J 207-212 / An Opera in the heart of the Amazon 
We landed all five in the harbor with our bags on the back and as always for the first mission to find a hotel. We start with cheap ones contained in our various guides but none for us. It's Sunday, it's 7am and the city is calm. A reel Hotel crosses our path and we offer a pension to go to another neighborhood cheaper. Why not, anyway, we all want to move quickly and go take a shower and good coffee. The hotel will also not the case in the district but obviously this is not what is missing. We split into two groups and visit them one after the other. In one of them, when we ask if they have any rooms available we were wondering if it's for an hour or a day! Well no, for the night! We look at the name of the hotel and it includes everything: Cupid Hotel ... In fact most schools in the neighborhood are the same type. In any case, what type or another, none is necessary, no light, humidity smells, too expensive ... The two groups are empty handed and we decide that we will first take a good breakfast and finally put our bags. In talking with the owner we learn they also have rooms upstairs. Okay, we'll see them and this time it's good, not luxury but it suits us. As we take three rooms we negotiate the price and finally we will install is the first time that we put so much time for us housing. We return to our room and we each give an appointment for later, we all need a good shower and some rest. It's Sunday after all. Somewhat mended, we start with Julia to see a little what it's like this city for which we have traveled more than four days and crossed half of the Amazon. Everything is quiet this morning, it's pretty strange to see so little traffic and people on the streets but it's also nice to discover the city. Manaus is the largest city in the Amazon, founded in 1669 by the Portuguese, it was at that time a village. In the mid-nineteenth century with the development of the automobile and tire industry in v ille 
is growing at a frenetic pace, as in Iquitos, through the exploitation of rubber. The decline comes after the 1910s when the rubber was planted in Asia at the initiative of the British. The city will decline rapidly. In 1957, the government decided to create a free trade zone to boost the economy and is in Manaus found the main industries of home appliances, electronics ... supplying the domestic market. Today, the city has over a million Half of people and saw a lot of tourism. There are still a lot of buildings in the glory days, some in ruins and others standing. We walk to the Teatro Amazonas, the first in South America built in 1896 and most majestic symbol of the economic heyday of Manaus. It has 700 seats and was built with bricks brought from Europe, French glass and Italian marble. We're a little disappointed by his appearance, a pink building not really terrible. For cons the dome mosaic representing the Brazilian flag has more sense. We believe that going to see an opera in the Amazon that le fait, entrons voir si des représentations sont prévues pour les jours à venir et apprenons que nous tombons en plein festival. Nous choisissons d´assister dans 4 jours à "Ariadne Auf Naxos" un opéra de Richard Strauss. La jeune fille de la billetterie nous demande si nous sommes étudiants pour payer le tarif réduit. Nous sommes flattés mais nous lui expliquons que nous ne pouvons plus bénéficier de ce genre de tarifs depuis bien longtemps. Soit elle ne nous a pas cru, soit elle avait envie de nous faire plaisir, elle a décider de nous en faire profiter quand même et nous a proposé de meilleures places à moitié prix ! Pendant que nous réglons les billets nous regardons les affichettes près the counter and read that, without requiring evening dress, some clothing is not tolerated, thongs for example. The problem is that we really do not have proper attire in our backpacks and other shoes we have outside our thongs are our hiking boots, too much class to go to the opera! The girl assures us that it'll be fine as long as they are not plastic flip flops. Anyway it will be necessary. As we come out on Patricia and Reto and continue our walk with them. We dine together in the streets, eating people, good and cheap and will drink a few beers in a nice little bar in the neighborhood our hotel. The boys play pool, here it is played in a different way, using only four balls and the one who wins from the last-no matter what he could do before. All a bit slammed we go to bed hoping that tomorrow the city will be a little more animated. Patricia and Julia do Reto We will keep 
s only three days in Manaus and we will meet in the evening for dinner together. We test another popular meal on the harbor. The food is good but smells are not. The port of Manaus is a very important trading place. Day or night, dockers unload the goods and is therefore a very lively, an entire hall is devoted to the banana, from the darkest green. We spend five days exploring the city and its surroundings and as usual we arpentons walk. Indeed apart from Sunday when the city is asleep, and up to week later, the streets are alive with street vendors, passersby and vehicles. On the eve of the departure of Julia we all three attempts to see the meeting of the waters. It is a phenomenon that occurs a few kilometers from Manaus, the Amazon and Rio Negro meets as their waters have properties different colors and they follow on a hundred miles before finally mixing. If we had not come at night on the town we could see the boat and suddenly in possession of information that Julia dug up at the tourist office we take a bus to a port that told him where we should be able to take a boat not too expensive. Just arrived it started to rain but this is not what bothers us the most. The bus dropped us in the right place but it is the entrance of a large hotel, it would be surprising to find a cheap boat. We are home to the time the rain stopped asking ourselves why the tourist office has sent us there ... The more we advance the less we understand. Again this would be that we would have had this info, with some Portuguese as we speak we could have told us that we had misunderstood but Julia speaks Portuguese. We arrive at the travel agency from the hotel and we'll find out. We are absolutely not the right place, they're good it was somewhat