Manaus

The freezing airport air conditioning that greeted us on our arrival in Manaus meant only one thing…it wasn’t cold outside.

A slight hiccup with our collection (I might have accidentally told the tour company the wrong date) ensured that we had a prolonged wait in the airport before an uber carried us into the centre of Manaus.

The upside of the miscommunication was that we were invited to the Gero Tours office for a pre Amazon pep talk and, more importantly, we were given a great restaurant tip.

Abi and I shared this humongous tambaqui and it was delightful!

Hostel Manaus was our accommodation for the evening (and then again before our flight out of Manaus). We only needed a bed for the night and it did the job. We were particularly grateful to the air con which gave us some rest bite from the 35 degrees outside.

Abi’s Rating: 5/10 – “I’d give it a 7. It was a bit basic and the bathroom was grotty. Also the area was dodgy. Actually i’m giving it a 5. The artwork was good though”.

Mike’s Rating: 6/10 – Exactly what we needed but a sheet and towel deposit of 40 Reais was a little baffling. Plus the breakfast was a little uninspiring.

Reaching the Amazon

Having researched a variety of tour companies I decided to plump for Amazon Gero Tour as it looked like a cracking package for a reasonable enough price. The plan was to spend 4 days and 3 nights in the Amazon Rainforest to the North West of the city of Manaus.

Abi was somewhat anxious about this week and had taken it upon herself to read every single Trip Advisor review related to the tour. Thankfully they were generally quite positive!

The plan to reach the lodge from the centre of Manaus was thus:

Car —> Boat —> Van —> Boat = Total of 3 and a half hours.

The actual route looked more like this:

Car —> Play for time at a fish market —>Wait for random guy who had missed his tour —> Boat to the place where the guy’s tour was —> look for the guy’s tour —> Boat —> Van —> switch vans —> Boat = 5 hours

The journey wasn’t too bad to be fair…and we got to see the meeting of the two waters which is ridiculously cool. Because of differing temperatures, densities and speeds…the Amazon River (brown) and the Rio Negro (black/dark blue) run alongside each other but do not mix!

There had obviously been some rain around though as the second van was given a bit of a run around on slippery dirt track roads!

The final boat was a small little speedboat and we were whizzing towards the Jungle lodge when the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked. It was all the more baffling considering the blue skies above our heads…but this is the rainforest after all!

When we reached our accommodation there were few people around and we were shown to our shared room. It was up a steep flight of stairs and sat above the dining area. The room itself housed 11 beds but thankfully only one was occupied (it would remain this way throughout our 4 day stay – in fact Sabrina, our French companion, would leave on the penultimate day meaning we had the place to ourselves!)

This was a big plus as there was only one toilet/shower so the fewer people sharing that the better!

Abi’s Rating: 7/10 – “Better than I thought it was going to be. Bedrrom was fine, it was just the bathroom that was a bit meh”

Mike’s Rating: 7/10 – Mosquito nets and fan were excellent additions. Bathroom would have been a concern had it not been so quiet.

We were immediately given a hearty lunch (the meals were decent but understandably repetitive; Spaghetti, rice, beans, meat/chicken) before getting ready or the afternoon activity.

Amazon Cruising

We had arrived in the Amazon in the ‘shoulder season’. The rains had all but ceased (that massive arrival downpour aside) and we were informed that the water around the lodge would begin to subside over the next month or two…by November it would be completely dried out.

The upshot of all of this was that we did most of our traversing by boat. A few big pluses here; 1) Less walking in what was 40C feels like 47C weather 2) a cooling breeze 3) Speedboat is just a cool way to travel.

We had three very knowledgeable guides on our 4 day adventure. Janete was Guyanese and gave us some in depth information in English about the nuances of the Rainforest and the animals that resided there. She spotted a Sloth Mother and baby as well as somehow managing to pick out a sleeping night owl. We also found a Jacare and a whole host of exotic looking birds.

