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Into the jungle we go. Well, not to start with extactly but the first day is spent in Manaus (very central Brazil in the middle of the Amazon rainforest). Ï´m travelling with Dan the geeza from Woodford, London again and he proves still to be a great travel companion. I need to speak next to nada Portugesse as he loves using his bilingual skills. So, first day we manage to book a five day tour into the jungle some 280km away from Manaus and then proceed to the location of the meeting of the waters, where the Rio Negro and some other river connect. Due to their very different densities and compositions the water from the two rivers don´t actually mix fully for quite a few kilometers, leaving a weaving pattern of black and cloudy water. Photos to come shortly.
This place is so hot and sticky. Our bedrooms at night only had fans and so you sleep in a film of sweat and insect repellant. Nice. Up at 5am the next morning for our bus and speed boat to the jungle camp. The main camp consists of several temporary structures with palm leaves to shelter from the rain. When it does rain later that day there is only one structure that actually shelters us from most of the rain. And when i say rain, i mean RAIN. Before lunch we were sitting in the shelter when something dropped into the lap of Hanne, a Finnish girl in Sth America on her honeymoon. At first I couldn´t see what it was but then it bacame apparent that a scorpion found her lap more comfortable than his home in the ceiling. It was killed quikly by one of the workers, but left us all with a slight degree of hesitation about being in such a wild place.
After lunch we went off fishing for piranas and low and behold i was the only person not to catch one, but that didn´t stop me eating my fare share at the dinner table that night thanks to all the other fishermen. Pan fried pirana actually tastes quite nice and is considered an aphrodisiac in some parts. Relaxing in the afternoon hours in a hammock is most joyous, however sleeping in one is an entirely different concept and one which i never enjoyed. I tried all sorts of different positions but just couldn´t get comfy.
Next morning we´re off into the deep jungle and after five hours of walking we have a late lunch and begin to get accostomed to our surroundings. Our hammocks are set up under some very temporary structures and you sleep with all the jungle noises around you. Sleeping generally consisted of going to bed at 7.30pm (yes, that´s right) and waking up with the horse flies at 5am. The horse flies are big suckers and love to land under your hammock to bite through to your back and buttocks for an early morning surprise.
The noises of the jungle are fantastice with favourites being the howling monkeys and frogs. Camp was next to a stream in which we bathed and took drinking water from, for which we had no choice as carting water into the jungle is not an option. In the jungle if you move you sweat and hence your clothes are always saturated. You kind of get used to it but the point does come when you want cooler weather.
Other highlights from the jungle trip include caymen catching (our guide Emerson pulled a little one into the boat for us to play with.), staying with a local family one night and getting an insight into their lives. They provided us with very cold beers so we were all happy. We made really accurate blow pipes, but unfortunately I left mine in the hostel, so no cowboys and indians for me.
I got the runs at the end of the jungle trip so a return to Manaus was very welcome. A few days chillin in the city before Dan and I part ways as he flies to north eastern Brazil and I´m off to Quito, Ecuador...... and BTW, the foot is doing well and didn´t hold me up anywhere, although was a pain in the butt. Thanks for all your emails and notes about it!
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