Jan 28, 2006 - Im Amazonasgebiet

Manaus ist eine 2 Millionenstadt im Tschungel und unsere Basis im Amazonasgebiet. Mit einem richtigen Amazonas-Kutter fuhren wir auf dem einen Einlaeufer des Amazonas hinauf zu einer schwimmenden Lodge. Am ersten Tag gingen wir Piranhas fischen, wobei Simon und ich leider nicht erfolgreich waren. Am Abend fuhren wir mit einem Boot in die stockdunkle Nacht hinaus auf der Suche nach Aligatoren oder Krokodilen. Unser Guide fing fuer uns einen kleinen, acht monatealten Kaiman, den wir uns ansehen und beruehren durften. Am naechsten Tag stiegen...

Jan 19, 2006 - Welcome to the Jungle

Amazonas er jungle. Men hold da fest hvor er det anderledes end at se det paa tv. Lidt historie, til de voksne Manaus er en by skudt op af junglens jord ved hjaelp af gummi industrien. Detsvaerre for byen blev gummitraet, som ioevrigt er et svaert fascinerende trae der simpelthen bloeder latex, stjaalet og exporteret til indonesien, hvilket har medfoert et drastisk stop i byens udvikling, der ellers var igang med at bygge et meget dyrt operahus! Nu tjenes der penge paa fjolser som os der iih og aah saa gerne vil se junglen. Det siges at 90...

Dec 29, 2005 - Manaus, Brazil

Manaus is a city of about 1.2 million situated halfway into Brazil, just a few miles up the Rio Negro (Black River) which is the largest tributary on the Amazon River. The brochure describes this as an "unlovely" city. Based on what I saw and experienced, I would agree. The first afternoon, we walked on foot from port, through the chaotic hustle bustle of downtown. We found the famous opera house and spent some time on the square admiring the inlaid rock pattern, which we would later learn to be a trademark Brasilian pattern. We spent most...

Dec 13, 2005 - Manaus, The Amazon, Brazil

Manaus Well the journey took us out of Venezuela, across two border crossings, and across the equator. The both of us and two coach drivers were the only people on the coach; we had it all to ourselves. The drivers kindly stopped at the equator for us to view a statue marking where we were. We took a few photos then drove through equatorial rainforest towards the Amazon witnessing amazing thunder and lightening storms along the way. On our arrival to Manaus we were very shocked to see a city similar in size to Birmingham, but slap bang in...

Aug 13, 2005 - Brazil - Manaus

Died and gone to heaven...back in Brazil and the city of Manaus - capital of Amazonas state. On a map this place looks very obscure, but its growth came with the rubber boom in the 19th century. Many came here to work as rubber tappers in the Amazon jungles, whilst the plantation owners lorded it up in opulent homes and built the extravagent opera house. In similar fashion we have indulged ourselves in quality food - something that has been rather lacking of late, trading rice, beans and bananas for sushi, roast beef and yummy salads....

Aug 7, 2005 - Slow boat through the Amazon, Brazil

After taking sometime trying to get a good price we eventually got a ticket for 60 reals - about 10 pounds! This includes all your food and drinking water so we were very pleased. We got on the boat which had 3 levels. The bottom level was for the cargo (onions), the second was for our hammocks and toilets (only 2) and the top was an open deck with bar and TV! The boat departed about 4 hours late, but we didn't mind as it was interesting watching them load up all the other boats. There were only about 60 people (predominatley men) on the...

Jun 20, 2005 - Manaus, Brazilian Amazon

All around, our time spent deep in the heart of the Amazon will forever remain unforgetable (for all the good times and the bad). We stayed 5 days in the jungle and 2 actually in the Amazon port city of Manaus. Manaus is a kind of jungle made up of crumbling concrete, metal, wires, cars, boats and people. It is unlike any other city we have ever visited. Somehow, even in the middle of down town, we did get the sense that we were in the middle of a jungle, isolated from the rest of the world. Manaus is the largest city in the Amazon with...

Jun 19, 2005 - Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve

Liebe Freunde, Inzwischen bin ich zurueck aus dem "Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve", dem zweitgroessten Reserve in Peru und dem Amazonasgebiet. Die Wahl der Gegend und die Aufenthaltsdauer hat sich im Nachhinein als goldrichtig erwiesen. Einige Zeit sah es danach aus, als ob ich der Einzige waere der diese Tour mitmacht, doch Neil (ein Australier) und Drew (ein US-Amerikaner) konnten ebenfalls dafuer begeistert werden. So machte sich ein Grueppchen von 3 "Gringos" und unseren zwei Guides, Orlando und Moses auf den Weg. Nach einer Nacht auf...

May 1, 2005 - Manaus to see the "Meeting of the waters"

Day 6 Had a day here before flying back to Rio at 3am, so caught a boat out to see the meeting of the waters. This is what happens when the dense Rio Solimoes meets the black water of the Rio Negro. The 2 rivers flow side by side for miles and miles without mingling. As well as density the non-mixing is also due to a temperature differential of 6 degrees (the black water being 28 and the muddy water 22 deg celcius) Not alot else to report on Manaus, except for the stunning opera house where we spent the evening watching a fabulous dance...

Apr 10, 2005 - Jungle adventures and Lake Titicaca

Manu National Park in the Peruvian Amazon is a remote area which took a full days drive (on narrow, windy roads) and a full day boat trip in a motor boat (one which was not working very well) to get to the lodge in the jungle. We travelled on two rivers, which were flooded and full of floating logs. This was rather scary once it got dark! We were almost put off on the first night that we arrived at the lodge by the cockroaches, which crawled out from the plate of bread on the dinner table. After a long day of boat travel, if we had had...

Apr 6, 2005 - Brasil - Manaus

The speedboat journey was good. We had two meals in the 14 hours both hot (and lots of videos). The scenery was really nice as well. When we got to Manaus we trudged around looking at lots of different hotels. We settled on one called the 10th Julio (R$60). It was ok, clean with tv. We woke up on the 7th and Nick sang happy birthday to Monica ! Presents were given and then unfortunately we had to arrange a visa by locating and going to the venezuelan consulate. After a lot of hassle we found it only to be told that we did not need a visa...

Feb 12, 2005 - The Boys arrival in Manaus, Amazonia

Well, after Deeds and myself decided to stay up on the last night we made it onto our flights with ease, and despite the fact that I couldn´t sleep it went very smoothly. Nix was at the airport to meet us and got on the bus for 20p each aiiiigghhtt! We´re staying in what looks like the dodgiest area imaginable but hey after walking around Manaus it´s alright. We´ve booked our Jungle trip today with Green Planet (it´s reliably...cheap) but we´ll see all the expected things : Piranha, Jacare (gators), flora ,fauna, Tarantulas, sloths etc.)...