Manaus to Tabatinga: Part I

The narrative of our journey on the Alm Te Monteiro from Manaus to Tabatinga is going to be presented in at least two parts. This, the first part, is a presentation of background information including a description of the vessel, its cargo, and the living conditions. I am writing this to hopefully paint an accurate portrait of what life is like aboard one of these vessels so that you will have an imaginative world within which to set Part II, which will be an actual chronological accounting of the events of the journey.

The Monteiro is one of four vessels owned by the Monteiro family and it exclusively runs return trips from Manaus to Tabatinga. It is the oldest boat in the family's fleet and is the last all wooden boat on the Amazon River to do the Manaus-Tabatinga run. It should be noted that the Brazilian government has recently passed a law banning all wooden boats from doing the longer runs such as this, but there is a grace period before compliance is mandatory.

As you can see in the picture, the Monteiro is a three decked ship. The hold is exclusively for cargo. One portion of the hold is refridgerated and the other is for dry goods. The bottom deck is principally for cargo, but also contains a bathroom, two small cabins for crew, and the kitchen at the stern. There are also several rooms towards the bow, but we never figured out what they were for. Several members of the crew sleep in hammocks in what little extra space there is on this deck. You can also see the top of the engine which is enclosed in a giant locked cage.

Ships like the Monteiro are pretty much the only way that most of the small towns along the rivers of the Amazon Basin get anything. Because of this, the cargo hold and the bottom deck are packed to the ceiling with goods. This includes EVERYTHING that people need to get along in their daily lives. I have included pictures of assorted dry goods, longtail boat propellers, toilets, and thousands and thousands and thousands of eggs. If it weren't for the chickens that we saw with our own eyes, Bec and I would have sworn that there were no chickens in the Amazon Basin. There is a small pathway that runs around the edge of the deck next to the rail that is less than a shoulderwidth.

























The middle deck is the passenger deck,which by the way is not tall enough to allow me to stand up straight. This is where all of the people live while they are on the boat. There are four bathrooms, a suite cabin with a double bed, and three cabins with bunk beds. The bathrooms have a toilet and a shower. The shower is simply a PVC pipe with a valve on it, which when turned allows river water to fall on you. The water splashes all over everything including the toilet seats. The water then runs through a hole at the base of the wall into the next bathroom towards the bow of the ship. All of the water then drains out of the boat through a hole in the floor in the bathroom closest to the bow. This of course means that if you are in the bow-most bathroom and three other people are taking showers, their dirty water (and everything it picked up off the floor) flows around your feet. The wheelhouse is located at the bow of this deck. Sitting on the floor right in front of the wheel house was one of the nice hidden spots to get away from it all.


There is also a small kitchen at the stern port corner of the this deck. There is a small hole leading down to the kitchen below so that food can be passed up without getting in the way of the regular business of the boat. Meals are served at the stern of the boat at a large table. People eat in rotation with about 10-12 people eating at any one time

The best way to describe the livings conditions on the passenger deck is sardines in a can. Or more accurately sardines wrapped in blankets in a can due to the hammocks. There were approximately 45 hammocks on this deck, some of which had two people in them. There is literally someone you do not know 6 inches away from you. Murphy's Law of course dictates that this person will be a complete pain in the ass, but more on that in Part II.

The passengers represent a complete cross-section of life. There are elderly men who can barely climb into their hammocks, 22 year-old mothers with three small children, 22 year old couple entrapped in deep infatuation, as well as regular aged adults simply traveling to see family or take care of business. We were not able to tell if it was generally considered to be highly inappropriate or not, but the general pattern of behavior seemed to be: Do whatever you want and who cares if it is disturbing other people. This means that someone might open up their new boom-box and play loud music at 6 am. The funny thing is that VERY rarely does anyone ever say anything to the person who is making the noise. I only saw it occur once or twice on the entire trip and it sometimes felt like there was constantly someone blaring incredibly loud music.

The top deck has four more cabins with bunks, a bathroom, and a bar with snack and drinks. Lightweight cargo like empty barrels were also stored on the top of the boat. When there wasn't blaring techno music being played on this deck, it was the nicest place to be on the boat. You could sit back and watch the jungle go by and see monkeys playing in the trees, pink dolphins jumping in the water, and big blue macaws flying overhead.