Unfortunately Janete wasn’t feeling too well for a couple of the days but we were left in the very capable hands of her Venezuelan husband Luis and local lad Fabiano who was a bundle of energy and an absolute wizard in his natural habitat (more on that in a minute).

When darkness had fallen we were taken back out onto the boat to witness one of the most incredible things I have seen. Fabiano controlled the boat and propelled it towards the grassy type reeds at the edge of the water while Luis would lie flat at the bow of the boat with arms outstretched. Quick as a flash he plunged his hand into the water and plucked out a Caiman. It was remarkable and a feat he managed twice in the space of about 5 minutes!

Morning Monkeys

On a couple of mornings we were treated to a show by the local monkeys who descended from the trees to collect their breakfast.

The Trek

On the second morning we embarked on a 3 hour trek that took us from our base at the lodge deep into the jungle. It was a gruelling endeavour with the heat reaching an unbearable level and sweat pouring from every crevice. Having said that we came across a variety of flora and fauna that were expertly pointed out br Luis and Fabiano.

They showed us which ants you could gather up and rub together to use as insect repellent, as well as finding milk from the inside of trees and plants that had a variety of healing powers. The undoubted highlight was the large (but still half the size of a male) female tarantula which was unbelievably cool to see up close in the wild.

Sleeping in the Jungle

We were still quite tired from our morning hike but Fabiano and Luis whisked Abi and I (along with Sabrina) away in the afternoon so that we could experience what it was like to camp in the jungle.

We were in the boat for about half an hour before arriving at the campsite but not before we had overcome some minor difficulties.

The water level had dropped faster than expected and as a result the route that they had taken in the past was not accessible. This didn’t seem to bother the two musketeers as their solution was to attempt to manoeuvre the boat through a labyrinth of trees, branches and ants nests. The outcome was a good 10 minutes of boat rocking, tree hacking (Fabiano wielding the machete was pretty epic) and the three passengers getting bitten by ants!

Hopefully the video below will shed some light…

When we finally reached land we were starting to lose daylight so quickly erected our hammocks and mosquito nets before gathering firewood to cook dinner.

Abi was very concerned that the two young men who had just hacked their way through the jungle were now in charge of cooking chicken but they managed to produce a wonderful dinner. The chicken was delightful and served with rice and a leaf plate that was made by the loving hands of Fabiano seconds before the food was served. A true Amazonian guru at the tender age of 23.

Sadly that is where the comfort ended as a mosquito infested night – coupled with the discomfort of sleeping in a hammock…it ain’t all it cracked up to be – meant that we awoke with a few bites. I had a few on my arms so was not best pleased but I actually counted Abi’s a day or so later and the total stood at a fairly grim 74*.

*this total was later rounded up to 75 by Abigail herself…apparently she found another one.

Piranha Fishing

On our final afternoon in the Amazon we were taken to a large lake (during the dry season it all but drys up). Fabiano had a collection of homemade fishing rods on hand and we spent a good hour or so piranha fishing.

We were shown how to attach raw meat to our hook (I succeeded in attaching my own finger to the hook at the first attempt!) and then the fun began. It took a little while to get the hang of how to position the meat and the technique required to pull the fish from the water (neither Abi or I had ever been fishing before).

I got an early catch but also managed to break a rod while trying to haul out what was in my head a prize piranha, but in reality a submerged tree.

However the moment of the day came from Abi. As her frustrations mounted at the lack of a catch she finally had a nibble and, with a mixture of fear and excitement, catapulted the poor fish into the air so that it landed on the other side of the boat.

Fortunately it was still attached so it was counted as her first catch…sadly it was not a piranha! (Although she did get one in the end).

A glorious sunset accompanied our return to the lodge, along with a trio of pink dolphins (impossible to catch on camera sadly). A magical way to end this once in a lifetime adventure!

Next Stop: Southern Brazil – Florianópolis, Curitiba and Ilha do Mel.