Into the jungle

Welcome into the jungle! After nearly 2 months of travelling trough Brazil starting from Rio de Janeiro, I arrived on the 20th Jan 2010 finally in Manaus, the capital of the Amazonas..the hub for backpackers to start from here jungle tours. This you also get noticed in the hostal there, which were stuffed by Backpackers from all over the world...since I got bot that often in contact with the spcies as originally thought, I enjoyed it really much exchange travel experiences with the others. Biggest surprise were that there was also a guy from Magdeburg, my hometown in Germany which only counts about 240.000 inhabitants, so without knowing this guy before he huged me telling me that I am his best birthday present. So, dinner and birthday cake were already assured for me the first night ;)...since we Magdeburger are famous for our hospitality!

Manaus, as city it self, unfortunately can´t convince any tourist to stay longer, although it has a really interesting history, as a wealthy European style city within the jungle caused by the rubber boom in the last century...proofed by there impressive Opera House in Italian Renaissance Style. Nowadays Manaus it´s also cold "the Hong Kong of Amazonas". With it´s over 1 million inhabitants and it´s Free Trade Zone many Brazilians come here to shop especially Electronics since in Brazil  huge importation taxes are charged and on one good several taxes can be added. They don´t have s.th. like a VAT (value added taxes) but in general you can add nearly 50% taxes on a product. So overall, one day is sufficient to get know the hectic city centre of Manaus.

Another whole day you have to get along with the dozen´s of different tour operators in town who want to convince you that there jungle trip package is the best one you can get. But after talking to 2-3 different companies you quickly realize that actually everyone want´s to sell you exactly the same package, only the region were you go into the jungle differs slightly.Finally we based our decision on the reputation of these agencies by calling the their umbrella organization asking if they already had any complaints from tourists.

So, finally my 2 japanese friends, Meri and Ikumi, and Steve from England who we met in the hostal joined together a 4days hike to the Juma Region. Steve had also an interesting travel history: He came from Europe to Central America by boat..kind of hitchhiking...21 days crossing the Atlantic ocean on a sailing boat...he offered  his manpower and paid an extra for foof to get a lift. I heard that before from someone and would really like to try that as well one time...will see...perhaps later in India on my way back to Europe in the footprints of Vasco de Gama ;), When I think of that event, it also makes sense why people in Goa speaks portguese (at least I read that in the Museum of Portugues language in Sao Paulo, but that´s another story again). Meri and Ikumi lived the States for some years. Both are deaf and Meri already travelled for half a year through South America and Ikuma joined hore for 1month in Brazil.


On the 22th Jan we started our trip with really heavy rain in the morning. We took a 3hours ride with our Guinean guide, Demion - "the devil",  via car, boat, minibus and boat again to our lodge at the Juma Lake.
The lodge was new builded and the owner´s family awaited us with a delicious homemade lunch. After a small rest first point on our agenda was "piranha" fishing. Easy task if you have a wooden stick, some cord and chicken as lure since the river is full of them. Also it can get very disappointing for you when you always noticed how these clever devils eat up the lure from the hook but you can´t get to catch them ... but better ask the others others because Neptun was on my side ;).

Later we bathed in the river, hoping to catch a dolphin´s fin and swim with them together. But no luck! We saw some rare some those days but when they noticed us they normally dived down. Concerning that you alos noticed that the river sides in the Amazonas are quite civilized already. Jungle lodges and the houses frome the natives pass your way, therefore there is a lot of boat traffic on the river and really silence to get the chance to hear the bird or monkeys you only get in the dawn or you have to enter more deeply to find untouched places.

At nights after dinner and some Caipi for digestion we went twice for "aligator watching" and our guide with his animal instincts found and catched also al small for us who we could also take in our hand. The 2nd and 3rd night we slept in a jungle camp always next to river in case s.th. might happen. But as already proven in before in the Chapa Diamantina, the most dangerous place normally is at home ;). So the first night I bumped my head on a rusty nail in the bath room of our lodge again..same case like the first, the generator wasn´t switched one, so there were no light in the bathroom. But this time luckily no blood only a nerve get slightly damaged for some days, so when I touched this part of my forehead I had the feeling someone was pulling my hair...autsch!

