14 hours on Amazon to Brazil & Colombia

There's a well-known comic song in Scotland about a guy who is a professional gambler on the Ballachulish ferry (Portree Kid). The joke is that the ferry distance is about 290m, about enough time for one game of black jack.

A ride on an Amazon ferry is an entirely different affair. For example, we are on a short 400km ferry that takes 14 hours. Unfortunately, it's not got black jack, and no beer or whisky either. But what it does have, at least till it gets dark, is stunning scenery of where the jungle meets he Amazon with endless trees and elephant grass ( but if course, no elephants). Finally, a Scottish ferry is warm inside and cold outside, whereas in the Amazon, it's the opposite.

The ferry does offer cuisine that is better than pie and chips, for example, chicken, wrapped in rice with olives, and a spicy sauce, all wrapped in a banana leaf. All six of us fed for $25, not bad, and tasty, too.

The only bad bit is that it's mostly overnight, and the boat from time to time slows down , or even stops, I guess to dodge the occasional tree trunk that we saw earlier. (There was no safety briefing whatsoever. Maybe the Japanese are not so bad after all). Addendum: He does dodge tree trunks, but he also hits at least 10, but since we are still afloat, I guess the boat's steel Hull is designed to take those hits.

Oh, and 12 hours, 400km here is peanuts. The next boat we take can take as much as 5 days to get to Manaus, 126 hours if I believe the timetable.Baca lagi