Well, its been a while since i've written anything in the Travel Journal but as they say 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and I figured the Amazon pics just about covered that quite nicely. If you've not seen them yet have a look at the Brasil Photo Gallery

Suffice to say that it was VERY humid, uncomfortable, hardwork at times and mosquito heaven, but most importantly it was GREAT FUN! The itching from the 1000 mosquito bites has stopped and I don't seem to be suffering with anything untoward, so all is well.

There are not many options to leave manaus if you are heading for the coast, as there are no roads, you either catch a boat or fly. Although the initial idea of travelling down the Amazon to Belem sounds like a good one, the reality didn't hold so much appeal. The boat trip takes 4 days, the weather had not been great so the idea of sitting in a Hammock for 4 days on the open deck and having to keep a very close eye on my stuff quickly lost its appeal. Anyway heading east from Manaus the Amazon is 15km wide in places narrowing to 1km in some areas, so not very much to see except lots of water and the occasional passing boat. I'm certainly not adverse to long rough trips, but there has to be some 'upside' - as I couldn't see one on this leg of the trip, I bought a plane ticket and 2 hours later saw me in Belem.

Theres not too much to talk about for many of the coastal cities that i've passed through so far (Have a look at the Route Map for details). Pleasant enough (a chance to catch upon laundry and email!) but nothing to 'write home about'. Typical decaying colonia architecture and run down ports. A couple of exceptions so far would be Lencois Maranhences National Park (Vast desert interspersed with large fresh water pools) and Jericoacoara (Wind/Kite Surfing capital of Brasil). I'll write more on these another time and hopefully upload a few pictures.

Heres a couple of Lencoise Maranhences pictures courtesy of NASA: