Boat trip and jungle adventures!
Cuzco, Inca trail, Machu picchu, Hospital, Puno, La paz, Death road, Salt flats, Sucre, Santa cruz, Pantanal, Bonito, Iguazu falls, Sao paulo, Paraty, Rio de janeiro, Carneval, Sao paulo, Salvador, Aracaju, Belem, Manaus, Amazonas, 189h on bus, 5 days on boat.
That's my travel so far more or less. I have been to lazy to write so far but gonna try to change that now! Also needed some inspiration from Coffex and Stefano who also wrote a book about his travelling Panamericana im sure its good! To much writing to start from the beginning i let you in from Belem :)
I came to Belem from Aracaju around 9 in the morning. The bus was supposed to take 15 hours but took 40 hours!? It didn't break or anything just a miscalculation I guess^^ In Belem I met a taxi driver who showed me where to buy the boat ticket and then took me with a bus insted of taxi because I would save money. He showed me where to buy my hammock which would be the bed of the trip and then back to the bus. When we got off the next time I look up and realize I am in the middle of a favela with all my packing wondering who is more stupid, me for trusting this random guy or him for taking me there? But after some walking he banked on a port and we came to a small deck with a boat tied to it :) He tells me that today I put my hammock up on that boat and tomorrow the other boat comes here and I just swap. Of course he didn't do all this just to be nice so I gave him some money. I walked onto the boat and tried to ask in Portuguese if I could sleep there for the night. After some explaining the captain puts my stuff in a locked room and I fixed my hammock on the deck. I decide to put my wallet down my underwear and go out to get some food. After a while I came to a bar which already was filled with people, pool tables and good music so I figured a breakfast beer would be good. The bar has a guard who of course drags his hand around my waist so I show him and there goes my wallet hideout :p Entered the toilet but turned away since the small room were occupied by white noses^^ I had my breakfast and then went to get some books. I spended the rest of the day in a shopping mall. Of course the day after the boat didn't arrive and apparently I have to wait one more day... This time I stayed on the boat reading and jumped over to my boat the next morning which was going to take me on a 5 day trip to Manaus.
It is a small boat with 2 floors filled with hammocks and a 3 floor with a small bar. I enjoyed when the boat took off and start honking. I am the only tourist besides an old Colombian guy and no one speaks English. There isn't to much to do besides talking, playing chess, looking at the nature and reading books. After a quick stop 2 days later the boat is about to leave again and a guy comes running asking if I wasn't going to Manaus and I had to get all my belongings quick and jump over to another boat. It was totally full as well and I didn't have the advantage this time to be one of the first to enter. So after a little confusion where to put it some nice people puts it in between their hammocks. A lot of bumping in to each other but still got some good sleeping. On this boat I met a lot of nice people, playing a lot of dama and learning Portuguese. So I took the boat cus I didn't want to fly but it turned out to be a fun experience!
That's my travel so far more or less. I have been to lazy to write so far but gonna try to change that now! Also needed some inspiration from Coffex and Stefano who also wrote a book about his travelling Panamericana im sure its good! To much writing to start from the beginning i let you in from Belem :)
I came to Belem from Aracaju around 9 in the morning. The bus was supposed to take 15 hours but took 40 hours!? It didn't break or anything just a miscalculation I guess^^ In Belem I met a taxi driver who showed me where to buy the boat ticket and then took me with a bus insted of taxi because I would save money. He showed me where to buy my hammock which would be the bed of the trip and then back to the bus. When we got off the next time I look up and realize I am in the middle of a favela with all my packing wondering who is more stupid, me for trusting this random guy or him for taking me there? But after some walking he banked on a port and we came to a small deck with a boat tied to it :) He tells me that today I put my hammock up on that boat and tomorrow the other boat comes here and I just swap. Of course he didn't do all this just to be nice so I gave him some money. I walked onto the boat and tried to ask in Portuguese if I could sleep there for the night. After some explaining the captain puts my stuff in a locked room and I fixed my hammock on the deck. I decide to put my wallet down my underwear and go out to get some food. After a while I came to a bar which already was filled with people, pool tables and good music so I figured a breakfast beer would be good. The bar has a guard who of course drags his hand around my waist so I show him and there goes my wallet hideout :p Entered the toilet but turned away since the small room were occupied by white noses^^ I had my breakfast and then went to get some books. I spended the rest of the day in a shopping mall. Of course the day after the boat didn't arrive and apparently I have to wait one more day... This time I stayed on the boat reading and jumped over to my boat the next morning which was going to take me on a 5 day trip to Manaus.
