Welcome to the Jungle

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The three flights from Foz du Iguazu to Manaus were fairly uneventful, we stayed a night in Iguazu airport to save a few quid and easily found some chairs to call home for the night while the airport lay absolutely silent apart from the whistling security guard who didnt seem to mind us being there.

I knew it was going to hot in Manaus, its pretty close to the equator (200km) and in the middle of the Amazon jungle so it wasnt going to be as pleasent as the South, but the feeling as we got off the plane was ridiculous, it was like walking into a sauna with central heating on, in a roll neck jumper, obviously with full packs i instantly started sweating, alot, as we headed through the busy airport.

At the bus stop we meet a guy called Armstrong (born in 1969 he was named after the astronaught), having been up all night and flying all day we werent in the mood for the usual spiel about his hostel, his tour, his cab, his wife etc so we get the basic facts from him about tours and hostels and boats and get on the bus. He comes with us, we decide to go to ´his´hostel in the end as it was a good price and on arrival we meet Jeremy. Now ill save the details about Jeremy for another time but he was the best person i´ve met so far, he basically sold his council house and is travelling for two years while writing a book about travelling, all in all a great charachter.

So now we have a hostel, next task is to get a tour, after several free beers at Armstrongs bar we give in to his pressure and decide to leave at 8am the next day for 4 days at a lodge deep in the jungle. It may sound as if we were easily persuaded but his tour did sound excellent and the picture of him in his younger days as a body builder was enough to sway even the most cynical of cynics.

That night i go to bed early but decide to get up at 2am to join in the party that seemed to have kicked off in the hostel living room area, mainly involving Tom DJing on his ipod and a fridge full of beers, a few hours later we call it a day.

Day 1

Armstrong arrives at half seven and cooks us eggs, as promised, before we get taken to the docks and aboad a large two story boat where we meet our guide, Ruben - hes a young little fella who seems quite quiet which is good as so many guides are idiots its nice to meet a reserved one. The docks are amazing, the fish and meat market spills out all around and people are rushing about carrying large dirth packages as other gut fish on the many piers. There are also floating petrol stations and shops. After a few minutes we realise its only us on this boat for the next 4hrs so we hook up some hammocks and swing about in the sun while travelling upstream towards the lodge. On route we go to the meeting of the waters famous for being the point where the two rivers join but the waters do not mix together for 11km, the waters are black and brown and the divide can be clearly seen, the non-mixing is due to different speeds and temperatures of the water, as an attraction id give this 6/10.

The rainy season is almost at its end and the waters are very high, the trees around us look like shrubs but are actually the secondary canopy and have another 15-20m below the surface, the whole place is beautiful and its hard to imagine the area in dry season.

As we arrive at the lodge we are welcomed by a lunch of fish, rice and beans on a large table on a decking area. The floating lodge is in a remote and tranquil area surrounded by trees and fish in the water. It so much nicer than i expected, especialy after being so suspicious of Armstrong.

After lunch and meeting some other people staying on the lodge we head out Pirana fishing and the heavens open. This isnt normal rain, everything in the Amazon is bigger or faster or deadlier than normal things so this rain is hard and hot. Luckily Matt is on flying form and catches 4 pirana before id even got my mac on, as mentioned before being the animal activist i am im not 100% for fishing so decided not to catch anything, neither did tom. The rain hammered down on and off for a few hours causing larger swells of river to shake the tiny boat we were in, i was more than happy to get back on semi-stable land of the lodge.

After a lunch of pirana and the usual beans, rice, jungle potato we head out on the motor canoe to look for some alligators. As the sun fell out of sight a tremedous storm ignited all around us, this was the best lightning ive ever seen with forks travelling horizontally for miles before crashing down, luckily this storm was some distance away and we stayed dry. After a few hours of travelling in the pitch dark my vision had turned black and white and the scenery looked stunning, we slowed down and moved into thick jungle areas where after a few attempts Ruben caught an aligator. It was tiny, about 9months old, but its still the clostest ive came to holding a dinosaur and as you can tell by my face in the photo i liked the little fella. His skin was pretty tough and im sure in a few years i would run away from him but at the time i thought id quite like one as a pet for a day or two.

After a few photos with the aligaotor matt attempts to but him back in the water, he wasnt game and instead whipped round and darted back into the boat, small scare but he was a tiny one so no one could have got hurt. We head back for a night in the hammocks.

The noise surrounding the lodge at night was amazing, it seems every animals wants to talk to each other at night so its a wall of animals sounds, the best being a frog who made the loudest and most unoriginal frog noise throughout the entire night.

Day 2/3

We get up very early, eat and head off on the boat to find the high land to do a 4hr trek. Riding in the boats around the rivers and channels of the Amazon would never bore me, everytime we went out we just sat there in the baking sun watching tree tops, rustling with squirral monkeys, go by. After a few hours we reach the start point of the trek, there was a small hut with a women a few chairs and an aligators skull the size of a large dog, apparently the beast had tried to attack the hut owners granddaughter so he got his spear and killed it, nice.

The hike was amaizing, our guide knew everything about every plant and a few minutes in had spotted a snake that if bitten would kill you in 24hrs (in his words ´ín 24hrs you will be in paradise´), this is when i realised that this isnt a walk round the New Forest and theres alot of things around that may not want to but could well end my life pretty quickly.

