seekingmygreaterperhaps

Oi gente, tudo bem?

Over Thanksgiving 2024, I journeyed into the rainforest. Knowing it was my last year in Brazil, I absolutely couldn’t leave without having visited the Amazon! It was beautiful, hot, and not nearly as full of mosquitos as I was anticipating. I booked my trip through the Dolphin Lodge – which is all inclusive! (It kind of has to be because it is in the middle of the rainforest, but all meals, all excursions, lodging, and transportation is included.)

I flew into Manaus, got picked up at the airport and started my ride to the first boat. It took about 45 minutes to get to the boat, and on this boat we stopped over the “meeting of the waters” where two giant tributaries meet but don’t mix. It is something I had only ever seen from drone footage above or on videos, so this was very cool! After that about 35 minute boat ride, we switched to another van (mine didn’t have any interior side paneling… and no air conditioning.) for a 2 hour bumpy ride on dirt roads. Then we made it to our final boat, and about a 25 minute boat ride brought us to the lodge! During the boat rides, I did get to see a pink river dolphin! What a way to start the journey.

All the activities happen either right around dusk or in the morning, because during the day it is just too hot. There is air conditioning in the room, but you have to keep the windows closed because it is just a screen. So you either sit in a cold dark room, or you go to the hammock area to enjoy the view and the river. That was me- sweaty, but at least I was enjoying the location!

After lunch each day, I swam in the river because the Dolphin Lodge has this cool deck and pool that uses giant nets to keep the creatures out. Because yes, there are piranhas in the river. I met some great people who let me just kind of hang out with them during this time too, which was great!

The river pool was a great way to cool off, up until my last day. I was just floating on a pool noodle, chatting with my new friends when all of a sudden a fish JUMPS out of the pool and smacks me in the side of the head. Stunned, I looked at the person I was talking to and said… did you see that? They started laughing and I swam over to the ladder to get out because that cut my time in the pool down. It was really funny, but I didn’t want to just hang out in the water that I couldn’t see.

Without comparison, the rainforest guided walk was my favorite activity. It wasn’t too long, and I was prepared with long pants and bug spray and a good attitude. We saw a poisonous snake, a tarantula, so many different species of bugs and plants, and GIANT trees. Everything is bigger in the Amazon.

There is a species of ants that crawl around on a tree and if you stick your hand on it they crawl on you, and then you smoosh them into your skin and it creates a natural mosquito repellent. I did it and it was so tickly! They don’t bite you either.

Our guide found these tiny coconuts that usually have bugs inside them, and he cut one open so that we could eat the bugs and try it. Well, naturally, I did it. It tasted coconut-y and not actually all that weird. Do I want another one? No. But I did eat a live bug in the Amazon!

We also got a demonstration on how local and indigenous people use the leaves of a plant to make crafts. That was really neat! I was like… can we do this during the hot part of the day and he said- sure! And then I realized that was also his break time… so I didn’t push it.

I am so thankful for this couple- Aline and Pat – basically adopted me and helped me have a really fun time in the rainforest. So yes, while this was a “solo” trip, I met some great people along the way.

Some other activities that were included were

• piranha fishing
  • not my favorite… and everyone was terrible at it. But the guide did catch one when we were all failing miserably so we could see one. They really do have teeth and eat meat. It’s wild.
  • for all the gringos out there, the correct Brazilian way to say this fish is “pee-rahn-ya” – not like Delilah in finding nemo.
• A visit to the local community
  • It felt disingenuous and just like a way to bring tourists to buy stuff. But I don’t even know if the stuff was made there. I was able to talk with family we visited because I speak Portuguese, but the guide wasn’t really translating for the group, so this was meh.
• a night safari to see the caiman!
  • I love the little alligators, and the night guides are wild because they literally just see eyes and then can find them. One of them “yoinked” them and held them up while they explained stuff. Then asked who wanted to hold them. So yes. I held a (probably baby?) caiman alligator.
• eat AMAZING fresh river fish.
  • The food was SO GOOD at the lodge. Each meal they had fish (and other options) that was freshly caught and seriously delightful.
• a couple other walks to see really tall trees
  • I love a good tree!
• learning about the rubber making process.
  • Rubber trees are in this region of the Amazon, and I learned the very complicated process that goes into making rubber.

I highly recommend the Dolphin Lodge if you’re planning a trip to the Amazon- they took care of everything. It was affordable and a great experience.

Thanks for reading! See you next time.