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Published: October 5th 2008
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Reflections
The Amazon - Mamori River The Amazon Well it is safe to say that coming from London not that long ago, we had forgotten what humidity is like. The Amazon is about 80%!h(MISSING)umidity and we were soaked in sweat just sitting still!!! I guess this could be considered a warm up for our return to Sydney!
The trip into the Amazon really was something special. The eco systems are so interesting and the scenery like nothing else. The Amazonian people still live along the river banks in huts and travel around the various rivers by boat. These days they wear western clothes and in some areas, the children attend school. Their lives are very simple though, and there was no sign of TV....
DAY 1 We started our trip into the Amazon from Manaus, where we met the other 2 membes of our group, a couple form Holland. We then boarded our boat and headed to the Meeting of the Waters, where the muddy brown Solimoes river meets the black water of the Rio Negro and from there is called the Amazon. The water from both rivers is a different colour and temperature so you can actually see where they meet! Unfortunately
it was a little murky on the day we went past so there are no clear photos to show you.
From there we headed futher into the Amazon, the trip taking 2 trucks and 2 boat rides. Needless to say the scenery was absolutely spectacular with the forest reflected in the water, fish jumping out about a metre high and varieties of birds we have never seen before chirping on the braches and dive bombing the fish when they appeared!
Arriving at our lodge we were shown to a cute little bungalow each and had the first of many fantastic fresh fish meals in the floating restaurant. We were pretty amazed to look out the window and see pink dolphins swimming past and playing in the water!
After lunch we were back in the boat spotting wild life and enjoying the scenery. We then stopped for a little fishing....lets just say that Elena caught 3 piranhas in 2 days and Frank, well he got his line all caught up in a tree!!!
Day 2 The second day of the trip we headed further into the amazon and camped in the forest - by camp, I mean
we slept in hammocks with mosquito nets! Gathering fire wood was an interesting challenge, we pulled the boat/canoe up next to a big tree stump in the river and Elena then balanced standing up and tried to yank chunks of wood off it without falling in! This was enough to get the fire started however we needed a bit more to keep it going into the night, so the guide took Frank and a Japanese guy who had joined us for the night into the forest to gather some more. All of a sudden there was hollering and hooting and what sounded like a stampede of elephants.....Frank emerged from the trees running full pelt towards the fire, waving his arms around like a mad man aka Homer Simpson! Somehow he had managed to get swarmed by some very angry bees - lucky for him they were the kind that bite rather than sting (yeah we had no idea there was such a kind either!!) Not sure either of would pass the auditions for survivor!
Day 3 The third day we went on a long walk into the amazon. Our guide was amazing, machette in hand, he led us deeper
and deeper into the forest and as we stumbled along trying not to fall into a pit of rotted wood or ducking under low hanging branches, he would suddenly stop and say, "look there is water in this branch" and produce some for drinking or.."this on has medicinal qualities and will kill paracites in your stomach". His knowledge of plants, environmental issues and animals was phenomenal. Just when we thought the direction we were taking was a bit random ie. no paths to be seen, he made some hooting noises and we heard them returned. Above our heads in the canopy was a family of monkeys and we spent a couple of hours following them through the forest. It was so cool to see them in their natural environment!
After dark, our guide bundled us back into the canoe and we went Caiman (family of the crocodile) hunting. Our guide took the boat into the long reeds on the side of the river and we sat there quietly trying to spot the gleam of the Caiman´s eyes. All of a sudden, he plunged his hand into the water and came out with a small Caiman in his hand!!!!
Day 4 We visited a local family to see how they used to make items form rubber, which was taken from a tree. When we arrived, we found out they had caught some rather large fish and they invited us to come and watch them skin and prepare them. This was pretty hard work undertaken by the whole family, who were pretty excited about the catch!
On our return, we managed to get in a taxi AKA combi van, which got bogged in the mud. After a lot of revving, mud splattering and a number of people shouting out their theory on how to get "unbogged", Frank and the driver managed to push it to safety, we then discovered we had a flat. This would not have been a problem anywhere other than the Amazon .... instead of making it home free, the driver then realised he had the wrong jack and believe it or not the wrong tyre!!!! Ah! We managed to convince the next combi van that got bogged to "lend" us their spare and between 6-7 blokes we got the tyre changed.
Back to Manaus....not sure when we will be able to comfortably
sit down again after 4 days in a hard wooden seated canoe, but well worth it!
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