The Amazons

I flew from Manaus, Brazil to the isolated town of São Gabriel, which is also located along the Amazon River.

 

The town is also located near several mountains which are open to trekking.

 

 If you zoom in to the peek in the above, you get the below

São Gabriel is down the road from the equator.  I was a bit disillusioned that none of the equator myths proved true, but it was still fun to go and visit.

 

 

I also visited a small indigenous community.  They were preparing manioc at the time.   The biggest surprise was that the ground in that area is sand, rather than red clay.

I didn't do any trekking, but I did hike a short trail.

Of course, no trip to the Amazon is complete without swimming.  There was a small beach, normally it is larger, but with early rains the river was higher than normal.  The river water was thick and dark and creating many color tones of waves.

 The river isn't all calm or all sand.  There are rough patches, random sandbars, and large to small islands that some people camp on.

While in Manaus, I visited the zoo, which is filled with animals rescued from the surrounding areas.