It is a small boat with 2 floors filled with hammocks and a 3 floor with a small bar. I enjoyed when the boat took off and start honking. I am the only tourist besides an old Colombian guy and no one speaks English. There isn't to much to do besides talking, playing chess, looking at the nature and reading books. After a quick stop 2 days later the boat is about to leave again and a guy comes running asking if I wasn't going to Manaus and I had to get all my belongings quick and jump over to another boat. It was totally full as well and I didn't have the advantage this time to be one of the first to enter. So after a little confusion where to put it some nice people puts it in between their hammocks. A lot of bumping in to each other but still got some good sleeping. On this boat I met a lot of nice people, playing a lot of dama and learning Portuguese. So I took the boat cus I didn't want to fly but it turned out to be a fun experience!
In Manaus I met up with Thimm again who came to Manaus earlier and I went with him and a nice Canadian girl to get some food. Starting the day quite happy i feel my energy just dissapering more and more and i end up leaving in the middle of the food to get some sleep at the hostel. This doesnt happen thou cus it just get whorse so i take a taxi to the hospital. When at the entrance of the hospital I had sticky feeling in my legs, arms and face kind of like it was falling asleep. The only positive thing about coming to the hospital looking like shit is there is no need for waiting the usual 2 hours to speak with someone. They put IV in my arm with alot of medicins which got me really confused. They try to tell me to call my friend but the conversation doesn't go on to rapidly since by now I am mixing Swedish, English and Spanish while I speak. After a while it works out and I fell asleep and when I wake up Thimm is there. Sitting in a uncomfortable chair for maybe 12 hours gives me pain in my back and when i tell the doctor this she decides i had an inflammation in the back. She sends me away with some subscriptions and im just happy to leave for my bed. Eating the pills gave me some bad side effects and i wasnt sure about entering the jungle for 2 weeks. But my guide Rambo had an easy solution for me "just throw it away, the jungle have medicine for you" and so i did. I drinked some tea to solve the problem but i have no idea if it actually helped me since i was allready getting alot better. Atleast i didnt have to eat the pills for a week ;)
The jungle trip was a different experience wich was hard but fun. We paid for a 14 days survival tour meaning you go in with your machete, hammock, gun and then you hunt what you eat. This wasnt really what we got insted we spended maybe 6 nights in the guides different houses swimming with dolphins, watching birds and alligators. Basicly doing some day tours and then we went in with two American dudes Kouvas and Martin. Drinking alot of cachaca wich taste abit like tequila and for those who didnt know i hate tequila and never drinks it. But in the jungle it is like a no choice :P one of the days me and Kouvas had to help one of the guide into the hammock cus he had to much haha. The last day for the Americans one of the guides shot 2 monkeys and caught a turtle for us to eat. Both were pretty good but the turtle looked like shit and the monkey you also needed some cachaca to get over the mental barrier. The day after we were close to go back to society with the other cus of the hangover but decided to go on. Eating some big bird, fishes and turtle only having wet clothes and a wet hammock to sleep in we lasted for 3 more nights before it was time to get back. Going through the jungle with your machete just chopping your way forward, and with good guides its amazing. They cut some trees open for me to drink milk for my astma, another tree to put the water of it in wounds to prevent infections. And since me and Thimm cant drink the water of the small streams they cut up lians with fresh water inside it to drink. So in the end we were really happy with the trip and we been back in Manaus now for some days but I been a bit sick again..
Soon it is time for me and Thimm to go different directions since he will go to Ecuador. I will go to Colombia and study spanish for 3 months. I think i will take a bus to Venezuela and then from there to Colombia! I guess time will tell. Long time ago i writed this much and its time to brew some jungle tea. I guess if i would write a self biography it would be a manual for a nurse... And if u still reading this you are probably one of those who are truly missed!!! Love u guys
Peace out rabbits!
