Manaus, 4 days in the Amazon jungle

We got to Manaus in the afternoon and there was a driver who was waiting to pick us up. However when we got to the hostel, its owner said that he didn't send any driver to the airport because we hadn't confirmed. We were scared that someone knew our names and the hostel where we were staying. Finally we discovered that the official driver of the hostel told a friend of him to pick us up. All this confusion wasn't surprising after seeing how disorganized the owner was. The hostel we stayed in was Hostel Manaus (not to be confused with Manaus hostel) and it was clean and felt safe. The owner is an australian married to a brazilian woman.

That same afternoon we went to Gero tours to book the tour to the Amazon as it was the tour operator that was recommended in the lonely planet and the highest ranked in tripadvisor. It is slightly more expensive than the rest, but it felt it was also a bit better as they operated their own lodge in a remote area. It was late at night and we didn't have enough cash to pay the tour, but they recommended not to go to the ATM when it was dark. We later discovered that two chinese girls who were supposed to come with our group, went to the ATM that same night and were robbed. Thanks god we didn't go!

We spent the morning travelling to the lodge. We took two vans and two boats to get there. During the trip we met a couple of honeymooners that were also from Catalonia, Maria and Ovidi, and we spent the 4 days with them. During the first boat trip we found the mixing of two rivers, the Black river and Solimoes. The first one is darker and more acid than the second one, and because of these differences they don't mix for 6 km. They also have different temperatures that you can feel by putting your hand in the water.

Boat to the lodge

Mix between Rio Negro and Solimoes

Fisherman at the first port

We spent 4 days and 3 nights at the Ararinha lodge. We slept in a huge dorm with about 10 beds and space for around 10 more hammocks. We had to sleep with mosquito nets and there were no fans, so you can imagine how hot that was. After lunch we always had 2 free hours but due to the heat, the only thing we were able to do was a siesta.

The first activity was to fish piranhas. We brought to cups full of chicken and beef raw meat as bait. On the way to the fishing spot, we found a baby cayman that the guide caught so that we could see it closer. He told us how to hold it safely.

After that, we stopped the boat in a place that our guide knew, and seconds after we were fishing our first orange piranha!

When we were fishing two japanese guys joined us, Kazu and Ko.

On our way back we were able to see a beautiful sunset.

Guess what we had for dinner that night.... BBQed Piranhas!



The second day we hiked through the jungle with Jozinho to spot some wildlife. He found tarantula nests and he put a stick to take a spider out of the hole.



Tarantula out of its nest



That afternoon we went out with the boat to spot the sloth monkey but it started to rain and we had to shelter in one of the floating houses. That turned out to be the pub of that region where all the locals went to play pool table.

At night we went to spot caymans because Ko and Kazu didn´t see the one we caught the first night. We used a flashlight to see the red reflections of the cayman's eyes, similarly as we did in Costa Rica. It was surprising how many sparkles we saw in few minutes. In the same dock before getting into the boat we were already able to catch one. It was so easy to find caymans that I can't imagine how many there were.

When we came back, Jozinho caught a frog with its mouth all blown.





We spent the last night in the jungle where we set up a campsite with hammocks and mosquito nets. Our guides prepared a nice dinner with two roasted chickens and vegetable rice on a bonfire. We helped pealing the vegetables and collecting some wood for the fire. It was a nice experience to sleep in the jungle because we were able to listen lots of sounds from the animals. It was our first time sleeping the whole night in a hammock and it wasn't bad at all!

The following day we woke up and we went to visit one of the largest trees in that region.

After that we packed and said goodbye to the people from the lodge and especially to Junhio, a friendly kid that always wanted to play with us when we were in the lodge.

Next Stop: the beaches of Natal