We started our trip spending the day in LA, since the flight time to Miami was better from LAX than SFO. The next morning, we flew to Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil. We visited a park, swam in our hotel pool, and went to a churrascaria for dinner. Early the next morning we set out for Tupana Lodge, 180km away. We stayed at the lodge for 4 nights. Every day, we walked around, went in the boat, and lounged around in hammocks. Our last afternoon, we walked around historic Manaus before our late flight home.
Grandma picked us up at LAX, then drove us across LA to the California Science Center. We had lunch and cookies, then saw a National Parks IMAX and saw the space shuttle Endeavour.
We flew all day to get to Manaus, where we stayed at the Chez les Rois B&B for two nights.
During the day, we went to Bosque da Cienca, a patch of rainforest in the city.
Tupana Lodge picked us up and took us to a ferry dock, where we got on a water taxi to cross to the south bank of the Amazon. Then we drove for a few hours to the Rio Tupana. We got into a motorized canoe and drove through the flooded forest for 15 minutes to arrive at the lodge. We met the resident animals: dog, cat, parrot, tapir, and monkey.
After lunch, we went down the dock to the boat for a cruise around the lodge. It was cloudy when we left, and then started pouring.
The next morning, we put on long pants for a walk in the forest behind the lodge.
The next morning, we went out in the boat again. We saw a rainbow reflected in the still black water.
In the afternoon, we went out in the boat to go piranha fishing. We tried three spots with only a few nibbles. The last spot we watched a wooly monkey play in the trees, then watched the sun go down over the river.
In the morning, we got in the boat and went to visit a local family. We walked around their farm with cashew and cassava trees. Our guide showed us how they process the cassava root into flour.
In the afternoon, our guide took us in the boat to look for river dolphins. As the sun got low, we stopped to watch three dolphins. After dinner, we cruised around in the dark looking for caimans. We didn't see any, but we did see small deer, a sleeping bird, a bat, and rats in the trees.
In the morning, we paddled the boat around in the flooded forest.
In the afternoon, we packed our toothbrushes for a night in hammocks in the forest. We walked about half an hour to get to the camp. We hung our hammocks under a structure with a tarp. The guides made a fire and a spit, then cooked a chicken they'd brought from the lodge. The guides moved a shelter made of palm fronds to shelter the fire when it started raining; it stopped before dinner time.
Our last morning, we went swimming in the river from the dock. We swam out to a tree and jumped off into the water. After lunch, we repeated the boat - car - boat - car trip back to Manaus.
Our flight wasn't until 11pm, so we got a hotel room near the Teatro Amazonas. It was built in 1896, at the height of the rubber boom. Most of the materials were imported from Europe. We walked around it and had dinner before heading to the airport and home.
