River People

We wake early in the morning, and yet again we are in a different port , with cargo being brought on left right and centre. Things are usually in great big cardboard boxes or Huge polystyrene crates. Once everyone is boarded, which really doesnt take long we are off again and i head down for breakfsat. Everything is pricedd individually so you can have as much or as little as you want. We didnt bring a lot of money on board as we believed food was included so i indulge myself with a cafe com leche and a bread roll with an egg. The coffee tastes as good as a starbucks and i really enjoy it, tempted o get another cup, but will save the funds for a coca cola tonight. As we sail along the river there is literally nothing to do and with the heat i decide to take myself back to bed for a little sleep. Mark wakes me a little while later and when i go outside the amazon has become a lot narrower and we are assing really close to the families that live on the river. Today must be washing day as every litle wooden shack has washing hung outside . There are young children rowing up to the ship in little boats and people on the ship are throwing out little floating packages and the children row out to collect them. Later in the afternoon the ship sounds its claxton and from nowhere ten or so litlle boats with outboard motors pull up to the ship full of shrimps and palm hearts the children in the boats literally scramble up the ship and make their way through selling their goods . It really is incredible to watch, and they are quite cheeky as they empty their baskets of their wares. After half an hour or so another ship pulls alongside and a guy is transferred from our ship to this one with what i can only gather is his whole house there is fridges stereos , literally everything but the kitchen sink, and i think moving house is stressfull. As soon as the exchange is done we ar off agin and the ship emtys of all these young kids of no older than 7 or 8 yrs old and they chase the remainder of there custom on the ship that we just met with. We sail along for another couple of hours and i enjoy being so up close and personal seeing how the river people live, some have their houses totally isolated whilst others live in a community where they even have churches
We travel down the river to our next port and shortly before arriving here there are kids swimming in the river who race with each other to clamber aboard , im surprised they dont have an issue with stowaways on here. When we arrive in harbour i get a desire to want to get off, so with the French girl i make my way down to the lower deck, and wait for the gangway to be attached , underneath the jetty are 3 young girls in a little rowing boat, and i wonder how many of theses children the Amazon claims the lives of, as they seem to have no fear. After a 5 minute stroll around I get back on the ship as i cetainly dont want to be left here . We set sail again and that was our last stop so its full steam ahead. tonight instead of a sunset we witness a storm wher the clouds are literally filled with lightning that lights up the whole sky, at 9 oclock the boat slows down and a speedboat with no lights apart from a guy wielding a torch pulls alongside and takes of one of the passengers , im certainly glad it wasnt me. After a quick beer we head for our cabin as the ship is due to dock at 5 am I wonder whether to set an alarm as the ship might sail with me, but Mark assures me he will wake up.Read more