Halfway Point
30 July 2005 (Saturday) – To Manaus, Brazil
We only reached Santarem, our halfway point today. Hmmm… now I realised that we would arrive in Manaus next Tuesday, not Monday. So, I would spend 6 nights here, not 5 nights. Alright, whatever, I did not care anymore.
My routine was more or less like this – 5+am, there would be a hive of activity as people start waking up for breakfast at 6am; the crew then switches off the air-conditioners; after breakfast, some gazing or reading; at around 10+am, there would be another hive of activity as people start queuing up for lunch at 11am; then the crew switches on the air-conditioners to help us cope with the heat; after lunch, more gazing or reading or lying in the hammock for a nap; at around 4+pm, the pre-dinner activity begins; after dinner, sunset, if possible, more of the book, play with some kids, try and chit-chat with someone who can tolerate my broken Portuguese and then, bed-time by 9pm or so.
Yep, apparently, our sorry little lives were revolved around when we got fed. Considering the dining area can only hold 50 people and there were probably 300-400 mouths in total to feed, I must really salute the way the crew handled the situation. There is someone counting the number of people who enter the dining area. You eat and then, you get out. There is no such thing as after-meal chit-chat. Depending on the number of people who come out, they let the same number of people in. In this way, the people get fed within… 40 minutes to an hour. Brilliant!
My ‘home’ is in the interior, in the middle of the hall, furthest away from the air-conditioners at either end of the hall. Yesterday, because I was so frigging hot at around mid-day, I went to take a shower and at the burst of the cold water, I actually had a fright. And hence, as a result of the hot and cold mixture, the shrinking violet that is me… caught a cold last night!
Today, while many of the people left the riverboat to go out gallivanting around Santarem for a couple of hours, I lay sniffing in my hammock, or comatose there after taking the cold tablets. Still, I felt horrendously hot. Finally, at the suggestion of my neighbours – Antonio and Mauriete who had moved to the back end of the hall to catch the cool air from the air-conditioners behind, I moved as well. That meant we were now right by the men’s toilet. Oooo…. Anyway, we were able to move because nearly half of the people had disembarked.
Now, it was bearable in the afternoon, but freezing at night. G-r-e-a-t!!! (roll eyeballs)
Tags: 04) A River Runs Through It, Amazon River
swesn
September 23rd, 2005 at 1:30 pm
hey, how about the food on the boat? I’m really curious after you wrote that it would be “shitty” food etc, but you really did not touch on this subject? Is it really as bad as it sounds??