Northwest Brazil: Manaus, Amazonas

...of piranhas, tarantulas, bird spiders, and other animals......

I was especially looking forward to this particular part of our journey. I had been following many movies and exciting documentaries about it for years.

After a flight of about three and a half hours from Fortaleza, we arrived in Manaus and were greeted by a staff member of our accommodation at the airport and taken to the hostel. The next day, we were taken by bus to the small town of Lindoa, about 3 hours away, along with the other participants of the jungle tour. From there, we continued by motorboat to our camp on Rio Uburu, a tributary of the Amazon River. The water there is dark brown, due to the sediment of decomposed leaves and woods, and it has a significant advantage: despite the rainy season, the mosquitoes are relatively few, even though the conditions are fantastic for them.

Upon our arrival at Antonio's Amazon Jungle Lodge, we were warmly welcomed by our guide James, aka Jungle James. He immediately provided us with essential facts about the Amazon region and its peculiarities.

After settling into our lodge, a small wooden house by the river, a delicious lunch was already prepared for us.

Then we paddled with a small boat into the flooded forests, a very impressive landscape. We were equipped with simple fishing gear and started fishing for piranhas. It was very exciting! I had many bites on my bait, but the clever predators managed to snatch the prey from the hook.

With Peter, a famous ex-fisherman, three small creatures with sharp teeth had to give in.

In total, our team caught 9 piranhas, which were then grilled by the chef and served as an additional dinner. We wouldn't have been satisfied with just the small fish... It was a rather unusual meal!

Fishermen always have guns on board because there are occasional attacks by anacondas, which can grow up to 11 meters long according to JJ- this is their habitat!!!

The next day, we took a jungle walk, during which James lured a magnificent tarantula out of its burrow for us curious gringos to see. We stood in awe before the threatening spider, which was relatively small for the area, as its larger relatives, according to our guide, are the size of a plate!

well-camouflaged tarantula

We were all so focused on not stepping on snakes that we would have never discovered all the partially perfectly camouflaged animals without James. Unbelievable! Even tiny frogs didn't escape his eagle eyes.

We learned a lot about various trees and sniffed on barks, woods, and plants that are still used by the indigenous population as medicine.

James identified the various sounds and bird calls and provided very interesting details. There is a bird in the jungle, whose name I unfortunately forgot, that warns others of enemies with specific sounds. That's why it's also called the "Jungle Captain."

After dinner, we set out in the boat in search of caimans in the dark. But this is pure nature, not a zoo. Animals show themselves when they want to or when they are surprised, not under pressure. So we missed seeing the pink dolphins that live there, but during another nighttime boat ride, we did get to see a young caiman.

However, the highlight was spending the night in the jungle. Together with a young British couple, Charlie and Jamie, we marched about 1.5 hours deeper into the dense jungle to our overnight camp. First, we hung our hammocks, and then, under the guidance of our guide, we collected special wood, with which he then showed us how to build a campfire even in the rain with wet wood.

Quite coincidentally, there was a small spring near our camp, whose water was suitable for drinking - at least according to JJ ;). We placed the few ingredients we had brought together with rice, tomatoes, and potatoes and, of course, the slightly cloudy spring water due to the rain, in a pot over the fire. In addition, chicken meat and Brazilian sausage were grilled.

The hike, the wood-chopping, the many impressions of the day made us quite hungry. We enjoyed our meal in a kind of banana leaf that we had converted into a 'leaf bowl' using wooden sticks.

Afterwards, we sat by the campfire, talked about the day, joked around, and looked at the starry sky. We all fell into our hammocks at 8:00, exhausted.

Listening to the different sounds of the jungle is really impressive. It almost sounded like a very special kind of music at times... I stayed awake for hours, full of joy and gratitude, just listening. Eventually, I fell asleep and dreamt of exciting encounters with pumas, jaguars, snakes, and spiders. I woke up several times during the night, hearing and seeing strange things... I think the jungle atmosphere stimulated my imagination too much... Interestingly, Charlie, the young British woman, experienced the same. Our partners just slept;), while we had real adventures;)...

It rained heavily almost all night, and it got quite cold. However, our hammocks were protected under a tarp, so we remained dry. At 6:00 in the morning, James woke us up with "Coffee is ready." As soon as I hear that magic word, I'm wide awake. And indeed, he had already prepared a delicious breakfast with pineapple, oranges (which are green on the outside in Brazil), grilled bananas, and boiled eggs.

Surprisingly, the fire had not gone out overnight thanks to JJ.

After breakfast, we embarked on a three-hour hike through the dense jungle, despite the heavy rain.

Gradually, we began to get used to seeing spiders of all sizes - they seem to be everywhere and at home on every tree. Poor Charlie had already been bitten on the upper eyelid by a yellow spider during a boat trip through the flooded forests. The reaction was so severe locally that her right eye practically swollen shut. After a few days of taking antihistamines and using local measures, the swelling had improved when she was bitten again by another aggressive spider right next to the old bite site. Despite the pain and clear impairment, Charlie took it all with a great sense of British humor and said that she now knows for sure that she should actually avoid nature because apparently, she is not made for it.

Later, we left our camp and walked back to the lodge. Oh, how wonderful a - albeit cold - shower feels after a night in the jungle!

Our program was quite packed all those days. Peter jokingly said that it reminded him a bit of his time in the army: breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 12:00, dinner at 19:00 - with activities in between.

On some days, we even went on nighttime boat trips at 20:00 to see caimans hunting. The night sky was clear, and we paddled silently as James and his colleague stopped in the middle of nowhere, boarded the second small boat they had brought, and left us with the explanation that they would return soon. So we sat quietly in the boat and waited patiently, watching the reflections of their flashlights grow fainter until they were no longer visible. Time passed, and after half an hour, we joked that they might have gotten lost themselves. After about an hour, they reappeared somewhat disappointed from the darkness, as their search for caimans had been unsuccessful. Nevertheless, it was an exciting evening, and nighttime boat rides without caimans are still a beautiful experience.

this iguana also didn't escape JJ's sharp eye;)

Once, we visited a local family that runs a small farm after deforestation of a specific piece of rainforest. We were lucky to witness the processing of cassava roots. The family lives very isolated, and there is little contact with the outside world. The adult sons work there, doing whatever needs to be done, and sometimes they go fishing. Despite all the love and family bond, I felt sorry for the two young men. How they will start their own families or even find wives is beyond me.

We had planned to spend an additional 2 days in Manaus, and then fly to Barcelona, then to Venezuela, and continue to Miami for a week at Miami Beach. Unfortunately, that didn't work out because we missed our flight due to Esta.

The next opportunity to leave Manaus was 4 days later. Luckily, we were rebooked for free; otherwise, the mistake would have cost us even more.

But now the time has come, tomorrow we (hopefully) really fly to Miami - even though our stay there will unfortunately be limited to just one night.