Amazon woman and Murphy's Law...

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Well there’s always ONE Murphy’s law day on a vacation….and I just had mine. At least I know it’s over, right? Lol anyway… I had to wake up at 0330 this morning to pack and meet my guide to take me to the airport at 0500. well, he called me at 0500 and I had OVERSLEPT. My flight left in just over an hour and I still hadn’t packed. Well I just threw everything into my luggage and made sure I knew where my passport, itinerary and Ipod were. Everything else I’d sort out later. Well I was in such a hurry I forgot to leave out my sweatshirt for the flight…you know how cold planes can get? Well I was in a tank top, jean shorts and sandals…I now know
how cold it can get! I was freezing and they don’t have blankets on domestic flights.  The good news is after I landed in Manaus I met up with a pretty cool guide who informed me that after we get to the Tropical Manaus hotel (where I’ll be later this week…) I will be transferred to a boat so I can get to the Ariau Towers lodge. It will be a 2.5 hour trip… Sing with me now “a three hour tooouur!!” It was phenomenal. I was in a boat, with beer, and 4 other travelers. One was an American dating a Brazilian, and her sister and her boyfriend. They are pretty cool. We sat and drank beer and just watched as we got deeper and deeper into the Amazon.



Once we got here we were greeted with music, song and we were ‘leid.’ Well actually they’re necklaces, but you get the idea. I had about 2 hours free time after check in to shower (missed mine this morning!) and just walk around the towers. Right now I’m sitting on a deck in a tower that is right over the river. There’s a TV on, but I’m good at selective hearing….The sounds of the jungle are all around me. This whole trip has been just fantastic. I have dreamt about many of these places since I was a little girl. I remember my 4th grade teacher coming in from summer vacation and showing us pictures of her jungle safari in the Amazon Jungle. I always thought that someday when I “grew up” I would hope to be able to afford a trip to do that. Guess what?! Tomorrow I’m doing a jungle hike!

Tonight we met our English speaking guide and after a fantastic dinner we boarded our motorized canoe to travel down the river to go caiman spotting. That was just damn cool. Once the guides spotted one, another guy jumped into the river and brought a caiman back in the boat with him. We all got to touch her and get pix with the little girl. Apparently, this caiman was about 3 yrs old, and a female. After that, the guide let our little visitor go and we just sat in the canoe, engine off, absorbing the sounds of the jungle at night. There is NOTHING that can replicate those few minutes. I just closed my eyes and breathed in as deep as I could—absorbing it all. The sounds and the smells. It’s so fresh. The air is so thick (damn humid!) but it’s winter here and much cooler than Rio or Iguazu. And by much I mean it’s around 85-90, rather than 110-115! Lol. That’s about my day. It was pretty cool, even though it was a VERY rocky start. It’s ending perfectly…Updating my blog AND drinking my fav new drink….yay! I go hiking at about 8am tomorrow so I’ll be heading to bed soon, I’m thinking. I didn’t sleep hardly at all last night because I drank too much coffee at dinner.

OOH!! And Robert—this is just for you…Not only did I SEE monkeys today… I got to FEED them!! Here are a couple pix…






**the tower pic is from the boat when we're approaching. it's MUCH cooler than it looks...Pix of it to come tomorrow...

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Comments

[Robert]

That pic is so cool, it's almost as if you're presenting him to me, "Ta Da." So how was the Amazon, what kind of animals did you see? Well, talk to ya later. Savor these last few days and remember, you'll get back there someday.