I had a very good sleep yesterday night and woke up late but very fresh. I had been in Manaus before and did not want to go to the historic center again to see the theater, the justice palace or the “meeting of the rivers”, still I wanted to spend the Sunday doing something different than staying at home, staying at the airport. I searched the internet and had found the “Bosque da Ciencia” as the place that could be worth the bus drive and the entrance fee and the walk around. All this started to matter now because I had to take the backpack and I wanted to make sure now in the best way possible that the visit will be worth the effort, I wanted to calculate now the length of every way that I would have to walk, that I had to walk with the backpack.
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Bus number 306 took some time to pick me up because it was Sunday. I had to change bus at terminal number one and take number 054 to “Bosque da Ciencia”. I arrived at 11:00 hours, walked around the corner and to the entrance gate, paid the entrance fee and asked the assistant if I could leave the backpack with him for the next two hours, he accepted and I started the suggested path around the “Bosque da Ciencia”, passed the area for the giant otter, passed the area for the sea cow and the food corner.
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It was close to midday, it was hot and humid and I wanted to have an ice cream. Next on the map was the museum of science, no entrance for my ice cream though. While I finished my ice cream I had a small talk with the manager who had worked before in a project in the state of Amapa sponsored by the “Konrad Adenauer Stiftung” from Germany. Next on the map was the turtle island, the wooden trail, the Amazon Lake and finally the alligator’s refuge.
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I missed bus number 054 and did not want to wait another hour for the next bus to arrive and entered a different bus with a much longer roundtrip through Manaus but with terminal number one on the route. Instead of waiting for an hour at the bus stop, I drove now one hour through the various neighborhoods of Manaus. I had to change bus at the terminal and did not read the map for the exact stop of bus number 306. I saw him coming and I saw him passing and I saw him stop all the way at the end of the terminal. This was the first practice or the first try out for the 400 meter backpack.
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I was back at the airport and bought a monthly plan from the internet operator. I will stay here for the next two days definitely and if possible try to get on the ferry the night before the departure and try to secure a definite and good spot for my hammock. I knew from previous boat trips on the Amazon River that you have to be on time, ideally before time because the good spots are gone long before departure. Due to the boats usually being overbooked and the passengers being overloaded and with children you could easily end up with an improvised spot next to the smelly toilet, the running engine, the noisy speakers or along the passage way.
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My decision for dinner tonight was like yesterday an economic and definitely not a healthy decision, Bobs Burger, the Hamburger Trio with refill. My decision for my place to sleep for tonight was easy, like yesterday the floor next to the bench. For a moment though I was not sure anymore if I am backpack traveler or a homeless.
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