We are now back in Manaus after 3 days in an eco lodge on a small branch of the Amazon near here and i will never take air conditioning for granted again or a fan for that matter. We had a room in a thatched wooden lodge with a hammock on the verandah outside for resting where it was cooler than the room. There was no electricity and 2 dim lights on a battery and no lights when the battery went flat apart from candles. No fear of burning down the lodge due to the humidity. I would say it was like a continuous 4 day sauna and i grew to daydream of cold showers in my most hot and sweaty moments, basically most of the time.
However it was certainly an experience worth having. We had a really good experienced guide and explored the local forest and met the local villagers, half Indian and half Portuguese in origin. The houses are mainly shacks on stilts which look abandoned until someone leans out of the window and waves. Many of the villagers work at the lodge as is required by law to give work to local people. The conditions are very basic altho they now have electricity which is more than we did. Everyone travels in small motor boats even kids going to school and the nurses who tour the region and visit weekly to check for any illness including malaria. Sick people go to Manaus by boat 2-4 hrs depending on the boat.
We walked in the local forests some of which flood for 6 months a year so there are large sponges living in the tops of some trees. We saw mainly tarantulas, frogs and birds particularly beautiful black and yellow weaver birds and their nests and a semi tame monkey and a couple of sloths. It was like a David Attenborough programme. Not many animals live in this area but i was happy not to see snakes or a jaguar.
We fished for piranha and we even caught a small one each. They tend to just eat the meat bait and swim away like they do with anything they feed on, to avoid being eaten by another piranha. Some were silver and some a beautiful rose colour. There are 25 or more varieties and some just eat fruit apparently. They were cooked by a local woman at the floating shack/ferry in the photo within 30 minutes for midmorning snack and are delicious. Mind u, i used their loo which was a hole in the floor planks over the river 10 metres up stream. She gave me a jug of the same river water to wash my hands after and presumably used it to wash the fish. Martin said it would b fine once cooked but i took a ciprofloxacin for dessert.
One night we went caiman hunting. A local shone a torch which reflects from the eyes to locate them and then waded in the shallows and grabbed it and we each got to hold it. Beautiful but mean looking 2ft long and strong so we were told to hold it tight so of course i gripped like mad but martin didnt want to hurt it so it thrashed free and luckily he threw it in the water before it got any of us. The guide didnt look too pleased and the poor younger guy had to find us another which was bigger and wisely the guide handled it while telling us all about them.
The humidity is unbelievable and its impossible to dry wet clothes except when the sun is out when it dries in minutes. Plastic perished and bags fell apart and my watch strap peeled away. We didnt get much rain but i think that just made it more humid. Martin said at the time 'I'm a nobody - get me out of here' but now we have aircon and wifi we can look back fondly on an amazing experience.