The walk continues and we smell, taste and drink alot of plants as we walk through this ridiculous humid environment, it was like walking straight into a nature programme with butterflies the size of birds flying around and some giant giant ants which to be honest scared me more than anything else, they were too small and quick for me and ones kept getting under my trousers. Again if bitten, 24hrs of pain, swelling and nausea to be enjoyed. The highlight of the trek from me was the spider, after joking that Tom like spider Ruben made me stand next to a small hle inb the ground, he wiped my swaet on a leaf and poked it into this hole. As i saw a hairy leg appear i couldnt beleived the size of this spider, and it was ginger, It was huge, i hope th photos do it justice. It size and ability to jump 35cm where pretty scary but the fact that its bite would kill you and its dust on its legs blind you forever meant this was the hardest thing around. Ruben teased teh spider into taking itas attack position where it stood perfectly still waiting to jump, he then picked it up and waved it avbout. Ruben has been bitten twice by these, by a snake a month agao and has had malaria ten times...so hes either quite tough or stupid.

After the trek we return to the lodge and eat and prepare to head out into the jungle to stauy overnight int the open and have a BBQ. Agin its another hour boat journey to the high land where we will stay and as we carry the supplies through the thick jungle the sound of a waterfall becomes cleaer. The camp site area is placed next to one of the most picturesque waterfalls ive ever seen, and the camp is complete after we make a table, chairs and cutlery. I could have stayed here for a long time, especially as tehre are no mosquitos (i still got bitten three time in the night). After cooking a chicken and rice on teh fire and relaxing in our hammocks we go to sleep. I dont think i got mcuh sleep that night, the sounds of the jungle and the crackling of twigs all around made it difficult to fuully switch off and typically i needed ther toilet at about 3am, possibly the scariest walk of my life but worth it. One of my favourite nights of the trip so far.

We get up at 6.27am cook eggs on the fire and pack up and say goodbyer to this little piece of paradise in the jungle. Tonight we are heading back into Manaus to go up stream to see some dolphins. Firstly though we head ouut in a canoe to try to cvatch a sloth, i love sloths and this was to become ahiglight for sure. After an hour rowing we cutinto the thick tree tops and steer the canoe inbetween logs and branches, the about of beasties in here is ten time in the open so within minutes the bpoat is crawling iwth ants, spiders, moths and general bugs. We keep going and Ruben darts up a tree to grab one of the slow guys by the scruff of its neck and slide down with it. Now these are slow animals and possible have the funniets faces of all animals, I felt a bit sorry for it as i held it by its back it was truely helpless and all it wanted to do was to hug a branch. After a while Ruben place it back on a tree where after a few pul ups ot was hugging away like nothing had happen, i cant believe they are not extinct yet.

We rowed back to the base for one last time, trying to takle in the environment, looking back i think its the best place ive ever been. After a fuinakl lunch we board the boat to head back to Manaus, after giving up on the hammocks due to swinging too high in the wind i sleep in the sun on teh deck for the 3hr journey. Once in Manasu we meet our new guide Ronaldo, a rast Brazillian witha cute 3yr iold son who is tagging alaong, and we head to the harbour to get our over night 10hr boat upstream. The boat is similar to one we wioll be geetting for 5days. Its hot, busy and loud and ech deck is crowded with hammocks, we find room for ours and movce to the top deck which is an open air bar area with atv showing a bad Brazillian concert very very loud. It cool on the top of the boat and after a few hours and af ew cans i go to bed and mainly sweat for the next 8hrs.

Day 4

As the sun rise over the river we pull into our destinationa dn go and get breakfsat. The town is really small and really untouched by tourism or any westerners really, its what i expected alot of South American to be like, well teh smaller ones. After breakfsatanad a tour of the town we head to the dolphins. We get changed and sit on the end of the pier area on a submergered plank as 5 or six beaks appear and dart around all looking for fish from us. These dolphoins are much bigger than i expected and are really strong especialy when knock each other out the way for food. As you hekld the food out they would first rise out of the water then move toward you until you gave ina nd dropped it. They are very charming anaimals and i can see why people think they intelligent, not sure about the tattoos though.

We leave the dolphins to enjoy the fish and head back to Manaus.

Back in Manuas we meet our local friends, basicaly a group of men who drink beer all day while sitting in the same bars, they sheppered me and matt over while we are walking by and we end up spending the night drink beers and having a street bbq of fish with them, it was nice to mix with some locals and good to see that these were genuinely freindly people who werent after our money.

After a day looking around an ecological presevation park (saw some giant otters, manitees, spider monkeys, parakeets and a Brazil world cup warm up game) we head back to the bars and start our last days/nights drinking in Manaus. After several hours we go back to the hostel and continue drinking with many passing travellers who have joined in throughout the day. After venturing to a local bar, the night ends very late, which is usually ok but witrh a 5 day boat to catch the next day it isnt ideal.

I wake up feeling dead, absolutely dead, the heat seems to have doubled and the humidity has closed in so packing is a hopeless task. After a few attempts at trying to feel better, including walking around town to get some guitar strings, we head to the boat.

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Comments

[Neil]

Sam what was that leaf from?