From the jungle into the jungle

My flight from Manaus to Miami was decent but rather short for a night flight. But even we came in early all other international flights from South America were faster and there was quite a line at immigration. So my hope for the 6am flight was destroyed and I had to leave Miami at 8:15 arriving in JFK at 11am.

I eventually arrived in Manhattan around 1pm due to break downs and delays of the subway. During the 40min ride I further had a guy with a crazy speech and a girl dancing. But beside of that the New York metro is old, drab and nothing special. There are third world countries having a better information system.

By leaving the Metro I passed Dunkin Donuts and Subway. So I already had decent US lunch. Right after leaving on 53rd and 5th I was able to enjoy a parade on 5th avenue. Of course the parade included some kind of miss waving down from a car.

Then I walked all the way down Madison Avenue going left and right for visiting time square, Rockefellers, the Empire State Building and Union Station. At Union Square I took a Metro bringing me to lower Manhattan for the 9/11 Memorial. Here it was really worth buying the ticket online a few months before. Same day queuing would take years! The memorial itself is impressive and should be definitely seen when visiting New York.

Last step was the walk over Brooklyn Bridge providing a great view over the sky line of New York. Then I continued to JFK and flew back to Switzerland. During my short time in the city the free guide app provided by Trip Advisor was a good help.

As always the vacation went by way to fast. But there were so many great experiences and I had a great time. So I’m all prepared to waste my relaxed mode while going back to work.

Brooklyn Bridge view, 9/11 Memorial, Number 1 World Trade Center, Time Square

To the jungle

Within 24 hours I made it from Georgetown to the Jungle near Manaus. But as always it’s a meter of luck and this time everything fit together perfectly. After mailing the travel agencies from the airport in Guiana about tours starting next days I had a bunch of answers when reaching Boa Vista in the late afternoon. I selected one and confirmed a pick-up next morning from the bus station. This worked well and after having my night bus ride to Manaus I was shuttled directly to the office of the tour agency. After a fresh-up I continued to the Possada do Juma jungle lodge where I spent four marvellous days.

On the first day we went for a boat tour where we learned about wildlife in the jungle but also had a chance to get introduced to each other. Our group was mad of a Spanish, tow Koreans, three Germans and I (remember me being Swiss!). As the Germans speak the same language as I do, we quickly made good friends. After dinner we went for the sunset and afterwards we cached a caiman.

Next morning we had early rise to enjoy sunrise followed by breakfast and a jungle walk. At noon there was lunch and swimming in the river. Than the Germans had to leave and were replaced by an Argentinean guy and a Chinese one. And this was it were good fun started! Being it the night out in the Jungle where pouring rain tried to kill our fire or the Piranha fishing where the Chinese one struggled in catching anything than a stick. The Spanish always made up the situation with a cheering joke.

The three nights passed quickly and having no connection to the outside world is very relaxing. The only complain witch I may have was the diet of having rice and chicken all day long. But beside of that we had a great group and an awesome guide (Alan).

Back in Manaus we had dinner but the Argentinean guy couldn’t join as he figured out that people have stolen stuff from his gear which he was leaving behind in Manaus while being in the jungle. After dinner my new friends brought me to the bus station for taking a hilarious bus ride to the airport.

Manaus opera house, jungle friends, jungle animal, sunrise cruising, sunset swimming.

Guiana Express

I never had such a hassle to enter a country as I had for Surinami. It was actually the first time I have been rejected. The reason: I didn’t have an exit stamp from Schengen. As we all know we never get a stamp in a Swiss passport when we leave the Schengen area. Anyway, I had to track back over the river to get my stamp from France. There at the post this took some 7 seconds to get it... Anyway, on my second try it worked out and I was allowed to enter Surinami. Including the tourist card the whole border formalities coasted me some 30€.

Finding an ongoing bus to Paramaribo is not so difficult. Just walk the 700m from the border post to the harbour are. There are plenty of options. The bus I had was completely cramped. And it seemed to stop at every corner for hours to get supplies for every last passenger. We eventually arrived in Paramaribo where I found a nice guest house with a decent pool. Next day I explored Paramaribo. Hundreds of colonial houses are to be found there. Later I jumped on a sunset cruise to watch some river dolphins. And yes, we saw some!

