Acre

We received a phone call yesterday to say that our bus would be leaving at 7am, but at 620 this morning they called to say that the bus had arrived and was waitng for us , luckily i had set the alarm early and it was just a case of getting there. The guy on reception called us a taxi and i managed to have a quick ciggie in the tuc tuc. The bus was literally leaving so the rucksacks had to come on board with us. We travelled for about an hour and a half before reaching the Peruviam border which was an absolute shambles we placed our bags on a make shift table to be searched and the had to walk 500m down the road to get our passport stamped. noone was allowed back on the bus so with rucksacks in tow we crossed over the road to the shack where immigration were. It was a good job i asked as it wasnt expained and could quite easily have been missed. The bus then drove down the road with nobody on it and parked oppsite the immigration office and once again locked all the doors. The heat was blistering and there were ants the size of a cigarette filter literally munching away at my feet, together with my old lover the mosquito i was literally being eaten alive. The bus driver was busy getting a shower and lunch while i was wondering whether i would make it back to Brasil. We were stuck here for nearlyy an hour and a half, before eventually being allowed back on the bus to make the 15 minute journey to the Brazilian Immigration. Here the agenda was a lot more formal, and we were made to fill in an exit card and made to stand in a straight line before being called into the office 3x3. One of the women on the bus hadnt been stamped out of Peru , which as i explained could be easily done, and so after nearly an hour again it was time for our bag search. The problem being our rucksacks were still inside the bus and the bus driver refused point blank to open the door, so Mark and i sat waiting again, praying that Brazilian immigration didnt think we were trying to hide something. It was comical when one woman in the queue was having her bag searched and she must have had half the grains and seeds of Peru in her bag which was forbidden to take across the border, and nearly half a suitcase lighter she was able to reboard the bus. Our bags werent searched at all, and once allowed back on the bus we were off. The road was unroadworthy through parts but after slow crossings in some areas we eventually arrived in Rio Branco nearly 2 hours late. Because of the time we literally asked the taxi driver to take us to a hotel recommended in lonely planet to allow us to sleep. It was 25 pound for the night and my first impression was a cockroach in the bathroom, i refrained from going down to reception as im sure his response would be the same as Manwells - well i am in the jungle. Mark and i both hungry and stunble to the main Plaza 3 mins round the corner where 20 odd local people were queuing outside a burger bar. We ordered our food and sat in the lively square acknowleding the different atmosphere now we ar back in Brasil. food eaten and back to the hotel allowing Mark to scan for cockroaches before getting into bed.Read more