What happened last night?  I went to sleep yesterday it was the year 2015, I woke up this morning and it was the year 2016; according to the Gregorian calendar, last night the year had changed from the year 2015 to the year 2016. And according to the Chinese calendar? And according to the Jewish calendar? And according to the Mayan calendar?

My son Dominik and his wife LiLan will be travelling to China in February for the Chinese New Year, my Jewish friends Ephraim and Nathan from the Sao Paulo construction company Cyrela will celebrate in October the Jewish New Year and my favorite South American culture the Maya will celebrate in July the Mayan New Year. Albert Einstein was probably right in many things and with respect to my question what happened last night, he would have answered “AlexK, time is relative”.

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I wanted to visit my friends from the Voyager V in Tabatinga; I wanted to sleep on the ship tonight. Everything seemed yellow today or everything in yellow was shining at me or everything in yellow was following me or my mind wanted to see only yellow today. Whatever, I walked down to the port of Leticia and met the leftovers from yesterday’s party, standing and dancing, sitting and drinking or laying and sleeping. I left the port area and the streets were empty, I walked to the border and the streets were empty, I crossed the border and the streets were empty; it started to rain, the typical heavy tropical rain, the streets stayed empty.

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I was walking now for quite some time, it was hot and humid; I was hot and hungry. I did not know the exact way to the port and walked by my intuition based on my memory of the moto taxi drive in the dark from the port to the airport the night I arrived. My hunger made me follow the smell from grilled meat that had entered my nose, I turned right and saw a snack bar and smoke going up in the distance. I came closer, I saw the chicken on the grill and the French fries in the oil; I asked for the price, 10 Reales. Altogether the smell, the look and the price were irresistible; I sat down at the plastic desk and ordered a plate, less rice please and more French fries please. The French fries were cut from a fresh potato and boiled in fresh oil and were extremely good, I understand why the British call the Germans ‘Potato Head’. As much as I sometimes rejected my German background I had too much of the typical German character, too much of the typical German behavior and too much of the typical German taste.

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I arrived at ‘Port Voyager’ and the carriers were still working to load off the ship. I saw the captain, gave him a friendly hug and we started a lengthy conversation about the ship, the owner, the business and our private lives. I am pretty much writing about mine through this project and this diary, so I focus on the story of the life of the captain. He was 71 years old; he married for the first time at the age of 19 and had six children from this marriage, divorced and married again and had four children from this marriage.

He had worked his whole life on the river, the Amazon River, the Rio Negro and the Rio Branco. At some point of his early life he made business with an indigenous tribe and was captured and kept for two years. Having been an exceptional worker the chief of the tribe offered him a woman. She got pregnant and the chief changed her for another woman, got pregnant, changed her for another woman and so on and so on and altogether had twelve children from this captivity. True or not true, an amazing story. Another tropical rain poured down and the captain offered me to stay on board. I had speculated on the rain, the late hour and on this offer. Forgive me for this captain; I am deeply grateful for your offer.

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