Early morning of the following day my transfer to Georgetown picked me up and brought me to the ferry. Getting the tickets took some time but it finally worked out and I shipped over to Guiana. Border formalities there were no problem at all. I had my ongoing transfer to Georgetown and it all worked out.

Interesting things in Guiana are the many houses along the main street. While most other communities build villages the Guianese just put one house next to the other along the interstate. Unfortunately this reduces speed limit heavily.

Georgetown itself didn’t provide that much. Anyway, most of all I wanted to visit the Kaitour falls. But as flights were only going on weekend and I don’t have the time to wait four days I decided to take a flight next midday and fly to Lethem. I had the little hope to see Kaitour in the far but as it was cloudy I saved something for my next Guiana trip. In Lethem I crossed the border to Brazil leaving the Guianas being in Guiana and Surinami only for four days.

Boat ride from French Guiana to Surinami, Sunset cruise, Georgtown market, landing in Lethem

Back to France

A month ago I was in Paris. And now faith leads me back to France. But this time to an oversee department. French Guiana is EU territory and you feel this in many cases. Unfortunately not when it comes to postage fees for post cards or phone calls who are significantly higher here than on mainland France. Here is what happened.

Leaving Brazil is not as easy as you may think. I had to wait some hours for the opening of the border post opening 8am. Accordingly I was wondering if I could have taken my exit stamp in Macapa. Anyway, the bakery across the post is quite pleasant.

Down the road is the boat departure where you get over to St. Georges for as little as 10 Brazilian Real for the 15 minutes boat ride. During the ride you also cross the international bridge between Brazil and France which is there since 2011. But as the Brazilians didn’t properly path the road from Oiapoque to Macapa the French decided not to open the bridge.

In St. Geroges it was an easy thing to find a ride to Cayenne. And in contrary to Lonely Planet’s imagination of independent drivers it has to be said that they are concessional and follow a schedule. Remember it is the EU.

Cayenne makes a nice stroll along old houses as the city is less artificial than Kourou which was mainly build for the space centre. After the stroll I picked my car and drove to the Laos like community of Cacao having decent dinner. Then I continued to Kourou checking into the Mercure late night. The Mercure with its pleasant staff and very nice bungalows made my base for the coming three days. A bit thank you goes to Marie who supported me in making this stay a great one!

Next morning I visited the space centre with its launch sites for Ariane, Vega and Soyuz. The three hour tour is well organized and FREE!!! Best part is the 80s style control hall. Take the tour in the morning as the afternoon one is not visiting all three launch sites.

In the afternoon I drove to Chao-Aï for having my absolute highlight of this trip. Chao-Aï is a refuge centre for injured sloths. And while to most of them can be watched in a communal cage recovering from their injuries there are a few sloths outside the cage. Those are domestic ones who lost their capabilities to survive in the Guianese wilderness. The sweet thing is to carry them. And if they feel well with you they fall asleep.

Later I dropped my car in the Cayenne outskirts and hitched back to Kourou. I never waited so little time for a ride. In total I needed four lifts and for each I only waited a few minutes. Back in the hotel I was informed to have a drink with the directrice at 7pm just giving me enough time to dip in the pool before the start of this very nice evening.

On the following day I went to iles de salut housing a former transportation camp. The tour comes at a price but the catamaran ride is well worth it. Staff is doing a great job in keeping the people happy and the day does have the perfect balance between cultures and relaxing.

In the evening I decided to stay a day longer in Kourou letting me settle down a bit and profit a day more from the nice hotel. But this day pasted way to fast and the following morning at 6:30 am the taxi collective picked me up and brought me to the boarder of St. Laurent. After a visit of the village and a nice tour through the second transportation site in French Guiana a small boat brought me to Suriname.

View on Iles de Salut, Sloth at Chao-Aï, the space centre, Les Palmistes fo my fish soup an the (so far) usless bridge between Brazil and France.

