I´m back in Manaus and so many great things have happened I have no idea where to start. First place to start is my amazing guide and friend Elso Lima. If it hadn´t been for this guy I wouldn´t have seen a fraction of the things I´ve seen: I would have put my hand on the pink-toed tarantula that was hiding behind a leaf on the tree I was about to rest my hand on at our base camp in the jungle instead of putting his machete through it: I would have been completely and hopelessly lost in the dazzling mazes of canals and mysterious flooded forests, but Elso always found a way back to the camp by some fundamental guide power, in the dead of night with only a dull flashlight beam, the countless stars ... read more

Well, here I am sitting in the middle of the Amazon. The funny thing is that you would never know it from the city. It´s a bustling, busy place with tons of traffic and markets selling plastic toys and video games, and cheap knock-offs of famous label clothing. The people here look different than out in Olinda/Recife: they´re shorter, more typically South American looking - I thought I was in Peru or Bolivia earlier today! According to the book I was ready to be assaulted by hundreds of touts every step of the way from the airport. In fact, I have, literally, not been propositioned once, despite an extensive stroll around the Centro area. My hotel is one block away from the famous Theatre Amazonas. I´ll put up pics of it tomorrow - I was walking ... read more

I´m going to the airport in a minute to change my ticket to stay here an extra day. If I don´t , I´ll have an extra day in Olinda that I don´t really need, whereas one extra day here will be excellent. What a fantastic day yesterday was. I saw the other side of George: the skipper of the yacht. I realised that all these days hanging around, but I hadn´t seen one of the most important parts of the guy´s personality. It´s like knowing me without a guitar! The day looked a bit cloudy again but we decided to go for it anyway. We took a little dinghy out to the sailboat about 11:00am. What a beauty! It is a french made boat from the 70´s that cuts through the waves strong and true. George, ... read more

I´m only doing that to fit in with my buddies! I know what day it is, honest! It´s the day after I recorded the now 13 songs onto my camera, used up the entire memory card, and had to start transfering them to a flash drive I brought with me. The weather has been more than dubious here for the last three days, so the fact that I´ve been sitting in George´s house, jamming these songs (the 13 songs collectively have now got a title coutesy of George - Anum Cara. It means ´´Soul mates´´) , watching BBC, eating a great British breakfast the other day, then chicken and chips, including chip butties (french fry sandwiches, for the unitiated) yesterday, is absolutely fine. Today so far has been the cloudiest and rainy of the three. George ... read more

The friendly people at Your Way have a collection of photos on their computer that other tourists left for them and are free for, what Adrianna and Gabi call, ´clients´to use. I´ve trawled through and found the following collection of things that I´ve seen. This is only a fraction of the wonderful things I´ve seen. There are so many amazing sights that I can´t believe haven´t been stored here by fellow tourists. Anyway, it´s better than nothing, eh? See you on the flypaper, mike... read more