Amazon

I'm now just starting to catch up with some posts from last week as we were in an Amazon village which had no WiFi or phone signal. I can't remember the last time I was so cut off from the world. It was a fantastic experience but the combination of heat and humidity was verging on the unbearable. Our lodge only had a small fan to circulate the air and it was impossible to leave any windows open at night as the mosquitos were active all day and night and the mesh on the windows did little to keep them out. I react badly to bites and despite using Jungle Formula repellent I still got bitten, a lot. I have around 30 on my right hand alone which I assume happened overnight.

Our transfer from the port at Manaus to the jungle took over 2 hours. The first hour by speedboat, the second by canoe (with a small outboard engine) and few minutes walk to the lodges. Due to a strong El Niño and climate change the river levels in recent months have been extremely low so a speedboat isn't able to navigate the tributary to our village. At high levels the water can rise by 15 meters and the speedboat can take you all the way to the reception area. Needless to say the rain arrived shortly after we did which was great news for the locals and, as it was so desperately needed, we didn't feel disappointed.