Comfort Hotel Manaus

... and Solimőes, after the Vitória Régias (waterlilies). The time was not the season of them, but I could see a few. I was crazy to swim with the pink river dolphins but, unfortunately, there were few too.
The Amazonia has two season, the rainy (jan – jun) and the dry one (jul – dec). I went in the middle of the dry season, so some activities are not possible to make. The same with the rainy season.
Manaus, State of Amazonas, Brazil maridiana

... the rising temperatures and humidity but we learnt a lot about the jungle and had a lot of fun. Ceciliano led the way, carving out a path with his machete, and we stopped at various trees and plants when Herman would explain things about the plants properties and the indigenous people's cultures. One tree's sap smelt of deep heat, another was rosewood, one gave a gluey rubbery sap, and the small branches of ...

... net across the breadth of the canal, at the start of the canoeing, which had a about 6 fish trapped in it when we came back, and also showed us some spear fishing. At one point he stood up on the front of the canoe, nearly tipping it, and fired a spear from a bow, and managed to spear a large catfish... needless to say we ate well at lunch!

Following our morning activities and lunch, we packed up camp and headed off by the motorised canoe, deeper ...

... fishing for the submerged boat: all in all, it was the survival experience we had been promised!
We are now back in Manaus and are setting off for the Venezualan border tomorrow. At this point the group is changing, and I am very very sad to be saying bye to Cris who is returning to London. Many people are staying on, and while we are sorry to have to say goodbye to those who are leaving, we are looking forward to a new border and new country just over the horizon.

... then one by one lunged over the rails to the safety of the big boat. Although this sort of on the run transfer happens once every other day on the big river boats, its site is normally an interesting diversion for the passengers who've been staring at a monotonous view of trees and water. Diversion turns to full on spectacle when it's a couple inexperienced gringos hurling themselves on board- a hundred or so passengers were amusedly watching us.
Manaus, State of Amazonas, Brazil darrenkatie

... go.



31/07/09

Day 2 was my roughest day of the trip, so far. I woke up feeling extremely haggard, having slept only once since we left. My throat was sore, and I was definately getting sick. My stomach was pretty unhappy, as well, but I forced some breaky in to it, and went for a hike through the jungle. This was pretty interesting, we saw some neat insects, and smelt some interesting trees(clove, and others), but I was pretty done. We all went swiming ...

... I.e. not eating all the monkeys, turtles and selling all the caimans skins). We then had around an hour to shower and relax before lunch, followed by a long siesta. During the heat of the day the animals all hibernate so there's no much happening till after 3.30pm. The afternoons we either enjoyed canoeing down the river which is so peaceful it's an ideal way to enjoy and spot wildlife - except when it's raining and it seemed to like down pouring a lot in the late afternoons. Otherwise ...

... The sounds really make an impression: the loud splashes of the enormous Picarucu fish (largest freshwater fish in world - up to 3 meters) which regularly have to leap out of the water to get oxygen in the dry season, the haunting cries of the howler monkeys (which sound like a combination of a howling gale and noises of dynosaurs fighting in a horror movie), the incredible variety of bird calls, the scratches, squeeks and russles of the ...

... in a nice spot where there were lots of birds and views and we could relax. I rallied myself for a night in the jungle. I had missed some of Alan's info so awoke at 5 the next morning wondering if it was possible to have arctic-style winds in the jungle. Only at breakfast did I discover that it was not an Amazonian yeti but howler monkeys. Amazing sound! We visited a local family and saw how they live and make the manioc flour. The youngest boy was playing with a baby ...

... friendly. I found it pretty funny, too, that I went to the pretty much biggest restaurant in town, which is a sort of a fast food joint with a cyber café on the 2nd floor, and people were so surprised to see me, a blond, blue eyed foreign girl - it was something so new and exotic to the staff there that they just had to touch my hair and sit down and chat for a bit.

But then Wednesday came and I arrived on time, at 08:00, hung up my hammock, as I had been taught on my ...