Manaus, Rio Negro and Juma: this is how I discovered the real Amazon, unbeknownst to me

Ten days alone, without my girls: I had never done that. Of course, there was also work involved, but if it hadn't been for the invitation from Max Brasil Planet-Promobrasil , with the complicity of Paul of TAP Portugal, I would never have put my foot in the Rio Negro.

A Manaus I had already been, but only in passing: a Landing and departing the next day, Without seeing almost anything. This time it was different.

I landed in Bogota, I closed my challenge with Turkish Airlines, then off on the first flight to Manaus.

In the city I stayed at several hotels: the Ibis Style, right in the center: cheap and more than good (review coming soon) and at the casa do Bispo.

Disclaimer: I did not pay for this experience at 100% and, honestly, I would never have booked it on my own initiative. When they proposed: "Do you want to go to the Amazon?", my idea was to stay there for three days at most. I didn't even really understand where I was going.

Manaus

Here Max entrusted me with a guide, the same one who follows his most knowledgeable clients: Those who have read books, guides, comic books as Mr. No And maybe watched Fitzcarraldo ten times. I, on the other hand, zero.

This is how I found out that Gustave Eiffel-yes, the very one with the Parisian tower-had built palaces and markets here.

I found out that you can take a cruise on the Amazon sleeping in a hammock. And that Manaus is gigantic: 10 times Rome and Los Angeles, 5 times Tokyo, almost twice Shanghai.

Most importantly, I found that as soon as you get away from the center, the phone becomes useless. I imagined an accident and me there, isolated, with the only hope that someone would come by. But then I enjoyed the waterfalls of Presidente Figuereido And all fears are gone.

After three days among waterfalls, theaters, churches and museums, it was time to cross the river, right at the point where Rio Negro and Rio Solimões meet.. From there, minibus, then new boat and finally the lodge: the furthest thing from a Marriott I have ever seen.

Juma Lake

The base camp for my dive was the Juma-Kabanas Lodge (review coming soon). Six rough wooden bungalows, no windows, no finish, with only a bed, a fan, and air conditioning.

"So you were at a resort?". No. Because the power comes only from solar panels: the light, when it is there, comes on in the evening. Internet, thanks to Mr. Tesla, exists, but it is a dancing option: all it takes is a power failure and everything disappears. Of cellular signal, however, not even a shadow.

However, if you prefer there are more comfortable accommodations up to luxury, but you can also sleep in the jungle or on a boat, in short, everyone has their own vacation.

It's not like a safari in Kenya

Here life is water. In the three days of our stay, the river level dropped more than a meter: roads and waterways change from one hour to the next.

You eat what the land and the river offer: delicious fish, incredible fruit, land-raised chicken. For the first time in my life I saw the pineapple plant.

The animals? You can see them, or you can't. And if you are color-blind like me, the challenge is double: "these infamous people" are true ninjas in blending in with the forest.

I stopped looking for notifications

Of course, Musk's antennas reach everywhere, but when you are on the boat or in the forest you are alone with yourself. For the first time since cell phones have existed, I spent more time offline than online. Four days without call center calls: a show.

I recommend it to everyone

I admit that at first I thought: "I would never take my Bumba there.". But on the way back, watching the river dolphins do their awkward evolutions, I changed my mind: "I definitely have to go back there with her.".

Three nights at most (four if you are interested in fishing) and you can say you have tasted a piece of the Amazon. I'm going now, that my phone is ringing. A sound that, after the Amazon, seems almost strange.