Some first thoughts on Manaus and the Amazon. We arrived from Recife with an 8 hour flight making 5 stops along the way - never felt that much as being in a bus while being on an airplane (although Easyjet comes close), with the difference that you can't go out for a cigarette during the landings. Once in Manaus at 2am things quickly got better, our host Jacques from the Amazonat lodge had booked us into the Tropical hotel (great place, many swimming pools, own zoo and orchid garden, excellent facilities - has accommodated Diana, Pele and all kinds of other royalty and politicians, etc - in other words a nice place, over the top actually). At 2am it meant a bed in an air condition room, which was great!
Next day Jacque, the Dutch owner of Amazonat, drove us to the lodge, about 200 km from Manaus (which by the way is a 2m population city, grown from 300,000 in the 60s). During the way lots of discussions about Lula, Chavez, Morales, etc. First look at the lodge - very nice, small houses for the guests and a restaurant (with pretty good food). Also has a small library with books about the Amazon (but being renovated at present, we got to borrow some books nevertheless). We met our guide-to-be for the coming days, Kristoffo, who is an Inca Indian from Peru, but has lived in Brazil for 28 years. (Funny also, we were discussing the low birth rates in West during our trip - Kristoffo is from a family of 16 kids and has 5 himself).
Anyway, to the main point which I've been contemplating for a couple of hours (evening of 26th, might change the entry later, or maybe not) - I don't like the rain forest much!
We went for a couple of hours walk in the jungle (rain forest, more precisely) today and our guide got lost. So rather than arriving at the campsite around noon, we got there at 3.30 having walked for slightly more than 6 hours. I don't think I like the forest here - the moment you walk into it you're completely soaked in sweat and humidity, it's difficult to walk, have to cut down branches as moving along, you can see about 10m in each direction, surrounded by branches, trees. There are sounds which our guide pointed out, but there's relatively little wildlife to see - got a glimpse of some monkeys, and saw a tarantula, which was interesting. 
But the main feeling I had was of being in a dense forest (vosa, in Estonian), with same old trees surrounding you all the time, most of them have thorns, it's really hot, thirsty all the time, the ground is covered with rotting leaves and tree trunks, feeling of life all around you, decaying or growing, eating and being eaten, making noise. Getting slightly frustrated and bored, then the guide begins to act as if lost - and it's still hot, life all around you, decaying and growing... Then, he shows you the paw prints of a jaguar and says he can smell it close by. No panic, actually just a bit tired and it's still so hot you feel as water is covering the whole body. Not much excitement, just a wish to get to a shower.
Anyway, getting back out felt great. We saw some interesting stuff - trees that Indians used for communication (powerful echo sound), different medicine plants, heard a snake flee from our path, glimpsed monkeys, heard toucans, saw a tarantula. Veiko argues this was a 'real' experience, and I don't argue with him there. But I couldn't help comparing this to diving, which is pleasant, nice temperature, a lot more wildlife to be seen, boat is waiting for you. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled westerner now, but I don't love being in the rain forest, while don't mind reading about the evolutionary aspects at play or seeing some of the wildlife in a zoo.
Anyway, we're going on the river tomorrow, so let's see what that brings. Different from the forest I'm sure and more to see probably as well.
Next day Jacque, the Dutch owner of Amazonat, drove us to the lodge, about 200 km from Manaus (which by the way is a 2m population city, grown from 300,000 in the 60s). During the way lots of discussions about Lula, Chavez, Morales, etc. First look at the lodge - very nice, small houses for the guests and a restaurant (with pretty good food). Also has a small library with books about the Amazon (but being renovated at present, we got to borrow some books nevertheless). We met our guide-to-be for the coming days, Kristoffo, who is an Inca Indian from Peru, but has lived in Brazil for 28 years. (Funny also, we were discussing the low birth rates in West during our trip - Kristoffo is from a family of 16 kids and has 5 himself).
Anyway, to the main point which I've been contemplating for a couple of hours (evening of 26th, might change the entry later, or maybe not) - I don't like the rain forest much!
We went for a couple of hours walk in the jungle (rain forest, more precisely) today and our guide got lost. So rather than arriving at the campsite around noon, we got there at 3.30 having walked for slightly more than 6 hours. I don't think I like the forest here - the moment you walk into it you're completely soaked in sweat and humidity, it's difficult to walk, have to cut down branches as moving along, you can see about 10m in each direction, surrounded by branches, trees. There are sounds which our guide pointed out, but there's relatively little wildlife to see - got a glimpse of some monkeys, and saw a tarantula, which was interesting. 
But the main feeling I had was of being in a dense forest (vosa, in Estonian), with same old trees surrounding you all the time, most of them have thorns, it's really hot, thirsty all the time, the ground is covered with rotting leaves and tree trunks, feeling of life all around you, decaying or growing, eating and being eaten, making noise. Getting slightly frustrated and bored, then the guide begins to act as if lost - and it's still hot, life all around you, decaying and growing... Then, he shows you the paw prints of a jaguar and says he can smell it close by. No panic, actually just a bit tired and it's still so hot you feel as water is covering the whole body. Not much excitement, just a wish to get to a shower.
Anyway, getting back out felt great. We saw some interesting stuff - trees that Indians used for communication (powerful echo sound), different medicine plants, heard a snake flee from our path, glimpsed monkeys, heard toucans, saw a tarantula. Veiko argues this was a 'real' experience, and I don't argue with him there. But I couldn't help comparing this to diving, which is pleasant, nice temperature, a lot more wildlife to be seen, boat is waiting for you. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled westerner now, but I don't love being in the rain forest, while don't mind reading about the evolutionary aspects at play or seeing some of the wildlife in a zoo.Anyway, we're going on the river tomorrow, so let's see what that brings. Different from the forest I'm sure and more to see probably as well.
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