Brazil boat ride from Porto Velho to Manaus: Rotem from Israel reports on his 4-day adventure

The boat is docked in Porto Velho, the capital of Rondonia in western Brazil.

It's no cruise ship. There is one shower, no buffet meals, and one television onboard.

On October 16, 2008, Rotem of Eliat, Israel, answered my email asking for details about traveling three days and nights in a boat from Porto Velho, the capital of the state of Rondonia in western Brazil, to Manaus, the city that is one of the gateways to the Amazon.

I met Rotem in a hotel in Porto Velho one afternoon. We were happy to speak English to one another and discuss our travels before we went our separate ways after just one day. I nearly went on this same boat as Rotem because I was also headed to Manaus. After I visited the boat, I decided not to go: three nights in the hammock on the crowded deck was not what I wanted! But I was eager to hear all about his trip on the Madeira River.

The Madeira River is a major waterway in South America, approximately 3380 km ( 2100 miles) long. It is the Amazon's largest and most important tributary and spans about a quarter of the Brazilian Amazon.

Here is Rotem's story. I just got his permission to share this on my blog. I added my own photos.

Rotem came well-prepared for his travels, even carrying a tea kettle!

After you left the boat, I put all of my things next to my hammock hoping for good, feeling that everything is going to be all right. (We had been warned about robbery on the boat).

They finished loading the boat only around 13:00. Then we left, escorted by a few river dolphins.

Around 17:00(!) they served dinner - plain rice, plain pasta and some meat in sauce.
After a while, they turned on the t.v. which is a bit funny - a boat like this with satellite dish, that they turn all the time by pulling a string attached to a bicycle which is attached to the dish...

Workers load fruit and other goods onto the boat in the Porto Velho port.

When the sun set, I went for a walk on the boat to find a good place to watch. It was one of the most special and amazing sunsets I have ever seen! For more then an hour, the sky was full of colors and clouds - amazing!

In the middle of the first night, we had a stop and many more people got on, so as crowded as it was, it became more crowded. The good thing is that everyone was so nice and smiling all the time, so it was fine after all.

In the middle of that night, we had a little storm. Very quickly everything got wet - thank God my bag wasn't on the floor. In the morning, another two hours of rain and that's it.

Around 06:00, they put some coffee and biscuits out for breakfast.
After breakfast, a local girl started talking to me. When she understood that I don't speak Portuguese, she started teaching me with the help on a dictionary she had. So here I am starting to learn Portuguese.

Around 11:00(!) they served lunch, exactly what we had for dinner the day before. In general, the food was the same, all the time. The local people say that it was not so good food, but I found it was fine.

After the Portuguese lesson, I was invited to join a "domino" game (that's what they do here in Brazil all the time). After losing over and over again, I won one time!

In the middle of that night, we had a short stop again for people to go and come, not anything special.

After waking up that morning, I had some more Portuguese lessons and I helped them in their English. Actually, that is what I did the whole day: learning Portuguese, helping in English and having a walk on the boat from time to time to let my brain take a bit of rest. In the evening, a bit of "domino" games.

During the third night, there was a big lightning storm - for two hours, the sky just didn't stop. It was amazing!!! It was night, but the sky was white for two hours.

Here are the sleeping quarters! Passengers bring their own hammocks.

The last morning, I did everything to be ready for Manaus around noon. Around noon, I discovered that we will get to Manaus much later than I thought. After noon, I discovered that we will get there only in the middle of the night and everybody can stay and sleep on the boat: they just saved me one night in a hotel!

We got to Manaus at night - it is a huge place with a huge port. Everybody stayed until the morning and then left. I tried to ask where can I find a boat to Santa Reim, but didn't understand the captain's answer. All I understood was that they will take me with the small boat to the boat I needed.

Half an hour later, I was on the boat to Santa Reim. That is the end of my Porto Velho to Manaus trip.

