At our hostel we met Joe (from Yorkshire) and the three of us braved the heat and went for lunch in a little cafe in the street. I had a hamburger and it was amazing, but to be honest, anything other than rice, spaghetti, meat and beans would have been nice. I spent the rest of the afternoon in a sweaty internet cafe next to a guy who continually burped really loudly. When I got back to the hostel, instead of finding Alex I found a note that said "gone in search ...

The Voyager III is bigger than the Cisne Branco with far fewer people. Our hammocks didn´t seem to need to touch anyone elses. The layout is almost identical, with the exception of a dining room at the back on the middle deck where we would go for all meals (included in the ticket this time). Despite the fat Brazilians urgency we were on board by 11am and the boat didn´t depart until 12:30pm. That said, we would learn that the Voyager III almost never left when...

We got off the Cisne Branco and walked through the port where men were busy loading up other boats for their voyages, and Oh My God it´s hot. So SO hot. When Alex was on facebook chatting to her Aunt she told her that Manaus is sticky. That is exactly right. The walk through the port to the main plaza was agonizingly hot, and once we got to the plaza Alex had to immediately drop her bag and apply suncream. Alex, Maria and I walked in silence to the hostel which ...

Aboard the Cisne Branco our hammocks are squeezed on the middle deck of three, towards the back next to the toilets and above the engine - prime position! The entire middle deck is basically hammocks and the toilets. Downstairs there are hammocks at the front and freight and a kitchen towards the back. Later we discovered it was actually illegal to have hammocks on the lower level as when the police boat came by everyone stuffed their hammocks up in the rafters! ...

4th semaniversary... almost our 1st mesiversary. And what better way to see it in than on a bus! Despite it being extremely uneventful, today I achieved a first... I read on a bus. Usually I get travel sick but quite unbelievably I read 2/3rds of my new book (quite an improvement on 1 month for my last book). The landscape was similar to much of the rest of Brazil: various palms, green vegetation, donkeys, cows, horses, goats, villages, bicycles / motorcycles, v...