Here we are, during 3 days, we decide to leave to the assault of the big Amazonian jungle. On Wednesday, November 25th, we have to meet in the hostel Manaus at 7 am. Over there, we meet the couple of Canadian who will accompany us during this trek. A taxi drives us to the bus station where there we meet our guide, James. We take a bus which drives us at 3 hours of Manaus, in a quite small village on the side of the road. From there, we go up on a dugout for a travel of 2 hours on the river Urubu. The crossing up to the lodge puts longer that foreseen because the river is very low and dry, it is sometimes necessary to pass very slowly in some place not to remain to stick. It is the first time for years that the river is also low. Whereas there are 6 months ago, the inhabitants of the Amazonia had never seen the river rising so much. It is because of the global warming.

Finally, at the end of 2 hours under the smothering heat of the sun, we arrive at the lodge. The guide makes us the tour of houses. It is a very nice, quite wooden place, without electricity because those who are for the initiative there wanted an ecological site. The guide shows us typical fruits of the Amazonia. He makes us sample some of this fruits, rather strange, but not bad! Before the meal, we are going to swim in the Urubu. The water has no very clean sight, but the guide says to us that it is without danger! Then come the mealtime: rice, pastas, raw vegetables and meats. Before leaving for the activities of the afternoon, we try our hammocks. What we are very good inside! And then let’s go for the fishing in piranhas! We go away from the lodge in dugout and we stop on a small beach. There the guide explains us how to proceed. It’s look simple like that, but when we try, it is not evident! We have to launch the fishing’s thread farthest possible then to hold the end of the thread until we smell if a fish bites the fishhook (where a piece of recent meat is hung on). When we smell that a fish bites, it is necessary to pull the thread dry. We tempt repeatedly, without results. And suddenly, Anaïs smells something and pulls. That's it, she caught a piranha! The guide tells her to kill it, but she does not very feel at ease ^^ Then he helps her, and at the same time, shows us the teeth of the fish. Impressive. During this time, Nadège tries repeatedly, but unsuccessfully. Too bad, the next time can be! The guide takes us to another place to try to fish since the dugout, but anybody arrive there. Return in the lodge, with the sunset on the road, but a little wasted by clouds. Before the meal, it is necessary to put long clothes to avoid the bites of mosquitoes. For the diner, to the menu: raw vegetables, rice, pastas and piranhas! Having satisfied hunger, the guide takes us again on the dugout, in the light of the moon, to look for alligators. He has expert's eye, because he flash of lighting far off the banks of 2 sides with its flashlight, and manages to see if there is or not. At the end of long minutes of search, he eventually finds one and approaches it quite slowly. The guide lights the water, and suddenly, plunges the hand inside and goes back up with a small alligator. We don’t saw it coming! James explains us all that he knows about this alligator (the way he swims, his food). Then, he suggests us holding it. Anaïs is the first one to try, she is not very reassured!! But finally, everybody hold it, and there are nobody casualty! On returning to the lodge, we are going to go to bed). It is even early, but the next day we have to get up at 5:30 am to see the sunrise.

The next day at 5:30 am thus, we get up and we leave for dugout on the river to have a more beautiful view of the sunrise. Once again it is not terrible, big clouds prevent us from seeing the beautiful colors of the sun. After this small interlude, we have breakfast: bread rolls, crushed eggs, fruits, coffee… And it’s time to go. With our big rucksacks which are very heavy because of the hammocks which we have to transport up to the camp. After a small route in dugout, we sink little by little into the jungle. The guide follows in fact a kind of small road drawn through the jungle. Fortunately because close, it is so the disorder! We walk quietly through the flora, by paying attention where we put feet because there is full of branches of everywhere and of pieces of wood which go out of ground…

But otherwise, there are probably no risks which animals disturb us because the guide walks with flip-flop! Sometimes James stops to try to perceive monkeys or birds everything in the top of trees. It is not evident, but we manage to perceive some. Throughout the road, we meet: a small snake, a big trap-door spider, enormous ants which can paralyze us if they prick us … We also saw small ants which serve as anti-mosquitoes when we crush them on the body! Moreover, James shows us some plants which can look after diseases, as the bark of a tree which looks after the malaria (in infusion), or the "milk" of another tree which looks after the asthma. At the end of 2 hours of walking, we arrive finally at the camp, exhausted by the heat and the weight of the bag. We install our hammocks, then we look for a little wood to make the fire. While James cooks, we rest a little. To the menu: rice mixed with potatoes, carrots and tomatoes, chicken and a few sausages. We are going not to starve here! Before restarting for another expedition, we go swim in the river which just flows close. The water is fresh, it is very pleasant. Amazed, we learn that this water will serve us as drink for today and tomorrow. A little bit reluctant to bathe in the same water as the one that we drink, we rely on him. He knows what he makes! Finally, we even had no diarrhea in our return! And it left for a tour of 2 hours in the jungle. Again, the guide shows us what is used by the Indians of the forest. We see among others a big tree, "the tree phones ", which is of use to Indians to communicate between them a great distance away by knocking above. On returning to the camp, James prepares the diner: rest of rice, sausages and hard-boiled eggs (yes, we had to carry around a pot filled with fresh eggs of the lodge to the camp. Not very practical!). Then the night quickly falls, it is 6 pm. The guide leaves going to bed in his hammock. It is too early to sleep! So we stay a little towards the fire to be discussed. Then we go to bed all the same at about 7:30 pm, anyway we have to get up early the following morning.

The night is pleasant, we sleep well in hammocks! Hardly raised at 6 am, we have breakfast, we tidy up our affairs and we leave. In this case, we return directly in feet in the lodge. It is still warm, we sweat in big beads. The guide stops less often, it is more walking than the discovery now. We have all the same the right for a small interlude: on the road, we find a liana. We try to make Tarzan, but we still have progress to be made! At the end of one hour and a half, we arrive finally at the lodge. We take a good shower, we rest a last time in hammocks and we are going to eat: rice, pastas, raw vegetables and meat! Then it is already the time to leave. In this case, the crossing puts less time than in the path (just one hour). We take then the bus in the town on the side of the road, and at 5 pm, we arrive at the hostel of Manaus. But we are still not arrived because we have to wait for Luiz who goes out of the job at 7 pm. As a result, we settle down in a bar to eat a piece and drink a good juice. Finally, Luiz arrives at 7:30 pm. As we are exhausted after these 3 days, we do not go to bed too late