Three Days in the Forest

Friday 25^th March

The man from Iguana tours arrived just before 8.00 am followed by a short walk to their office from where we travelled by car to a jetty to board a small boat to cross the rivers Negro and Amazon, the latter also called Rio Solimões, in Brazil. Half way across we reached the “meeting of the waters” where the two rivers converge. They are different colours, the Negro the colour of black coffee and the Amazon that of milk coffee and there is a clear demarcation between them, just like in the photos. It’s a pity about the gentle rain and lack of sun. 

Small Boat to Cross a Large River

Meeting of the Waters:
Amazon in the foreground, Rio Negro behind

Then drove in a VW minibus first along a paved road then a slippery, muddy, dirt track through a mixture of secondary forest and grazing land with small houses along the way. Reminds me a lot of rural Malaysia but without the oil palm plantations. Surprised not to see them here since I would have thought the climate was similar to Malaysia’s. After about an hour we reached a small settlement along with about a dozen other similar minibuses from where we got a fast boat up the river which is called either Paraná do Mamori or Juma; I never worked out which since our guides called it Juma but it’s marked on the map as Paraná do Mamori, to reach the Iguana “lodge” on the river bank where we had lunch. The lower part of the lodge floats on the river while the upper part is well above high water level. Typically the river rises and falls by about 14 metres according to season. 

The "Lodge"

View from the Upper part of the Lodge

While waiting for lunch we saw three or four river dolphins; by now the rain had stopped. Lunch wasn't bad, spaghetti, rice, salad, beans and fish in a stew with potatoes and some greens with coffee to follow. While eating lunch I heard a loud voice saying “City of eleven thousand virgins”, twice. Which made me wonder what question had the answer “City of eleven thousand virgins”. The voice belonged to a professor at MIT with a large group of his postgrad students. The professor was originally from Cologne and had noticed a large Cologne Flag adorning the bar. There is a legend that Saint Ursula and eleven thousand virgins saved Cologne from conquest by the Huns and to commemorate this the flag has eleven ermine tails.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de-nw-k.html#var

The professor told me that the students decide where to do their study trip and so they had been visiting manufacturing plants in Brazil and were now relaxing. 

After lunch we set off by boat up the river and stopped off at a local settlement, just one family I think, where Ronson our guide showed us how manioc is prepared and showed us a small collection of blowpipes. Interesting how rainforest dwelling people on opposite sides of the world, in the Amazon basin and South East Asia have adopted such similar styles of dwelling and hunting. To me, the casual observer, the huts look the same; in Asia they use Nipa palms to keep the rain out and in the Amazon, the similar looking Palla palms. The Orang Asli of Malaysia used similar blowpipes with arrows tipped with venom as the Amazonians. 

Cashew nut

Setting off in the boat
Romain, Jas, Mira,
Ronson at the back next to the outboard

Before leaving the village one of the boys from the family joined us to assist Ronson. By now the sun was shining and soon after we headed off in the boat we saw a howler monkey up in the trees along the river bank. Reached our campsite about 3.30 and slung our hammocks and mosquito nets in a simple palm roofed shelter while Ronson and his young assistant went out to gather wood for fire to cook dinner.  Then went for boat trip to see the sunset and some people went swimming. Ronson tried to catch a caiman to show us but it got away. Did see a couple of toucans in the distance which I might have been impressed by if not for almost rubbing noses with hornbills on Pulau Pangkor in Malaysia. Dinner was chicken cooked over the fire, pretty good, and rice. Pity there was no fruit or coffee; it would have been easy to do.

Our Forest Shelter for the Night

Mosquito Nets and Hammocks

Tranquil Waters

Sunset

Chicken for Dinner

In our group of seven there are:

Mira and Jas from Wembley/Kenton, accountant and insurance underwriter.

Francisco, originally from Sao Paulo, now living in Porto Velho about 700 km from Manaus where he teaches music at university

Romain, from France who works in a family business restoring old buildings.

And a young couple, he is German, from Bonn and seems pretty fluent in Portuguese and she is Brazilian.

The average age, excepting me, is probably 25. I deliberately didn't go with the “Backpackers” agency on the grounds that the name would put off older people but don’t think it would have made any difference.

Bed time was 10pm. Fell asleep in my hammock quite quickly but woke up sometime after 3.00 am and only slept fitfully from then until 5.30 when it was beginning to get light and I could get up. Breakfast was crackers and Brazilian jam, which comes in big slabs and seems to be mostly sugar. On the plus side Ronson made some excellent cowboy-style coffee which made my morning.

After clearing up our hammocks and breakfast stuff we got back in the boat for a short trip and then went for a walk in the woods. Saw some pretty flowers and strange phallic   features created by cicadas. It was quite damp underfoot and fairly cool. I certainly wouldn't want to wander around rainforest on my own; after a few twists and turns I had lost all sense of direction and didn’t feel comfortable if I couldn’t see the person in front of me. Eventually we got back to the boat and on to the lodge where we had lunch of breaded fish, rice, spaghetti, salad and beans followed by coffee. Then relaxed until 2.30 pm. The dormitory wasn’t clear until nearly two o'clock which was a pity because I really felt in need of a post-lunch siesta. We were a polyglot crowd with conversations in Portuguese, English, French, German and Italian. Two guys from Austria came overland, from Lima via Porto Velho. Francisco, told me the 700 km road from Porto Velho to Manaus had recently been re-opened and that there was a daily bus service, although he had decided that flying was the better option. The two Austrians showed us photos of a muddy unpaved track and their Toyota Land cruiser crossing a stream on two wooden planks; definitely wouldn’t support a bus so I think Francisco made a wise decision. Then there was a young Dutch woman from Amsterdam spending 5 months travelling and plans to take the speedboat up the Amazon from Manaus to Letitia from where she will fly to Columbia. 

