Ana Cassia Manaus

... marsh whose main attraction was supposed to be some giant lilies that only flowers for 3 days a year and then only at night!<br><br>In the evening, we went to a restaurant confident that we could pay for our meal using my Gibraltar debit card (because we used it to book the river trip). However, it did not work and despite much protestation and general huffing and puffing, Debbie was put to work in the kitchens and I became the Maitre D. The restaurant has never looked back!

... um Deus! Dias depois de sair, um tripalhoco queimou o fusível seriamente, arrombou o frigo ao homem, fez uma lixarada com a comida e abriu-lhe as cervjas todas, até que... "descuidou-se" seriamente, tendo andado assim pela hostel durante horas antes do reich acordar. Sei que é uma merda, mas fez-se justiça! :p<br><br>Mas foi mesmo a joganata o destaque! Mesmo antes de sair já estava todo empolgado, sentindo que a coisa ia ser grande, festiva e digna, principalmente depois de nos terem ...

... arrived in Manaus from my night bus at around 6am, so the heat was bearable for the rammed bus ride into town and the inevitable walk around town to locate a nice/cheap place to stay. In my dorm room I found my first English people of this trip&#8230; I can't believe it&#8217;s taken this long. After asking around about who I should book my Amazon trip with, I went to the office of Gero Tours and bought myself a 3 day/2 night jungle adventure ...

... we were both rubbish and didn't manage to catch any! We also saw a pacca (sp?) which is a striped rodent type mammal, and an electric eel. Just before sunrise, when the fish started to wake up, we headed back to camp and had a few hours sleep before breakfast.<br><br>After our omlette and fruit breakfast we headed out on a jungle walk, which was our favourite part of the whole trip. It was a hard going morning ...

... area around the lake. Once we'd got to the mouth of the canal, the motor was stashed in some trees, and it was all paddling and hacking with a machete from there!<br><br>Without the motor, you got a real sense of how peaceful and quite the jungle is during the day compared to when it comes alive at night. The gentle paddling also allowed us to see some more species of bird, and Ceciliano to show us how the locals go about catching their fish. He set up a ...

... Day in Manaus: Cris and I did our best not to eat anything we recognised. Started with a soup made out of a kind of root veg that numbs your tongue, shrimps and goop that looks distinctly like frog spawn. Sampled several dishes with unexpected combinations (fish and banana for starters). Ate breakfast in a Sunday street market that stretched across the street: tapioca pancakes with cheese and banana, milk cake. Delicious. Watched locals practising capoeira in the ...

... and so the paths were muddy and in some parts were flooded so we were walking along fallen trees at points to avoid the mini lagoons. The mossies were fierce and as Finbar was a diabetic they loved everything about him which helped distract them from us. One of the mornings we visited a local community to learn about how they live in the Amazon and how the lodge helps to provide work and income as well as teaching them about preserving their land and using all the natural resources ...

... online. Fortunately a Portuguese friend helped with the comms and they said we could pay in Brazil ... and it all worked! It is quite a way from civilisation: 2 hours flight from Manaus to Tefe, then an hour and a half on fast boat up rivers up to the lodge which is beautifully located on a bend in a small river. Uacari lodge has decent accom and food, without being luxurious. Uacari lodge has decent accom and food, without being ...

... their eyes and then the guide gets hold of one to show it to you. Alan nabbed a small one (to my relief) and gave us lots information on him before letting him go in the river. Then the fun started.... I was ill all night and had to send Kingsley on the dawn birding trip without me. I was determined that I was not going to remain ill and ruin my dream but had to miss the jungle walk too!! Poor Kingsley stayed behind to feel helpless and we were really glad that the lodge ...