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Sorry haven't written on this for so frigin long, I got to the end of writing few days a go and lost it all during a power cut…sooo take 2! Picking up where I left of in Manaus…man that seems like ages a go. I spent 5 days in Manaus and really had fun there, shame I didn't go on the jungle trip but im glad I got my time away from the group. Met up with this Chris dude who was like my salvation, he's been the one keeping my sanity really, he's been staying at hostels so everywhere from Venezuela to here ive been chilling at hostels meeting cool people and generally having a good time. Part from the fact when I met him in Manaus he had dengue fever, so spent the first few days nursing him back to health, wondering round Manaus looking for hospitals, many trips to buy the kilo (buffets and they weigh your plate at the end---genius idea)´they even have buy the kilo ice cream places with the most toppings ive ever seen in my life. The city its self wasn't anything special. There was a pretty square to sit and people watch, lost of kids running round about 10pm, eating candy floss and popcorn and riding rented toy cars…very strange concept. After 5 days there I pretty much got the feel for it and wanted to move on, had some funny partying nights, despite poor Chris dengue fever…involving many caparihnas..im am missing Venezuelan rum though. The group returned the day before we left on the boat, didn't see them much at all though, just spent most time at the hostel in Manaus, they had a kitchen so food becomes very cheap when you make it yourself, brazil is ridiculously expensive. We had a caparihna for 10reais each, that's like 2 quid 50…crazy!! Carol one of the old ladies on our group had her 60th birthday so we went out for a surprise meal at a rotating restaurant which was pretty damn cool! Met a load of people at the hostel who were traveling to Balem on the same boat as my tour group so was cool meeting them beforehand, we had a strong group of gringos going already. The Amazon boat was absolutely brilliant, we left Manaus in a crazy rush, had to get to the docks with all out crap, get through a crowd of hundreds of people, clambering on the boat, chucking suitcases from the dock to the boat, it gave me such an adrenalin rush, reminded me of being in a bus station in Africa, so much fun. Boarded the boat and realized the only thing anyone can do on here is have a bear, and watch the Amazon drift on by, so that's what everyone basically did for 4 days straight. Im just so glad we got cabins; they were luxury compared to the hammocks where you were literally sleeping with people under you, above you, across you, 5 kids in one hammock, dire sanitation, toilets that resembled Glastonburys ones…ewww! The food was terrible though…plane rice, beans and pasta for every meal for 4 days, was like prison food. Saw the mixing of the waters, where the Rio Negro meets the Amazon, highlight of the first day. Second was getting so sun burnt to the point of hiding in the shade for the next 3 days! Had a good crew of Chris, guy James from the Lake District, Aussie dude called Dingo, an American dude called Luke who all he could rave about was this psychedelic iwasco tea from the Indians and a crazy 60 year old English man called Peter who defined the word…crazy old coot. By day 2 the boat had been dubbed the love boat, better than floating w**** house which gram once described one of the Caribbean cruise ships. Realized the whole ship was about 60%full of 15 year old Brazilian girls who could not keep there hands off the gringos, each one of the guys had at least one all over them, it was so funny but so wrong! By the 4th day on board everyone was pretty much ready to get off the boat, if the food was better, I could have stayed on loads longer, some of the guys just wanted off to stop being harassed by girls, it was terrible, one women said her little sister was waiting in bed for Chris to arrive. That was just hilarious. Arrived in Balem ecstatic to see some variety of food, in the first few hours I got through ice cream, corn on the cob, coconuts and a Japanese buffet, was great! Went walking round with Dan buying bus tickets and then bumped into another English person, its so funny went that happens, he seemed quite in need to someone to at least speak English with after being in Balem for a few days so I got on a another boat and went for a trip around the rivers with him, nice guy called Greg from reading, the boat was the usual south American party, drinking and lots of dancing. They had some shows from typical Bahian dancers in costumes, was the sexiest dancing I have ever seen, why can all Latinos dance so well I don't know even the babies and the old people have the moved right down. That's what I love about the culture here, if people want to dance they can and not have the whole room staring at them, English people just have way too many inhibitions when it comes to stuff like that. No one would dream of getting up and dancing when they weren't drunk and especially not before tea time! Good lord no! after that nice little trip I went searching for Chris so spent the night at there hostel, making dinner and chilling out with them. All of this time I was in a considerable amount of pain after my filling came out on the boat ride so I realized I had to do the inevitable and get my whole tooth removed, so Dan came with me to find a dentist and was able to speak some Portuguese to him, next thing I new I was in a chair getting parts of my tooth hammered, drilled and yanked for 45 minutes of excruciating pain while Dan who was holding my hand trying to comfort me was saying he needed to be sick from the sight of it. The damn dentist had no consideration to the fact that he was destroying the inside of my mouth and my tongue either; it was literally the most painful experience of my entire life. After the dentist took a fish hook and thread so sow it up, wiped my bloody face with a towel, I was good to go. Dan walked out and just said dude now I know how women can go through child birth. I was in agony the next 2 days and I spent the first few hours crying in pain in Chris hostel before having to board a bus to Sao Luis
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