Blogs from Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, South America - page 16

still under the weather and barely eating i signed up for a three day jungle trip. I really wanted to do more and head deep into the jungle and visit some crazy amazonian witch doctor and drink and eat wierd amazonian animals but after my disatarous boat ride and the fact that i didn´t have any malaria pills i decided on a bit of a tamer version. (for those of you that want to know... i looked everywhere and couldn´t find malaria prevention tablets to buy... you seem only to be able to buy the medication if you get malaria here... well at least that is good to know!) on top of this tho there are not many mosquitos in manaus as it is on the rio negro and apparently the mosiquitos don´t like the black ... read more

Arriving in Rio after the quiet, tranquil beauty of Patagonia was something of a shock to the system. This once pristine Atlantic rainforest is now an ever expanding urban sprawl rapidly consuming all remaining coves, beachfront, foreshores and hillsides. Although I was well aware of many of the problems facing Rio, though, I did not expect it to be quite as rundown and decreipt as it was. Almost reminicent of present day Havana after its 48 year trade embargo. But at the same time the whole place was just so full of life and energy which give it this very rough and raw feeling and excited you as much as scared you. One thing is for sure though Rio is a very charismatic town. On my first day I decided to do a tour of one ... read more

Did you know that the Amazon is over 6 million sq. kilometres and is larger than the whole of Europe. The Amazon boasts over a fifth of the world's bird and plant species and the river holds 20% of the worlds fress water. At the mouth of the river in Belem it is so wide that you can not see the other side. There is even certain parts of the river which are comlpetely black due to the algae and there is literally a line where it hits the normal water as the 2 can not mix. I had the pleasure of a 4 day trip down the river to Manaus Brazil on a cargo ship in hammock class. The boat was full with about 250 - 300 people. The River is so wide that we ... read more

Hello, What an adventure we have had since our last update. After writing our last entry we met up with ten others at a 40 metre high bridge to do a pendulum swing. The idea is that you are harnessed to rope that is under the bridge, you then jump out as far as possible and when the rope goes tort you swing under the bridge like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. When you are on the edge of the bridge you do start worrying, and this was made worse as the water level in the stream below was low and you could see all of the rocks. We all managed to do it, and it was a great adrenaline rush, but the funniest moment was seeing Lorraine on the edge of the bridge. Lorraine ... read more

It’s another day of teaching English at ADCAM. The children look at me with curiousity and unsureness. I can see they don’t know what to think of this whole English thing. Many of them have never spoken a word of English in their lives. I am a foreigner in this tropical world and in their eyes it is strange but hilarious. They smile and laugh hysterically when I say “purple” or the letter “w.” They especially love when I say “you are a boy,” as boy (boi) is “cow” in Portuguese. Today my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I think that’s a good sign. As they write in their notebooks the room is quiet. They concentrate on each letter and check the board for mistakes. A small beige and white dog lies under a desk ... read more