Skip to main content

Run through the jungle...



We planned a trip to a national park in the North of Brazil called Lencois Maranhenses. The trip was a fair bit of effort involving two extremely slow and tedious bus rides and one leg only possible by 4WD. Trying to get this 4WD trip to Barreirinhas from Paulino Neves was an experience in itself. 


Lencois Maranhenses NP


We arrived in a back water town called Paulino Neves, assuming there would be a tourist information place to help us out. We assumed wrong. All we found there was some tumble weed and a lot of people with blank looks on their faces. I glanced over at a group of barely awake people sitting in the main square and decided I would attempt to get some information from them. Speaking my very poor Espanol, I went around the circle trying to find anyone who could help us (instead of just laughing at us).



 After 10 minutes of people shaking their heads at me, it was clear we had missed the last 4WD to Barreirinhas. 


Then suddenly, all of these guys magically came out of the woodwork from nowhere with special deals for us to get a ride in their private 4WD (word of gringos in the town obviously travels fast there). 

Back in the 4WD again


 We had no choice but to go with one guy who gave us the best price after many hours of waiting in the town centre with all of these people staring at us. He told us we needed to go with him to his friend's house, and wait for him to come back and get us. I took some photos, thinking these would definitely be our last moments on Earth. The image of my mum shaking her head at me was all I could see, “never talk to strangers honey!“



What I thought were our last moments...


Before we left (around 2 hours later) the guy got us into his Land Rover and said to us, “Dunas! Lagos! Agua!“... We nodded our heads thinking, “let's get this show on the road (and please don't kidnap us!!)“ 

Much to our delight, the 4WD trip with this guy was absolutely amazing!!! From this town that was nothing special, we did indeed drive through crystal clear lakes, over massive sand dunes and we got splashed and rained on. It was better than the actual tour we took the next day in the national park. It was like a free tour, but actually it is the only public transport in the area! People take this trip everyday to work, it was unbelievable. A true oasis in the middle of nowhere. 

I turned to Brad and said, “How beautiful is this?!“ and he replied, “I think I am in love...“ When I looked over, I noticed he was looking at the Land Rover, and not the surroundings... But still...
Our amazing free tour on the way to the next town!
Lencois Maranhenses NP
Crystal clear blue lake in the dunes
Another deserted beach in the NP


All of Brad's childhood dreams came true last week, when we took a 5 night 6 day tour of the Amazon jungle out of Manaus, Brazil. 

First of all, we had to get there! From Belem in North Brazil, we caught a boat with the locals down the Amazon river towards our destination. “What was your accommodation on the boat?“ I hear you ask...

Canoes on the Amazon come to meet the boat
Living on the Amazon highway

I am glad you did ask.... We slept in a hammock on the deck of the boat, of course! It was a fantastic experience. We could see Amazon rain forest, river dolphins and toucans from our “beds“. Not bad at all. The best part was seeing local canoes from the riverbank paddling up to the boat and seeing the passengers throw bags of clothing/fruit off the boat to them. Some of the canoes had children of about 8 years old paddling them!
An elderly couple throw a bag of clothes to the awaiting canoes
Our beds
Our neighbours....


Our base in the jungle was a lodge on the Rio Negro river but we also opted for 2 nights hiking/camping in the jungle (in the hammocks again under a tarp). We hadn't expected to see many animals in the thick jungle but were so lucky to see toucans, macaws, monkeys, a sloth, many tarantulas, piranhas, snakes and more river dolphins! Our guide, Jungle James, kept on saying to us: “My friends, you are VERY lucky.“ 


Our guide, Jungle James
Catch of the day goes to Miss Wilkin
An Amazonian Kitchen.... Home visit!
The floating forest - amazing reflections on the water
Brad and Jungle James make our spoons for dinner
Having an absolute ball!

Brad was later quoted as saying, “This is the highlight of our WHOLE trip.“ It was a big call, and he had indeed had a few beers at the time, but I think it is a fair statement. I mean, we are not going to go put on a loin cloth and run off to the jungle swinging off vines or anything, but it was pretty bloody amazing!


Ewwwwww
Sloth! The only animal I had time to capture before it ran away

Jungle seeds
Making our souviners
Sunset over the Rio Negro in the Amazon
Brads stylish jungle hat
Piranha for dinner
Fishing for piranhas
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All roads lead to Rome: Marathon Recap

Let me preface this by saying, before last year, I would never have considered myself a runner. And I still don't! As you know, I have had a lot of time on my hands over the past couple of years and decided to take up running as a "hobby". Yes, I know. This does not sound like the Kath you used to know. But alas, desperate times call for desperate measures. It was after signing up for a 10k at the beginning of 2016 while Brad was doing his marathon, that I realised event running is a LOT more fun than your average Monday night jog. And if the best part about running isn't that you can eat whatever the hell you like, then I don't know what is.  Brad smashes out the Gran Canaria Marathon, 2016 After a couple of half marathons (I know, right? Who even am I anymore?!?!) and another couple of 10ks, I thought, "bugger it. Why not give a marathon a crack?" Brad and I decided to choose a primo location for the marathon, so that we coul...
Post a Comment
Read more

A bucket list reshuffle in the Arctic

Norway. November. Polar night. Why not?  We jumped on the plane after a whirlwind month of visitors whose names ALL began with J. I was tongue tied for an entire month. Special mention to Jojo, Judy, Joe and also my friend Julie who took us on an impromptu tour of the island. The weather was about -5 degrees celsius when we got off the plane in Oslo, extreme layering took place immediately, followed by a long silence between Brad, Jojo and I. I am pretty sure we were all thinking the same thing, "why on EARTH would we come to Norway in winter...by choice?!". ...No one said a word until we made it to the warmth of our airbnb... A day of museum visiting, reindeer meat sampling, Norwegian salmon eating, ridiculously expensive beer drinking and early sunset photography lay ahead of us. One visit to the Fram museum in Oslo and naturally, being an ENFP personality, I now want to become a polar explorer. Cute sled dogs, open seas, northern...
1 comment
Read more

SOMOS DE PRIMERA!

First of all, there was the BIGGEST of BIG news on Gran Canaria this month! Well, apart from this of course: http://thecanarynews.com/bus-crashes-into-gran-canaria-airport/ In the middle of June, Michael and I were beginning to worry that civil war had broken out on the island, when all we could hear were loud explosions, screaming and car horns outside. The local Las Palmas "football" team has moved into the Spanish Football League's first division (La Liga) for the first time in 13 years after winning against Zaragoza 2-0 in Gran Canaria. This is a big win for Las Palmas, who came close last year but were disqualified thanks to some overly keen pitch invaders. As the professional bandwagon jumper that I am, I will be keeping a close (ish) eye on their progress. Check out the FEROCIOUS mascot for UD Las Palmas: (HAHAHAHAHA!) Somos de Primera! The team toured the city on buses signing autographs... Annnnyway, enough of this chit chat about "football".  We have b...
Post a Comment
Read more