15th Jan

Met my tour group in the evening and we went to the opera house as there was a free concert. I had a repeat performance of ¨Closer¨or the ¨Monologues and¨was laughing uncontrollably along with Anne next to me. All very well but we were 3 rows from the front right slap bang in the middle. I had tears streaming down my cheeks. The reason? The guy who came on stage to sing was wearing cords and a see through black lacey shirt. When he opened his mouth to sing, I thought I was going to die. It was like a Monty Python sketch - he had such a high pitched voice and kept doing really fast shrill octaves - I thought he was going to take off at one point. He sounded like a spin dryer. We left at the interval - thank goodness!

There are 20 of us on the trip: 2 Kiwis, 2 Ozzies, 2 Danes, 1 Chilean Norwegian (whose father led the rebellion against Pinochet), 2 Dutch (one of whom is 60 and likes to get naked at every opportunity), 1 Belgian, 1 Chinese, 1 Canadian and the rest Brits. Id say half the group are in their 20s and the rest either in their 30s or 50s/60s so quite a nice mix. There are 2 guides - 1 Geordie and 1 mixture of Brit/Brazilian/Ecuadorian.

On 16th we went on a boat to see the meeting of the 2 rivers (the Negro and the Solimoes). You could see the difference in colour as they merge - one black and one a murky brown colour. Apparently one is very acidic and one not which is why they split apart and the temperature was also very very different as we travelled the metre across the merge - very weird. Saw a few pink dolphins then travelled by bus and boat to the Malocas Jungle Lodge in the middle of the Amazon Jungle. Amazing food - best I´ve had since NZ!

Now, some of you know how scared I was about coming to the Amazon given my fear of spiders and creepy crawlies and on the 1st day we were given the option of going elsewhere and sleeping outside in hammocks in the jungle. My initla reaction was ¨no bloody way!¨ but almost everyone was going and a few people said they would look after me and convinced me to go. Was a bit stressed and actually, in the end, for absolutely no reason. We saw nothing. There are tens of thousands of species of insects, reptiles and mammals in the Amazon and all we saw that evening was a tiny snake swimming in the river on the way over there and we could hear cicadas and a few screeches every now and then. We had a great campfire meal of chicken, sausage and rice and then attempted to get into my hammock which was a mission. Had a mozzie net over me to catch any falling critters (there are no mozzies - eh? Go figure...) and a blanket and I was paranoid that I would wake up at some point to see a tarantula´s 8 eyes staring down at me but no, slept pretty well (although I can´t really say I was all that comfy).

Sunday morning we went back to the lodge for breakfast and then we set off (in the pissing rain) for a trek into the jungle. This is it, I thought. I´m going to see it all. Er...no. Have to say I was mightily disappointed. All we saw were 2 tiny (2cm) brown frogs, a very long (but dead) earthworm and a whole load of ants in varying sizes. Also saw a huge spider´s web/nest thing but it just had tiny spiders in it working away - even I could cope with that. That´s not to say that I wanted to see scorpions, snakes and huge spiders but a monkey or two wouldn´t have gone amiss.

In the afternoon we went for another trek (still nothing) followed by piranha fishing. My boat only caught 2 fish between us (I didn´t catch any and got very bored and sulky) but that was 2 more than the other boat. Then we went caiman spotting. Caimans are a kind of crocodile or alligator (not really sure which as I wasn´t listening properly). Only caught one (about 50cm long) which was passed through the boat. So, all in all, not a hugely successful wildlife-spotting experience!

Now back in Manaus for a night before setting off on a 3-day boat trip (on hammocks!) down the Madeira River. Have just been to the supermarket to stock up on lots of alcohol and snacks. We´ll probably need it as we´ve been told that this should be a real experience as the boat will be full of gabbling locals playing music and shouting and we will probably be the only foreigners on there. I´m sure it will be funny for the 1st day and then we´ll no doubt get cabin fever. Not that we´ve got cabins as we have to live and sleep on the deck. Oh, and the length of the journey totally depends on the height of the river so it´s scheduled to take 3 days but could take 5 or 6 - yippee!

Right amigas/os, must dash as time is running out and I can´t stand this keyboard any longer - every key takes 1 second to press as I have to push down on it so hard and then I find that I´ve pressed the wrong keys anyway as they´re all in different places.

Next stop is Porto Velho and then Brasilia so will probably update you from there before the manic week at the Rio Carnival.

Hasta la vista babies!

Linda xxx