realized, but it is simply the opposite and actually go by boat but it really is not in our budget, c ' is the great luxury. The meeting of the waters so it will be for another day without Julia who leaves tomorrow. As in the hotel grounds there is a mini zoo we decided to go check it out tour by telling us that it is always better than nothing. Hardly had we time to see three creatures that starts raining ropes. We rushed into the hotel to shelter us and we'll finally three hours to wait until the rain calms down ... After visiting all the places where we could go we had a small pool and a game of cards. He had to deal since we could not afford to enjoy either the bar or the shops of the hotel. It was a little surprised but nobody asked us what we were doing there and we could wander around without a problem. The rain stopped and we finished with was continue our tour of the zoo before taking a bus to downtown. With all that it is four o'clock in the afternoon and we had not done much, we ended the day with a short tour before the hearth 
it never sets. Tonight Julia goes to the opera and the other four decide to go for dinner at a Churrascaria taste of good meat at will. We take the absence of Julia who is a vegetarian and would not appreciate this kind of place. For us it's the day after the opera. Meanwhile we say goodbye to our three friends who leave for other destinations. We finally decide not to go see this famous meeting of the waters and enjoy these two days to deepen our city tour. Level museum buildings and exhibitions we will not have much luck, they will be closed for renovation or exposure began only in a few days had just ended, in short we had the impression of not being in Manaus right time. Although the market had moved little since the great hall dating from the heyday in the surrounding streets! That did not stop to survey the city and discover some nice little neighborhoods. The old city is to leave the evening of "high output" for opera. We return to the hotel to make us all beautiful, jeans, hiking boots and a clean up, the great class and join the center and the famous opera. On the advice of the nice girl who sold us the tickets we're ahead and be the first in the box provided for five people, otherwise she has said we will not see much. Gradually people come very well dressed for the most part but we note with relief that our holding does not indicate traveler too. At 20 o'clock we go into opera, in the lobby, a Lego model of the building of over 30,000 parts, we invite you to join openers our lodge. We are the first and until the performance begins we have ample opportunity to study the design and imagine the rich families in our place at the beginning of last century. The musicians joined the pit followed by the conductor, the lights dim, the curtain rises and the actors come on stage. The opera is in German, subtitled in Portuguese on, not easy to follow ... We will come out nevertheless delighted that we changed a few of our evenings playing cards in our hotel room, writing articles for the blog or drink beer with other travelers we meet because even the globe-trotters may suffer from daily ...
The next evening we left Manaus in the bus to Colombia via Venezuela, 24-hour bus to Ciudad Bolivar and then prick the west to get closer to the Colombian border.
203-206 J / Ribbon Amazon The rain stops. Meanwhile come to live beside us, two Swiss-German tourists, and not far from another German English origin. We are more than 160 on lancha and a handful of tourists, probably the result of pheromones, any body attracts like and stick together naturally for better or for worse. With barely an hour's delay the boat off the bank and soon we're in the middle of the Amazon. Two hours later we drop anchor in the port of Benjamin Constant, a break of two hours gives us time to do some shopping at the market stalls and in the surrounding which cluster around the mercado. Pendan 
t this time on the boat sellers benefit from the stop to make some profit by selling fruit, cookies, ice, blankets, hammocks and other bits still useful for this kind of crossing. A new maneuver the boat to fall off the floating dock. Quickly night falls and we go up on deck to listen to a group of music: rotten, filthy beer in sad contrast metallic taste in music, and we eat with our spoons the food bought on the port, served in bags Plastic: The Love Boat as she can! There for 5 days and 4 nights.
Directorate hammocks, history of a night's sleep lulled by the rolling of the boat, perfect until two o'clock in the morning. All the lights, police checks, 15 police officers back along the hammocks. Audits of papers and bags. Comes our turn, we give our passports and then they start to dig up my bag, two or three things fall down, they leave them as is. I try to make them understand that I will like to close the top of the bag if they put them back where they were before they excavate the remains, we can dream. Three unsuccessful attempts, I start to bawl, result, thorough search of the bags, all our things are balanced on the floor and they're going to continue their search. For police officers the result will be good, a kilo of cocaine seized in the engine.
The rest of the cruise will be more pleasant, the day reading a book, watch the river unfold, stretch our legs during brief stops in small villages that line the shore, all punctuated by meals and the bell that announces: 6 in the morning, breakfast: coffee sweet ex-then p 
Ace of coffee and a bread-Laetitia sluggish; 11:00 lunch in less than a quarter of an hour in a small canteen of 15 places for those who do not like us and their bowls to the menu of meat with beans invariably , rice, spaghetti and cassava and once again at 5:30 p.m. for dinner-yes, it's early for dinner! Evening reading point towards the upper deck to cool off in the throat drinking beer, smoking fags, telling bullshit background of music. The cruise was relaxing. We meet an old grandpa who has lived in France there are twenty years in Bordeaux, he lost his French, but kept the spirit of the bottle, starting at noon he attacked with beer and end at the close of bar around midnight. For other notable characters, a crazy old woman who smokes fag fag dancing frantically on the sound of the times that young musicians perform loop noon till night.
