Note: I've had an opportunity to punch out a few of these blogs and now we have some okay satellite internet so I'll upload a few in quick succession. Photos will come later.

In our 2008 trip of South America we missed out on seeing the Amazon jungle and so we decided that we'd make the effort this time around. That said, our expectations were tempered somewhat given how difficult we assumed it would be to get a fulfilling taste of the Amazon given its scale.

Owing to a delayed flight we arrived late into Leticia, the Colombian city which is used as the major hub to launch into the Amazon, and consequently missed our opportunity to cross the Colombia-Brazil border. Instead we spent a rather non descript night in Leticia. But we awoke energised in the bright sunshine of the following morning with the knowledge that today we would ventured deep into the Amazon.

As we crossed the border at Tabatinga we stepped into Brazil, donned our khakis and headed forth into the wilderness. After a four hour trip by taxi then boat then taxi then boat we arrived at Palmari Nature Reserve on Rio Yavari. Rio Yavari is a river that feeds into the Amazon River and doubles as the Brazil-Peru border. A little while ago I learned that not only is the Amazon River is the biggest river in the world (by volume) but it is so much bigger than its rivals that if you added the next nine biggest rivers, the Amazon still reins supreme. That may or may not be true, but if it is it helps to describe the scale of everything in the Amazon. So despite Rio Yavari being a feed-in river for the Amazon, in its own right it is still a mighty Amazonian river.

The structure of our stay at Palmari was pretty simple. We'd have all our food and drink provided for by the lodge and we'd have our own (distincly non-english speaking) guide to accompany us on whatever we'd like to do to satiate our appetite for the Amazon. We'd sleep each night in our modest quarters at Palmari and use it as a base to see the many different elements of the Amazon.

We got plenty of time with Palmari's rehabilitation guests, two baby river otters. Aside from the random bite they'd give your unsuspecting shin, they were great companions. Em was beside herself when see heard they had baby otters, she thought "they were the absolute cutest".

Our first morning we headed off on a hike through the jungle. We went with the hope of seeing a few birds and animals, but mostly we wanted to discover what it felt like to be in the Amazon, to have our boots on the ground. The walk left us with an overwhelming sense of the sheer density of this jungle.

Two other activities that were standouts were the canopying and the kayaking at dusk. Canopying involving climbing up a 40m rope that took us to a platform in a tree that towered above the canopy of the jungle. From this platform we caught our breath then braved a rather flimsy looking rope bridge to another platform in another tree, after which we zip-lined above the canopy to another platform, then decended. The kayaking was less of an adrenaline rush but touched on a more serene sentiment. The quiet waters of Rio Yavari against the gentle fading light of an Amazon sunset juxtaposed against the ferocious thunder clouds and lightening in the distance to painted a surreal picture. Add to this scene the mythical pink river dolfins and it made for memorable times.

After a day of sampling the fruits of the Amazon we'd all return to the Amazon's patio, resume our hammock positions, and enjoy a beer or capriahana whilst the daily wet arrived. One particular night the three lads (one German, one American and me) sat around savouring the Colombian liquour of choice, Aguardiente (which translates to "fire water"). It's tastes better than the translation gives it credit, like oozo, only stronger.

What suprised us most about our Amazon adventure, was how fulfilling we felt it was. I'm not suggesting that we've 'done' the Amazon, but we really got a taste for what it might like be to be an inhabitant in one of the remote village communities that are dotted along the rivers that sweep through the vast Amazon jungle. This trip gets points for its uniqueness.