July 22 – 30

Location: Manaus and Aria· Towers, Amazonas, Brazil

Today's weather: 30-33░C, Sunny

Got a little lazy writing journal entries. Spent a lot of time writing and reading – trying to add information to the website.

On the 22nd, I spent most of the day preparing for the first audioconference. The audioconference was scheduled for 11:30am on July 23 NZ-time, but because Manaus is 15 hours behind New Zealand it took place for me at 7:30pm on July 22 (Brazilian time). I was a little nervous and wasn't sure what to expect. Trying to figure out what I was going to say took a bit of time, as did preparing the answers for all the questions I received. But, much to my relief, everything went very well.

The day after the audioconference I returned to Aria· for a few more days. I had planned to visit a floating fishing lodge, but was told that getting there might be a little more difficult that I thought because it was quite far away. I could have pursued it further – but was looking forward to a quiet few days writing. I had lots of things that I needed to catch up on.

While at the lodge I met a couple from Toronto, Canada. Their names were Michael and Mindy. They were very nice, and we often had dinners at the same table, chatting with the other guests. On a piranha fishing trip, Mindy and the other people in her canoe caught 14 piranha!

One evening at the lodge, I talked some more with Patricia who worked on reception. One of Patricia's greatest loves is a dance called the Boi Bumbß. After having finished work for the evening, she attempted teaching the dance to me. It was very difficult, and I didn't do very well. But I did manage to amuse the other hotel staff who stood around and watched, smiling at my uncoordinated efforts to follow Patricia's lead. Luckily my lessons were interrupted – someone spotted a big jacarΘ swimming in the water below one of the platforms outside, so everyone ran out to look. The jacarΘ was about two metres long and floating in the water so that it almost looked like a submerged log. There was no danger to anyone in the lodge since the lodge is built up in the trees (and jacarΘ can't climb trees).

On Friday (25 July), I returned to Manaus, and my stay at the Hotel Monaco. I travelled back to Manaus on a big riverboat. It was much slower than the speedboats which had taken me previously, but the trip was very peaceful and enjoyable. At the dock I made the mistake of leaning against a tree that was covered in long spiky thorns. I let out a yell, then spent the next 15 minutes trying to pull the thorns out of my hand. Next time I would have to remember to look first!

I was taken back to to Hotel Monaco in one of the hotel's transfer vans. Also in the van with me was a big plump-looking local man. As we drove through the city he started ogling the local women through the window, occasionally yelling out to them. Then he turned to me and pointed "Filha! Filha!" (meaning "Girl! Girl!"), then added "Filha mignon" which was his joke meaning "delicious girl". I just smiled and nodded politely – then got out my dictionary to look up the Portuguese word for "creep".

That night, I was invited to go dancing by a woman called Maria, who I'd met a few days before. She took me to her favourite club where they danced bolero. Bolero is very Latin, and a little like tango. They had a band playing (strange Latin American variations of Abba and Beatles songs) and there were many people dancing, dressed in their very best clothes. As with Patricia several nights before, Maria put up a valiant effort trying to teach me Bolero – and, unfortunately, I did just as badly. It wasn't helped by the fact that Maria was much shorter than me, making the dancing positions a little strange. But, the dancing was fun, despite my being rhythmically-challenged.

Maria was braver than I thought, because a couple of nights later she invited me to go dancing again. This time she brought along a couple of friends – possibly as backups in case I accidentally stepped on her feet and incapacitated her. The club that we went to was very different to the previous one. Called Clube de Veleuso, it was located on the outer fringe of the city – among farmland and what appeared to be recently-cleared rainforest. If John Wayne was Brazilian, this is the kind of place that he'd hang out! The bar was almost like something from the Western frontier – we got frisked at the door by a large black woman searching for guns and knives. Inside, there were cowboys and farmhands, mostly dressed in jeans and workshirts, boots – and a few with genuine American cowboy hats. Instead of wearing gun-belts, many had cellphones strapped to their waists. If anyone insulted them, it was likely that they'd arrange to meet the offender in the street at high noon, where the two duellists would face each other, then draw their cellphones and make obscene and threatening phonecalls.

Inside, the nightclub was an open courtyard with a small stage, chairs, and room for dancing. The farmhands were surprisingly good at this sort of stuff – they and their partners let loose with some incredible moves. The music played by the band was Latin, but with a sort of Country & Western feel that suited the scene. Maria's friends tried teaching me more dancing – I was improving, but still had a long way to go to match the others on the dance floor. I had a hard enough time just keeping out of everyone's way. Just behind the courtyard was a small paddock where some kids were riding horses – so Maria and I snuck out, sat on a log, and spent the rest of the evening fighting biting ants. Maria and her friends dropped me back at Hotel Monaco at 2:30pm, where I staggered back to my room and promptly collapsed.

The next day I went to visit National Research Institute for the Amazonas (INPA). I saw some of the projects, including some of the new house designs being proposed to improve housing for residents of the area, using local materials. I also looked at medicinal plants, and some of the animals that they were caring for – such as manatees. Overall, the visit was a little disappointing because I had heard so much about the facility, but in reality it seemed pretty small. The manatees were difficult to see in their tanks – all I was able to see were two grey blobs somewhere below the murky water.

I tended to spend my days wandering around the city, visiting markets, and talking to people. I also changed my hotel from the more comfortable Hotel Monaco to a cheap dive called Hotel Iguassu (R$ 8 per night). I found this a much better way to meet the local people. The atmosphere was pretty friendly even if the hotel was situated in a dodgy part of town. Nearby were lots of small cafes and restaurants where the locals would often meet. My room in the hotel was very small, and was usually so hot that it felt like a sauna. All part of the experience, I guess.

My flight on July 31 was scheduled for 4am from Manaus. This meant that I had to be at the airport at 2am – resulting in no sleep at all that night.