We woke up at 3am to get ready for our flight actually not feeling too bad as we had gone to sleep so early. When we were ready, we found our taxi was already waiting and it took us the 10 minute journey to the airport. When we got there there was a pretty big queue but I checked in on the machine while Shivani stood in the bag drop line and we then headed through security. We had about an hour before the flight and read while we waited.

We then boarded the plane to Brasilia which was our connecting airport. The flight was a little late as usual but we were soon on our way. We slept and read to pass the time and 3 hours later touched down in Brasilia. We had travelled south west but had strangely gained an hour of time. We still had 2 and a bit hours to wait for our flight to Manaus and were hungry too. We were in the domestic airport and there was only one food place. We had to settle for a pizza, toastie, chicken pastry and crisps for breakfast. We then sat and read while we waited for our flight.

The time came and we boarded the flight to Manaus which was only a couple of hours away. The plane was pretty empty and we had the row to ourselves so had a comfortable journey where we read and slept. As we got close to Manaus you could see the river and the jungle out of the window and we took some pictures. We landed through a big rain cloud and wondered if this was what it was going to be like as it was rainy season.

We had arrived in Manaus at 1pm local time and had been travelling for 10 hours. We now had our tree climb to look forward to. After waiting for our bags we went to meet our tour company. They were not waiting for us so I looked around for them. I saw the ticket desk of the airline we had booked flights to Rio with and went to confirm things with them as I had booked over the phone and had no other confirmation.

In the mean time Shivani spoke to another rep who helped us find our tour company. We spoke to our guide Eddie, who had a really thick American accent and talked like a surfer dude but had actually never left Brazil, and decided to go to climb the tree at the meeting of the rivers. On getting outside we had found that the weather was totally clear now and it was sunny.

We set off for the climb driving through Manaus which turned out to be a huge city, where in the middle of it you would never think you were in the jungle. After about 30mins we came to the edge of town and parked up on the edge of the road. There was a little bit of jungle there and after walking a few meters in and down a slippery slope we came to the tree we were going to climb.

It was big tree that was about 35 metres high. We were then given our instruction on how to climb using the pulley system. The system was quite easy and seemed really safe. We set off climbing up the tree. Our progress was slow but steady with Shivani being better at the technique than me. Within a few minutes however we were already half way up and could see some great views. We carried on slowly up and the sun came out and made it really hot.

After a short while we had reached a height of 30m we could see all around now but still felt secure in the system. Eddie now said he was going to pull us onto a branch so we could stand on it. He took us over one by one and we stood on the branch and looked around. It felt pretty weird there but it was safe enough and we took loads of pictures. Eddie also explained some of the things around us and we were lucky to see some scarlet mackals and a toucan. There were also plenty of other birds around and the sounds of the jungle were amazing.

It was then time to get down and after a nervous moment getting off the branch we easily let ourselves down. When we got to the bottom I was glad to have my feet back on the ground and was covered in sweat too. I was dehydrated and gulped down some water. It had been a great experience and I was glad we had done it.

We then made our way back to the car and set off for our hotel. We again saw a group of mackals which flew in front of the car, these were really rare so we were lucky to see them but too slow to get a picture. After a short while we were in downtown Manaus and reached our hotel. When we tried to check in they said our room wasn't ready and we had to wait a while. We were pretty tired, dirty and hungry and weren't so happy about this. However after 30mins we got our room which turned out to be quite nice.

We were both hungry so decided we should go straight out. We came out of our hotel and went to see what was around but quickly realised there wasn't much for us. We came back to the hotel and found a place on trip advisor that had really good reviews. We took down the address and went to get a cab.

The first cab we got into didn't know the place so we got out. The second driver seemed to know where it was so we set off with him. We had seen the place on the map and it didn't seem to far away. However our driver didn't actually know where it was and drove us around a bit and kept asking for directions. He eventually got us there and we decided only to give him 10 reals instead of the 15 reals on the metre. He argued with us and threatened to call the police but we just walked off.

We got a table in the restaurant but were still a bit nervous in case the taxi driver came back. He didn't however and we got out menus and decided what to eat. The speciality was fish here and there were a huge array of dishes with fishes I hadn't heard of. Shivani ordered a risotto and I decided on fish ribs cooked in a traditional way. Shivani also got a bottle of Chilean merlot which turned out to be good.

As an appetiser were given a fish soup that was very tasty. Shivani couldn't eat it and asked for bread but they surprisingly didn't have any. Our food came quick enough however and we both had huge portions. The dishes on the menu were for two people and they had not reduced the portion size for us.

We were hungry anyway so set about the food. The fish I had was meaty and the ribs were huge. The soup was also tasty although the black leaves in it stained my teeth. It was good however and I was quickly full not able to eat everything. Shivani was also quickly full and after finishing the wine were were ready for bed. We asked for a taxi and then set off for the hotel.

We were quickly there and after taking showers got into bed. It was only 9.30pm but we done a lot today so quickly fell asleep knowing we had to get up early for our Amazon adventure tomorrow.