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Manaus heralded our arrival by scorching us alive, the heat being so oppressive we were incredibly relieved to discover that our room had air-conditioning. Still, no time to sit around: we had to find a tour company to take us in to the jungle the next day AND book a flight out of Manaus for when we returned. With so many tours sounding incredible it was hard to choose, but we managed to get one booked. We got our flight sorted and walked around the city a little bit. We hadn't heard great things about Manaus, but so far we had found it quite pleasant. As we walked past some shops, men advertising their wares welcomed us to the city over their microphones. We would be returning to Manaus after our jungle tour, so we didn't do too much - it had been a long journey down the river and we were about to head off on a real adventure.
The next morning we were picked up in a taxi for the start of the 3 hour journey to the Juma Lodge, our base in the rain forest. We were taken to a speedboat which took us about 20 minutes
upriver, during which we started to wonder if we were on the right tour. The English-speaking man we booked it with wasn't there (despite him telling us he would be) and the boat had the name of another tour company on the front! The lady we were with assured us we were going to the right place, though we only understood thanks to a Swiss girl who translated for us. We met a VW camper van at the other side of the river, which took us 45 minutes (driving past dozens of giant lilypads) to another speedboat, which flew down the river for another 45 minutes until we finally reached the lodge on the Juma Reserve. We were now quite far in to the amazon, about 100km from Manaus.
Set on the river, with a few houses either side and the accommodation further up the hill from the bank, the lodge looked idyllic in the strong equatorial sun. We were greeted by Jerry, the owner of the lodge, a large jolly man who couldn't have been nicer, and treated to lunch. We then had a few hours to settle in. Our cabin was amazing: ensuite, a double bed and
the all-important mosquito net!
At 2pm we headed out with our guide & two others for our first adventure: camping in the jungle. With a mixture of excitement (Carina) and dread (Chris) we travelled on a tiny motorboat for a while before we started weaving along smaller channels. It wasn't long before we saw some wildlife: a dozen monkeys, all in a line, climbing through the trees. As we were arriving at our camp a huge pink dolphin rose out of the water, not 5 metres from our boat. An incredible - if brief - sight; the adventure was really beginning!
We got to the camp at about 5pm and found it was certainly the most basic of camps: a small shelter to sling a hammock under and a space to make a fire. Straight away we had to hunt for some dry wood, which was tough because it was the rainy season. We got a fire going eventually and then started to make dinner, which consisted of chicken being held between two pieces of wood and then cooked on the fire, with rice. For desert our guide chopped up a pineapple. The whole meal was served on
banana leaves for that extra jungle flavour. Surprisingly delicious!
There isn't too much to do in the rain forest at night so we went to bed very early, but not before Carina found a huge spider dangling from the shelter. The guide removed it, though it served as a reminder to not leave our shoes in the open air overnight! It was only about 8:30 when we got in our hammocks to sleep, so we both found ourselves listening to the sounds of the amazon while wondering what was scuttling around beneath our hammocks. Luckily we had mosquito nets here also - this really was camping in the jungle!
We both awoke early, though Carina couldn't get out of the hammock until she was sure Chris was awake so that he could check for spiders. The coast was clear, so we had a breakfast of fruit and bread before leaving the camp at 8am to go and visit some of the cablocos, the collective name for inhabitants of the area.
On arrival we immediately looked around their farming area, where they grew everything imaginable: pineapples, bananas, manioc, mangos - we even tried some guava fresh from the
tree. Very tasty! They had a Brazil nut tree and a fascinating rubber tree in their garden, from which we kept cutting pieces to keep. The family were almost completely self-sufficient, occasionally getting goods from Manaus but otherwise living off the amazon. Their house itself was very basic, though it seemed more comfortable than the Peruvian family's house that we visited near Iquitos. We would be back to visit them again the following evening, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the lodge for lunch.
Despite the heat - which must have reached 40 degrees - we took a small canoe out by ourselves. It was fun, but at that time of day it was just too hot so we didn't stay out for long. Instead we had a couple of hours rest and went back out with our guide. By now the other two people had left so it was just the two of us - in fact, because it was low season we were the only two in the entire lodge, so it really did feel like we were on our own in the jungle! We explored some of the swamps near the lodge, on
the search for the elusive sloth; perhaps not the most exciting of creatures, but one we still hadn't seen properly in the wild. It remained elusive; we saw and heard plenty of birds, and even heard iguanas falling from the trees in to the water, but no sloths.
We changed boats at the lodge before heading out to see the dolphins at sunset. We can't really put in to words just how amazing this was. The sun went down in a gloriously colourful farewell while grey dolphins splashed around us and dozens of noisy parrots squawked in a nearby tree. An incredible moment, and we were only about 200 metres away from the lodge.
As it got dark we returned to the lodge, though we headed straight back out again, this time to go caiman spotting. We thought it might take a while, but only a few minutes after leaving the lodge our guide spotted one of the opposite bank. We headed there as fast as we could and before we knew it he had plunged his arms in and pulled out two small caimans! Very impressive. He explained a bit about them and let us hold them.
Chris was worried about strangling his one and accidently loosened his grip. The caiman felt an opportunity to escape and grabbed it, attempting to wriggle free. Luckily Chris managed to fling it back in the river before he got bitten! Carina was a bit scared and wouldn't hold it's head, but even she was impressed by these awesome creatures. Having been around for millions of years their evolution has refined them perfectly for this habitat, so we were happy enough not to meet one of the big ones!
It had been a very adventurous day in the amazon so we had dinner and went to bed, ready for more of the same the next day...
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