The passenger deck had become extremely full yesterday evening and the comfortable space of my hammock of the first days was gone, not that I had slept worse yesterday just my way to the toilet had become a challenge, I had to crawl in military style underneath the hammocks in order to get to the toilet. During the day this new situation was not a problem, I was on my feet all the time going up and down and back and forth the decks. Before I decided to sit down at my desk at the snack bar this morning the engine slowed down and the approach to the indigenous community of Sao Jose had begun. The dock of the community was small, very small and I did not see the space for the huge ship; I was right the ship had twice the length of the dock but still enough to have one door to door connection for the wooden bridge.

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The time we would stay at the community was two hours; little time but enough for me to leave the ship and walk the streets. First I had to climb up the stairs and pass the church that was having the Sunday morning service. All the indigenous women from the age of two to the age of hundred were dressed in a white dress for the service. The rain had washed away the sand underneath the concrete and completely broken the streets. Not really a problem because the community did not have a single car and only a handful of moto’s, no moto taxi because the dimensions of the community did not make it necessary.

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I walked up the street, no supermarket, no shop, no bank and no post office, no town hall and no police, only peaceful, religious and extremely shy indigenous. I walked to the end of the street and turned left towards the river, crossed the funny shaped wooden bridge and was at the end of the community, turned around walked back to the main street and sat down with a family in front of their house; thirty seconds of silence where they pretended to not have noticed my presence but then the children could not resist anymore and had to start smiling and then laughing. I provoked the situation, after several visits and encounters I understood the character of the indigenous a little bit and especially their beautiful naivety and shyness.

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We had a conversation of half an hour and I asked all kinds of questions to understand the daily routine of the community. The dogs were sleeping in the shade of the midday heat and the chicken with their kids was running next to me, I had a perfect view along the main street but there was no movement only silence. I had to say good bye, walked back to the church and the silence was broken by a loudspeaker who announced that the fisherman Juan Perez had come back from fishing and had twenty five kilo fish for sale, so everybody interested can go to his house. I was not hungry for fish and was not hungry for another lunch of rice and pasta, feijao and chicken. Today’s change was ground meat instead of chicken. I had only pasta with ground meat; my own creation of Spaghetti Bologna.

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Just three hours later the engine slowed down again and the Voyager V approached Sao Francisco. I had serious problems with the memory card from the camera. I tried to fix the problem but instead broke the chip completely. What are my chances to buy a new chip on a Sunday afternoon in a small city on the River Aamzon. The city had shops and supermarkets but all closed. The only business open was the cyber, I walked in and just showed the broken chip, the boy looked at his display of five different items and pulled out the box with exactly the same memory card that I was holding in my hand. The city was empty and the only activities happened at the port at our ship.

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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.