Author: Kruse

The Amazon

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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.

Manaus

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Arrived in Manaus on the 13th.  Caught bus to city centre, relaxed after overnight bus trip with some cervejas at a very dodgy corner bar, in a rather dodgy part of town.  Yes, I was drinking at 9:30 or so.  But, in my defence, at 9:30 am it was bloody 30° in the shade.  3° south of the equator is hot.  Walked around town a bit with my backpack, in hot sun.  Stopped for cerveja one or more times.  (Have finally managed to switch between cerveza & cerveja – and nearly got myself using obrigado instead of gracias.)  Find a fairly cheap hotel, and leave to find a tour operator for the Amazon.  Walk out of the door, immediately accosted by one such operator.  Did check with one other company for price, but ended up going with this guy.

Walked around town for a while – saw the theatre they built when Manaus was the centre of the world (rubber boom and all that, you know).  Returned to the bar I went to this morning, for some more cerveja.  This time, instead of clients turning up with various salsa CDs, demanding that they be played, as it is the next big thing, they have electronic keyboard, and open mic.  Sweet.  Drunk old men singing recognisable classics in portugese.  Lady (of the night?) keeps brushing against me, even when I give her heaps of room to get past.  Some food at street barbecues, and more cerveja at various spots.  Constantly feeling itches and bites and things, paranoid, after hearing stupid stories about bugs laying eggs in feet (am walking barefoot), and the girl who threw up a 6 inch worm, and the girl in Buenos Aires who had scabies.

9:30pm – still 29°.  With the fan on.

Santa Elena de Uairén

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To be updated…  lots of Brazilian vacationers, Canadian John, mucho cerveza, big room/bartab, nice free waterfall with rum, snake put on our table, illegal to drink Friday/Sunday, dodgy bar, listening to Crowded House, Dutch Alligator & Australian Polly, generally relaxing boozy week.

Angel Falls

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01 April

Talked to tourist agency – reckons that they managed a trip to the falls yesterday, and are going to try again tomororrow.  If we can’t make it by boat, the flight back will overfly it.  Get to see them one way or the other.  Very expensive though.  But – I take it.  Really want to see the highest waterfall in the world.

Spend rest of day walking around, drinking cerveza.  Everywhere closes in evening.  Ridiculously expensive hot dogs and cerveza from hot dog stand.  All booze stores closed.  Back to hostel for one last cerveza (all the way from Margarita).  The hostel locks it’s doors at around 8 or 9pm – owners can’t hear bell, guests have instructions not to let anybody in.  And we don’t have any way of leaving unless somebody else presses the button to release front gate, while you’re there to open the gate.  I want to leave at 6:30 tomorrow, lady assures me she’ll be up.

02 April

6:45 – no lady.  Climb-out/jump-off of window/mini-balcony.  Wait for ages at tour place.  Try to get cash out – no dice.  Will have to pay with Visa, with extra 10% surcharge.  10% of a lot is a lot.  Wait for ages at airport.  Offered free vaccinations for Yellow Fever, measles, and chicken-pox.  Get in plane.  6-seater (incl pilot), rather old.  Pilot wearing nice official looking pilot shirt, with tight black Levis.  I fall asleep in plane somehow, waking up just for awesome views, and landing.  Landing is approaching airstrip at right angles, banking steeply, and straightening about 10 seconds before touchdown.

Meet some of my fellow tourists.  A group of 4 christians.  One describes his job as “full-time evangelist missionary”.  He’s south african.  Another member is his american ‘workmate’.  Another young seppo, and the south african’s sister.  Also, 3 germans, an american girl, and 8 or so latin americans.  Split into two groups – I’m stuck with christians, and germans.  Germans seem alright.  Boat trip across Canaima lagoon to some waterfalls.  Walk behind one of them.  Pretty nice waterfalls.  Listen to missionary’s discussing the guide – and chances of conversion.  Go for a swim.  Small fish trying to eat me.  Catch boats upriver – over rapids – and get to ‘campsite’.   Big openwalled shed, with hammocks slung up.   After dinner – much chitchat at dinner table.  But – my choice of german conversation, spanish conversation, or fundamentalist christan conversation.  I opt for laying on grass outside by myself.

Today I saw: frog, crab, various birds, fish trying to eat me, giant bee, big loud cicadas.

 03 April

Not much sleep.  Plenty of rain overnight.  Lay there hoping that it was enough rain that the river level would rise enough for us to make it to falls, and for the clouds to disappear so we can see the top of the falls.  Had been told we’d be woken up at 5, as we had to leave by 5:30 to make it.  I got up at 6:15, was only person up.  Left base at 8am.  Venezuelan time – it’s marvellous.  Nearly capsize boat on first rapids we attempt.  Rest of the way – pretty easy.  Walk through jungle.  Pointed out plants/etc.  Get to falls lookout.  Top hidden by cloud.  And not much water coming off it.  Still pretty impressive though.  Tallest waterfall in the world, you know?  Slowly – cloud dissipates – get to see the entire thing.  Cool.  Walk further – swim in the pool at bottom of one of the bottom falls which make up the entire thing.  First attempt at using waterfall for waterslide – hit exactly the rock I was trying so hard to miss, with my arse.  Half somersault forward, and very very sore arse.  Very very sore.  Finally checked out the bruise about 4 days later – and entire left cheek was black & purple.  Nice swim though.  Using the largest waterfall in the WORLD as a massage machine.

