Manaus is a city of 2 million located in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. There are no roads to Manaus. It's accessible only by plane or boat. There are many Amazon "guides" headquartered there. (Some are even legitimate.) Since last November I had been corresponding with Antonio, a guide I found on the Internet. A typical exchange would consist of me asking ten or so questions and Antonio replying with answers to one or two of them. He sent me a checklist of what to bring—sheet for hammock, rain coat, flashlight, hiking shoes, and mosquito repellant. Any other luggage would have to be left behind in Manaus, he warned. Beyond that, I had little idea of what to expect. I arrived at midnight after a four-hour flight from Rio (Brazil is almost the same size
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