Cruising on the Rio Negro

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, the water level was so low we had to be really careful so we wouldn't get stuck, which we actually did a couple times. Our guide had to jump out of the canoe to dislodge us, and once we had to have the other canoe tow us out.

The weather was hot & steamy most days. I had rivers of sweat running down my back on our forest walks, for which we had to dress in long sleeves, long pants, hiking boots with heavy socks, and leather gaiters around our shins. But when we got back to the canoes after the hikes, they'd give us frozen washclothes from a little cooler they'd brought. Brilliant! And they'd always have us leave our boots out after a hikes so they could clean them for us.