1. Tag Amazon Jungle

When we arrived at Manaus airport, there were dozens of TV crews there. We thought they were there because of us - just kidding -. Actually, the president landed after us. He is on a campaign tour. We could have waited for him, but what do we have to do with the president of Brazil? Our guide Edivaldo told us that Bolsonao is not particularly popular because he behaved so terribly stupid during the pandemic... there will be elections in October - so let's keep our fingers crossed that someone with greater ecological foresight will win ;-) Now we continued to the port of Manaus, where a water taxi took us across to where the Rio Negro and the Amazon River meet. That's pretty cool because you can clearly see the border between the rivers: the Rio Negro is darker and warmer than the Amazon. On the way to the pier, we saw several dolphins. Then the journey continued for about 1 hour and 30 minutes in a VW bus. All the stilt houses in the region were underwater. The Amazon River has almost reached its highest water level of 2012. It was incredible how many streets and huts were flooded there. At some point, the bus stopped behind a sign that said 'End of the road'! Our next small motorboat was already waiting there on the Amazon River. With this boat, we were taken to our lodge. The lodge was relatively empty, and we were delighted to meet Matheu, a guest from French-speaking Switzerland. So we were a small group of three. The lodge had 8 bungalows, which were located directly in the jungle and by the Amazon River. Daniela and I got the last bungalow, so after that there was 'NOTHING' - just the jungle. We were a bit scared, but since Matheu was next to us, we accepted the last bungalow.

Then the activities started. In the afternoon, we paddled in a canoe on the Amazon River. It was incredible, there we were in a wooden canoe on the Amazon. Everyone was fascinated by nature. Ara parrots, macaws, and toucans flew over us again and again. It was fantastic and an indescribable feeling. When it started to get dark, we paddled back to the lodge. I stood on the terrace with a smoothie and looked out over the Amazon. I was so happy to be there. Then I walked to our bungalow and stood in front of the bed when something tickled my neck. I thought it was a little mosquito and wiped the back of my hand over my neck. Then a medium-sized spider flew onto our bed and I didn't know if I should cry, laugh, or scream. I did none of those, I just accepted it. I took a deep breath and thought, okay, this is how it is now and I'm the one getting jumped on by animals again! Daniela was horrified by the size of the spider. She didn't laugh either, but said, 'Anke, I'm so sorry that this happened to you and it's really big'!!!! Daniela heroically removed the creature from our room.

After dinner, we went on a night walk through the jungle. With two guides, we went into the green 'hell'. The first big animal that stood in our way was a frog. It was almost as big as a guinea pig. These frogs made sounds that you can't imagine. Then one spider followed another. After a while, I didn't care anymore. I just found them disgusting with their hair/fur. The guide quickly understood that he shouldn't wave spiders in front of me. Then we had to turn off our flashlights. We could see little green glitters. Those were little butterfly larvae. It looked spooky and beautiful at the same time, and the sounds around us were pretty intense!

It was a fascinating hike. The sounds at night are gigantic. When we arrived safely at our bungalow, we were both sweaty, but the tension eased. Despite the many sounds coming from the jungle, we slept great under our mosquito net that we brought with us!