Survived the rainforest

Our rainforest trip did not turn out quite like we thought it would be. Our tour operator is taking full advantage of the massive amounts of World Cup guests by jamming as many people on their tours as possible.  That meant not only were we reassigned to a very rustic jungle lodge instead of their nicer lodge next door, but also that our tour group had 22 people in it (normal groups are 5-8 ppl).  Transportation to/from the lodge was also challenging given the huge number of people heading to both lodges (most people were on our same itinerary due to the World Cup match schedule).  We had to take a van, to a boat, to another van, to another boat to get to this lodge.  Our trip there took 6.5 hours (thanks to a 2 hour rain delay as we waited for the storm to pass through so we didn't capsize on the Amazon), and our journey back took 4.5 hours (we finally got off our bus and took a taxi the rest of the way to the hotel since we were so over everything by the time we were asked to switched buses again in Manaus).  We were told normal transport time is 3 hours when they're not moving 40+ people plus luggage at the same time.

Our guide did the best he could given the tough situation he was put in, but it certainly wasn't ideal.  At least we were still given our private room with beds (with a private bathroom) rather than sharing a giant room sleeping on a hammock with 30 other guests (ours was not the only tour staying at this lodge).  No towels or blankets on our beds, but we had some privacy (and sometimes a frog would come visit us in our bathroom). 

What made up for these downfalls was our tour guide, the very nice staff at the lodge, and the other folks on our tour.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and bonding over the fact that we couldn't hear anything our guide was saying on our jungle trek since we were so far back in the 22 person line.  Lots of Americans on the tour but also people from Croatia, Jamaica, France, Canada, and Spain.  A couple of guys were there from Fusion network (a new younger-skewed ABC network), filming the local's perspective of the World Cup for a documentary.  We can't wait to see what footage comes out from this experience.

We spent quite a bit of time out on the lake where our lodge was located (on a tributary of the main Amazon rivers).  We went piranha fishing, though only one of the French guys was successful in catching one (they are a lot smaller than I thought they'd be - maybe 6"?).  I got to hold a caiman (alligator) that our guide plucked from the water.  We saw lots of birds, though sadly no blue macaws.  Briefly saw monkeys, but struck out on our quest for sloths.  Visited a local native Amazonian family's home where we saw how they lived and made a living (milling a grain and building canoes), then played soccer and volleyball with their kids.  Despite not speaking the same language, the kids certainly know how to direct us around a volleyball court!  We got to see a spectacular sunset over the Amazon, as well as a pretty cool lightning show a different night.  The weather changes frequently and quickly in the rainforest.  Could be sunny one minute and raining the next, and then sunny again moments later.

Thank goodness we knew enough to bring long pants and long-sleeved shirts since the mosquitoes in the jungle don't pay much attention to DEET.  We all basically bathed ourselves in DEET, and the mosquitoes would come take a bite of any exposed skin anyway.  We saw a couple of girls on the way back whose legs looked like they had chicken pox since they had so many mosquito bites.  Ouch.  A few people tried some of the natural bug sprays, and those were even more useless at keeping bugs away.  Luckily these mosquito bites aren't as itchy as the ones in the US, so they'd sting when we were bit but an hour or two later, they wouldn't itch much at all.  Of course as a trade off to this non-itchiness, they do carry evil diseases, but hopefully all of our immunizations and anti-malarial meds will take care of that problem.  

Overall, we were all ultimately underwhelmed by the experience.  Maybe it would have been better with a different operator or if we were staying at the main lodge or if our group didn't have 20+ people or if we didn't spend hours in the canoes with hard wooden seats.  But maybe the rainforest just isn't our cup of tea.  Animals are difficult to spot, and it's hot as an oven, and the mosquitoes are relentless. Maybe we are spoiled because of our safari experiences, though Nancy has never been on safari and was equally (more?) unimpressed as the Polichs. The rainforest tour is something we're glad we did once but aren't going to be signing up for again anytime soon (except Erin, who thinks taking a 7 day tour deeper into the Amazon is the solution to our complaints - maybe she's right but I'm not booking that trip any time soon).

In any case, we are back in Manaus and getting ready for tonight's big USA v Portugal match.  Last night we saw way more USA fans around town than Portuguese fans, so hopefully we will be able to own the stadium again tonight.  We are in the US fan section tonight (upper deck), so there's a chance you may see us on TV.