It's been an emotional few months in South America, especially the last month or so. From meeting the stumbling and bumbling young William way back in Santiago and nursing him successfully into South American manhood - up until the point that he could almost pronounce "Por Favor" correctly. The timid and laid back Dutchman, Adriaan and his accurate and sharp summations of the world around us. And then finally Troy. The Australian who always seemed at home with a beer in hand and muttering 'what the hell' and hilarious one liners. This traveling troupe of four has at long last come to an end. William moving on to Ica, Troy into Bolivia, Adriaan to Huarez and the prolific and brave South African onto the Amazon basin and origin.
Conquering the Amazon and its estuaries will be my last great adventure on the South American Continent and arguably the toughest as well. I'm getting a bus to Pucallpa as I am busy writing this post. One of the river towns from which several cargo ships leave port to the major city of Iquitos 5 days away along the river. Iquitos is so remote and entrenched in the amazon that the ONLY way to reach it is by boat or by plane. There are absolutely no roads leading to it. The town came into its own as a rubber production and oil trading town. It takes roughly 5 days and 4 nights to get there by boat. A staggering 900km along the river. On this boat I will be sleeping in a hammock along with roughly 120 other passengers, fighting off tropical climate, insects and boredom. Passage will cost me roughly R400 with meals included and a space to hang my yet-to-be-purcahsed hammock.
The following post will detail my passage to Iquitos. The city in the Amazon.
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