A Riverboat to Manaus, Amazonia

We arrived in Puerto Velho and almost immediately found a boat headed for Manaus. Loading the bikes, as always, was high adventure.
We ended up having to wait a couple days for the boat to actually take off, heavily laden with all manner of cargo, a couple hundred people and two dogs.
Because of all the gear, we had to get a cabin. It was small, the air conditioning was sketchy, the food was not very good, and it was hard to get around on the decks, which were full. Also, some people had a hard time keeping their hands off of the bikes. But words cannot describe what it was like to cruise down this river or what it felt like to cross the Amazon. There was also time to get to know some new friends making their way into all parts of the world. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch.

The scenery

Two little passengers
The maze of hammocks
and music.

We got started two days late. But because all of the rain made the river unusually high, the boat arrived at the floating docks of Manaus in two days instead of four. It all worked out just fine, and we found ourselves in one of the world's major ports, smack dab in the middle of the continent.