“It is surely time to add the city of Manaus to the World Weather map: not only is it the capital of the largest Brazilian state; not only is it one of the 2014 World Cup host cities; not only is it a city of 2m; but most importantly it also marks the centre of the Amazon Basin and the Amazon Rainforest – an area of concern to everyone on the planet, and one which even directly affects the very global weather you are reporting on. Take a look at the current weather map – a few South American cities and a huge area of nothingness in the middle. Come on BBC, for goodness sake put the Amazon on the map!”

Why did I do this?  Really, I don´t know. I have better things to do with my time. It was just time for a minor rant.

It´s not all bowling along at 40kph, you know...

As promised, a quick note to say that I am back from the most recent expedition, none the worse for wear. All went (more or less) according to plan, and if you want all the gory details it will be in the book.  10 days, 1200 kilometres, 3300 square kilometres from North to South of the Amazon floodplain. Photo courtesy Amanda Hall.

All quiet here for the moment, but ten-day, 1,000km expedition planned for 16th July and in preparation for this now. If I haven’t updated the blog by the end of July, it’s because I’m dead.

We´re fine. Aaron is doing well and starting to talk (total b*ll*cks, mind you, but it runs in the family). If anyone ever has a tenner to spare, send over a cheap English kiddies book to keep him amused – can´t get anything here at all).

The pic is for everyone to whom I owe emails, with apologies for my poor communication. Taken yesterday.

No promises, but I will try to post to either the blog or Facebook at least once a month from now on.

All the  best from a dry-season, high-water Amazon.

Biker Aaron

Team Brasil Superleague Formula 2011 car

You can now follow the Visit Manaus  Superleague Formula 2011 car via the website. Enjoy…

Do I look as if I'm bovvered...?

A stroll in the park today was interrupted by a surly looking 2m-long iguana.  Quite harmless (it says here), but he made it clear he wasn’t happy with our company, and stood his ground. Who are we to argue?

It has been a busy week with one thing and another and New Year’s Eve/Day looks like being just like any other work day here (plans for a beach party have come adrift). Never mind – we’re looking forward to 2011 as the year we make good here, and we hope all of you have a great year too.

Feliz ano novo!

Christmas on the Rio Negro

With our third Christmas and our fourth year here fast approaching, I thought I should write something festive, but I just can’t get into the mood. For me, Christmas is snow and ice, warm bars, works parties, holidays and family arguments around a half-cooked turkey etc.  Eighty degree heat and tropical rain just doesn’t cut the mustard I’m afraid. Anyway, let me try.

First of all, to those among you who think Christmas is a happy, magical time, may I wish you the happiest, most magical Christmas ever. To those who assign a spiritual meaning  to the period, may this Christmas warm your soul and refresh your spirit to the utmost.  And to those who find Christmas an over-rated,  commercially-driven drudge, may you at least get some decent presents and have a good piss-up.

That’s probably it for this year from me, as I have so little time available now for the personal blog – but I will be back in 2011 and I hope to have lots to blog about. In the meantime, have a good one, and may your god go with you.

Men in Black and White

I was reminded today (ha – as if I needed reminding) of what a country of contrasts Brazil is. On the one hand we have a veritable war going on on the streets of Rio de Janeiro (http://soccerlens.com/welcome-to-rio-land-of-football%E2%80%A6and-civil-war/62018/ is an interesting, somewhat scathing article) as the police try to regain some sort of foothold in the drug-dealing no-go areas which infest the place, and on the other we have the announcement of another significant find of light crude oil a few hundred kilometres from Manaus with the added commentary that Brazil is experiencing a new dawn of prosperity and social mobility and enlightenment and growth and whatever.

Meanwhile, the news floods in of Europe offering bail-out packages to the sinking economies of  Portugal and Spain and Italy and Ireland; and we see interviews with “disgruntled of Dublin” and “pissed-off of Palermo” etc.  I was also amused to see Catholic convert Tony Blair failing miserably to defend a motion that “religion is good for the world”. Hmm. Quite how he reconciles his undoubted political skills in a western democracy with blind faith in a “celestial dictatorship” mystifies me, and calls to mind the phrase “someone has been f***ing with my mind”…

Strange place/times we live in, for sure.

"I must go down to the sea again..."

