On the 13th of January my big adventure started...a trip into the Amazonas -into the largest forest in the world. The only "MUST DO" on my list when I planned my Brazil trip. And it had to be total authentic by boat, and even more sleeping there in a hammock. I don´t know from where I got it but I had this romantized idea of going slowly some 5-6 days on the Amazonas River in a wooden riverboat to the Amazonas` capital Manaus, little 1713 km away from Belem.
First of all there didn't exist wooden vessels anymore at least on the first part of the Amazonas trip from Belem to Sanatarem. Given to the proximity to the ocean, the Amazonas river is still strongly influenced by the tides near the Delta, so during the night a kind of storm and waves comes up which made the ship pretty shaky. Three months ago a wooden riverboat got sunk again whereby many people died caused by that and also lots of big trunks who are swimming in the river and can spring a leak in the boat, so they forbid using wood vessels on this tranche.
But when I arrived at midday to my vessel I realized that I can´t expect for 84 Euros for 5 nights a trip on a luxury cruiser....will say the boat were CROWDED by people, one hammock really sticked next to the other and the floor where covered with all kinds of boxed and luggage, so happy when I got into my hammock with some acrobatic raffinesse, I was worried how to get ou again and fighting throw tthe crowds when there comes the need to get on the toilet later...my final thought before leaving the port at 6p.m. from Belem with strong rain only was: "Gosh, from whom you got this stupid idea that this could be fun...don´t know how to survive these days here."
Luckily I met 2 really nice japanese girls on the boat, Ikumi and Meri, which I already met in the hostel in Sao Luis, so we hang up our hammocks next to each other on the upper deck, which is always preferable because on the lower one the machine room is located which makes incredibly lots of noise. Since we made a stopover at the half of our trip and changed afterwards to another boat, unfortunately I also had to make the experience to live 2,5 days one the lower deck since we were the last who arived on that boat. So I praised the small sticky pink coloured earplugs, a detailed and how it turned out so essential present from Steffi....maaaany thanks again for that!!! 
So, how you can imagine such a life - 5,5 days on a boat? Well, the day started with the breakfast from 7-8a.m. Normally I skipped that since I am blessed with a healthy sleep and don't get disturb by daylight nor people's talk. I made me friends with the kitchen crew, so I could pick up my cafe later which is esstiantial for me to turn from sulky, tight-lipped German to the talk-active, happy more brazilian Vicci ;). Shower and toilet were combined in one tiny half-squaremetres spot, simple, always wet but clean. Teeth brushing with view over the guardrail on the river amazonas and the jungle turns your mouth to a direct smile in the morming making yourself conscious by this unique experience you are having in that moment. Til midday at 1p.m. people chatting with each other, kids are playing, won the omen ar knitting, making their manicure, men have their first beer on the bar at the deck or playing domino.
On the way you pass by the houses of the "cablocos" (that's how the people called who live in the jungle, but not to mistake them for Indians). Their women and children are waiting in small wooden boats for vessels on the river in the hope they throw anything useful stuff to them, like clothes or food, since there are a bit disconected from the civilisation. And surprisingly lot's of people on the people were prepared for that and threw lots of plastic bags out. When we stopped at a river city from time to time hawkers entered the ship selling shrimps, cheese, fruits, savories. Big parts of the day I also used to finally find some time to read a good book - hard to imagine but normally there doesn't remain lots of free time to read for me on my trip. But again I noticed that reading books is not that common in Brazil...books and newspapers are quiet expensive and therefore more acessible for the middle and upper social class. The average Brazilian entertains himself with TV- especially telenovelas - and not only women as supposed. So after dinner at night on a flatscreen on deck the people watched their beloved telenovelas. By the way food - lunch and dinner wasn't that bad as warned in the guide, it was cheap, 2,5Euro for a meal, only a bit monotonous to eat the same food twice a day - rice, pasta, farofa, beans, meat & chicken and a bit salat. Also not that common for Brazilian is to know there near surrounding. I met several people from Belem who did the trip to Manaus the first time in their life, the same I noticed in the natural park of Chapada Diamantina or later in M5 of the anaus that only a little porcentage of the inhabitants know the nature sites near their hometown. Since 70-80 porcent of the Brazilian population lives next to coast, which they adore, it seems they have no relation to something else than beach.In contrary to that we Germans have a certain fame here to be nature lovers which like to discover unknown nature sites.
What I also really liked on the boat that you quickly got know everyone and already after a day a kind of familiar atmosphere arrouse. Since my 2 japanese girls and I were the only foreign people there, everyone was really interested to get us know. For example a retired policeman who works as a dancing teacher now & started to be a "famous" artist in this region by making pictures out of melted glass...as a proof he showed me an atricle of a gazette of Belem which reported of him.
Also most Brazilian are such a pleasant company, but there are also single example who can get on your nerves...in my case a young guy on the boat, but since I normally forget unpleseant events easily, my memory also get already of his name. He said he's a tourist guide from a city in the Amazonas and he also spoke a good English and some bits of German. He was very keen to get foreign friends to practice his language skills - so far no prob, same as me who wants to get in contact with the Brazilian culture as often as possible. But in his behaviour we was too intrusive. Both the japanese girls and me had the immediately the same impression of him. He was like a "mosquito", you don't noticed it but it's always there, lurking to get a chance to speak to you. In this case bad to be on a ship, you can't escape. I had to look busy all the time, reading my book, chatting with other people or find shelter in my hammock...if not it always sounded from far away: "Victoria, you have to see this, you have to make a photo of that, can you make a photo of us, look at my selection of photos of cruisers I have here, how is your email adress to keep in contact, can I be your guide in Sanaterem"--Puuh, what a pain!!! But on the other hand side I felt really sorry for him because he had a bad eyes and tried desperately to be kind to us, so I posed the challenge to train my low degree of pacience to stay nice and friendly all the time, which isn't my biggest strength ;).
After 3 days we finally got rid of him - making a Stopover in Alto do Chao - aso called the Caribean within the Amazonas. And truly spoken, I really relaxing small village to stretch your's legs for 2 days. The special thing there it had a small island with fine white sand and small bars surounded by green water...a laid-back beach resort within the jungle to have a swim, a dance, a capirinha and very good fish dishes from local fishes - a perfect places to get stuck for weeks.