Save harbour

Finally I arrived to Macapa. A save and clean place at the end of the Amazonas. The boat actually docked in Sanatana which is a 40 min bus ride from Macapa. The nice thing on this bus ride is that you will pass the equator right where the lina zero monument is.

In Macapa I figured out that bus stop was right around the corner of the hotel so I didn’t have to walk 1km as indicated on the web. I had an early check-in and a late check-out. I probably never used a hotel room as long as the one in Macapa. Thanks to Guilherme and Pedro from the ibis team for this great stay!

In the town I stayed for one nights but two days giving me enough time to get my further travel organized a stroll around a bit. The city is quite pleasant but one has seen it after a few hours. The sea side near the fortress is great and they serve good fish. But the massive portion comes at a price. For desert go and sip a coconut next door at the small stalls.

Lina Zero monument, coconut at the riverside.

Bus travel survival kit

Bus travel in South America is a very economic way of getting away and sometimes the only option for reaching a certain city (except you pay a tremendous fee for a private driver). But mostly on night buses you have to follow certain rules if you want survive it.

Let me show you the 101 on the example of the bus ride from Macapa to Oiapoque I had last night.

The advertisement says modern bus with air-conditioning. A toilet is on board. This sounds good. But there are some hidden threats.

The toilet you won’t use except if you do not need to breathe during your business. But the bus stops from time to time and you can use a toilet there. Bring some toilet paper and change.

Modern says a nice bus with comfortable seats but only certain recline. This is OK for sleeping.

But the most dangerous thing is the A/C. All the passengers in the bus paid for A/C. Accordingly the company will always drive the system to the limit. YES, everybody is annoyed and it is freezing cold inside! So if you’re not a polar bear you should bring a jumper and a cover. Remember, outside is still twenty-something degrees. To tune your experience you can bring an eye masque, ear plugs and extra socks to replace your sneakers (yes, you are not travelling with flip-flops).

Last I have to say the bus is not always arriving on time (first departure point is generally punctual). This one was supposed to leave at 7pm coming in 12h later. We arrived 3h early on a locked down bus station giving me some time to write these words.

The chicken farm ride on mighty Amazonas

You may thinks riding down the Amazonas river in a hammock on a slow boat is one of the most romantic things you can do you might be right. But this except the case of you sharing the boat with 200 fellow passengers. And we’re not talking about a massive cruise ship but rather a 20m 3 floor boat.

The Amazon slow boats should definitely register for the most hammocks put up on small space. My boat was completely (over)crowded with hammocks making the ride somewhat special. Generally said it is a very convenient way of travelling. You have your bed, your seat and your couch all in one place. Of course you get bumped from the left or the right from time to time. But you get used to it.

As seen in my last post I was on the boat a day early. So I had it almost for myself. The next morning the boat started to get crowded. And when we left around noon (the boats are pretty punctual) my personal space was heavily reduced.

The next 30 hours I passed with talking to fellow passengers (my Portuguese is about to improve), having a drink at the bar, taking photos and watching a bunch of movies (yes, the power plug was still above my head).

When reaching Santarem I walked the kilometre from the harbour to the bus station. But there was no bus and when I asked around people pointed me two blocks down to another stop. Again Lonely Planet was wrong...

Finally I was on my bus to Alter de Chao reaching the town 9:30pm. Just in time to get a bed in the Hostel before reception was closing. What a retrieve this shower was after two days. Well, the bathrooms on the boat serve as toilet and shower. But I prefer the original.

Next day I really enjoyed the mighty Amazonas by having a swim in the river and sunbathing on sandy beaches. In the evening I was fed up with Brazilian food and tried the Pizzeria. It was OK but the only Italian thing in this restaurant was the name. But they had great Caipirinias!

After another good sleep and great breakfast (jammi Coconut juice on the display) it was time to get back to the boat. The ship was leaving on 6pm so I had some time to stroll around after hanging my hammock. But Santarem doesn’t serve much so I headed back to the boat waiting for departure. And this took some time as the boat was stuck in the sand.