The last night comes with the lights twinkling from Manaus on the banks, we leave to join the Amazon the Rio Negro and dock in the largest city in the Amazon. In Cusco we were on one of its flowed in, so we follow the river for over 2500 kilometers. Finally we are in Manaus, a destination that has made our imagination, like Mocha, Addis Ababa, Zanzibar, Rio de Janeiro ... the next cities, Bogota, Mexico City, Vegas, for me and Laetitia San Francisco. It is eleven o'clock at night and we did not want to dive in the city with our big bags at once and hard to find a hotel at this late hour. So, since we allow, we end the night in our hammocks and we decide to land, with our three traveling companions Patricia and Julia Reto only the next day. We are not alone, there is still a good twenty people on board and crew members who will watch over us.
194-203 J / Jungle Fever 
After three days of lancha, boat reminiscent of Mississippi, the paddle wheels and less, we disembark at the Triple Border - Peru Colombia, Brazil - on the shores of Peru, a small village without electricity. Customs formalities completed, we let ourselves be carried away by a reel and a few minutes later we're on a boat to go over to Colombian Amazonia: Leticia. It is bigger than the hole lost in Peru, besides the name, it is neither exciting nor pretty, and the city not my darling! Our reel takes us to a small friendly hotel, Gustavo, the owner let us her room, alone with a double bed, adjoining the garden, wooden walls and roof of palm. For two days we see how to organize a hike through the jungle, Gustavo finds us a guide and we organized a trip of 5 days for cheap, perfect for us. In addition we provided the hammocks (mosquito nets) and boots our sizes. We occupy these two days we walk in the city and the surrounding area and finally comes the long awaited day. Gustavo from shopping-food we need during these 5 days, during which time we finish our bags and 10 hours the taxi arrives to take us to the port and from there we take a boat "Rapido" for Puerta Libertad, 50 km upstream. In the village, Gustavo, the guide (and yes, the owner of the hotel and the guide have the same name) is waiting for us with a smile. We go home, he separated the races in two bags, one for him and the other Amador, the hunter who will accompany us. For us, water bottles and our small backpacks. It's noon, it's hot, we're closer than ever to the jungle. Gustavo gave the signal, it's time to don the boots and leave any urban landmark. The hunter in mind, backpack san 
Glé the forehead, and Gustavo behind us in the middle. The running order will be honored for five days. Ten minutes to leave the village, we pass by a cassava plantation and a banana, then the forest. A narrow path, often littered with dead trees in a state of advanced decay times. Trees that are not on the ground, rushed towards the canopy covering us with its shadow lace sunny top of its 40 meters. Glad we walk to our camp, announced three hours away. The walk itself is not difficult but one must be careful to branches, trunks, puddles of mud and other obstacles. We will need more than 4 hours of walking and moisture to reach the camp overlooking a small river provided with a cascade of water. Guides install hammocks in the hut, Gustavo tend fire that starts with a ball of resin recovered from a tree known by him to the sap that burns longer. The time for a coffee and a torrential rain disturbs the party, we headed into disaster in the hut with a roof of palm not slow to show its weaknesses. The hammocks are soaked. We drink our coffee with the water streams flowing over our heads and fire drowned in rain, Though tired we go to bed after our sheeted bed nets and no possibility to eat what soir.L dawn rises, the forest awakens slowly and with us. It's 6 o'clock, the rain stopped. Good coffee, toilet, we're ready for our first day in the jungle. The hunter returns to the village to seek a tarp to make the roof of our hut perfectly sealed and his gun. Meanwhile we Gustavo start with the surroundings, he shows us different trees, including one that is used by Indians to turn on the lights. To show us whence the resin, it kills the 
ar 
number with machetes, simple and effective! A tree thirty yards collapses is impressive, falling in slow motion and power. On the back it shows some plants and makes us taste the fruits. Pending the return of the hunter and we eat a piece Gustavo talks a bit about him and us that he is one of three shamans in his village, a power he inherited from his grandfather. During the discussion He shows us a tree near the camp-spirit who watches over us, we are reassured. Unfortunately he has no remedy against mosquitoes. We take this spiritual protection to immerse ourselves in our hammocks. Before nightfall we had dinner, and wait another hour at night is very dense, put on our boots and set off in light of our flashlights. Tonight we will hunt the alligator. After an hour's walk we begin to walk along a stream, our hunter regularly plunge the beam of his lamp in the bed of the river and after a quarter of an hour chasing it flushes out the object of his lust. But the alligator remains invisible to us city dwellers, we will have descended into the water and he put the lamp Amador almost 
SSEUS that we saw him last. Poor caiman blinded by the flashlight has no chance when the hunter's machete slashed her head permanently. He puts the alligator on the trunk of a tree. We continue our journey in search of other prey, the only one we find will be a tarantula spider charming well as big and hairy hand. Gustavo tells us that it is only a child. We return to camp before the evil spirits are out, according to our guide say shaman, they released about 11 hours, a bit like us when we go for a drink ... Tonight we will sleep dry, the sheet was laid in the afternoon and it does not rain. At 6 o'clock we were standing at the edge of the parrot, much nicer than the rooster. Mosquitoes cover the net ready to attack but we have no choice we must leave. While we drink our coffee, a little in the coltar; Amador activated to prepare the caiman by passing over the fire in order to remove the scales below it will be sweet as a baby, he says, without more culinary finesse he puts it on fire. We eat it with cassava and find pretty good. A small cleaning the river, and we put on our boots and our clothes more dirty. We leave for forest ride. Program monkeys and tarantulas that the hunter will try to hand deep in his hole. In return, the wasps have invaded the camp, attracted by the smell of caiman and other culinary leftovers. The guide is preferred that we change the camp. We repackage the busi 
