Ola!

Well I´m definitely in Brazil now, no escaping it. Though Brazil is a very nice place, once I got out of Tabatinga. The people are really lovely, if indeed they do need Trinny and Susanna.

I´ve survived my first boat trip! Four days of river, trees, hammocks, rice, beans and chicken. I´m spending one night on dry land and then tomorrow I´m getting another boat (this one five days) to Belem.

My last night in Tabatinga improved quite a bit, and I´ve decided it´s not that bad. I found an eatery which cooked their chicken properly for a third of the price, and even made a friend. A man sat down next to me and launched into a lengthy one-sided conversation which I had to interrupt with "no hablo, er, Portuguese-a". He replied (in English) "butt I´m not speaking Portuguese, I´m speaking Spanish". Doh! It turned out his girlfriend´s family owned the "restaurant" (perhaps more accurately described as a BBQ in the front garden) and everyone seemed to be related to him or and amigo. He was very nice, even if he did invite me back to his for a nightcap (remembering he has a girlfriend). I declined. When I got back to the hostel Miguel was sober, and invited me to watch a film in his bedroom. I was slightly worried, but made sure the door was open and dropped my "boyfriend" into the conversation early on. Miguel turned out to be a poor film watching companion; he chose to explain the Spanish-dubbed movie by telling me things I could see for myself "they´re going to a nightclub, the girl is giving him a drink" so I called it an early night.

Then in the morning I went to my boat. Miguel helped me tie up my hammock, and when I sat in it it promptly broke and I fell on my ass. I don´t think he did it deliberately, but I did just get out of his comission scam so who knows. Later on a friend of Miguel helped me carry my bags down to the boat. I assumed he was after a tip. He stopped halfway to the harbour, saying he wanted to buy me something involving dried ginger. I assumed it was a travel sickness preventative, and as I was still not 100% from the day before I went along with it. We ended up in a bar and I was presented with a double shot of a ginger smelling liquor, and it was 11am. I figured it would kill me or cure me, and it would be rude to refuse, so I necked it and followed Joe to the boat slightly unsteady on my feet. When my bags were safely onboard, Joe beckoned me off the boat again (we had two hours until it was due to sail) and took me to another bar where he tried to ply me with an unidentifiable alcohol. This time I put my foot down, and I ended up with a coke. Suddenly a real English-speaking person appeared, Tony from New Zealand, who was also getting on my boat, so I had a friend. When we escaped Joe (after he´d given me a foot massage - Joe by the way is a very short, fat, old, and you´ve probably guessed, alcoholic) and got back on the boat, we discovered a couple from Gibraltor too, so I had several friends aboard ship in the end.

Also on the boat was Rajida (pronounced Ha-jee-sha), a very very lovely Brazilian girl who spoke basic English but persisted in having lengthy conversations with me to the extent I got a headache. She was realy lovely so I feel a bit bad but I did spend four days and three nights with her. Especially when most of the conversations were about god. After being faced with a real life converter, my religious conversion is safely at an end. She kept trying to get me to go to church with her tonight, but I kind of lied and ran away. Does that mean I´m going to hell?

So I´ve spent the last few days lying in a hammock (which really isn´t as comfortable as it sounds), reading, staring at trees, writing in my journal, playing cards, and eating the same meal of rice, spaghetti, beans, and chicken. Considering it was free the food was pretty good though, it just got a bit monotonous. Also very early. We had breakfast at 6am, lunch at 10am and dinner at 4pm.

There were also some Columbians on the boat. In Brazil British and Columbians stick together it seems. They are getting the same boat tomorrow and are meeting me before we get tickets as otherwise I´ll get ripped off. Today they quoted me 650 reals for a ticket and the Columbians 170. Also, the guy is a yoga teacher, so I´m hoping we can do some yoga! Those following my plight will be relieved to hear I´ve found a book exchange, so I have 3 and a half books to last me the next two weeks. :)

Until Belem!