In the early morning hours while I was still sleeping the ship had stopped for the first time and when I woke up the ship had already started with the procedure of departure from the city of Fonte Boa. I could not get off anymore to have a quick walk around and could only take some pictures of departure. Later this afternoon the Voyager V would make the second stop of the day, this time for more or less three hours and I would get my chance to see the village. I needed to recharge the batteries of the camera and a plug for the computer to be able to work. On the passenger deck all plugs were occupied, half temporarily to recharge mobile phones and the other half fixed with extension cables directly to the hammock of a passenger.

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I sat down at a table next to the snack bar, close enough to some plugs. I called the elder man from Peru and we had a look at the three alternative routes from Iquitos. One route would lead to his hometown of Pullcapata and he offered again for me to stay at his house, thank you very much.  The other man from Peru, actually from the city of Iquitos arrived with his daughter and offered as well for me to stay at his house, thank you very much. I had to disappoint them both. Now that we had been talking so much about Peru, Iquitos, Pullcapata, my route, I had done a lot of thinking and had decided that my first option for my onward journey from Leticia would definitely be a flight to Bogota or even further to Cartagena. Back in Cartagena I would be back on track, back on my original route. The chances that I would get an economic flight out of Leticia were 80/20 or even higher.

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We all went to have lunch; rice and pasta, feijao and chicken. For lunch the kitchen always used to serve a fruit juice and for dinner always only water. I only noticed this today because something was different, something was tastier and that something was the drink; the drink today was Maracuja juice, my favorite juice. The food was good and enough, enough to kill your hunger. Probably the budget for the passenger alimentation given by the operator did not leave much space for creativity or variety or maybe it is what the common indigenous taste likes and accepts and indigenous were the vast majority on board, not only now for Christmas, at all times. After lunch the crew and the passengers had a general rest, a Spanish Siesta and I had all the space and the time to work at my desk at the snack bar.

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I noticed activities on board, passengers building off their hammock and packing their luggage, other passengers lining up at the railing to watch the arrival at the next village and have a good spot during the stay, the managers started to open and prepare the three counters of the Bradesco bank and the carriers started to organize the merchandise. The engine slowed down and the approach to the city of Jutai had begun; a very slow and very careful procedure.

Once secure at the docks the procedure suddenly changed to a fast and chaotic procedure, passengers going off and passengers coming on board, family members saying welcome and family members saying good bye, residents lining up at the Bradesco bank counters, merchant’s placing their order at the same counters, thirty carriers loading off merchandise and small business people offering snacks, drinks or ice cream.

I had the chance now to walk through the city, meet the red macaw, meet drunken Henry and meet lots of children playing in the streets. Whenever I stopped to take a picture the children stopped playing, some were running away, others were frozen and one or the other actually was smiling towards the camera. We stayed until late and everything and everybody got quiet again, hammock time.

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For a small understanding of the amazon River travel, I have included a Google Earth map. The red pins mark the locations I have stopped and taken pictures. At the bottom of the page you will find a link for all the pictures I have taken. The link will open in a Picasa album. At the top left of this Picasa album you will find the button for a Slideshow.

Please click on map to enlarge!!!

Please click on “View Album” to see pictures in a Google+ Album.