DAY 67. THE BIG LAND

Sleeping on the hard floor without a hammock was not too bad, I just got a little cold on the iron deck without a tourist mat. Not a couple of hours later I saw the confluence of the Solimões River and the Rio Negro. This is where the Amazon begins, according to the Brazilian authorities. But I know where it really begins. I was at its source back in Peru, when the Ucayali joined the Marañon. That was such a long time ago!

And here I am, docking in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian Amazon. I do not yet know what to do and how I can contact my friends. Matheus takes the matters into his own hands. We first have a cup of coffee and then drive to his house on the outskirts of the city, to a location that looks very much like a ghetto. There I meet Sebastian, his father. He also sings and plays the guitar.

The internet connection is a hard thing to find, so Mateus and I walk through the slums to his brother. It is an interesting road that leads there. On the way my companion fraternises with all sorts of local gangsters and makes passing comments to me that this one is not bad, but it is better to stay away from that one.

Daniel, Mateus’s brother, turns out to be a well-known artist as well, so we spent a lot of time listening to local music. They treated me like family, offering to let me stay with them until I got my situation sorted out. They even loaned me a phone so I could solve my current problems.

I spent the whole day restoring contacts, contacting acquaintances and friends via mail, and in the evening, the brothers took me to a night football game. We arrived at some ground in the middle of the ghetto. It had a curious surface. The football field was not grass, but something like burnt rubber – or car tyres. I met the boys. Literally everyone in this part of the world is an ardent football fan, but I decided to be a humble observer again.

I remember how Mateus grabbed a bottle of beer and decided to combine two pleasant things – the game and the drinking. I laughed at first, because he was already on the fattish side, and then there was a bottle to complicate the balance even more. How can one play like that? I was laughing until he grabbed the ball with a beer in one hand, went round everyone around him and then scored the decisive goal. That was quite a demonstration of skill!

Well, it is time for me to travel home now.