Rotem set up his hammock and set sail for four days, learning Portuguese, playing dominoes and appreciating the beauty of the river.

NOTES from Rotem's Trip: Some interesting things:

1. The weather here changes from full sun to full rain so fast. I have never seen
such a dramatic change of weather in 10 minutes and then back again after an hour.

2. Another special thing is the color the water. When we got close to Manaus, the water became black! You can look at the brown river that we had all the way, and in a certain point you start see the water getting almost black. because of the climate difference, the brown and the black water don't mix! So you see for a long ways this two-colored water floating next to each other! I find it very hard to describe, especially in English.

3. The the view was a bit monotonous (the same) but I enjoyed it very much. All the time, the river is around you, it is very green on the river banks, and different greens all the time. I even saw a buffalo for the first time after many years.

All and all, I enjoyed it very much. It was very interesting and very special.
I started the trip with knowing only the Portuguese word "obrigado" (thank you) and finished with a lot of new words that I wrote down in my little book.

I hope you enjoyed my story!

Rotem
רותם

Best and Worst of Brazil in 30 Days - Karen's List of Superlatives + Friend Photo Gallery

Today, I arrived in Lima, Peru. And there just happened to be a contest between traditional schools of dance!
I am in El Tambo Hotel in an area called Miraflores. My 11-day mountain bike tour with Sacred Rides in the Andes officially begins tomorrow.

Part of my heart is still in Brazil! I had a wonderful month there in Santa Catarina, Sao Paulo, Rio, Porto Velho, Manaus and the Amazon jungle. For closure, here are some highs, lows, oddities and new friends I met during my first visit to Brazil.

BEST YOUTH HOSTEL: Tie between Hostel Misti in Rio (owned by an Argentine, German) and Hostel Manaus, owned by an Australian, Alex, in Manaus, the gateway to the Amazon.

WORST HOTEL: The sex motel in Manaus, which will remain nameless for its own protection. I learned that motels in Brazil are a different beast than in the U.S. (See previous blog posting).

BEST JOB: This award goes to professional juggler and former trapeze artist Olivier Sourty of Paris, whom I met at the Rio youth hostel. Check out his current circus cabaret show in Paris.


BEST ADVENTURE TALE: Pavel Toropov! This British citizen of Russian heritage recently completed a grueling, solo, 9,000-kilometer bike tour from the tip of South America, Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Brazilian city of Manaus. I met him while he was recovering at the youth hostel in Manaus.

I was riveted by his tales of biking through the Amazon, surviving stretches of jungle infamous for jaguars, venomous snakes, spiders and heavily armed militia. He endured endless sand pits that forced him to push his fully loaded touring bike for hours at a time and suffered devastating heat. He believes no one has completed this same south to north route (and I can tell why!) A trained biologist, Pavel, 32, funded his 8-month journey by teaching English in Seoul, South Korea, where he plans to return. YES, FULL STORY TO FOLLOW!

BEST HAIR: Facundo, de Argentina, whose wild red-tinted mane looks like a lion's. He says he got it from his Italian father. (See photo, below). Runner up: Ricardo of the Amazon.

WORST DAY: Yesterday! I left the Manaus youth hostel and was almost at the airport via taxi. Realized I had forgotten camera charger, so had to pay another taxi fare (and stress about time crunch). Returned to hostel and back to airport again. Then, after 5 hour flight, I missed connection from Sao Paulo to Lima due to late flight. Was told I had to wait 9 hours until 6 a.m. flight the next day. Also had to admit to myself I have some sort of bronchitis.

BEST DANCING: For fear of theft, I did not take my camera to Rio's Favela Funk Party, a late-night dance club of sorts housed in a huge warehouse in a favela, a poor neighborhood. I will forever regret not having film footage of the most gorgeous dancers I have ever seen. No, they were not women - but young men in a trio, performing a combo of samba and MTV-style hip hop steps in perfect synch. The audience was mesmerized by the pro-quality of their dancing.