and n res ou 
we started. We will arrive an hour before nightfall, leaving time for the guides to show us their expertise in forest survival and build less than half an hour shelter to sleep. The location is not as good as the previous one, no water and light to dusk, mosquitoes are taking action. Unheard of. Suddenly I killed three of my foot. We are constantly frustrated by their roar, they are so numerous that they produce a sound that gives the impression of being at the heart of natural plant that never stops. In short no time to lose, we ship the evening meal and we took refuge under our mosquito nets with our books. During the night, I see that our guides take our security very seriously, barely time to get up to go pee that the torch lit by Gustavo to check if everything goes well. Besides, the next day we will see pray while smoking his tobacco, he will explain that this substance is harmful to the uninitiated, but very good for shamans, I think I'll become a shaman! In the afternoon we start to tease the fish, we is not appropriate because it does there is only one pole of the guide because he forgot to prepare one. No serious fishing'm bored deeply. While we suivo 
ns moving along the waterways in search of our future dinner, we watch the green plants, ferns tree, flowers, processions of ants, butterflies, dragonflies, mosses ... in short all the nice little ecosystem that makes up the Amazon. We are trying to spot toucans, the favorite bird of Laetitia, we hear them but the canopy is too high for us. Back from our fishing expedition we are preparing for a nap, direction hammocks. I note the presence of small beings called termites that wander on the net, and I `m more I see approach, they are hundreds, not thousands. I am the light that highway, it dates back to a junction or a road takes direction from the top of the tree, while the main thoroughfare, equal to a highway made in the USA, plunged to the ground ... And that bump termites, they are already grooming the field with their secretion brown rope, my bag and mosquito netting are already bie 
No paved. Change of attachment point for the seat, clean the rest and a nap can begin. A short walk solo around, I discovered a lot of cute houses rising like beetles small chimneys on the chaotic floor of the jungle. A little before nightfall we prepare our young fish, pan, fish, onion, small pieces of carrot, a pinch of salt, we expect that the magic of fire works and we savor the taste before us by mosquitoes which begin to gather for a final night attack, but we prepare our defenses and we sprinkling repellent maximum power. Rapid 
no way our hopes are dashed against the voracity of these mosquitoes undoubtedly mutants and carried by the power of the Pacha Mama. Fortunately tonight we go for a walk in search of night monkeys which takes us away mosquitoes, to believe they have gathered in our camp. Equipped with our lamps we follow Amador who regularly puts out his torch implicitly inviting us to do the same. We are plunged into total darkness, losing our first sense, our hearing is over, so sought by the incredible number of sounds coming from all sides, cawing, flapping all close, hooting and whistling, crackling branch in the distance, cackling ... and the light comes on again and Amador took a direction by getting rid of some branches by reeling with his machete. Him, the hunter, heard a noise, nothing we still embedded among the thousands of sounds that the forest product continuously. We make several stops at each of which the hunter reorients our race and he ended up leading his lamp to the treetops and we see two eyes light up in setting ourselves ... that we saw a monkey night, it's great. We retrace the way, we arrive at camp to be eaten by these bastards of mosquitoes, the word is not too strong, I assure you. We took refuge under our mosquito nets to gather before a teen ready for dermato.Le next morning, coffee mosquitoes. We leave the camp to the village, our last walk in the jungle, we open your eyes and ears. Two hours of walking. Gustavo regularly gives, as usual, blows machete in a tree sounds like a tom-tom. Unlike other times, today there is an answer. We're getting closer to civilization; few minutes later we arrive at a camp, many people in the village are there to bring down the trees, soon to be replaced with banana or cassava. We spend our path followed by two brats glad we were there. We skirted several fields and heat slowly becoming stronger as we leave the shade of the canopy. Reached the village, the hunter returned to his home and that we Gustavo. Early discussion with the wife of Gustavo, a necklace and result two bracelets sold. This purchase allows us to realize that the village was severely affected by illiteracy. As Gustavo who actually read the text by his son, his wife asked his daughter to the addition to find out how much I owed him. Then we have lunch, good pasta with tuna, surrounded by the whole clan, Gustavo and his wife are the proud parents of 5 children. A nap before the hunter is joining us for our boat ride on one arm of the Amazon. At first the boat slips through the trees giving the impression of going through aquatic pathways. During 
