Fighting mosquitoes in Porto Velho

Dear Friends and Family.

I wish I was in beautiful England now.

So my bus ride wasn't too bad. For the price I paid, I was pleasantly surprised. It was comfatable and I wad able to sleep. That sleep was disturbed however when we all has to get off the bus to get on a ferry that took us all across a river. So Sean and I arrived to Porto Velho quite exhausted. So we quickly caught a taxi to our hotel and slept most of the day away. 

I must say, I was actually surprised to see Porto Velho to be so developed. It had actual pavements instead of dirt tracks! 

So far whilst I have been here, Sean and I have explored the town out of neccessity. We had to find a cheap place to eat and if possible, a cheaper place to stay. Really, I sometimes think Lonely Planet has too much of a high standard in choosing a bed and a place to eat. We had some success in finding a cheap place to eat, and in the process we saw a few sights. One being these 3 water towers that seem to have some sort of significance to the town. Another is the park and market next to the river. It's surprisingly a big park which would undoubtedly be a nice place to kick back and take a nap.... If I wasn't plagued by mosquitoes. It seems whenever I lack DEET on my body, they strike, whether it be my leg, toe or butt. 

Today I went for a jog with Sean. It was a nice jog. Especially when we got kicked out of the military training grounds when we started to use their equipment. Obviously we knew not that it belonged to the military, or we would have at the very least stole a dumb bell before we walked off. I jest, I don't intend to get shot anytime soon. We also bought our hammocks which will be used when we board our boat to Manaus, which leaves tomorrow 9am. It should take around 4 or 5 days to arrive to the capital of the Amazon. I hope it isn't too hyped up. 

Rio Branco sucks. So does Brazil.

Rio Branco. As expected, to put it in the gentlest terms, it's a shit hole. The place itself was not too bad. Its just the outrages prices they demand of us for accommodation. But the food isn't too expensive for a Brazillian restaurant though. 

We stayed in a hotel, which had quite good beds but a broken AC. However, thats not what made me hate this place so much though. I think I just hate Brazil in general. I dislike the language, currency, prices and most of, the language. I simply hate it. It sounds as if it does not belong to a continent that speaks the Spanish language! But I can only assume I hate it so much is because I have no idea what they are saying to me. Plus it sounds like Dutch with all it's clucking, clicking and choking sounds. All the Spanish I have learnt throughout my journey is now useless. A fluent speaker may understand a little bit of portugese, but for me it's like an alien language. That I hate. All in all, I did not do much here. This is only a rest point for my next journey, which is to Porto Velho. So after no success in finding a cheaper alternative to our sleeping arrangements, I booked a ticket out of there and should reach Porto Velho in 10 hours or so. 

Experience of Puerto Maldonado

Hi everyone.

Well, first I like to apologize for this late post. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to do this.

Puerto Maldonado wasn't all bad. Sure it was expensive, food, water and accomodation wise. Sure the temperature did not make me any happier about the situation. And yes, the mosquitoes did come back at me with a vengeance seeking my blood due to my long absent from them. But all in all, the place didn't suck as I thought it would. Sean and I found an amazing shop stand that sold these wonderfully chilled drinks called refresco. From what I could tell, it's a mix of blended juices and water, where the juices vary from the black corn, chica to apple. 

We also did a few sight seeing excursions. Two locations were interesting. The first being on our arrival to this town. First we tried to enter the plaza de armas, which is the town centre. But to my dismay and annoyance, the place was surrounded by the military, where they actually searched my bag for weapons! I later found out why. Today was the day of the celebratory opening of the bridge that will connect the western river bank to the east. This involved the appearance of a previous popular president of Peru. Unfortunately, this reduced us of having any chance of finding a cheap hostel; so we resorted to one that is apparently "backpacker" prices. Backpacker prices my ass I scoff.

The next sight was the town's obelisk. It's just like any one obelisk I have seen in my travels. Except this was smaller and less impressive.

Our departure from here was almost a failure if not for our precaution. Before departing to the terminal, I visited the ticket office to enquire where our bus would leave. We quickly found out that we had to cross the river by boat in order to reach our bus! Here I was able to really appreciate how useful the bridge will be when it's actually open. In the end we did manage to catch our bus, and off we went to Rio Branco, our first step into Brazil and surely a place where I'm sure will be worse than here.

Rio Branco....hopefully

Well, Im off to Rio Branco, Brazil soon. If I can get a ticket and bus there that is. So don't worry mum, I try to find an internet to call you.

New place, and I don't like it

Hi everyone. Lets start this blog with, I hate Puerto Maldonado. I hate it hate it hate it.

Now from the beginning. Sean and I took a 10-11 hour bus from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado. The journey sucked like all bus journeys do. I couldn't sleep, and as we slowly went east, the humidity of the environment increased like a slap in the face. It started to become hotter, more uncomftable and I just want to get off this stupid bus. It even rained during the journey! I havn't seen rain for a long time, so I was really thinking...yep, I'm in the jungle now.

Arriving at Puerto Maldonado was no improvement. We found out the Plaza de Armas was closed off for the opening of some stupid bridge where some stupid ex president of Peru will be present. This meant Peruvians from all over came to this small ass town, booked up all the hostels, leaving only the pricey ones for me and Sean. Well we booked one night at the hostel. It was a nice hostel, but I still hated it because hot temperatures make me angry. I literally took a shower 6 times that day just to stay cool and sweat free.

Now its the second day in Puerto Maldonado, Sean and I are in a new, but even more terrible hostel, and I just want to get the Hell out of here ASAP.

Its been a good month at work

Hello everyone.

As of today, my 4 week work at The Point as a barman is over. Its been a good month. I've met alot of cool people, worked with some, party with most.

But now I am done. Tomorow I will go to Puerto Maldonado, and work out my route to Porto Velho where I shall embark on my boat trip to the Amazon capital, Manaus.

I don't have much to say really. I worked 5 days a week, drank about half the week and party for like a day a week. But after such along time at Cuzco, I'm ready to leave now and stop working. I reckon I saved quite alot of money doing this, which I'm glad for. But big ups to The Point for employing me and their staff and all the travellors I have met and became friends with.