Photo Gallery of Guardian Angels (in reverse chronological order)
SAO PAULO AIRPORT TO LIMA
Percy Silva Luciano of Lima was extremely kind to me when I needed it most. I had a massive meltdown at the airport when I learned about the missed flight to Peru and resulting 9-hour layover in Sao Paulo Airport. He helped translate the Portuguese and explained to me (in Spanish) what was going on. We bonded again at 3 a.m. at the check-in for the flight. He watched over me to make sure I got through customs, etc. before meeting his wife and son.
SAO PAULO AIRPORT Therezina Warmling Alberton. A little bit of shopping therapy helped my mood considerably at the Sao Paulo airport during my 9-hour delay. But I also felt better due to the warmth of this shop owner, Therezina, an artist who makes lovely scarves out of found materials, including fishermen's nets. I bought a green scarf from her (similar to the red one she was wearing). I was especially happy to make the purchase when I discovered she was working on her birthday! Her store, HomemArte, features handmade works.

AMAZON JUNGLE
Sam, of London, Susan of Switzerland and Amazon tour guide, Francisco, all made my life much easier by speaking English and being very caring when I was sick (with bronchitis) and had to skip parts of the jungle tour.

AMAZON JUNGLE
Ricardo, Rico for short, (pronounced "Hico,") became my guide in the Amazon jungle after I said farewell to Francisco and the gals. Later, we returned to Manaus by bus and he showed me to a great restaurant for soup to help my congested lungs. Here, Rico talks to a woman who lives near the Manaus youth hostel.
MANAUS
Fabio Flores, from southern Brazil, was an amazing help to me. I arrived in Manaus from Porto Velho quite exhausted, perhaps from the tropical heat. Upon my arrival at the Maunaus youth hostel, he just happened to be outside in the street. He helped me with my luggage, translated Portuguese to English, then helped me find a nearby motel since the hostel was booked. After that, he walked with me to the famous opera house and we had a drink of fresh juice in the plaza. He headed to Belem at 5 a.m. that morning to stay with his biologist aunt.
PORTO VELHO
Geraldo introduced me to his sister, Gloria, below. Thanks to Gloria, I had a lovely lunch out on my final day in Porto Velho. More about them on my blog.

Miguel, a Brazilian with German heritage (and his daughter) had never met me and was kind enough to take me out to a traditional Amazonian meal and even drove me to the airport at the end of my stay in Porto Velho. More about Miguel on my blog.

RIO
Facundo Ventresca, Best Hair Winner, is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but has decided to move to Rio. I met him at the Rio youth hostel. Despite a steady downpour he showed me some of the best sites in Rio.

SAO PAULO
Marilyn Diggs, artist and writer, Sao Paulo. Though we had only met recently, online, through travelwriters.com, Marilyn gave me such a warm welcome in at her home that I immediately felt like we were old friends!

And of course HUGE THANKS to my family, especially, Mom, Dad, Brenda, Kathryn and Joy, for loving emails and to my Dear Friends in Santa Cruz, California, and elsewhere who have stayed in touch during my trip! I also thank all of you who have read and commented on my blog!

Top 10 Ways to Survive a Nasty Motel - Made it to Manaus, Brazil, Gateway to the Amazon

Hello from the urban jungle of Manaus, Gateway to the Amazon. Arrived here in Sunday night from Porto Velho after an easy 1 hour, 10 min. flight.

This city of two million is a bustling metropolis with plenty of lodging options available.

Yet, on my first night here, I stumbled into a place so unsavory that I am inspired to share my Motel Survival Techniques.

I hope you won't need these techniques, but just in case, here is my Top 10 List - all of which I have tested.