But sleeping in the jungle as it is was a really cool experience...sleeping in hammocks covered with a got mosquito net - not only to save us against the mosquitos because actually there weren´t so many since the rain season was still at the beginning. But there were lot´s of other little flies, bugs, spiders and ants. Every evening we searched some wood to make a fire and our guide magically prepared really delicious plates out of fish and chicken and meanwhile we got prepared our stomachs with a Caipi for the coming food while sitting around the fire.

The daily program for the 2nd day were a jungle hike about 2hrs. Our guide showed us flora and fauna, like the huge ants nests you saw hanging in the trees which looked like a big mud lump. But since my brain is like a swiss cheese we saw a quarter hour such a lump again in the shape of a face with a joint in the nouth. I found that so funny, of course wanted to have a photo with me of that lump...so I leaned me with my left arm super relaxed against it, waiting for my guide making a foto of me, but instead of that he started laughing out loud until I realized that all the ants came out their house starting to invade my body. But better than having a tarantula on my arm which we got know later...a really big and furry one who lived under the roots of a tree.

There were also an interesting tree..his trunk was covered with millions of thin long spikes, looked like  toothpicks. Next morning I should still get know these spikes better. After a night of heavy rain again I went in the morning with my flip-flops a bit further in the forest to go on toilet...well, still half sleepy, of course, I slipped on the muddy ground, and the only reachable something to hold me back from falling was this funny toothpick tree.....Arrrghhh...what a pain! Thanks to Ikumi long nails she gently operated 6-7 spikes out of my hand over the day....and my "devilish" guide was laughing again about me.




On the 3rd day we visited some natives, called "caboclos" who showed us there way of living by explaining us how they live. We had lunch together with them, swam with their kids in the river again and in order to get adopted I also made siesta with my new family in a hammock ... we lied in the hammocks and they were really curios to get to know more of life in Europe...and I also got to know that the kids of the jungle lodge next by also call Diego  and Victoria ;). In the evening for sunset we sent out for birdwatching...we entered with our boat in some awesome natural spots...trying to paddle without making any noises....so the air was full of different bird sounds ...and the deep bawling of the howler monkeys from far away sounded scary!

So alltogether of course being in the Amazonas one time was an unique experience. Seeing THE virgin forest. But summarising I also have to commit it was not that wild life as I expected. To get really in contact with the untouched nature far away from any civilization...at least you need a whole week taking a private guide to enter more deep into the jungle. But although I only spent 4days there I got a nice first impression of the Amazonas.

But since I am so loved by animals the jungle didn´t let me leave without giving me a farewell present...a "Mucuim" a small insect who goes under your skin, leaves a poison there which spreads over the blood circulation slowly into your body in form like an allergic reaction on your skin. Lucky me, that I am not such an sensitive person, as the doctor said, so I felt instead of pain only a light itchy sensation on my skin. But actually it wasn´t really he who found out what it was, rather the mom of my Brazilian family with whom I spent Christmas...Ale, tell your mom many thanks again! But nevertheless I went to the doctor this time, spending 100Euros, to make sure that it´s nothing serious, because Darren, my traval mate from Jericoacoara also got a nasty bug there into his feed and got a numb feet because of that and had to stop traveling for while.

 But at the end in his case lucky things didn´t turn out worse, so he decided against going to the Inca trail at the Machu Picchu in Peru where some days later mudslides destroyed the way caused by heavy rainfalls the weeks before and thousands of tourists were caught there for several days (read more about that here).

So, guys, relax...I am still alive and pretty well, lying at a nice beach again somewhere in Brazil and recover me from my adventures ;)!

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