This really is one to put down to experience! The boats that go up river to Iquitios are primarily cargo boats and the passengers they carry are a by product. We boarded the boat and we had one of the few cabins, in fact we had the only double room and also a place in a bunk in a tiny room. The double room had the only private toilet and sink on board. Everyone else was in hammocks strung up over two decks. We realised quite soon we had been ripped off by the guy at the hotel and once we’d set sail we’d wished we had have bought a couple of hammocks to laze around in during the day. Also it was a bit embarrassing having access to two cabins whilst virtually everyone else was in a very confined space in the hammock sections, it looked as though we were spoilt, rich tourists (which by Peruvian standards we are!)
We were only a couple of hours late to depart which apparently is really good. In addition to about 300 passengers of which there were ourselves, 4 people from Europe and one from the US, the remainder were locals. There were 50 cows, a lot of chickens and a lot of cargo. It was very sad to see the way the cows were treated, how they survived the journey I really don’t know. There definitely was not a swimming pool on board or anything to do except sit on the floor of the deck and watch the river bank and move from one side of the boat to the other to avoid the sun. People were very friendly and we quickly got to know some of the people. At times we all wished we’d been in hammocks but the reality would not have been great, you have to guard your property all the time if it is not locked away and the girls had so much attention from all the men on board all the time that it would have been very uncomfortable. During the day it was incredibly hot.
What we hadn’t realised was the amount of stops the boat would make collecting more and more cargo. By the second evening I was getting seriously concerned that the boat would sink as it was obviously very overloaded. As the boat travels down the river the villagers on the banks would wave sheets and either send out canoes with cargo to load or the boat would pull over. Each time the whole of the village would be standing there watching and helping. At night lights would flash from the river bank or fires would be lit. The first half a dozen stops were interesting but after that it did get a bit tedious, especially as each time the boat stops the temperature rises because there is no breeze. There must have been some sort of structure in place and someone must have known which bananas belonged to which people!
Food as would be expected was very basic, rice and chicken and gruel for breakfast… we didn’t eat a lot! Jo really was not well on the second day, she had a very high temperature and it was impossible to cool her down, luckily with paracetamols and lots of fanning she seemed to recover by the third day.
We saw lots of river dolphins and budgies and parrots in the trees, fireflys and a lot of mosquitoes and big flying insects!
For me the highlights were watching the sun set each evening, lying on the top deck looking at the stars, getting up by 5am each morning to watch the first light and the sun rise and looking at the villages and imagining what life must be like living on the banks of the Amazon.
By day 3 the girls were desperate to get off of the boat, they both were describing it as the worst experience of their lives! There was the opportunity of getting off the boat 10 hours earlier (as we were running late due to all the stops) at a town and then getting a bus for an hour and a half. We decided to do this…. It was hell!! With a lot of other people we had to stand down with all the livestock and cargo, once we got to shore there were about 50 men waiting to jump on board, I presume to claim their cargo which had been transported down the river, they were waiting for noone! As we attempted to jump onto the muddy banks they were pushing us out of the way, it was everyone for themselves!! Somehow we managed to leap to the shore and get up the bank where a couple of motor taxi guys grabbed our bags, I was shouting to Mili ‘Just follow my bag!’ Jo was loaded into another one. We somehow got to the bus where I was ripped off by giving someone a 20 sole note and never getting my 16 sole change. Our belongings and us were loaded on to a local bus, the temperature was scorching and it was another ‘one of those experiences’!
We have now made it to Iquitios and it is ridiculously hot. I have enjoyed the whole journey across the Andes and travelling up the Amazon. I keep telling the girls that it is something that not many people do and they will look back at it and realise what a great life experience it was!! They do not quite believe me at the moment! I am now going out to have a nice cold beer!
No comments:
Post a Comment