After chatting and relaxing we set off in the boat again to see some caimans and catch piranhas using very simple fishing rods. After several bites and even managing to pull one into the boat only for it to bounce out again, I finally managed to land one. Not that they are very big but they do have sharp little teeth. Ronson assures us that they never bite people in this area but that in other areas it isn't safe to swim. Not long after our fishing efforts the rain came down and soon turned torrential. Despite parking the boat under some trees we all got completely soaked so decided to go back to the lodge since we couldn’t get any wetter. At least the rain isn't cold. We did see one caiman on the bank that just ignored us until we got within a few feet of it.  Most of them slip away as soon as they see us. Back at the lodge changed into some dry clothes and wrung out and hung up the wet ones. 

Piranha that didn't get away

Pretty Little Flowers

And Big Trees
Water rises to the top of the darker zone 

Another Sunset

Not much later the sun came out and we saw dolphins just a few yards from the lodge landing platform. Chatting to Gustav and Irene, a young couple who are here for the Easter weekend from Rio and the two Austrian guys. Several people fishing for piranhas from the platform and caught quite a few, which convinced me that I had no desire to swim there.  Chicken with beans rice salad and spaghetti for dinner after which we went off go off in the boat again to try to catch caimans. Ronson tried hard, the strategy is to shine a bright torch at the bank when their eyes stand out like cats eyes in the dark, think the light mesmerises them so that they can be caught but despite all his efforts he was only able to catch a baby caiman.

Baby Caiman

Later drinking Caipiranhas, a favourite Brazilian cocktail with Mira, Jas and the two Austrians but sadly the bar ran out of ice so decided to call it a night. Slept well in a real bed in the dorm.

Sunday 27^th March

Up at 5.15 for boat trip to see the sunrise but there was too much cloud. Did get to wake up a tree full of cormorants and a few herons. 

Tree of Cormorants

Better breakfast this morning of bread, scrambled egg, jam etc. and coffee. Off in the boat again for a walk in the woods. Ronson showed us how to get fire fly grubs from a particular type of nut. They don’t taste too bad but don't think I'll be making them a regular part of my diet. He burns the bark of one tree to create a very aromatic incense, crushes ants to use as deodorant and gets sticky sap from a rubber-like tree to use as adhesive. I was impressed when he managed to coax a big furry tarantula out of its burrow to show us, and let us stroke its hairy legs. Finally we get to see where Brazil nuts come from and try them fresh. The ones we get in shops have been baked to preserve them but the fresh ones are more moist, definitely delicious and tastier than grubs. 

Tasty Grub?

Tarantula

Brazil nuts, but someone has been there before us

Brazil Nuts at Last

A two hour gentle walk in the forest leaves me dripping sweat but is a perfect length. Trekking for any distance carrying a real backpack would not be my idea of fun; I admire the people who do it. Even more admiration for the explorers who penetrated the rainforest without any tracks to guide them and for the indigenous people who have made it their home. Back to the lodge for a rest and opportunity to chat to people, which is one of the things I have really enjoyed about these three days. After lunch met an American couple who both work for the US Govt. trying to instil Western ideas in trouble spots round the world. The man, born in Baghdad but brought up in the US tries to promote "Civic society" in places like Iraq and Syria. The woman works mainly with NGOs and as she put it tries to promote ideas of innovation and receptiveness to change from the bottom up. Since the man works mainly in the Middle East I asked him whether he had any thoughts on why the US decided to invade Iraq in 2003 and he gave me the first answer that made sense. The US wanted guaranteed access to Iraq's oil. There was a real concern that Saudi Arabia could become hostile and Saddam Hussein was a loose cannon who could allow the Russians or, his words, Europeans to control the oil. Although the aftermath of the invasion didn't go as planned it was a success in that the new Iraqi government is totally beholden to the US for its military capability and infrastructure. In long term geopolitics the current upheavals are short term problems which will go away. The strategists are looking at decades in the future. As he put it “I'm not defending it but that's how they think.”

Unfortunately we had to leave at this point so we weren’t able to continue the conversation. Looking back, the image of Graham Greene’s “Quiet American” comes to mind but sure I am being way too melodramatic and cynical.   

Said goodbye to Jas and Mira and left by boat at 1.30 going back the way we came arriving in Manaus about 4.30.

Drying  Out my Soggy Money

In the evening went out for dinner at Tambaqui de Banda, on the square in front of the Opera House and bumped into Gustav and Irene and their two friends already having dinner there. Irene suggested the Escabeche de Tambaqui (a South American freshwater fish) which proved to be good. Just after they left, flying back to Rio late tonight, Francisco arrived so we had a drink together.