This boat is even smaller then the first one. It has only two floors and one of them was well stocked with goods leaving not much space for hammocks. In the contest of the most hammocks in minimal space this ship wan against all others I’ve seen. So I was wondering who to get a decent sleep. Further the floors are only 1,70 and me being 1,80...

Luckily I discovered the roof top terrace of the ship. Officially this is not a passenger area. But I hung my hammock here and no-one complained. The good thing up here is that it has a power outlet. This made me enjoy the night and a good part of Saturday on this deck watching the mighty Amazonas pass by.

But suddenly a storm came in. And now I know why only the stupid tourist was up there. Within minutes all got wet. Luckily the sun came out again so I had the possibility to dry my stuff. Anyway, after this experience I decided to go back to the chicken cave until arriving in Macapa in the wee-hours.

The beaches of Alter do Chao, a slow boat, the chicken farm and my hamock space before the storm.

Crap, I missed my boat

Yes, I made it again. I missed something. But this time I’m pretty much relaxed. The reason why: I’m already on a boat enjoying my hammock. Departure is tomorrow 11am. But how could this happen?

It all started with another frustrating taxi ride. People know I really hate taxis. This is because I think most of them (more than 50%) are cheaters. So whenever I can avoid a taxi I do so. But arriving 11pm in Manaus doesn’t leave you many options. I all went fine till we reached the hotel. There he didn’t want to stop in the well lit curve of the hotel but on the dark road before??? And when asking to make some light in the vehicle it caused the driver big problems to find the light switch just above of his head. Twice he repeated “just money” but it appeared hard to understand my response “I need some light to find it”. Finally I had light and handed two 20R over. And here comes the thing. He quickly changed one of them with a 2R threatening me to give me another 20R. That’s such an old trick but it caused me 2 long seconds to realize. I should have crashed this guy’s car when stepping out...

Anyway, Cesar Business prepared for me a nice Suite with remote sea view. The bed was so comfortable I forgot my jet lag and had a long hour sleep. After getting up I enjoyed the Jacuzzi, the nearby mall and the pool. Late check-out let me leave the hotel at 2pm. And as it was so comfortable I reached the harbour when all boats were gone. But some guys were directing me to the next boat leaving a day later. I bought the ticket from the captain (60% of the lonely planet price) and tied up my hammock.

PS: There is a power outlet just next to my hammock space. Let’s see how many movies I’m goanna watch during the long dark nights :)

  

My Hammock space, the Manaus Opera and a sweet McDonalds.

Welcome to Miami

First I have to say that American Airlines is not as bad as expected. Service wise they are good. Food is OK. Plane including entertainment system is crap. So I had an OK flight to Miami stopping in JFK. And yes, Homeland Security sucks. As the US promotes to be the best country in the world they should compare their immigration queue with the one in Zurich or Geneva.

Anyway, I got into the country and had enough time to get my first US McDonalds Hamburger and a Caramel Macchiato just before boarding my flight to Miami. The flight left on time and arrived 45 minutes early! And here comes the frustrating thing. While switching on my mobile I got the text from Teo being upgraded for the flight home (we were supposed to meet on Miami airport as he has just passed his two weeks holiday here). This after suffering 12 hours in an American plane with a somewhat broken entertainment system...

Let’s get back to the good things. I reached Miami Beach on daylight and enjoyed US style dinner on the Ocean Drive during sunset. This included a weird cocktail served in a Malibu bucket. The bucket I had to keep of course :)

But just a few minutes after the Jet lag asked this tribute and I felt to sleep. The good thing is I woke up early and was just in time to enjoy sunset over Miami Beach. After breakfast bought at a Spanish supermarket I joined a bus tour to visit Miami before catching my bus back to the airport.

I thought I was late for the plane. But US customs has vanished emigration. This definitely speeds up travelling but was a weird experience. I feel betrayed regarding my exit stamp...

The flight to Miami would have been unremarkable. But it had free Wifi allowing me to surf and SMS the first time in my life from a flying airplane. YES, this is cool!

Ocean Drive, US Style Dinner with a cool cocktail basket and Miami Beach beach.