Day 6

Day 6 - The Amazon "And the antelope won the jaguar"
Journeyed through a road cut from the jungle this morning. The bus was fine, except from the usual annoyance of people fully reclining their chairs. I swear we're cursed, and its happened every time.

But that was forgotten as soon we sallied up this huge river, more of an ocean in fact. We soaked up some sun and powered round to Antonio's lodge (our tour operator). Antonio has lived in the jungle all his life. We've read and heard some dodgy stories about tours up here but both feel he is trustworthy; no big promises and he is friendly but not disingenuine with it. He said earlier he has seen an anteater fight a jaguar and win. One of the best sentences I have heard in my life and just one tale in a lifetime of jungle experience. He gave us a decent price and will help us with the boat to Santarem after, I can't recommend him enough.

The lodge he has created, which isn't quite finished, is just as impressive. It is a physical emblem of his company; basic but well-thought through and aligned with the nature that surrounds it. It consists of log structures with one for eating, toilets and sleeping areas. Our hammock area looks out onto a wide expanse of the river, sweeping over and almost totally submerging trees due to its seasonal height.

Started off our tour by taking a quick swim in the river. It was nice just to be refreshed in such a hot climate. Glancing roung the camp I saw my first amazing piece of wildlife: a lizard walking slowly into grass gradually changing colour from orange to brown to green. After another great meal of various fish and chicken with rice and beans we embarked on a canoe trip. We crossed the river, large and lakelike by our standards but completely insignificant in Amazon terms, and stealthily passed through thick trees providing a large canopy. The sights and soungds are enchanting, we only saw birds but they're alien species to me so I couldn't tell you what they were. Later I saw some kind of green eagle as well.

Fishing was the only let-down of the day, in as much that my line was left hanging around without catching anything. Luckily Antonio did and we ate his piranha and catfish with spicy chicken for dinner. Retreated to the lodge before an incredible sunset awash with yellow and pink, then purple and orange, blue and deep red, all piercing the air over the river. Now the stars are thick in the cicada-filled sky, the plough conspicuously upside down. We are in the most most beautiful place here, the next few days will be spectacular but first I'm off to my hammock under the stars.

PS - In fact we ended the night listening to Antonio's stories about jungle life in general. He told us some horror stories about the police and the army, seems Brazil has the same drugs, violence and exploitation as the rest of the world.

We also saw a yellow frog, the hallucinogenic kind I think. The night, though, was interesting enough without licking it and wildly hallucinating Homer Simpson style.