After splitting up with Eirik back in Manaus some 3 weeks ago I went down the same way as he had done a day before me. Had a stopover in Alter do Chao after 2 nights on the boat from manaus to santarem. The beautiful amazon beach that are there was totally submerged in water from the raining season, so there was no reason to stay for more than one night.

Oli, Claes,joe and I stayed at albergue da floresta for one night, in hammocks under a roof in the forest close to alter do chao. We relaxed, swam in the river before leaving the day after for santarem. I got on the boat to Macapa and they on the one to belem, so now I was oficially travelling solo. The boatride from santarem to macapa was beautiful! Started off with an amazing sunset in which thousands upon thousands of bats flew from the city and over the river. If they were waking up or going to sleep I don't know, but it was nontheless a beautiful sight. We drove through a narrow shortcut through communities that live on the river. Here there is no roads, the river is the road and the cars are canooes and boats. And we were on the bus, stopping every now and then to pick up people or drop of beers and pineapples.

After two nights I arrived macapa early morning and started to look for a place to stay for the night. Quickly became obvious that this is off the beaten track and that cheacp hostel are hard to find! So I eventually decided to just jump on the bus for the boardertown of Oiapoque that same evening. Got to see the old portugees fortress in town, which was not very impressing, and drank icecold water from a coconut on the amazon beach realizing that we had successfully travelled through the whole amazon from the mountains of peru to the atlantic on the river. One amazing journey indeed! Got to the busstation and got on the bus.

The horrible road through the jungle only made our bus stuck in mud one time, and I later came to hear that Eiriks same bustrip had taken 26hours. Mine lasted only 16. In Oiapoque I stayed for one night before taking a small taxiboat across to french guiana the morning after. Got on a sickly expensive taxi to cayenne and arrived there just too late, the surinameese consulate was just closed. So I had to stay one night in Cayenne. Cheapest hotel: 40euros. Pain for a cheap backpacker. But it was a great night on a hotel with my own bathroom , a clean bed and aircondition; luxuries I hadn't enjoyed for months! The next day I realized that I wouldn't get my visa to surinam for 6 days because of a national holiday. So I was stuck in this expensive place. Hitchhiked my way to a nearby town with cheaper accomodation: A hammock on a beach for 6 euros. Next morning I went down to the port to catch a boat to Iles de salut, the famour prisoner islands of french guyane. And of course, there on the port Eirik showed up! We spent a day on iles de salut together before he left for suriname, already had his visa. I stayed one more night, sleeping in old prisoners dormitories. The island is very small and full of coconuts, monkey, macaws and other parrots.

Nice place to just relax, even though I almost just ate bread with peanutbutter and dry noodles because of the island prices.. Came back to Kourou where the hammock on the beach place is, and stayed there for 3 more nights! Spent on day reading and walking along the beach, one day on the european space center and museum and one day going to cayenne to finally picking up the visa. All of the european satelites are being lunched from french guyana and the space center is huge! Its like cape canaveral in the states. Got a great tour of the whole place for free, seing the ariane 5 rocket being put together for the 1st of july lauch, and we got to stand on the platform that they use for lauching them. BIG stuff! Also visited the museum and pretty much had a very nice day inside the airconditioned buildings there.

The day after I got my visa for surinam. Got it pretty late and there was just no time to get to the boarder that same evening so I stayed one more night on the beach. Next morning I woke to the sunrise hitting my face and started walking out to the roundabout I used to hitch from. Got a ride for 6kms, but I still had 193 left and the clouds were gathering above me. The road was pretty deserted and it was a long time between every car and I was just hoping to even get a ride to the boarder. Luckily it only took like 30 minutes before a young guy with way to long dreads picked my up, and he was going all the 193kms to St laurent de maroni. Perfect. 3 hours later we arrive, got help from locals with the taxicanoes and exitformalities and crossed the river into surinam. Got on a local transportation into paramaribo. I knew where Eirik had stayed in Paramaribo, and I wondered if he was still there. And he was. So we played cards all day, just relaxing, walked around the city and saw a movie, before going off again 4am to georgetown, guyana. The trip there was okay, and we arrived by noon the next day. Got a great hotelroom cheap and we soon decided on getting some drink. The rum here is excellent and dangerously good and we soon got pretty drunk. It was all good though, but the next day we were very tired. We had heard that there was cheap tickets to port of spain from georgetown, so we checked it up. 5 minutes later we had tickets to tobago, monday 20th of june. And that's the story of how we arrived here we are now. Been here for a week. Raining season has made the heat of the sun bearable, and less abundant of tourists. That being said it has been quite expensive here, and today our carribean holidays are over. We have seen the island through the windows of a jeep, driving on the left side of the road for the first time in our lives. Seen some beautiful beaches, snorkeled on the reefs, enjoyed some good caribbean partying and all in all a good stay. Only hatch at this very moment is that eirik has lost his passport, and he is currently out calling the ambassy in venezuela. Which is our next destination.

To be updated.

Ludvig and Bors on Tobago!