the dry season these passages can be borrowed off but we are still in the rainy season and the river level is 15 meters higher. The eye in the alert, the hunter spots a thing to the top of a tree, we might try to upset the boat by scanning the tree tops, we see nothing. We leave and immediately after passing a bend, Gustavo gets a machete at another guy from the "pueblo" and we begin a turn to reach the tree where Amador has spotted its prey. Gustavo, a machete slung climbs the tree with unexpected dexterity. Within two minutes he joined the canopy, a minute later we tumble hear something, we fear the worst kind of Gustavo who missed a class or a decapitated monkey. Amador is leading the boat to the point of impact, going behind the tree and starts to fight hard with an animal that does not sound very conciliatory. But Amador will win this fight and uneven balance that brings lazy as a sack of potatoes in the dugout. Immediately the beast wants to take a tangent but it is seized by the colbac 
k and rebalanced at the bottom of the boat. Gustavo joined us during which time the lazy retry a breakaway, nothing to do. This time the hunter's home and we leave. The sad look on her house looks lazy to go. Bluff because the rope was not properly secured and it succeeds, with the complicity of Laetitia, who had seen the possibility of escape and like any self-respecting Corsica was able to hold his tongue. Our hero plunges into river. Much more clever in water than on land, he began a long towards the shore with amazing speed. The hunter does not like this escapade pivots the boat and was joined before it is time to reach the trees. This time it is finished for freedom, he spent the rest of the way to the bank and looking sadly back to when we will come back before the place of his capture he will tend his arm, as did a character in the famous turnip of Steven Spielberg. We are saddened by the fate of the lazy and ask what he intends to do, not kill him at least? Poor lazy is promised a bright future bit. Amador explains all happy that he will serve as a photographic model for tourists visiting the village. It's better than ending up on a plate, but still worse than typing a nap in the treetops, looking at the flight perroquets.Avant the dusk, the village receives its supply of tourists daily. One of the guys dons the costume of the village of Indian forest to his show, small souvenir stands settled along the aisle in minutes. Monkeys, parrots, sloths are released after a string ready to be photographed with anyone who will drop a few pesos. The village is transformed for the occasion and regain his composure and his appearance as the tourists left.
After the evening meal, and that income is Gustavo shamanic consultation, we have a disc 
ussion with him, during which he will make a prayer for us. We thank him and his family and we go to bed. At dawn the village wakes up when the rooster crows. Two hours later we in a dugout on the banks of the Amazon, we expect the shift of the Rapido to Leticia. Gustavo aboard with us, probably to retrieve the fruit of her work with the other who also Gustavo awaits us on the dock in Leticia and seems amazed that the guide is back with us. We take a taxi to the Posada Gustavo guide will want to walk, we invite you to come with us. At home, both Gustavo will have a private discussion. We invite Gustavo guide to come have a drink. Gustavo owner opposes almost. All three of us take a good breakfast and then we move into a cafe, Gustavo would we were creating him an email address but we will make it can neither read nor write and he does not know his date of birth. Hopefully he will be assisted by one of his children who themselves have the chance to go to school. We leave here happy days we spent with him in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Tomorrow we leave for Manaus, still several days by boat to the rhythm of the river and this time we will buy hammocks worthy of the name. Gustavo de la Posada offers us his help to buy tickets the next day, perfect. At night we go in search of a small restaurant for a romantic dinner, it's good to sit face to face with a plate, a real meal and a beer. No mercy for travelers morning, we start with bicycles in the heat of Gustavo Amazon to validate our output of Colombian territory, and our entry into Brazilian soil. First Executive Airport Leticia, resulting in a buffer and a liter of sweat. Fortunately, the customs office has air conditioning. We will resume our bikes to Tabatinga, sister city of Leticia Brazilian side, a new liter of sweat spent and our input buffer. The race continues, we must find money for our tickets, we can not find a distributor Brazilian side, withdraw from the Colombian side, then change our pesos in reals. Back at the inn, I'm leaving on a motorcycle with Gustavo for the Port of Tabatinga. Gustavo discussed with the recipient, the contact is bad. We leave for another port, a smaller boat in less good condition but the welcome is warm on "Dom Manoel," I have even a small discount, 150, we go to 140 by my middle name : Manual. Often people prefer to use my middle name, Stanislaus is too complicated to pronounce, much more familiar Manual for Latin 
has U.S. connections. We install the hammocks on the Bridge and back to the hotel to look Laetitia. As an aside, we have a little chat with Laetitia, that reminds me that Gustavo told us that if there were two boats we could touch the ticket 100. We talk to Gustavo, who because he could not ask for refund because it was from the city and would have been inappropriate for him to claim a preferential rate. In retrospect I remember that during the discussion with the lady, I thought I heard the word "commission" and the doubts cast on the probity of the man. All this is no big deal, we go to lunch in a cheap restaurant. It is 13 hours, we a minibus in a state limit but still manages to destination. We ship, return to our hammocks, there are many installed on the deck, much more than just now and during our journey to get to Leticia. The weather is cloudy and heavy rain fell on the port.