Back to camp.  Next load of tourists arrive.  Including norwegian couple I met on Isla de Margarita.  With cerveza.  Sweet.  Campfire lit – listen to local legend about the falls.  Which leads to christian asking if the guide really believes that the water is magical.  Kruse grits teeth.  Gudies trying to get each nationality to sing a song.  South Africans sing national anthem – in Afrikaans, of course.  Missionaries have been chatting to our guide, Hector, about christianity a lot.  Systematically remove him from group, and then BANG.  That night, about 3am, the christian sleeping in the hammock next to me seemed to be sleeptalking – in tongues.

Today I saw – tallest waterfall in the world, Luxembourgian.

04 April

American girl tells me over breakfast that I remind her of a character in Lost.  A rock star.  I take this to mean that I both look like an actor, and like a rock star.

Boat trip back to Canaima.  Walk along beach.  Christian chatting to Austrian about EU.  “What about the religion of the EU?”  Just.  Doesn’t.  Stop.

Lunch, cervezas, chatting, swapping of email addresses, etc.  Go with 1st group to airport.  Wait.  Raining.  Wait.  2nd half of our group arrives at airport.  Wait.  Overheard between christians – “You think we’ve got enough time to finish with Hector?”  Pull Hector aside, and continue their three-on-one saving of his soul.  After several hours, after which even the souvenir ladies had packed up and gone home, we got told we could get on a plane.  I get stuck with christians, again.  No safety video about using electronic devices during flight, so I wasn’t concerned when pilot received and made cellphone calls while flying.  Landing at Ciudad Bolivar was same as at Canaima.  Approach from side, bank, touchdown.  Makes for easy air traffic control, I guess.

Ciudad Bolivar in midst of Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations.  Purple-robed cultists everywhere.  As of tomorrow – no buses running fo two days.  Phone calls – all buses booked for tonight.  I catch taxi to bus station with american girl anyway – and hope for the best.  Two buses going to Santa Elena – both full.  I stand around, waiting for one to say that somebody hasn’t turned up.  The crappy little one does so first.  I get on.  Watch as whitey in front seat is told he can’t take his boots off, too smelly, and is forced to put his boots in a seperate luggage compartment outside bus, and wash his feet.  Meanwhile, my feet reek – and I discreetly slide off my shoes.  Instant smell.  But – everybody will blame other guy.  Sweet.  Very uncomfortable bus ride, but am escaping Ciudad Bolivar where shops are always closed.

Today I saw: birds; miniature frog/toad; ladybird ant; grasshopper attacking me with colourful pufferfish tactics; stick insect climbing on me.

Ciudad Bolivar

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Well – more cervezas after last update, met up with old french lady & girl with koru tattoos.  Koru girl wanted to teach me the salsa.  We had one very short lesson – I think she was disappointed with my progress, but happy to have danced with me.

Next morning – after much stuffing around, went to Porlamar.  Walked one hour in very hot sunshine, with backpack – to expensive hotel part of town.  The Hilton, etc.  Went to scooter-rental place, no dice.  Cars – same story.  Decided for a $1 bus back into town rather than repeat the walk.  The walk wasn´t good.  Went to overpriced Budget car rentals – but closed, contrary to advertised hours.  A very long siesta.

Had enough of this.  Really wanted to see west side of island – but am tired, and am getting sick of paying heaps for accommodation.  If I´d sat down and had a cerveza/food to think with – probably would have caught bus (although unreliable) to western side of island, and taken my chances.  Instead – bus to the ferry port town, and caught the ferry back to Puerto La Cruz.  Stayed up entire trip talking to a tractor driver.  Another limited English vs limited espanol conversation.  Good times though.  Got off ferry at 2am, walked to a park, found a relatively hidden spot, and slept on a sarong.  Not a particularly good nights sleep, but cheap.

Today – got up at 5 or 6am when the bugs started coming out in force.  Walked around Puerto La Cruz trying to find accommodation – but everywhere I tried was full.  (Didn´t try too many places, but is Holy Week – everybody on vacation, and the first signs didn´t look good.)  Caught a bus to Ciudad Bolivar.  Pretty sure would be hard to find accommodation here too, but at least I can get some sleep on the bus.

Found a place to stay here, but rather expensive.  They have a much cheaper option of sleeping in hammocks, which I will probably go for if I stay another night.  Need to find out if I need my own hammock, and whether it´s worth staying here.  Here is supposed to be the ´base town´ for seeing Angel Falls.  But – dry season, so can´t go up the river to see it from below, and busy season – which means the village you have to fly to, to then fly over the falls, is completely full.