The trip started off a bit rocky. We landed in Manaus, Brazil on September 29th -- or rather, I should say I, my friend Robyn, and my luggage landed. Robyn's luggage was still sitting in the Miami airport. They airport staff assured us her luggage would make it on the same flight the next day and would be delivered to our hotel, so off we went. …

Today was an excursion I'd really been looking forward to -- our Amazon tree climbing day. Luckily, I'd way overpacked so Robyn was able to borrow all the clothes and shoes she needed for the day from me. Our two guides, Eddy and Fabiano, picked us up along with Melanie, a German med student who was traveling through South America on her way to …

Today, our riverboat cruise on the Tucano began. There were 16 passengers in all, 3 from the USA, 3 from England, 4 from Sweden/Norway, and the rest were a Brazilian family (mom & dad, two grown daughters, one son-in-law, and a woman who'd worked with the dad for many years). We immediately bonded with Pat, one of the Brits who had to be at …

Our daily routing was such: early morning canoe ride at 6am, followed by breakfast at 8:30am, followed by a forest walk at 10am, lounging on the boat in the afternoon (usually up on the top deck, sometimes sleeping in a hammock up there), followed by a village visit or canoe ride at 4pm. About half the nights we also had canoe rides at night, …

One of the first nights our guide Sosa gave us a lecture on Brazilian fruits. I thought it was going to be really boring, but it was actually really interesting. Did you know Brazil nuts grow a bunch in a hard shell that looks like a coconut? And cashews grow one nut on a fruit that looks kind of like an apple? I was fascinated with the cashew …

One afternoon our guide Edgy took a bunch of us out fishing for piranhas. We used bamboo sticks with a fishing line hanging off the end and baited the hooks with raw meat. After 5 minutes, we saw a rainstorm approaching quickly from across the river. We had just enough time to put our raincoats on when the rain hit us. It only lasted about 15 …

This time of year is the dry season and the water levels are really low. That's good for wildlife sightings 'cause they're all concentrated in a smaller area. But it means we didn't get to see flooded forests, which would have been really cool. Might have to go back some day to see that. In some of the little tributaries that we rode through, …

Today they took us to a big sandbar in the middle of the river. The white sand went on and on forever. We had the beach all to ourselves and had a chance to go swimming in water as warm as bathwater.

That night, Robyn and I had a wildlife sighting right in our cabin. I came out of our bathroom and heard a squeaking noise. I ran to the end of …

The last day of our cruise, we'd just come back from a jungle walk. I had just showered and was wearing nothing but a little robe and Robyn had just hopped in the shower when we heard our guide yelling in the hallway 'Meeting of the Rivers! Come on deck now!' I popped my head out the door and said 'But we're naked!' He replied, 'Come anyway!', …