186-194 J / City of the Jungle 
Night Flight. An hour and a half 500 km above the largest and most pr IMAIR forest the world to reach Iquitos. The Amazon from the sky we will not see anything. Uneventful landing. We recover our business on the treadmill that works somehow and leave the small airport. Ivan is waiting for us, it has changed a bit since the last time we saw in Puno, he went to the barber and had to lose a kilo of good hair. Hardly time to greet us as we already have several proposals for different taxis to take us to downtown. While our first cigarette smoking in Amazon land, we move naturally to the taxi which the air as sympathiq hat, woman, plump and smiling. During the journey we tell the two weeks is that we have spent on our own. Ivan shamanic experiences and for us our visit to Machu Pichu e- t lift our chaotic to get here. The story of Ivan is évidemme nt psychic tendencies and our much more physical cal. The taxi deposited us Plaza de Armas. All Peruvian cities worthy of the name pos sedentary in the center of the city and c ike main square, a Plaza de Armas, Iquitos is no exception. Ivan being there for a few days, he rented a room in a small hotel in the center. An entry a bit dark cluttered with various skins, crocodile, leopard, skulls but large colorful parrot gives "OLAAAA" to those who pass the entrance. Not in high season s new can talk a little price. Our room es t superb, spacious and ventilated, and with this heat is a luxury, all-wood, we can access it through a series of short stop rs. If we were not in town, we would have the feeling of being at the heart of the jungle. To continue our immersion in a medium Scots Ivan took us to a restaurant, entirely of wood, chairs, tables, walls. The space is large and airy, the waitresses are charming and smiling, Italian cuisine is made the wine a bit much, but what was needed for a reunion. As Iva 
n will be there this will be our ca Ntini, Ivan left us change as well as the location is ideal, the prices are high. Everything is paid in c e world. The street our hotel is located directly on the e main public writers on their old machine will spend the day, the shady side of the street, waiting the client to write letters probably more administrative than sentimental. One of them is passionate about chess, the two ttres he crosses swords with passersby. The chessboard is its ns doubt as old as his machine, and I will n'o not imagine the number of letters and parts that were written and played on c e the sidewalk. We are in week its inte ev idement then when we go s Church near the main square to get to the market in Belem, it is full to bursting. The market also is p lein to crack, if the church nurtured the spirit of spiritual food, n'oublio ns that man is flesh and that the material is important for survival in this world he created every day and sometimes you could say that this world is hostile. The market and the Belem district are a good example. First the market. Immense, lively, noisy, colorful, exotic ... utterly charmed nt at first glance. But beneath this veneer is that it? Mangy dogs that roam the aisles looking for any scraps of food, aisles full of mud and detritus, stalls selling meats are often more blue than red. Pickpockets, one of them even wanted to practice his art on the bag Laetitia, happy men Does she realized this and he spun quickly without asking his remains; kids for ve NDRE confectionery or you shine in. 
mpes for pennies. I obviously grown since the line there are also beautiful x stalls with beautiful fruits and vegetables, beautiful pair of sneakers that feel the counterfeiting of electrical equipment last generation. In this market there is also a section dedicated to the magic, we see all ingréd ient essential for shamanistic ceremonies, plants hallucinated ogen, don t the famous ayahuasca, seeds, tortoise shell ... short everything you need for the perfect shaman. This incredible market adjoins the district of the same n o m. Belem is the Venice of the poor, it is built on the banks of the Amazon. He suffers flood, during the rainy season is running a boat or on roads built with stilts while v Enanta, boards, trunks. This gives a 
kind of chaotic path where people walk the neighborhood with ease but for the q ui do not know the movement is much more difficult. The houses are like roads, con structed with equipment that n o
easily imagine re Cuper, c ouv ressure the inevitable jail roof. Pe nIn t the rainy season this table may seem almost charming, but dry season when water is gone and only the houses remain the middle of mud, I think the atmosphere is different. We finish our walk dan s neighborhood overlooking a purlin tier; we spend the afternoon talking, play a game of soc IETE drinking cheap beers. In this city arc hitecture boring, the only interesting architectural feature is the Azulejos, mo saïques English and Portuguese origins. They decorated the homes of hours glories of the city, when money flowed it afloat through Export of rubber flowing through the veins of rubber trees that grow naturally in the forest. But the difficult operating these trees, and the local people ended when the English vo sullen seeds of this green gold to start operating on an industrial scale in Malaysia. After that the city experienced a recession that ended with the birth of mass tourism and logging to Europe, America and Today it is a 
i to Asia in particular, new predator Resources land. The forest of Iquitos we will not see much, we will take a canoe ride on two tributaries of the Amazon, Nanay and Momon. All the rivers of the Amazon shelf are calm and majestic, flowing like the anaconda in the lush vegetation clinging to the trees, swaying on th floor, creeping among the roots . Our young guide, we want emmen st in some villages with Indian trinkets, we politely decline about ition and opt for a small animal park where we can see sloths, a turtle which probably served as a model for future gener ations so its barry seems to come of age when nature was not yet an accomplished artist. N ou will also see anacondas, birds and mischievous monkeys. A few days later we return to this branch of the river for visit a butterfly farm run by an Australian. By dint of patience and knowledge of plants on which caterpillars feed, she managed to collect a few butterflies flying in a huge cage in the middle of lush plants. Some of these papillo ns reach respectable size of two hands, one beside the other. Besides the butterflies found a tapir, a leopard and a swarm it had to collect, as often happens when tourists gullible and stupid to buy 
