We did it! The Amazon is approximately 3,900 miles, we traveled 90% of it by boat from Belem, Brazil to Iquitos, Peru using a combination of slow and speed boats taking a total of 8-9 days. Basically across the United States. There is a small section left that I will have to save for later … More Journey of the Amazon: In Review
As our speedboat rush to our final Amazon destination Jon and I were both thrilled to have 5 glorious days, before our pre-booked flight, in one place off of a boat. After approximately 3,900 miles on the Amazon we had just about as much river as we could take. We were greeted by a moto-taxi … More Journey of Iquitos, Peru: Ayahuasca, or Not
After hightailing it out of Tefe, we spent the next 24 hours on a speedboat which was a five star compared to the slow boats although not the same lazy meandering of the river. Our next destination was the three-way frontier where the borders of Tabatinga, Brazil, Leticia, Columbia and Santa Rosa, Peru meet. We … More Journey of Tabatinga, Brazil: The Three Way Frontier
Not having the time or the stamina to finish our route down the Amazon on a slow boat we opted to finish using speedboats. They are about 1/3 of the time and 3 times the cost. In order to break up the 30-hour route to Tabatinga, the border of Brazil, Columbia and Peru, we decided … More Journey of Tefe, Brazil: Our first bust
Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, sits at the point where the jet black Rio Negro and the coffee colored Rio Amazonas meet. It is also at this point the name of Rio Amazonas changes to Rio Solimoes and retains this name until the border of Peru in which it turns back to … More Journey of Manaus, Brazil: City in the Middle of the Amazon
Presidente Figueiredo is a sleepy village two hours north of Manaus and sits in the center of an area with more than 150 waterfalls, of which we only saw five. The area is popular with people from the city to get away and cool off on the weekends. We decided to act like the locals … More Journey of Presidente Figueiredo, Brazil: Land of Waterfalls
Word of caution, do not go into the jungle if you do not like oppressive heat and have any type of aversion to bugs and critters. Within two hours of arriving I was stung by a wasp, bitten by a blood sucking fly and had a frog jump out of the toilet paper roll. Yes, … More Journey of The Jungle: Land of Sweat and Bugs
As I write this I am sitting clean, fed and comfortable in my new hostel, however that was not the case less than 24 hours ago. When we went to book our next river boat we encountered a dilemma. We were informed that the Saturday boat was bad and there was no Sunday boat. Our … More Journey of Amazon River Boat: Take Two
After our adventurous boat ride we needed some R&R, and some personal space. Our next stop was a sleepy village at the edge of the Rio Tapajos, a 40-minute drive south from where our boat docked in Santarem. The draw to the village is an unbelievable powder sand beach that juts into the river … More Journey of Alter do Chao, Brazil: An Unexpected Oasis
With our tickets in hand and our new hammocks in our bags we happily jumped in our cab to head for our first leg of our Amazon river boat trip aboard the San Marino III. My trepidation grew as our taxi driver sped through what looked like a not so nice area of town anxiously searching … More Journey of an Amazon River Boat: Our first attempt
Journey with Christina 