Next day we were in fine form but Adam and Heath and our other companion were all hideously hung over and dehydrated and struggled to cope with a hot morning in their hammocks and could barely eat their nosh of boiled bananas and catfish.
While the others suffered dehydration in the scorching hold under the steel deck in their hammocks, for this leg of the journey, Jane and I made ourselves one wonderful cool pad, by setting up our Amazonian tent, which was basically a mosquito net with a detachable waterproof fly sheet, on the upper deck with the doorway facing the front of the boat, so the cool air could blow right in and filter out through the netting.
Needless to say the food was really basic, river fish and boiled green bananas with some noodles thrown in for good measure and this time some papaya we scored along the way.
This also meant I could recharge my Mac Powerbook and video cameras using the solar panel and motor bike battery I had bought in the US.
The meals were cooked in the boat kitchen in the stern ...
... right alongside the flushless toilet conveniently fitted with a ladle oar for good measure.
The decks were perilous, one time I fell up to my knee through a hole in the deck and nearly broke my leg. The boat was also atrociously noisy, particularly in the hold. Nevertheless the crew were really friendly and the trip as a whole was a great experience.
As the trip wore on the hold became so filled with bananas and catfish bales that there was hardly any room any more for the passengers.
Celebrating the Amazonian millennium
More severe rainforest hardwood logging operations ...
Blue herons getting closer ...
Panoramas of the ever-widening river, now placid and full of reflections.
In the late afternoon we were blessed by a magnifcent Amazonian sunset reflected in the lazy clam of the river.
This became easily the most beautiful evening of the entire journey.
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