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In the middle of the jungle, 1,500km away from the coast, Manaus is the biggest city in the Amazon. It had its great time in the rubber boom period until the Dutch and English started to plant their own rubber trees (stolen from Brasil) in the West Indies in the 1920th. The monopoly was broken and prices dropped significantly. The opera is the most famous landmark of the golden period with a luxurious interior like white marble from Carrare in Italy. Nowadays, Manaus has a kinda run down but charming and save atmosphere, with bustling streets and friendly locals. It‘s fun watching people in the plaza in front of the opera or strolling around the harbor area watching the loading / unloading of the Amazonas boats.
How great is that: admission to most of the events in the Opera House is free and some better seats are available for a reasonable fee. Unfortunately the only performance during the the two days I spent there was a theater performance in Portuguese and considering my non-existent Portuguese skills that wasn´t promising. At least I managed to join a guided tour in English.
Having a day left before my scheduled flight to the Brasil / Colombian border, I decided to join a day tour to see the famous “Meeting of the Waters”. Where the dark waters of the Rio Negro join the lighter muddy waters of the Rio Solimoes, a natural phenomenon occurs: the separate shades of water run side by side for a length of more than six km without mixing. The separation is caused by the difference in temperature, density and flow rate of the waters from both rivers. Although that sounds quite amazing, seeing it from the boat is far less spectacular than expected, but judge for yourself looking at the pictures. Also part of the tour was a walk through the forest where some locals showed captured animals around and a place to swim with dolphins. I found it awful but again judge for yourself. Finally we went to an indio village to see some traditional dances and learn about the tribe’s customs. As the money spent there supports the village, e.g. for education, this was at least for me the best part of the trip. Overall would I do it again? Probably not.
Originally I had planned to take a Amazon river boat from Manaus to the Brasil/Colombian border. I had imagined lying in a hammock on deck, experiencing how the locals travel: an epic adventure. Unfortunately, the trip takes 5-6 days upriver and gets deadly boring after one ore two days, I was told by other travelers. So I decided to fly for 2 hours over endless green stretches. I booked my stay in Amazonia beforehand with Yoi Eco Lodge, as they got fabulous recommendations.
There is no border control between Leticia on the Colombian and Tabatinga on the Brasilian side. No wonder, the two towns are located in the middle of Amazonia and there are no connecting roads to the outside world. So I had to go to the police station in the town of Tabatinga and the immigration at the airport in Leticia to get my passport stamped. Public transport is handled mostly by a kind of 3 wheeler “tuk tuk” or “motos”. Helmets on motos are obligatory. However there’s a higher security risk than without if the only way not to lose your helmet is holding it with one hand while trying desperately to use the other hand to grab whatever is in reach to stabilize yourself on the moto.
It takes 5 hours to reach the lodge with a speed boat on the mighty Amazon river and another 1.5 hours with a long boat on the much smaller Amacayacu river. The lodge really is remote, in the middle of the jungle. The closest settlement is the small indio village of San Martin, around 45 minutes away from the lodge.
Another group of travelers cancelled on short term so I found myself the only guest in the lodge, together with Ronaldo, my guide, and Carlos, who works as a translator. The next couple of days were full of activities. Considering its remoteness, the lodge is comfortable. My hut was basic but clean and had a nice bathroom with jungle view and its own tarantula,…… holy cow, what a surprise! I went to the toilet at night with my headlamp on and damn did it scare the pants of me. I was immediately fully awake, thinking what to do next. Killing it with a sandal? No way, what a mess. Catching and releasing? Nothing around to do so. Finally, I decided to my business (fortunately only a small one) and let the spider do its. I closed the bathroom door properly and to ensure a better sleep I fixed the mosquito next extra carefully around the bed. The next morning the tarantula seemed to be gone but I realized a gap between the toilet and the wall and guess what - bingo! Knowing that tarantulas are nocturnal, the two of us made a deal: during the day the bathroom is my territory, during the night it’s the spider’s. The only thing I had to ensure was not drinking too much in the afternoon, ha, ha.
A guide in Leticia told me about the pink dolphins in a lake close to Puerto Narino. Early in the morning, they can be spotted stealing fish from the nets of the fishermen. In order to be there on time, we had to start early, around 4:30h. It was still completely dark and we had to use torches on the river. Reaching the Amazon, dawn created a fascinating scenery with the local boats on the misty huge river. Unfortunately, we didn’t reach the lake on time. The fishermen were already gone, but at least we were able to spot some of the pink dolphins.
One of my favorite trips was traveling upstream by boat in the late evening and then floating back to the lodge into the dusk. Sitting on the bow and soaking up the atmosphere, listening to the jungle noises… it was a fantastic experience.
© 2026 Beyond All Maps - Portraits of our Planet by Thorsten Mehret
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