Dave picked us up from our hotel at 8am on Sunday morning and took us back to the office so that we could store our big backpacks. We met our guide Edson and from there we drove for about 20 minutes to a place where we had to get onto a speed boat. While we were crossing the river we stopped to see the meeting of the waters, this is where the Amazon river meets the Rio Negra. It was really impressive to see as there is a distinct line between the two rivers. Edso...

We left Alto do Chao on Wednesday morning and headed back towards Santarem. We had previously bought tickets for a boat that was leaving this afternoon only this time we had a cabin for two of us and one hammock space. We went to the supermarket before getting on the boat for supplies as non of us were very keen on eating the food provided on the boat! We boarded the boat at 1pm with a lot less hassle than last time! The camarote (cabin) is really small and swea...

Santarem didn´t really appel to us that much so we decided to catch a bus to a small place called Alto do Chao which was about an hour from Santarem. We found a really nice pousada (guest house) where we got a chalet for the three of us for R$80. The town is tiny and really quiet but there is a lovely beach at the bottom of the road. We were relieved to be off the boat but Sarah and Neil became a little bit ill...and thats all i´m allowed to say other t...

(Fri 19th Oct) After breakfast on Fri we spent the morning looking around Ver-o-Peso market for hammocks. (Our bed for the next three nights!) We actually managed to do a bit of bartering and i think we got the hammocks for quite a good price?! Afterwards we went to the supermarket to get some supplies for the boat. We checked out of the hostel after lunch and headed down to the dock that Neil and i had been to the day before. We saw the guy who had tried to sel...

Hello all! We have not long been in Manaus after our boat trip down the Amazon. Of course there is no internet access on the boat or in the little towns between and a fair amount has happened so it may take a while to update you! (Mon 15th Oct) The bus journey from Rio to Belem wasn´t quite as bad as we had anticipated. We made loads of stops to get food and sleeping wasn´t so bad as we had a double seat each. We arrived in Belem at about 4pm and got a taxi st...