animals are greedy sellers and few scrupulous and from that moment eventually abandoned in the hotel where they stayed or shelter. C e is which happens years our hotel, where two young people have bought a monkey p MALL market of Belem, history of having a pet during their stay Amazon. We will find this baby monkey tied to a pole and they doubt its ns already in the plane direction Europe. The days follow one another and just one or Ivan has to leave to head back to Lima. Directio nl'Antica our HQ gourmet starter, main course and dessert. The next day we accompany Ivan to the airport, a last cigarette on the porch, he passes the gate electronics and we are back solo. It is in these moments we can realize our commitment to our friendship and although this makes friends again and to tell stories that we share, to imagine projects wacky, to stupid stories, make bitter observations about the world, to say that our future is gray, but life still a 
great adventure and unique and it is our duty to fill the cup and drink to the dregs. We will spend another two days to walk the blocks of Iquitos before we embark on the " ancha" a flat-bottomed boat with two or three bridges that provides empty of Leticia, 500 km over the Amazon. We welcome our guests and we take a bus to the port. Buses incredible to ut wood and all of whose windows had been removed. On the port boats are next to each other like beached whales at low tide. We buy two hammocks, nets that we will take up less space in our bags but we will miss the first night practice, but not at all comfortable. N e then we pay on board to buy our tickets to the master and set up our hammocks on the upper deck. The first bridge and dock are reserved for the goods, the other two are for passengers. It is midnight, four hours behind the boat gently detached from the bank to go with the flow of the river to Santa Rosa, a small village next Peruvian triple border Brazil, Colombia, Peru . We will make d e many stops to load and Dec. oad men and goods, Maj o authority of the passengers were Peruvians, we are only four tourists, we, a German who is not at its first crossing and Argentina. The days are punctuated by meals are included in the price-, breakfast at 6:30, lunch st at 11:30 and dinner at 18h, before night falls. We were very shocked by how many passengers were getting rid of their Peruvian waste: by throwing them overboard in the Amazon, while the boat was equipped with larger bins. We will have two night s and them and half days to reach its destination and we will be happy to do that because mêm 
e if the patient ysage is beautiful with time he becomes monotonous, the country is flat and the middle of the river the forest is revealed barely. On board there is not much to do except read or sleep, and we regret even more the purchase of these hammocks nets that give us the impression of being big fish caught in the mesh. Only sunrise and sunset provide a dimming of the light this river poetry. Landed in Santa Rosa we bend customs formalities and we embark on a boat to join the famous group Leticia located across the river in Colombia.
We landed all five in the harbor with our bags on the back and as always for the first mission to find a hotel. We start with cheap ones contained in our various guides but none for us. It's Sunday, it's 7am and the city is calm. A reel Hotel crosses our path and we offer a pension to go to another neighborhood cheaper. Why not, anyway, we all want to move quickly and go take a shower and good coffee. The hotel will also not the case in the district but obviously this is not what is missing. We split into two groups and visit them one after the other. In one of them, when we ask if they have any rooms available we were wondering if it's for an hour or a day! Well no, for the night! We look at the name of the hotel and it includes everything: Cupid Hotel ... In fact most schools in the neighborhood are the same type. In any case, what type or another, none is necessary, no light, humidity smells, too expensive ... The two groups are empty handed and we decide that we will first take a good breakfast and finally put our bags. In talking with the owner we learn they also have rooms upstairs. Okay, we'll see them and this time it's good, not luxury but it suits us. As we take three rooms we negotiate the price and finally we will install is the first time that we put so much time for us housing. We return to our room and we each give an appointment for later, we all need a good shower and some rest. It's Sunday after all. Somewhat mended, we start with Julia to see a little what it's like this city for which we have traveled more than four days and crossed half of the Amazon. Everything is quiet this morning, it's pretty strange to see so little traffic and people on the streets but it's also nice to discover the city. Manaus is the largest city in the Amazon, founded in 1669 by the Portuguese, it was at that time a village. In the mid-nineteenth century with the development of the automobile and tire industry in v ille 
is growing at a frenetic pace, as in Iquitos, through the exploitation of rubber. The decline comes after the 1910s when the rubber was planted in Asia at the initiative of the British. The city will decline rapidly. In 1957, the government decided to create a free trade zone to boost the economy and is in Manaus found the main industries of home appliances, electronics ... supplying the domestic market. Today, the city has over a million Half of people and saw a lot of tourism. There are still a lot of buildings in the glory days, some in ruins and others standing. We walk to the Teatro Amazonas, the first in South America built in 1896 and most majestic symbol of the economic heyday of Manaus. It has 700 seats and was built with bricks brought from Europe, French glass and Italian marble. We're a little disappointed by his appearance, a pink building not really terrible. For cons the dome mosaic representing the Brazilian flag has more sense. We believe that going to see an opera in the Amazon that le fait, entrons voir si des représentations sont prévues pour les jours à venir et apprenons que nous