By prior arrangement, we were accompanied this morning by Max Oldenburg, manager of Agencia Maritima y Fluvial Oldenburg of Leticia, to obtain all of the necessary approvals, stamps, etc. to leave Leticia, Colombia and to enter the adjacent Tabatinga, Brazil for the purpose of boarding the Itaberaba vessel to Manaus. First we went to the Leticia airport to obtain an exit stamp from Colombia. Then we drove to the Brazilian immigration office in Tabatinga. Fortunately, both of us had obtained our Brazilian visas before leaving on the trip, not an easy or inexpensive process given the flood of tourists going to Brazil for World Cup. Today's tramites (red tape) went very smoothly thanks to Max, who appeared to know everyone in Leticia and Tabatinga, allowing us to go straight to the front of all lines. We felt guilty about the special treatment, but not for long given the alternatives.
Eventually, Max delivered us to the less than modern dock in Tabatinga where the Itaberaba awaited us. When checking in with the boat's officials, our names were recorded on a manifest of passengers. David's name was recorded correctly, but John's read Cordoba Vitur, with Cordoba being the city in Argentina where he obtained his visa and Vitur standing for Visa Tourist in Portuguese as written on his visa. Only after repeated effort did John convince the official to add his first name to the manifest, but his last name still does not appear. So if our boat goes down, no one will ever know that John Zamecnik was on board.
Max helped us through baggage security on the main deck, then helped us carry our bags to our cabin on the fourth level. Our cabin turned out to be much less than expected, being very small, with a bunk bed and little floor space for our bags. But it did have a private bath and air conditioning, and clean sheets of sorts, but no towels or soap. Fortunately, John bought them in Leticia yesterday.
After boarding at approximately 10 am (we departed at 12:15 pm, only 15 minutes behind schedule), we joined perhaps 50 other passengers to intermittently watch three successive World Cup games in a very simple open lounge area with plastic chairs on our top level. The crowd was particularly happy to see Chile beat Spain 2-0. No sympathy was shown for Spain, the defending World Cup champion who has been outscored 7-0 in its first two games. Tomorrow we will all watch Colombia play the Ivory Coast.
TV reception was via a DirecTV dish on top of the upper deck just above the lounge with the TV. Because of the twists and turns of the river, the quality of the reception continuously changed. To solve this problem, a boat employee frequently turned two small wheels on the ceiling of the lounge to adjust the dish for the best possible signal. As he was also in charge of the adjacent snack bar, he was in constant motion and didn't appear happy about it as he tried to watch the games too.
The Itaberaba is a steel riverboat approximately 200 feet long and supposedly carrying up to 500 passengers, although we were told there were only 200 on our voyage. Anyone not in the six cabins on the top deck sleeps in hammocks slung on the second and third levels. (Cargo is on the first level, the only level not open on the sides.) It was quite a scene to see all of the colorful hammocks strung above the floor, in some cases with one above the other. Underneath were suitcases, backpacks, boxes, and even a tricycle, but no pigs and chickens. There are a series of sinks on each level for washing and numerous toilet stalls with showers. We were told that one could sit on the toilet and shower at the same time. The open sides made the temperature quite comfortable. It was a generally orderly and clean scene, but we were glad not to be sleeping under these conditions.
Most of the passengers are from Colombia and Brazil, with several Peruvians and Norteamericanos, and a few Germans. There were a number of families with children. Many of the younger males we have spoken with are going to World Cup matches in Manaus and elsewhere in Brazil, with perhaps 15 gringos in this category.
Our first meal tonight was a very good beef stew served in the most modern facility on the boat, a small, clean enclosed kitchen/dining area with air conditioning holding about 20 diners at a time. Fortunately we missed the long, orderly line outside because we were late due to not knowing we had entered a new time zone. It appears that some passengers get a lower fare by bringing their own food or buying it at the frequent stops.
After dinner we watched more football and talked with several of our friendly fellow passengers from several different countries. We must have been an oddity as two of only a handful of travelers 60 years of age or older. One young gringa went out of her way to complement us on being so adventurous for our age. We met two 50-60 year old men who were traveling with their sons to World Cup matches, with their wives afraid to join them. One was from Anchorage and had a satellite phone for only text messages that his wife insisted he bring to report on his continued existence. Thank you Elena and Susie for not asking us to do the same.
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