Manaus, State of Amazonas, BrazilTuesday, May 28, 2024
A cold draft blows over the water and through our floating house and I am cold the whole night. I finally get up to put on some clothes, but they are all wet, so it doesn’t help much.
Didi checks and it is 25 C (82F) so why do I feel cold? Sam explains that it has to do with the extremely high humidity. He jas experienced in some jungle areas that if the wind blows, it feels extremely cold. A kind of inverse of the wind chill factor. Theresa water un the air takes away heat from your body.
This is our last day of travel and the mood is mixed. The expedition was very primitive and taxing on our bodies, so the simple luxuries of having a fixed roof and not watching out for scorpions are much appreciated. On the other hand we have very much enjoyed the jungle, the hunting of our own food, the adventure of meeting and surviving the many dangers of the rain forest.
We fry eggs and sausage and pack the boat for the last time. Then we cast off from the floating house and go to a small but beautiful beach nearby. It’s surrounded by jungle and owned by the owner of the floating house.
On the empty beach a little boy is happily playing. At the end of the beach a spacious house is being constructed. Typical tropical style: good strong wood cut by the father from trees. The roof if made of palm leaves. A large balcony runs along the outside. And everything is up on stilts because of the high water.
The mother greets us. I pay her for the stay and we give het all our leftover food from the trip. She is very grateful.
Then she takes some fish and walks into the warm river, which is a larger lake here. She beats the fish on the water and suddenly a dolphin shows up. The woman is not afraid of the dolphin but holfa the fish higher until the dolphin lifts his mouth out of the water. The sharp teeth are plainly visible. It takes the fish carefully out of her hand.
This is repeated several times until there are four dolphins. Didi carefully imitates the lady and also feeds them. Then we swim for a while with the little boy surrounded by the dolphins. Suddenly I get poked in my side by one of them.
They are not afraid at all and seem to like it when you touch them. The little boy eve sits on one. The dolphin lets the boy enjoy himself. The dolphins are free to go wherever they want, but always come back here. Apparently they enjoy the interaction with humans.
Finally we go to pick up the owner of the boat. Here we have wifi for the first time in weeks. We learn that the world has not changed much in our absence.
We start on the last stretch of our expedition but we pass a small floating restaurant. The owner grows his own pirarucu - a fish that can grow very large.
He has a large crate hanging under his restaurant. The crate is open on top and we stand around it and look into the black river water.
The pirarucu has no teeth but sucks its prey with force into its mouth. The owner shows it by giving Didi a fishing rod with a dead fish tied to the rope. Didi drops the fish into the water and immediately with a very loud pop it is sucked down. Didi needs his strength not to have his hands slammed onto the railing. We see a massive black back in the water and within five seconds the water is calm again.
This is repeated several times. I try it also and it’s somewhat disconcerting that there are these massive monsters in this wooden cage, and you can’t see them until you drop a tiny fish near them.
The rest of the trip is primarily returning all items to their rightful place.
For hours we drive the boat through tiny channels in flooded forest to return the spare engine. Then again to return many items to Sam’s brother. We stay near the boat so we don’t meet these people.
We do see a large wooden boat purchased but Sam. He will restore it and make eight cabins in it and use it for tourist tours.
While moving from one place to the next it starts to rain very hard. Our clothes are soaked - again.
Finally we reach a place where a driver and Sam’s car are waiting. We unload the boat. The owner takes it away and Sam drives us to Manaus. Along the road we eat Acai, a kind of superfood made of jungle nuts. With it comes pirarucu. I like the fish better than the superfood. But I appreciate Sam’s effort to show us truly local dishes.
Then he brings us to the good old Taj Mahal hotel and helps us check in.
Saying goodbye is not easy. We trusted him with our lives. Surely we won’t have died if we had tried to make this trip without him. Tonight he will fly to Pará to work as a guide for captain Mo - we know him well from our previous expedition.
Once in our room we open all our bags because there is a fungus smell everywhere. We wash everything in the shower and hang it to dry over fishing line. The room looks rather peculiar.
Now I will go to sleep. Yesterday night was too cold. Hopefully tonight I can catch up.
Boa noite! Thanks for reading my adventures. I hope it brought you some joy.
Peter D
2024-06-18
Dankjewel voor weer een prachtig reisverslag!
Marcie
2024-06-18
Thank you Robert! It's been fun to tag along on your amazing adventure. What a great experience to share with your son. I think you were very brave. I enjoyed hearing about Sam's experience and skills. Enjoy your creature comforts with thanksgiving!
durieux
2024-06-20
It was my pleasure to share my experience with you. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for writing comments.