Oi! from the Amazon

Last known location: 03° 34' 00.8" S 60° 00' 42.2" W

This is our last day in steamy Manaus before we board a river boat down the Amazon River to Santerem.

We left Rio a week ago after climbing Sugarloaf Mountain for sunset. The climb is very steep, and one section requires ropes, but fortunately we met some locals who kindly allowed us to tag along up the difficult section. Sunset from the top was well-earned and really beautiful. Early the next morning we were on a 5 hour flight to Manaus - this country is BIG.

Manaus is a hard-working port city, the biggest city and capital of the province of Amazonia. As a major trade centre there are shops everywhere and you can buy anything, from your 72 cm big screen TV to life jackets for your river boat, all in bulk! Watermelons abound. We headed off on a "jungle" trip, but you can't really get into true Amazon jungle unless you travel for 5 days from here, because of deforestation and civilisation. We went about half a days travel south of Manaus, along some waterways near Lake Mamori. Although the forest is not pristine, the site is still beautiful, green, lush, with life focussed around the water. Although we were only on a tributary of a tributary of a tributary of the real Amazon River, the waterway was still about 100 m wide and 40 m deep and supported massive populations of fish (including piranhas), alligators, pink and grey dolphins, birds (Black Collared Hawks, Plumbeous Hawk, Yellow faced Caracara, Crested Orendopola, Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, Hoatzin, Toucan, Largebilled Tern etc.), and millions upon millions of mosquitoes!! It was a truly peaceful place, especially drifting along the river watching birds catch fish, and hearing dolphins come up for air just a few meters away. Highlights of the trip included fishing for piranhas, watching sloths amble through the trees eating, seeing vampire bats and watching an anteater clambering around the jungle canopy.

It will be good to leave behind this rather hot and sweaty part of Brazil, where the temperature exceeds 30°C during the day, and humidity is close to 100%. Plenty of cold showers and air conditioning help make it bearable.