Day 1 - packing only daypacks (still making me think poorly about my heavy pack) and heading off in a car to the dock was the start of our amazon trip. We boarded our first boat and headed out to the mixing of the rivers, the location where Rio Negro and Rio Amazonas meet. Due to density, temperature and chemistry, they don't mix initially, and you can see the black water next to the brown of the amazon, with 'packages' of water of each colour in the other, but not mixed.
We headed up river for a while, where we learnt that on average the river fluctuates by 12m in height and is currently getting 5m wider per year. This was made evident by the boat dodging debris. I called it a log but Sarah corrected me, 'Andrew, it's the whole tree,' and she was very right. It was common to see the dirt removed from under trees with the roots exposed, whole trees fallen over the eroding banks, or having them floating past you.
We then changed to a combi-van to complete the next part, where we got off the boat at the 'new' dock in the image. This was an interesting drive on roads that had been recently remade, and with parts missing. We talked with a few interesting people who ended up on our group of 7, but more about them later.
We got another boat which is the one to take us to the lodge. By now it's raining and the boat is fully enclosed with plastic.... It was hard to see where we were going which was a concern as I was sitting in front of the driver. It was a nice relief to pull up the plastic when it stopped raining and we could see the jungle.
After some lunch we had 2 hours to relax and I couldn't resist..... Jump in and swim in the amazon. Sarah bought up something about one of the people in our group, could they be the lonely planet writer? A persuasive argument she had for why and when we checked the book, yes. Somehow she picked it that we were in a group with the lonely planet writer!! Others in our group were two people from our hostel, Caroline an English lady and Rens a dutch guy. We had them the whole time and were fun for a laugh. We also had two older crazy German guys who were interesting, nice enough and very energised/motivated. Given time you would have read in the paper of two germans eaten by something or dying eaten poison berries. The two other inclusions were Robinson our guide who was great to meet and very helpful and funny. Wilson is the last person, usually he sells the tours and organises the Manaus end. He was there because the lonely planet writer was with us for two days. He's really nice, funny and helps with everything.
We then left to head out animal spotting and piranha fishing. This was amazing fun, sitting in the shade fishing for a fish that would eat you if you gave it a chance (well only the red ones and Caroline was the only one in our group to catch one of them). I caught my first fish, and 4 more. I can't remember how many Sarah got, hehe. It was a great afternoon relaxing and taking it all in and we had piranha soup for dinner.
Before dinner we were told we were going out to find a caiman (crocodile). They caught one and we all had a look and hold, about 50-60cm I think.

Day 2 - early rise for sunrise on a cloudy day, and bird watching.... I think the extra sleep would have been nice but you don't know till you do it. Today sounded great, out in the jungle to hike and be taught about survival and medicine in the amazon, lunch and relax/swim, then set up a camp in a different area of jungle and head out animal spotting and looking for caimans for the german guys to catch. Dinner and caipirinhas with our first night in hammocks in the jungle.
It was great fun with too many points to mention, but elaborate on the nighttime activities.
Setting up hammocks, lighting candles and putting them around on trees and anything else possible and lighting a fire to cook the chicken on. (an interesting background this chicken, partially frozen and rolling around the front of the boat for half a day, then washed and cut open in the river. It was cooked hot so no one got sick) When the chicken starts cooking and the caipirinhas are being prepared. A few good conversations going on around the 'tables' made for a great night. We finished dinner and the scraps and bones go into the jungle... not the fire?? You could tell this during the night as animals came for food. This is the first time we have slept in hammocks with insect nets over them. To sleep in a hammock, you have it higher and tighter than you think and sleep diagonally over the material. This makes your bed flatter, and it does, but it's hard to stay there.

Day 3 - early wake up call from a restless first night in the hammocks. It wasn't just the hammock trying to push you out or the attemplt to sleep 'diagonally', but the sounds of breaking branches by the animals eating the chicken bones from last nights dinner. Breakfast was to be with a local family so we packed up quickly and left our jungle shelter. Arriving at the family's 'dock' (for lack of a better word in which I'll explain later), we were greeted by a couple of the seven children and taken up to the house. The house was a large structure with a small area walled with sheets that were the bedrooms. The parents had a bed in a room and the kids slept in hammocks in the other. A full varandah and outdoor, undocover kitchen was a nice place to sit down, although quite hot. There was also a large area that had massive equipment for processing manioc. This had the largest frying pan!! It also doubled as a place for us to hang our hammocks.
The farm consisted of many crops for the family to eat and sell, with red bananas being my favourite, or the tree that had a type of candy floss around the seeds. The house had a litter of puppies that were adorable, especially since they all had little clothes to stop them itching their fur off. Normally I hate clothing on animals but this served a good purpose and were more rags that had been made into clothes.... With lots of love as they were individual. We have many pictures of them. There were also ducks, which kept going into a dance routine, bobbing the heads back and forth and 'wagging' their tails quickly. It was great for a laugh. At one point one duck was standing on the other duck and going around in circles. Robinson then answered Sarah's question... "They are trying to sex".
After this we headed back for lunch the long way trying to spot animals.
After a discussion with the guide and the German two leaving, the plan was changed to what the travel agent had promised, a night with the local family and night spotting and cayman catching rather than staying in the lodge, a good win for all. After lunch we packed up some drinks and food and went back to the family on the way to more fishing and animal spotting. This time the goal is larger piranhas by using hand lines. We set up and learnt what to do, and just then an armidallo Walks nearby on the shore. In all the excitement my line pulls my hand and my hands reel the line in for my biggest one.... Very Lucky as we were reeling in to move the boat so Robinson could catch the armidallo. Him and the boy from the family tried but only hit the defensive spikes on it before it jumped in the water. I'm still not sure how well or if they swim. :)
We set back up and threw in our lines. Not long went by and a couple of fish are caught, when Sarah gets a nibble and reels in the critter, her first piranhas (see photo). We use all our bait and catch a few more to be fried for dinner, our favourite way to eat piranha.
We get back in time to have a beer and set up our hammocks for the night. Went down for a swim with Rens and Robinson to find the scaling and fish guts going where we were going to swim. Rens uses the dock to get out a little further to find it sinks.... And if you step off the middle, individual parts sink. Realising it was almost sunset, we borrowed the boat from Robinson and drove to watch the sunset over the house and jungle. We had dinner in the outside kitchen/dining room, which only has a roof. It was so hot and humid, after a small amount of food I was sweating and needing to get out of there soon. I looked up at Rens and could see his shirt wet and flowing sweat, so I didn't feel as hot. Still had to leave but I wasn't the first. The guitar came out and we rested with caprinahas until 9:30pm, when we set out night spotting and catching caymans on the boat. This is easier as a flashlight will show the eyes of the animal, orange for cayman, blue for other animals. My first attempt to catch a cayman was stopped short as it was over 1m long. This is when I thought of them as crocodiles and not big lizards. I did end up being bitten by one and catching one, I just won't tell you it was 10-15cm long and I was scared of squashing it. This was finished with night number two in hammocks at 12:30, a big day.

Day 4 - We all got up early and swung out of the hammocks. They take abit of a toll on knees if you lay straight on your back and you have to get use to them. Coffee, lemongrass tea with eggs pineapple and tapioca to eat made a small breakfast. We packed up and left the family and the cute puppies and ducks. Our next stop was a rubber farm, where we saw the trees and the process used in the olden days. We then stopped at the local village and school. The last run back to the lodge we saw more than other transit runs. This included caymans, hawks and falcons. For some reason this time there were larger caymans on the shore and we were able to approach them in the boat for a close look before they slid in and away. Then lunch and the return to Manaus :(

Andrew