After
the seven and half hour flight to the middle of the Brazilian
rainforest, we board Minerva
II, which was then docked in Manaus'
floating harbour on the River Negro.
|
Cabin
installation is painless (which is more than can be said for
the lifejacket emergency drill)
|
So
after messing the place up a bit, preparation begins for the
first excursion - which is a trip up the Negro and into the
jungle.
|
This
necessitates a smaller boat, a long-sleeved shirt and mosquito
repellent trousers (?)
|
The
river Negro is not as wide as the Amazon, but it's still massive.
|
To
allow us to transfer to even smaller boats, we beach at the
mouth of a small tributary alongside some hard-working Brazilians
going about their daily business.
|
Hang
on...so I'm dressed up like an idiot and off up into the jungle
for a two hour trek, when I could be on the beach enjoying
bikini-clad
conversation over a beer...hmmm ?
|
Ah
well, nobody said that the cruise was going to be easy. I'm
just glad there's no Bogart
or Hepburn banging on about leaches.
We'll its starting to feel equatorial now...
|
We
travel for about 20 minutes up stream without being eaten
by pirahnas
or caimans.
|
|
