Stall in Manaus Market
The next couple of days were spent driving from Brazil into Venezuela. Following a relatively painless border crossing and a quick stop at the Equator marker we were approaching the outskirts of Manaus when a duck launched itself at the windscreen. This caused it to shatter within the laminated glass, but fortunately it held and the driver’s side was clear enough to continue.
Whilst the drivers attempted to chase down a German windscreen in South America and trying to get it delivered to an upcoming town we had two days to do some much needed shopping in Manaus. After a quick look round the opera house I tracked down a Quicksilver shop and the helpful assistant pulled out every XL item in the store, allowing me to leave with a clean outfit and some fancy new flip-flops.
That evening was out first visit to a churrascaria, an all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ, where you help yourself to an array of salads and side dishes whilst an army of waiters scurry round with skewers of different cuts of beef, chicken, pork and goat, along with hearts and other organs (http://www.churrascariabufalo.com.br/).
The next day was spent waddling round very slowly, suffering from a bad case of the meat sweats. We eventually made it to the docks area and after looking at the market and the varied foodstuffs within, we retired to the waterfront to watch a fight between two gangs, which got nasty when another group turned up with knives and bicycle chains so we hopped in a taxi and scarpered.
The next three days were spent in a jungle lodge on the Rio Negro. We passed across the river and saw the clear meeting point of Rio Dulce and Rio Negro, which is the starting point of the Amazon at Manaus. Rio Negro absorbs the suns heat so is warm water, but is acidic so has no insects. Rio Dulce is more neutral so gas more insects, and therefore more wildlife up the food chain.
After another drive and a 4 hour boat ride we made it to the rather poorly constructed lodge without seeing a single animal. We went for a 90 minute walk to a local village, which turned out to be a hut with a lone man wearing a traditional native Casio watch.
At this point I got bizarrely tired so whilst the others went off for a night in the jungle I stayed at the lodge and listened to my iPod for 15 hours straight. I had a sore throat and ulcers so assume I was just run down, possibly the hike up Roraima finally catching up with me.
On returning from the lodge we had half a day back in Manaus so went to the main Amazonas mall to pick up supplies for the 5 day boat trip. The mall had an extensive food court so we gave in for the first time since reaching South America and had a McDonalds. I’m glad as it turned out to be the best thing we ate for the next week.
