São Paulo

We only stayed in São Paulo for 1 night as it was cheaper to fly to Manaus from here compared to Rio. In hindsight, I wish we had at least 1 full day to explore the city but instead we booked a hotel near the restaurant we wanted to go to and that was all we did!

We stayed at Sooz Hotel which was actually really nice, but it was in the business district so not the best location if you’re looking to explore the city! We chose it though because it was a 5 minute walk to A Casa do Porco. A Casa do Porco is the 12th best restaurant in the world and we booked it 2 months in advance! The whole menu is centred around pork, it was tasty but probably a restaurant you’d only go to once in your life. After dinner we were full and tired and looking forward to sleeping in a hotel bed, so that’s what we did and left for the airport in the morning.

Manaus and The Amazon Rainforest

We flew into Manaus from São Paulo a day before our trip into the Amazon. As it was only 1 night, we weren’t very picky about accommodation, but was pleasantly surprised by Local Hostel Manaus – the room was clean, the AC strong and they sold cheap drinks and breakfast in the morning. They also let you store your bags for R$2 per bag, so basically nothing!

Once we had checked in we went to Tambaqui de Banda for dinner. This place was traditional Brazilian with meat, rice, beans etc. but it was delicious. The restaurant is right on the square next to the Opera House (one of their main attractions) and they had live music and a dance show on while we were there! One thing to mention though is that it was hot. Very hot and very humid. We were sweating non-stop, so wherever you are, find a good fan to sit in front of!

We were up early for our 9am pick up the next morning and our trip into the Amazon was very typical of South American tours, you never know what or who you’re going to get, and always go in with low expectations! Thankfully, we actually had a great time in the rainforest, much to my surprise!

We booked through Amazing Amazon Tours. They did pick us up bang on time which was was our first surprise and after a 15 min drive to the port we boarded a motor boat which took us to the other side of the river. Trying to get on the boat was confusing because the driver just dropped us off and we had to figure out where to go, a random guy called Carlos called to us and asked us if we were going to Ipanema lodge but we had booked one called Anaconda lodge. After a quick WhatsApp to the tour company who just said ‘go with him’, we got on the boat.

The next surprise was our tour explicitly said we wouldn’t see the meeting of the waters, i.e. where the Amazon river meets the Rio Negro, but that was the first thing we did! That was pretty cool to see as well as feel the temperature difference between the cool Amazon and warm Rio Negro.

Once at the next port, we got in a 100 year old VW camper and drove for an hour into the jungle, we did one random stop to look at some lily-pads and when we tried to get back in the van it was filled with humongous wasps with dangly legs… the driver got them out as I refused to get in. After a bumpy drive down a dirt track, we arrived at yet another boat! This one was a small motorised canoe to get you through the small streams and reeds, but we had to wait for the thunderstorm to pass before we could get on it. Finally, by 12:45pm, we made it to Ipanema lodge.

The lodge was better than we expected, they have a communal area, mostly covered with mosquito nets, and it had large fans which were a saviour. Lunch was ready when we arrived so we dumped our bags and tucked into the buffet. I should probably pause here to say that a giant spider crawled over Lewis’ foot before he had even picked up a plate, we were definitely in the jungle. Once we’d eaten, we checked out our room. I’ll admit we paid for the most expensive room – private, with a bathroom and AC, this was a non-negotiation-able for me agreeing to this tour. We had already been warned by others we met at lunch to check in your toilet before you went as they had frogs in theirs, thankfully we only had a small spider and otherwise the room was very clean and the bed had a large mosquito net.

In the afternoon we went piranha fishing, much to Lewis’ disappointment I caught one on my second try! In the panic I did throw it onto the dock and into other people but never mind. Lewis did also eventually get a couple, he loves fishing. They then took us to see the biggest tree I’d ever seen, which was around 200 years old,l and an anaconda. Unfortunately the snake was in a box so it was a bit sad but they had caught as it was eating their livestock and were planning to release it, they just haven’t yet. Throughout the day we also saw so many grey dolphins which was very cool.

We were supposed to sleep in the jungle that night but just as we were all dressed and with bags on, a full torrential downpour started so it was cancelled. I was kind of sad as I had geared myself up to going, but also not that sad as we had 2 more nights and I wasn’t sure I wanted to sleep in a hammock anyways. We did get to go Cayman alligator hunting though – being out on the black river in silence apart from the noisy jungle, looking out for reflective eyes staring back at us, was very cool. Our guide caught one on the second try and we brought it back to the lodge so he could show us the alligator in the light while he told us about them. It was only a little baby and we each got to hold her before she was put back into the river.

