Today was spent paddling through the flooded forest. We set off down the Mamori by motorised canoe for about three quarters of an hour, passing a school of grey dolphin on the way, to start to paddle into the Igapos. At times we were paddling though the canopy of these giant trees, which are embraced by creepers. Marcelo had a machete, to break through in places and Viv wore her mosquito head net. John decided it was too hot to wear his. Actually there were not too many mosquitos in the Igapos, but lots of crawly things falling from trees, like little spiders and different bugs. It was another world, full of sound one minute and completely silent apart from the gentle sound of our slow paddling the next. Every now and again a loud splash ... read more

Saturday 23rd May 2015 We like Manaus, despite its congested, hazardous streets and dilapidated architecture. There is grime, noise and obvious poverty; it is claustrophobically hot at times and they can´t make coffee, despite the fact that they grow it. As the song goes…”there´s an awful lot of coffee in Brazil!” but nobody seems to drink it. There are no coffee bars and nobody drinks it after meals here. Tea infusions seem to be more popular. The street dogs are skinny. Manaus grew up due to the rubber trade, built by the European and North American “Rubber Barons” in the nineteenth century, then just left to gently decay. The Rubber Barons exploited the indigenous Indian peoples, devastated huge swathes of rainforest, built an elegant European city in the jungle and then went away, to plant rubber ... read more

The parrots that live here in the Amazon are Giant Macaws, exotically-coloured and noisy. One such creature who lives in the canopy near the lodge, likes to frequent the open bar area from time to time. He is a regular visitor who enjoys squawking at visitors, with either a friendly “Hello” or a shrill and repetitive “F… off!” as the mood takes him! This is obviously a universal phrase taught by tourists to parrots. We met one such Macaw, eight years ago on the island of Aruba in the Caribbean, who delighted in swearing at all and sundry with an astonishingly rich repertoire of colourful expletives. Unlike the free wild Macaw who visits the bar here, the Aruba bird lived in a cage, so consequently led a miserable life, being frequently hidden away in solitary confinement ... read more

We are going back to Brazil in eight weeks time! We have decided that we really cannot leave the second part of our South American Odyssey until next year; we need to do this now, whilst the Latin American colours and sounds are still fresh and the feet are itching to travel. The Samba rhythms are calling us back across the ocean. We have booked flights from Alicante, via Madrid to Rio de Janeiro, on Saturday 16th May, returning after two months on Sunday 12th July 2015. From Rio we plan to fly up to Manaus for two weeks in the Amazon, then return South to get back down to the Argentinian and Paraguayan borders to see the Iguazu Falls. Our planned trip to England in July may now be postponed until the Autumn. So, the ... read more

Saturday 7thFebruary 2015 This blog is being written half way across the Atlantic on a flight bound for England. It is the early hours of the morning. Very sadly, John’s mum passed away on Wednesday evening, so we are returning to the UK. We shall return to South America to continue our travels in a week or two and resume the blogging. Here follows a very brief update, since we left Buenos Aires on Tuesday morning… The ferry across the Rio de la Plata to Colonia de Sacramento took just over an hour and it was a smooth crossing. Colonia is a small town, the oldest in Uruguay, with some of the old walls still intact. It is located in a strategic position, guarding the entrances to the River Uruguay and the River Parana. We stayed ... read more