Had two busy days at the Amazonas Eco Lodge which was set back in one of the Tributaries off the Rio Negro. The Rivers are massive and we took a boat ride out to where the Amazon river begins. The waters that travel down from Peru Rio S...... is brown water and where it joins the Rio Negro which is black water there is a distinct line of the different colours, they dont blend because of the water temperatures and the Negro is more acidic or something..quite odd to see.. The river trip was good as we went past the town of Manaus and the busy port..I got so see a few of the River boats that my niece Taryn travelled on for 4 days in a hammock no less !! Its first in best dressed with the hammocks too..so if you are last on you would find yourself under 1 or 2 other people.......No wonder you were sick Tazz !! Apparently the tour guide said people acually have sex in those hammocks..Not sure how and not sure I would ever want to try..Maybe Tazz could confirm or deny that...Anyway we saw the line then went to a floating restaurant for lunch, at the back of the restaurant they had wild monkeys, so we took food out to them..very cute.. After lunch we went wildlife spotting and fishing. Catch of the day were Pirhanas yes Pirhanas they are everywhere...and the locals just swim and ski and jet ski and the waters are full of Pirhanas and alligators ?? We saw some Sloths (SooooooUgly) and we saw an Anaconda but just a small one..we stopped at a floating village and the kids had the Sloths as pets as well as the snake !! OMG !! Fancy sleeping in a small floating  room with those !!
We saw a lot of birdlife mainly, beautiful birds too, and an Iguana .
Near the Lodge we took a boat to a place where the have different monkeys in the wild. The feed them twice a day so people can get to see them up close.. There were 3 different kinds of monkeys...if anyone ever calls you a monkey face you need to smack them because they are sooooo Ugly ! We also did some more fishing near the lodge and Peter caught the first Pirhana and our boat driver caught a catfish..I did have my feet dangling until I saw my first Pirhana...
The Eco lodge was quite lovely...rustic cabins set amongst the forest and with heaps of birds and a beautiful spring Rock pool and the food was the best we have had in ages, lovely fresh salads that were different from the ones we make.. very enjoyable.
There were 8 of us..Mary Sue & Gayle from Virginia, Roberta from Ventura, Pam& David from LA and David from Brisbane and they are all good company (at this stage anyway)...
Last night we flew into Rio...We left Manaus just befor 5 and 15 minutes before landing in Rio we were diverted to the North 45 minutes away..where we sat on the tarmac & waited and refuelled...Apparently they closed one of the airports in Rio so all planes were diverted to the main airport...turns out we were the only plane to get diverted away..we didnt have enough fuel to circle so off we went.. We ended up getting in after midnight and to the Hotel after 0100.....Peter & I had an obnoxious child with a behaviour problemo sitting behind us...everyone around us was going nuts...But we made it and that was the main thing... This morning is just a chill morning and we meet the rest of the group after lunch.