw in his eyes “ahh yes, you tried to sneak into my country after I told you to leave”.  No problem leaving though – crossed river in speedboat.  American who was in other minibus joined me to take taxi – through Brazil immigration, and onto Boa Vista.

Spent 6 hours in Boa Vista bus station – as 6pm bus was full, along with all others until 8pm.  Drank cerveja with american Will, and chatted to my Boa Vista barmaid girlfriend.  With the aid of a translator, discovered that “Lindo” means beautiful.  She called me that a lot this time.  A pair of swiss girls turned up, without any cash.  We bought them food.  Started getting frostier reception from bargirl.  But – they left on the 6pm bus, having recently bought tickets for it.  The same one that we were told was full.  Then, bargirl warmed up again.  Found out the reason my voice was gone – and stroked my hand sympathetically.  Then – american girl turns up – again, no cash.  (ATM’s at bus station don’t accept foreign cards)  So – lend her money for bus ticket – and drink some more cervejas.  Eventually, say goodbye to Boa Vista girlfriend, and get on bus.  Arrived safely in Manaus, hopefully to replace camera, and other stuff that has gone.

Bonfim/Lethem

Kruse Leave a comment

Hi all. Got kicked out of my first country yesterday.

But, Bob, you’ll be pleased to know that I started heading in the right direction. It was Guyana that I got kicked out of. With the phrase “I thought I told you to go back to Brazil?” To be fair, the man HAD told me to go back to Brazil. And as an immigration officer, he was entitled to do so. He happened to visit the restaurant/bar that I was sitting at, in Guyana, a couple of hours after turning me back at the border for having no visa.

But – after a long walk back to closest town in Brazil, staying at a mosquito-infested hotel (after wandering around for a very very long time trying to find the centre of town – apparently I was in it), and another very long walk back to the border – I paid my exorbitant fee for a visa, and am now legally in Guyana. Only to find that there is no TV coverage in this town, and to then find an internet cafe just in time to catch the final wicket fall in NZ’s biggest ODI defeat ever. Great stuff. Well – will probably head up to Georgetown tonight – so that I should be able to watch our final hopes crumble live on television.

It was just the result to cap off spending nearly two hours earlier listening to Celine Dion on repeat. The woman seems to determined to metamorphise into a drill. Constantly losing weight to achieve the right shape, and using that bloody voice to drill inside your head and twist your brain into a mushy mess. It did make my approximately 50 new mosquito bites become forgotten. So that’s good.

Anyway – I’ll be watching the cricket finals in the Windies. Cool. And maybe visiting the highest single-drop waterfall in the world. Apparently pretty cool. Also pretty difficult to get to. But, after paying US$100 for a visa, think I should make the most of it. And Guyana seems pretty cool so far. It’s in South America, but everybody is very very Caribbean, mon, and they speak English.

The Amazon

Kruse Leave a comment

Well – finally got website back working.  So – for all you worried folk out there – yes, I’m still alive.  Although, yesterday morning, was very very close to standing on a Bushmaster snake.  Guide was walking in front of me, I think he realised it was there just as he stepped over it, and leapt forwards with a yelp.  I was right behind him, and figuring that if he was scared of something, I was probably not the right man to deal with it.  Took a half step backwards, hoping he wasn’t concerned about something he’d heard behind us – then saw a bloody snake stretched across the path.  Bang on where my next step would have landed.  Don’t like snakes.  Especially ones with a reputation as a “nasty brute”.  Goddamn snakes.

Anyway – lots of news to make up for.  Will describe Amazon, then create new posts for previous days/adventures, and hopefully can change the date on them to reflect the order of events.

14 April

Picked up by guy who sold me tour.  Put into car with new guy.  He drives me to another hotel, saying that we’re going to do a tour of hotels, picking up other tourists.  Then, told to get out, into minibus with nre driver.  A little worried at this point, but ends up all good.   Arrive at docks.  On way, passed a table on which was sitting 12 empty 600ml bottles of beer.  3, maybe 4, people at table.  Well before 9am.  Sweet.

Onto boat – went to the meeting of the waters.  Where Rio Negro meets the Solimoes (Amazon).  Very distinct line where black meets brown, kinda cool.  Makes for some pretty boring photos though.  Then – on to look at some giant water lilies. The’re water lilies, but big.  Saw a monkey though.  A couple actually, fighting.  And a sloth – from a considerable distance.  Makes for some pretty bad photos.  Then – up the Rio Negro.  Very very large river.  And it’s just a sidestream off the Amazon.