tombons en plein festival. Nous choisissons d´assister dans 4 jours à "Ariadne Auf Naxos" un opéra de Richard Strauss. La jeune fille de la billetterie nous demande si nous sommes étudiants pour payer le tarif réduit. Nous sommes flattés mais nous lui expliquons que nous ne pouvons plus bénéficier de ce genre de tarifs depuis bien longtemps. Soit elle ne nous a pas cru, soit elle avait envie de nous faire plaisir, elle a décider de nous en faire profiter quand même et nous a proposé de meilleures places à moitié prix ! Pendant que nous réglons les billets nous regardons les affichettes près the counter and read that, without requiring evening dress, some clothing is not tolerated, thongs for example. The problem is that we really do not have proper attire in our backpacks and other shoes we have outside our thongs are our hiking boots, too much class to go to the opera! The girl assures us that it'll be fine as long as they are not plastic flip flops. Anyway it will be necessary. As we come out on Patricia and Reto and continue our walk with them. We dine together in the streets, eating people, good and cheap and will drink a few beers in a nice little bar in the neighborhood our hotel. The boys play pool, here it is played in a different way, using only four balls and the one who wins from the last-no matter what he could do before. All a bit slammed we go to bed hoping that tomorrow the city will be a little more animated. Patricia and Julia do Reto We will keep 
s only three days in Manaus and we will meet in the evening for dinner together. We test another popular meal on the harbor. The food is good but smells are not. The port of Manaus is a very important trading place. Day or night, dockers unload the goods and is therefore a very lively, an entire hall is devoted to the banana, from the darkest green. We spend five days exploring the city and its surroundings and as usual we arpentons walk. Indeed apart from Sunday when the city is asleep, and up to week later, the streets are alive with street vendors, passersby and vehicles. On the eve of the departure of Julia we all three attempts to see the meeting of the waters. It is a phenomenon that occurs a few kilometers from Manaus, the Amazon and Rio Negro meets as their waters have properties different colors and they follow on a hundred miles before finally mixing. If we had not come at night on the town we could see the boat and suddenly in possession of information that Julia dug up at the tourist office we take a bus to a port that told him where we should be able to take a boat not too expensive. Just arrived it started to rain but this is not what bothers us the most. The bus dropped us in the right place but it is the entrance of a large hotel, it would be surprising to find a cheap boat. We are home to the time the rain stopped asking ourselves why the tourist office has sent us there ... The more we advance the less we understand. Again this would be that we would have had this info, with some Portuguese as we speak we could have told us that we had misunderstood but Julia speaks Portuguese. We arrive at the travel agency from the hotel and we'll find out. We are absolutely not the right place, they're good it was somewhat realized, but it is simply the opposite and actually go by boat but it really is not in our budget, c ' is the great luxury. The meeting of the waters so it will be for another day without Julia who leaves tomorrow. As in the hotel grounds there is a mini zoo we decided to go check it out tour by telling us that it is always better than nothing. Hardly had we time to see three creatures that starts raining ropes. We rushed into the hotel to shelter us and we'll finally three hours to wait until the rain calms down ... After visiting all the places where we could go we had a small pool and a game of cards. He had to deal since we could not afford to enjoy either the bar or the shops of the hotel. It was a little surprised but nobody asked us what we were doing there and we could wander around without a problem. The rain stopped and we finished with was continue our tour of the zoo before taking a bus to downtown. With all that it is four o'clock in the afternoon and we had not done much, we ended the day with a short tour before the hearth 
it never sets. Tonight Julia goes to the opera and the other four decide to go for dinner at a Churrascaria taste of good meat at will. We take the absence of Julia who is a vegetarian and would not appreciate this kind of place. For us it's the day after the opera. Meanwhile we say goodbye to our three friends who leave for other destinations. We finally decide not to go see this famous meeting of the waters and enjoy these two days to deepen our city tour. Level museum buildings and exhibitions we will not have much luck, they will be closed for renovation or exposure began only in a few days had just ended, in short we had the impression of not being in Manaus right time. Although the market had moved little since the great hall dating from the heyday in the surrounding streets! That did not stop to survey the city and discover some nice little neighborhoods. The old city is to leave the evening of "high output" for opera. We return to the hotel to make us all beautiful, jeans, hiking boots and a clean up, the great class and join the center and the famous opera. On the advice of the nice girl who sold us the tickets we're ahead and be the first in the box provided for five people, otherwise she has said we will not see much. Gradually people come very well dressed for the most part but we note with relief that our holding does not indicate traveler too. At 20 o'clock we go into opera, in the lobby, a Lego model of the building of over 30,000 parts, we invite you to join openers our lodge. We are the first and until the performance begins we have ample opportunity to study the design and imagine the rich families in our place at the beginning of last century. The musicians joined the pit followed by the conductor, the lights dim, the curtain rises and the actors come on stage. The opera is in German, subtitled in Portuguese on, not easy to follow ... We will come out nevertheless delighted that we changed a few of our evenings playing cards in our hotel room, writing articles for the blog or drink beer with other travelers we meet because even the globe-trotters may suffer from daily ... 