We had our alarm set for 5am for a sunrise boat tour down the river but when we woke up it was pouring down, so we went back to sleep. What we didn’t realise was that breakfast was at 7am so we were abruptly woken at quarter past this loud banging on our door! Communication of timings at the lodge was not their strong point.

Anyways, by 8am were were fed and ready to head off on a jungle trek. After a short boat ride, we reached the trail head and started walking through the dense jungle. There was a lot of mosquitos and what I didn’t know until this trip was that black clothing attracts them, guess who was dressed in all black! After around 30 mins of walking we came across a Tarzan-like vine. The guide told us to hang on and swing across, Lewis and another guy in the group did it successfully, unfortunately a girl in our group did not and this is when our trek took a turn for the worst. The poor girl had hit her face on a log and hurt her knee, she couldn’t walk and was in complete shock. The heavens also decided to open at this moment so we were all soaked, but by this point being wet wasn’t really something to worry about! Lewis and the guide managed to take turns in carrying her back to a shelter. I’ll admit the boy did well here.

We waited under the tarpaulin while the guide left to get a boat, leaving us with a machete and a whistle. This would have been fine if the mosquitos also hadn’t been hiding from the rain in this shelter. I was eaten alive, with large welts forming all over my face and hands – the only places not covered by clothing. It got so bad I went out and stood in the rain again, without my rain jacket as it was black and I didn’t need anything else attracting them to me, it was too hot and I was too wet already to have it on anyways. After 45 mins in mosquito hell, the guide came back with another staff member and got the girl down to the boat and eventually back to the lodge. Talk about an authentic Amazon experience.

There was a large changeover in guests after lunch so we had a couple of hours to chill while they settled in, I was thankful for the downtime after the eventual morning! As most of the group were new we went piranha fishing again, but after dropping everyone off they took me and Lewis to go look at more grey dolphins – we even saw one do a backflip out of the water! We also saw sloths and monkeys which was pretty special. After everyone was done fishing we all jumped in the river, despite knowing the piranhas were right below us….the sun even came out, it was a really fun afternoon.

After the afternoon I thought I’d relaxed into jungle living but at 12am the entire area had a blackout which lasted until 2pm the next day. That meant the AC, lights and none of the fans worked – this made sleeping in the room so much harder. This combined with another 5am wake up and back to bed because of the weather meant I was exhausted by the 7am breakfast call, the only thing that saved me was my portable fan. A frog did also jump onto my arm in the pitch black whip was terrifying, it was so sticky.

I think the guide was a bit shaken from the previous days jungle walk so instead we went for a boat trip through the swamp and then to a floating shop. There was a small local party going on so they gave us beer, played music and swam in the river – it was a really fun!

In the afternoon we trekked back into the jungle as we were spending the night there! Once the hammocks had been hung and the fire lit, we sat round and had a couple drinks while the meat and rice cooked on the open flames. One of the guides made us bowls and spoons from leaves and trees to eat with which was cute, and they made us fresh caipirinhas! After dinner we went for a night walk through the jungle, it was a long and sweaty walk but we did see a tarantula after the guide coaxed it out of its home with a stick! Lewis also had a go and getting it to come out, I did not.

Sleeping in a hammock in 30 degrees and in nearly 100% humidity is hard work. It isn’t helped by the fact you don’t want to have too much bare skin because of the mosquitos, despite being in a net! Thankfully I had my portable fan which I had on my face the entire time, others did not and had a much tougher time. Apart from the heat though, there really wasn’t anything to be scared of. I’m really glad I did it but I won’t be rushing back to do it again!

In the morning we had a very simple breakfast and went on a final jungle trek. We failed to find monkeys but we did see an armadillo which was very cool. It did rain quite heavily again though so after a couple of hours I was glad to be heading back to the lodge. And just like that (and another 4 hour trip back consisting of 2 boats and 2 drives), our Amazon rainforest experience was over! Now that it’s done I’m really glad we did it, when would we ever get to experience something like that again. However, I don’t think I’ll be sleeping in a jungle anytime soon! Also, we went for 3 nights and I probably would have been happy with 2, but if we did 2 we wouldn’t of got to sleep in the jungle. It’s a bit of a gamble as everything is weather dependent- people who arrived the day after us got to do everything in 2 nights but you can never be sure, so giving yourself some extra wiggle room isn’t a terrible idea.

Once finally back in Manaus, we chilled at Local Hostel (you can use their common areas for the day for R$ 10), had a pretty decent pizza for South America from Splash as well as an ice cream from Barbarella. This place was pretty cool as it’s self-serve and you just pay dependant on the weight and it was really cheap. Finally, at 10pm we headed to the airport for our 1am flight to Rio, can’t believe we’re on our final stop already.