South America 2007

OK so the crying episode is over and the bites are gone...

Wow wow wow, the trip across the amazon was amazing, views were great and 5 days on deck in my hammock were rather chilled.

Just to perfect the journey, met some wicked people, and got a chance to get to know some ultra friendly brazilians. Also met some other gringos and had a blast. (Hi Nathan! - wicked time, thanks for teaching me to play Travis on the guitar and the hilarious entertainment you provided whilst making out with the columbian man eater!)

Also met some other great people to party with and to help me find my way back in the dark to my hammock - almost impossible when everyone is asleep and even more difficult to not fall out when pissed! The guys in the boat shop were also great fun and I worked out how to order beer and not pay for it - basically order the beer, chat for 10 mins and then walk away - simple yet effective!

On arrival to Manaus, an Irish lass that I met on the boat got sick really suddenly, had high fever and basically couldnt move. After one night of watching her suffer and die in my room I decided it was hospital time as suspicions of malaria were high. Managed to meet a brazilian woman called Gloria, possibly the kindest women i´ve ever met, she drove us to the hopital which was 45 mins away and was really helpful, definately altruism at it´s best. She even gave me her address in Rio de janeiro as thats where she was heading for carnival and said were more than welcome to crash there if we head that direction...and guess what? Its right on copacabana beach...nice one! Back to the irish girl, she was fine after a couple of days.

After a brief stay in Manuas, decided to try and make carnival somewhere on the coast. First stop was Belem, Brazilian side of the amazon basin. I stayed in this amazing hotel (well amazing compared to where I have been staying), it had hot water, decent breakfast, clean sheets, its own TV and more to the point a beautiful sparkling clean toilet. So the moral of the storey is if any other fellow travellers are reading this that have diarrhoea - hotel Belem is the way forward. This is the first toilet seat I have been able to actually sit on in South America.

From Belem I got a shitty 25 hour bus journey to Fortaleza. Thought that they celebrated carnival there, but it was not as expected. Did find one street party though and had a brill time and got covered in foam. Surprise, surprise I was a tad smashed and got a bit carried away with my foam and was actually aiming for peoples eyes! What a bitch!

Met some lovely Argentinians who fortunately helped me get home because without them I wouldnt have had a clue and was looking like a bit of a spacky tourist pulling my map out in the middle of the crowd! (Thanks guys - I know you will be reading my blog as Alex passed the message on that you were trying to get in contact with me, cant believe you found his blog on the net!!! - We will def have to meet up in Argentina when I get there!)

So Fortaleza was not my cup of tea, although there was a beach it was pissing down with rain (and looked a bit like Bognor Regis) so got out quick smart and headed to Salvador, to experience the real carnaval....