Kayaking in the Amazon: Part 1

Our good friends who visited us in July took a kayak trip in Amazonas - here is the first of two guest posts on their trip:

Our Kayak trip in the Amazon of the Urubu river was fantastic! 

We flew four hours from Rio to Manaus on TAM airlines (although we would not recommend TAM, as they cancelled both of our originally scheduled flights to and from Rio without contacting us).

Manaus a city of almost two million is a manufacturing hub and a jumping off point for Amazon tourism.  The city is not nearly as aesthetic, modern or developed as Rio, but it has a lovely central plaza, some interesting Museums, a large port, and intriguing markets at every corner.  We had two days in Manaus and found that we had more than enough time to explore the city.  Hotels and Restaurants are very limited.  We stayed at the Dez De Julho Hotel. Our room was very basic but was in a good central location, had air conditioning, a fridge and was relatively clean.  Jungle lodges outside of the city are a popular attraction but are expensive (especially if you enjoy hot water) and crowded with tourists. 

The company Amazon Mystery Tours was really great, answering all of our questions and concerns before hand and making us feel safe, comfortable and well taken care of during our time in the Jungle.
We ventured deep into the Jungle, and had an authentic, natural wilderness experience.  It was just us and the animals and apart from meeting a local family we did not see any other people during our five day 4 night adventure. 




Our transportation to the river.  Between our two guides, the two of us, our driver, and all of our gear it was loaded!

We were the only ones on the adventure, along with two highly experienced professional guides.   Fabio spoke English and was a wealth of knowledge and information about the area, plants, animal, history, local customs, traditions and way of life. 

Josue set up our camp, carried many of our supplies in a canoe and cooked us yummy meals, he also made fantastic capahrinas.   After kayaking between 3 and five hours each day, exploring waterfalls, caves and hiking through the jungle we were ready for a drink when we made it to our camp.

Comments

[Stephanie]

How fun! It sounds amazing! I wish I could get Sidnei to do something like this! He is not exactly the adventurous type! Excited for part two!

[Janet]

I'm getting a chuckle out of the "God is faithful" inscription on the van, which I think is meant to ward off any troubles on the road.

What about bugs? Did they have to use mosquito netting at night?

[Ray Adkins]

It sounds awesome, I feel like packing up and going to the Amazon!
Jeez, if we were to drop every airline who ever screwed with us, we wouldn't be able to fly ever again :)

Ray