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Rosie and Joe in South America
helooooooo, back from the jungle, had a fantstic time the amazon is just magical. we set off down the Rio negro, there are three types of water in the amazon. the rio negro contains the black water which is very acidic and thick which means that wildlife is not as rife as it is on the other rivers... but neither are mosquitoes!! we caught a boat at 9am and sailed for an hour or so to the meeting of the waters, the black and white waters meet at this point but do not mix for over 15 km due to the acid in the blck water and the density and speed at which both flow. we then went on to a little house at the side of the river where they were selling lots of amazing handicrafts. here we were sposed to see the giant water lillies but didnt get to for some reason as our guide had b*****ed off. we got talking to the people that were on the boat with us, a big american family, it turned out that the grandad was a misionary years ago and had lived in Manaus with his wife and kids where he built a house and lots of churches.
his daughter had bought him and her kids back to see where she had grown up.
he was an interesting guy with two fingers missing and a permanant black eye. Although im not sure i agree with the idea of a missionary coming to the amazon and attempting to reform the indigenous tribes that live thier simple lives in the jungle. anyway after another hour we arrived at the 'floating lodge' where we stayed for the next few days. after some lovely food and the most gorgeous fruits we went out pirahna fishing, neither of us caught any but one of our guides did, their teeth are amazingly sharp.
watched the sun set over the river and back to the lodge for dinner. we then went out aligator hunting which was pretty unsuccesful but good fun, we felt like steve irwin.
stopped off on the way back at a little bar with a very beaten up pool table and played some brazillian pool in the middle of the jungle.slept in hammoks in the lodge.
next day got up early to watch the sun rise and then came back for breakfast followed by a walk on the jungle where our lovely guide told us all about the different plants, trees and medicine found in the amzon.
trees with anti-septic sap, leaves used to produce malarone (anti malarial), another tree tha produces this white milk which is used to fight the symptoms of tuberculosis and even the sap from one tree used to make chewing gum which smelt and felt just like it. It was amazing, we learnt to much.
That night we slept in the jungle but went without fire and food as everything was damp from the rain and the humidity that morning had measured in at 90%. it was lovely sleeping in the jungle despite the sudden ant invasion we were confronted with when getting into our beds, they were everywhere and we were absoloubtly covered - head to toe and the little b*****s bit us all over it was horrible. we slept in hammoks under a cannope made of leaves and just listened to the music surrounding us as we drifted off to sleep. no animals but a gorgeous night lit by an almost full moon and buzzing fire flies.
the next day we werent able to do anything because we didnt have enough time, we were sposed to go and visit an idian family which would have been fantastic but such is life and we did see some dolphins on the way back to the lodge!
We are going to demand some money back off our tour opperator, he is an absoloute b******, liar and cheat. he messed us and the guides around by promising things that were not possible to do.
anyway it was fantastic, an amazing experience i only wish we could have done more and stayed longer!
P.S If you are a traveller reading this, planning on going to Manaus and doing a jungle trip please please be aware of how crooked the tour agencies are here look around for the best price and dont believe everything you hear....good luck!
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