Got to ‘river lodge’ – floating structure where we’re to stay.  Floating on the flooded forest.  (We left the Rio Negro, and went down a maze of streams, which is actually the flooded forest.  On each side – the tops of trees.  Below us – submerged forest.  Pretty cool.)  Went piranha fishing.  After 30 minutes, the group of Sri Lankans who arrived with me (along with their brazilian workmate), and will therefore form my group, get scared of the thunder, and a little rain.  Want to go home.  Apparently, weren’t expecting rain in the rainforest.  So – only one piranha caught by the guide, and thrown back.  After dinner – ‘alligator spotting’.  Drove around in the dark, in a canoe, looking for alligators with a torch. Sri Lankans didn’t want to come.  Scared it would rain?  Not sure.  Just me, brazilian, guide, and a girl who works at the lodge.  Saw the eyes of one gator reflecting torchlight.  And guide caught one very small baby alligator.  Pointed out it’s features, etc.  Released.  Also saw snake.  Tiny tiny snake.  Still don’t like it.  Back to lodge.

Today I saw:  monkey; sloth; alligator; piranha; snake; weird water-crawlie thing, looked like scorpion.

15 April

Heavy rain overnight.  Kind of hope the clouds stay, so don’t have to get up at 5am to go in boat to watch sunrise.  Seem to have caught Sri Lankan.  Hope comes off.  Take little motorboat across the main/actual river – and short walk through jungle.  Pointed out various medicinal trees, hallucinogenic vines (have to be harvested on a special day of the month), a rubber tree, etc.  After lunch, to a very touristified ‘native people’ village.  They perform their little dances for us, including one where the guests take part, of course.  All the women topless.  The teenage girl with an obvious bikini line across the back didn’t seem too comfortable with this, but – it’s her culture.

Met large riverboat in mid-stream, got rid of everybody.  Just me & guide left.  A rather quiet and peaceful ride back to the side passages.  Rubin takes me to an actual native village.  (ie: actual natives, living in a village.  Complete with the hated TVs, and the omnipresent hated church.)

Today I saw: river dolphins; topless native women; fire-ants; parrot; “night-owl”; lots of bugs & ants, bloody big ant bit me.

16 April

Loudest thunder I’ve ever heard overnight.  “Paddle Canoe Trip” – just me & Rubin paddling a canoe through the forest.  Pretty cool.  Piranha fishing – I catch one on my second cast.  Turns out to be the biggest of the day.  I am good at piranha fishing.  I catch one more reasonable size one, and 4 little ones to be thrown back.  An overall tally of 9 decent sized ones to take back for eatin’.  Paddle onwards.  See a sloth.  Catch it.  Sloths are slow, and dumb.  I found it’s movements comical.  Paddle into trees.  Cool.  Big trees above you, around you, and deep in the water below you.  Some points, where it becomes shallow, can finally see through the water just enough to see the ferns below the water surface.

Ate piranha with lunch.  Yum.  Motor back across the main river, to where we did the ‘Jungle Walk’ yesterday.  Walk into jungle, just Rubin & myself.  Much quieter, and faster than yesterday, despite carrying all my stuff, and other stuff for camping tonight.  After a couple of hours – get to campground.  Skeleton of shelter already set-up with branches/trees.  Just spread a tarp over the top, sling up hammocks/mosquito-nets, and we’ve got a new home.  Barbecue chicken for dinner.  Recipe: cook chicken over heat.  Once fluids run clear, put on rice, while placing chicken on higher heat.  Once rice is cooked, leave to cool.  Continue to barbecue chicken.  Once rice is cool – give chicken five more minutes on each side at maximum heat.  Serve with salt.  Yum.

Today I saw: hummingbird; mockingbird; snail eggs; spiders, lots of bloody spiders; giant earthworm – huge.

Today I heard: howler monkeys; stupid giant beetle flying straight into a giant bright blue tarp.

17 April

Not much sleep.  Go for a walk through jungle.  See some kind of monkey.  And a hole, which Rubin seems intent on scaring something out of.  With his face very close to the hole.  Gotta admit his dedication to his single guest.  Nothing came out.  Also, at some point, he stops.  Says to me “There’s a wasp nest ahead, we’ll have to walk very very slowly.  Okay?”  Yep – sure.  Can do that.  “Okay… RUN!” – and he starts running.   So, I ran, but a little slower than usual, as was trying to figure out what had just happened.  Back to camp – raining very heavily by this point.  Use my jacket to cover my pack, rather than myself.  Rubin uses a couple of big fern leafs as an umbrella – discarded after 20 or 30 minutes.  And – after some time, the goddamn bloody bushmaster as referred to above.

Back to lodge.  Swim in the piranha infested flooded amazon forest.  Shower.   Cervejas.  Catch the riverboat back to Manaus.  Fairly cool sunset on the way in.  Some more river dolphins.  Swedish girl reckons she saw a pink one jump out.  I didn’t see it, so I reckon nah.

Back in Manaus, checked back into my hotel.  Expensive Churrascaria restaurant for dinner.  But they had peas!  And beetroot.  Awful awful beetroot.  And sushi.  And sushimi.  And, of course, lots of meat.  But – most importantly – no rice that I was forced to eat or go hungry.  So sweet.  But, after a while, neither my cerveja nor my drinks menu turned up – so left to find a cheaper place for several more cervejas.

Today I saw: monkeys, bloody stinking Bushmaster snake.

And that was my trip into the Amazon basin.  I also saw some wild duck.