1. Shower with your shoes on - the floor may be dirtier than your feet!

2. Drip dry instead of using the towel - if you can call that stained rag a towel...

3. Sleep with your clothes on - to limit contact with the bedding and get up in a hurry

4. Pack your toiletries tightly in plastic bag so bugs won't get to them

5. Close and secure any open windows - prevents thieves, mosquitoes and smoke from entering

6. Find a secure place to hide your valuables. Get creative!

7. Lock and barricade your door

8. Investigate mysterious sounds - cautiously!

There was such a ruckus in the hallway at 11 p.m. that I pressed my ear to the door to investigate. No real danger: it was just the couple down the hall loudly having sex.

That's when I got suspicious about the nature of my hotel and developed these new tips:

9. Review price structure of hotel - I was told if you leave by 8 a.m. the hotel costs $30 reales; leave by noon and it costs $50. I now believe this rate structure was designed for overnight business. And I don't mean clients for jungle tours!

10. Preview the room and analyze furnishings before paying - I always see the room before I book it. But in this case, even after viewing the room, I was too tired to notice at first the huge mirror over the bed was smeared with fingerprints and that the pillows were coated in thick rubber and covered with think pillow cases.

One of the joys of adventure travel is spontaneity, which is how I wound up at this particular place. The downside is, if you don't research your lodging in advance by reading books, websites and reviews, you could wind up needing these tips.

Of course, as lodging goes - this does not qualify as a true nightmare in any regard!

Karen in Porto Velho, Rondonia, and not sure where to go next!

At 7:30 a.m. this morning, Rotem Hershkovich of Eilat, Israel, knocked on my door at Yara Hotel.

The night before, I had asked Rotem to wake me up for breakfast downstairs. I wanted to enjoy a final conversation with him in English over the buffet breakfast that is part of the price of our room. He and I had met in the lobby of our hotel Friday evening. He was ecstatic to find someone who could speak English after traveling solo with no one to talk to from Bolivia to Brazil.

Over a breakfast of pizza, white rolls, cheese, cold cuts, watermelon, papaya and vanilla cake, we discussed the details of his upcoming three-day boat trip from Porto Velho on River Madeira to Manaus, the Brazilian city of two million people that is the gateway to the Amazon.

All of yesterday, Friday, I had seriously considered joining him on this boat adventure. I decided not to for a variety of reasons:

1. Sleeping arrangements - I am not sure I could get a wink of sleep in a hammock (never tried). But with 18 people all swinging next to each other on the sweltering boat deck, it did not appeal to me for three nights.

2. No stops for three days - The boat is quite small, the passengers numerous and with 3 days on board thought I might get stir crazy.

3. Scenery. Researched accounts of this trip online and most said scenery was only so-so. I did read a few accounts of drama on the boat, but all pertained to robberies.

These workers have a hard, sweaty job loading the boat by walking up and down this steep hill.
I chose not to take the three-night boat ride from Porto Velho to Manaus because I did not think I could sleep in a hammock. This picture is at half-capacity of the passengers.


So I stay put in Porto Velho and am trying to figure out my next move!

I walked many blocks, dripping sweat in this tropical heat, to talk to a travel agent at VIP Tours in Porto Velho. After an hour together, I decided to buy a fairly expensive airline ticket to Manaus - which has an international airport to get me to Lima, Peru. (Porto Velho does not connect directly to Lima).

This very nice travel agent helped me figure out all travel details mostly thru pantomime, using the calendar and written words since she spoke no English or Spanish and I no Portuguese.

THEN MY ONE AND ONLY CREDIT CARD was denied!
For reasons I am still not sure of. But good news: I found an ATM here that will give me dinero.

It was quite irritating but I decided to take it as a sign that I am not done yet in Porto Velho!

It's 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and I am going to walk down to the docks where I met Geraldo yesterday. He sells boat tickets, speaks some English and has kindly befriended me. He introduced me to his sister, Gloria, who speaks some English and is a Catholic missionary and teacher here in Porto Velho.

See what happens... NEXT UP ON MY TRAVEL BLOG: went out to dinner last night with literature professor of University of Rondonia to taste traditional Amazonian food. Met him thru a friend of a friend on the internet.