Here in Manaus we’re still frustrated by the low water, with no river trips planned until next weekend. Work on the bridge over the River Negro continues slowly, and the inauguration planned for 2010 will now take place next year instead.  There are lots of murmurings about development for the World Cup, but with the exception of the demolition of the old football stadium and closure of the Ponta Negra, little is manifest. The tourism business is a bit under the weather and awaits an injection of gringoes with wads of cash from the annual procession of cruise ships which start arriving next month. Christmas decorations are appearing all over the place and retailers (and petrol stations) await a hoped-for seasonal demand peak driven by the 13^th month salary which is everyone’s due in Brazil. Unfortunately this is needed to see them through the dearth of economic, political and any other significant activity in the country between the new year and the end of Carnaval in March (although rumour has it the demand curve for drug dealers in Rio remains largely unaffected J

The wet season has failed to materialise so far  – a crashing first week or so, but still lots of sun around – but we’re preparing ourselves for the long, humid, sunless days ahead when the only way to get anything reasonably dry is to take an acetylene torch to it. Still, at least you wake up in the morning feeling cool enough to do a modicum of physical activity before 9 o’clock – who knows, perhaps I’ll start training again for the Sao Silvestre Marathon.

We are all well, although we had an attack of what we can only assume is chiggers (I’ll leave you to look it up), and we’re still struggling to get rid of this.  But there is rarely a week passes without some member of the family suffering from something…and this time it’s Toto, who escaped for an extended period and was thoroughly beaten up by the Rottweiler bitch he has set his sights on for the past few weeks (without the aid of a stool – possibly a step ladder – he might just as well assault the Colossus). So he’s here now with an ear hanging off (again), a bleeding testicle, and a leg that looks like someone’s taken a potato peeler to it. Never mind – it looks like he’s pulling through, bless him.  Ozzie, incidentally, is looking good now; and Kelly’s pregnancy appears to have been a phantom one. Phew.

I’m sitting here as usual at 21:00 under the Laurel Clock Vine with a few beers, and being peed on by some insect or other (did you know there are insects that pee on you?) and since I object to being peed on and the third can of Skol is making it difficult to type at a reasonable rate, I’m going to stop here and move to the pool to concentrate on the beer in a pee-free environment.  I won’t be taking my laptop, so this is it for the moment. Take care.

Curupira - from www.lucianopires.com.br

On a recent trip upriver with a friend we visited an Indigenous village on the Rio Negro. During a long and friendly conversation with some of the people there, the subject of fishing and hunting came up and at one point we were told by one of our hosts that they had recently had a narrow escape from  the Curupira. The Curupira is a mythological being and of great significance for many of the Indigenous Indians throughout the Amazon.

The Curupira is a protector of the forest.  He does not object to a hunter’s activities unless the hunter takes too many of a particular animal or otherwise abuses the flora and fauna of the jungle. He normally takes the form of a small boy/man, although he is able to assume other guises, and his most distinctive feature is his backward-turned feet, which he will use to lay down tracks to mislead and confuse the hapless hunter.

Our host told us how, on a recent fishing trip, he had gone to sleep under a tree for a few minutes and was woken by the sound of a long shrill cry in the distance. He knew at once that it was the Curupira, and was not surprised therefore when within a few minutes he heard the voice of an old  friend of his who lives in Manaus, calling him away from the trail. This is a common ploy of the Curupira, who can imitate a man’s voice and use it to lure a victim deep into the forest, never to be seen again.

Fortunately our friend told us he had “holy wax” with him, and this kept the Curupira at bay. Thus protected, he was able to work his way slowly back to his canoe and return home safely. All the way back to the canoe the voice kept urging him to throw the holy wax away, but he resisted what he described as an almost overwhelming desire to do so. When he got back to his hut he was taken with a fever and was ill for two days. He told us he has not been fishing since that night.

When we asked why he thought the Curupira was looking for him, he said that recently he was one of three guides who had accompanied a group of foreign fishermen looking for tucunare (peacock bass). “We took too many tucunare,” he said, shaking his head. “The spirits were angry and Curupira came to try to take me away.”

Our friend didn’t explain exactly what his “holy wax” consisted of, although it seems that the talisman for this rainforest spirit may be of Christian/European origin.  An interesting mix of two mythologies, if so.

This has prompted me to find out a little more about Amazonian myths and legends, and I’ll try to add another piece in due course.  For the moment, I’m off for a spot of fishing (now where did I put that wax…?)