I woke up and minutes later we arrived in Santa Rosa. I had no money anymore and I had to ask one of the small cargo boats for a free lift. I had enough time to take one last picture of the vans parked on the ship before the Maria Fernanda landed at the riverbank and the remaining passengers ran off; the Gringo’s ran to immigration for their stamp, the few inhabitants from Santa Rosa ran to catch a moto taxi, the few Brazilians ran to one of the cargo ships to load their cargo and my friends ran to the Peruvian port authorities to declare their vans.
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I walked down to the lower deck to understand the situation of my friends and their next steps so that I would know where they are and where they hopefully are going to be. I wanted to see them later again in Letizia. I had spotted a cargo boat with quiet some cargo that had already been paid for by a Brazilian family. They were still loading the boat and I explained my situation to the owner and asked for a free lift.
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He did not really like my question but was not categorically against it. He pretended to be busy working with loading the cargo but I waited for his answer. He had to say yes and that is what he did. He asked me to sit down at the end of the boat and we left for Tabatinga. The drive across the river was only 5 minutes and we arrived at the passenger port of Tabatinga which was located right next to the Voyager port. I had spent 2 days last year exactly here and was happy to be back, back in Brazil.
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I had a quick look at the Voyager port; the Voyager V had left to Manaus 2 days ago and the Diamante who was just being cleaned would leave in 2 days to Manaus. I asked for the price and availability for 1 passenger as well as the chance for me to sleep on the ship already, actually for the next 2 days. He did not really like my idea but had to say yes. It was time now to understand my personal situation, my economic and my legal situation.
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Before I would leave I wanted to check the computer cable at one of the plugs at the construction site of the new restaurant of the Voyager port next to the football pitch. The light of the computer cable did not turn on and I had a problem with the computer again, hopefully just with the cable, please. I did not want to have another problem; I did not want to have another blackout like I had in Barranquilla, I had enough problems, please.
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I walked to the Federal police and ran into the on street ventilator mechanic. He had an understanding of electrics and I wanted his opinion. I handed him the computer cable and finally left it with him for an analysis. The Federal police referred me to their immigration department next door who would only open in an hour so I walked to my house bank and spoke to Vanessa. Vanessa took my police report to the manager and asked me to get another document from the Federal police. I walked back to the Federal police and managed to get an extract from my internal record, stamped and signed to confirm that I am I, that me is me.
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I walked back to Vanessa, gave her the extract; the branch manager gave his ok but my manager in Natal did not and refused to authorize a cash advance of 300 Reales. I was tired and wanted to shout; Vanessa was quicker and suggested for me to do a transfer to one of the security. I actually had suggested this in the first place; I still had my token for online access and online transfers. She gave me the bank details of the security and 10 Reales of her own money so I could go to the cyber and do the transfer.
I had noticed some wrong personal information on my extract and walked back to the police officer. It was already lunch time but he still attended me, assured me to clarify and asked me to come back in the afternoon. He suggested for me to go the local police and file another report for my theft in Quito, the report would be needed for the issue of my Brazilian identification card.
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I rushed to the cyber, I had 1 hour left before the bank would close. I bought 30 minutes of computer access, logged into my account and had 20 minutes of account access. The speed of the internet was extremely slow and I hardly managed to do this 1 lifesaving transfer before the time was up. I walked back to my house bank in the midday heat; I was thirsty and hungry and spent some of Vanessa’s money for a drink and an ice cream. I stopped at the on street ventilator mechanic; the cable had been the problem, the new cable that I had bought before the travel had been the problem; the cable had broken inside and the on street mechanic magician had fixed it. I arrived at the bank and the security had already received a message on his cell phone about the deposit on his account and had already withdrawn the money.
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I was holding 300 Reales of my own money in my hand. I wanted to pay back Vanessa, but she refused to take the money, she insisted to be the last person in the list of probably 100 who had helped me so generously for the last 10 days to move forward, more than 2000 kilometers from Quito to Yurimaguas, more than 750m kilometers from Yurimaguas to Iquitos and another 750 kilomters from Iquitos to Tabatinga, who had helped me so generously for the last 10 days to eat and drink. Thank you very much Vanessa. I had to respect that you do not want a picture taken of yourself.
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I walked to ventilator mechanic to pick up my computer cable but now he was for lunch, I wanted to use the time, stopped a moto taxi and drove to the national police. The police officers on duty did not want to understand the necessity of a second report of something that had happened 2000 kilometers away, 10 days ago and asked me to wait for the director. After half an hour he changed his mind and entered a new report onto the computer. I walked back to the Federal police and arrived on time. The police officer spent more than 1 hour with me again and handed me an updated new extract of my internal report, a copy of the page with my picture, my signature and my fingerprint and a personal written declaration. Thank you very much Sir, thank you for your time, your effort, your respect for my situation and your admirable patience.
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It was 16:30 hours and I had spent the whole day to resolve my economic and legal situation, with success. I wanted to cross the border and eat something and not just something, I wanted to eat a Colombian potato. I stopped at the first mobile stand on the street and had 1, 2, 3 Colombian potatoes. I continued to the park and awaited the arrival of the loro’s and the arrival of my friends. I had seen my friends at the other entrance to the park and rushed to welcome them. Nice to see you all again.
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I understood the trouble they had with the owner of the Maria Fernanda who had not kept his promise to organize the necessary documents and drop them off in Leticia. They had to insist on their agreement, organize their papers themselves but finally arrived in Leticia in the afternoon with a 24 hours permit. They were hungry and we sat down in a friendly corner bar and they all ordered a juicy, delicious, complete, fat hamburger with French fries. I did not want to walk to the Voyager port and instead walked to the airport and to the warehouse and my bench to sleep for the night.
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For a small understanding of the days 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 Google+ Album.
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See map and distances / Siehe Karte und Entfernungen / Ver mapa e distâncias / Ver mapa y distancias
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