Long awaited!!.... FINALLY the Amazing Amazon story!..

Yes, I KNOW it's long overdue!
Now the reason for this blogging delay is Trinidad!!!.. The weather was just too nice! And internet access was too scarce!! But I'm getting around to it now!!

So I arrived in Manaus, Brazil and had a bit of a scare re- the baggage! My bag was the last one off the plane and I was starting to think that maybe it had been taken off when we stopped in Brasilia!.. But eventually my tatty old backpack rumbled out on the carousel.. Once I got out the doors, there was a frazzled-looking guy holding a sign with my name on it (Paulo, from the company I was taking the Amazon tour with). He had thought I'd missed my flight!

I spent the night in Manaus at a hotel, basically just relaxing. I had a bit of a wander around the Opera House there, which is gorgeous! And packed myself off to bed ready for my jungle adventure the next morning!

Bright and early, I met Elso (the bloke who was going to be my jungle guide), and Euan (the pommy guy who was going to share the adventure with me), and we were off! Once we got the the port, we were bundled into a boat and headed along the Rio Negro to the part where the the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões meet- the meeting of the waters. It was AMAZING! Two completely separate rivers, that don't mix!.. And the sheer size of the rivers is mind-boggling!

Once we'd crossed the Rio Solimões, we ended up at the port on the other side, where there were locals waiting for boats. It seemed like such a rustic place, and yet, there was a kid sitting there waiting for a boat with a DVD player in a box!.. We purchased our GORGEOUS rain jackets for the trip, met our driver, and headed off again.. We jumped into another boat and we were off on the Amazon! On the way to the jungle lodge we dropped in at one of the houses to pick up our assistant guide, and as we did so, a fish jumped clean out of the water and flipped along the river! A monkey jumping fish, apparently!

The lodge itself was fantastic! It has a little jungle shop to buy snacks and drinks, and it becomes the local bar at night- gringos staying at the lodge (and the place nextdoor) mix with locals to play pool, chat, drink, and dance.

Now, I COULD spend forever blogging about everything that happened- but I'm going to try to condense the info a bit!.. The trip involved a few treks in the highlands, and the lowlands. The lowlands trek was spent swatting mosquitos! The air was thick with the buggers! But luckily there were plenty of animals too! Like a few different species of monkey, sloths, various birds. And Elso (whose nickname evolved from "the Terminator" due to his army fatigues, to become "Rocky"), showed us all the plants that are used to medicinal purposes- handy if you have malaria, or diarrhoea to name just a couple of things! Bird-wise there were hawks, tucans, osprey, kingfishers, herons.... It was unreal! And no tarantulas or anacondas!..

There was alligator spotting- I kinda held one, but wouldn't let Rocky completely let go of it!.. We saw grey and pink dolphins in the river- AMAZING!! We went canoeing through tall grass in a leaky boat, fed piranhas (allegedly I was fishing for them, but I turned out to only be feeding them!), walked on water using the "magic feet", went to visit some locals in their homes, and even attended a local soccer match as the only gringa!.. Honestly, I could write forever about my time in the Amazon! But due to time constraints, I will just write a few of my fave moments-

* Euan asking Elso if we could take a boat without holes in it (after the guides had had to plug the leak in our boat the day before), and Elso laughing and putting us into the same boat! Which not long after was followed by Euan playing around with Elso's machete and being told "don't you put a hole in the boat".. Euan's playing with the machete got him the nickname "machete boy".
* Attempting to climb the banks of the river following a HUGE deluge of rain.... And sliding back down on my bum!.. (The fact that Rocky missed seeing it, made it even better!)
* Following the trek of the highlands (which was a little tough for me due to lack of sleep and having sampled too much of the "caipirinhas" which I swear contained petrol!), having Euan try to tip Rocky out of the boat!..
* Spotting a hummingbird in the jungle myself!!..
* Not getting eaten my mosquitos!!!
* The look on my and Euan's faces when we watched Dartemio (the assistant guide), light up a smoke at the back of the boat next to the petrol and the engine!
* Going to Superman's house to watch the sun rise over the giant waterlillies..
* Seeing the toddlers from the family who run the shop on the river jumping in and out of boats in the shallows, swimming around, rowing the boats (YES, REALLY), and then delivering beers to the locals watching and playing soccer!
* Rocky (who was goalkeeping in the soccer match at the time), running over to tell me how you could hear the howler monkeys at the time!!.. And grabbing a beer and cigarette to refuel!..
* Meeting some of the most amazing people! (tourists, locals and guides)...

Yes, I KNOW it's a cop out considering how long I've waited to blog!
As it says above, I KNOW I should write more... and maybe I will update things later.. But it's breakfast time here in Panama! And I still have to write about Trinidad too!!! (But that will have to wait until at least tomorrow!!!)