We arrived bright and early (well, not so bright) at 2:05am on Saturday and got dropped off at our very basic, but at least clean, hotel. We thought we would be staying at one hotel but apparently the guy who booked our tour overbooked everything so we got displaced and he put us somewhere else. But we didn't care too much, just wanted a bed so we could sleep for a bit before getting on the boat to the jungle!
We also had a brief scare because Daniel's bag apparently didn't make it onto our flight, which we only found out once we talked to the baggage people. Thankfully, however, it was put on the next flight out of Rio that went direct to Manaus so the plane it was on landed just minutes after ours.
So after our 3 hour nap, we were up again and awaiting our ride to take the boat for our tour of the Rio Negro and Amazon! Regardless of our feelings for the guy who owns the company we booked through (hint: we didn't like him much), the tour was awesome! We started out going to the "meeting of the waters" which is where the Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes (or Amazon) meet. The Rio Negro is really dark and the Amazon is a lighter yellow-ish color so you can visibly see where they meet and the water swirls together. Totally cool. And weird to see the separation side by side like that.
After the meeting of the waters, we went to a family's house on the river who own some of the exotic animals you can find on the river. I was brave and held all of the following: an anaconda, a crocodile, and a sloth. The anaconda wasn't too large but I took it firmly in both hands and put it around my neck. Maybe I was desensitized because my brother Drew had a snake? Next the crocodile, which was a smaller one, so I held it in both hands as well. We all had better luck with this than Karl who dropped the crocodile. Thank goodness the guide still had a hold on it so no one lost any fingers! Then it was our turn to hold the sloth! This was by far my favorite because that animal is SO FREAKING CUTE. I almost had a Kristen Bell moment but no mental breakdown. The sloth was quite popular and we got some great pictures with it.
Next we ate lunch at a huge restaurant in the middle of the river. Maybe I'm naive but I was suprised to find it having electricity and TVs that showed the game, which was greatly appreciated. The food was quite good as well! We ate fish and chicken and fresh fruit (so much fresh fruit). We all left highly satisfied.
After lunch, we visited a tribe that lives on a part of the Rio Negro and they showed us some of their tribal dances. It was an experience like you would expect on National Geography. They even pulled most of us up to dance with them!
The pink dolphins were next and by this point I had to use the bathroom so bad, but like a good tourist I had read you shouldn't pee in the Amazon because it attracts some bugs that will crawl/swim up in you. Gross. So I had to hold it, but we all jumped in! So we were swimming in the Amazon! How many people can say that? I'm pretty sure the number of people scared off all the dolphins because we weren't able to get close to any of them but we did see them! They are not cute and cuddly looking like the dolphins we normally see, but still pretty cool.
Once we were done with that action-packed adventure we took off in the direction of the hostel that we were staying at for the night in the middle of the river. We were at one with nature. Especially since there was no air conditioning and only a few lights. The guy who owned the place called himself White Eagle and moved over from Switzerland about 17 years ago. He built the cabin and all the buildings himself--which is pretty dang impressive.
After our night in the rainforest, we were supposed to go on a jungle hike but got told the boat was coming earlier to take us back (we had all previously communicated that we needed to be back by 2 because of the game). This call happened around 9:30am but... no boat came until right after 12pm. Which was annoying because instead of going to the jungle for a hike, we waited around for a boat that was 2.5 hours coming. Annoying, and another reason we don't think highly of Mr. Jack who organized everything.
We finally made it back to Manaus proper and took our stuff to the hotel then it was get pumped for USA-Portugal time! Which I will write about in my next entry because I feel like this is getting absurdly long :)
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