Manaus
Actually, Manaus is not so much rubbish as fucking, fucking weird.

To get to Manaus, you have two options: fly or get a boat. It is slap bang in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest at the confluence of the two rivers that make up the Amazon itself.

Now you are probably thinking that somewhere which can only be reached by boat or plane has a small population. Nope, it has a population of 1,700,000. Or to put it another way, the same size as Birmingham.

It is hotter than Satan's nutsack in Manaus. And the humidity is like nothing you have ever experienced before. Every day, at around 3pm, there would be a monumental thunderstorm lasting around half an hour. Every. Fucking. Day. In fact, Manaus residents would make appointments "after the rain" as it was such a regular event.

Clothes would last you a matter of hours before you have to change due to the sweatiness and the dust. One shirt I had actually rotted and had to be thrown away.

Beer is served in ice sleeves because if they didn't, by the time you got halfway down it would be around blood heat.

The place is lousy with legions of mosquitos, butterflies and numerous other insects. All the grass in the municipal areas has been replaced with astroturf, as regular grass either rots or grows so quickly it has to be cut every other day.

In the middle of all this is the opera house. A magnificently spectacular, opulent and completely over the top monument to the rubber barons' wealth. And the rubber barons truly own the city. On the way to the hotel, the taxi driver told us we were lucky we were British, as there have been a number of high profile kidnappings/extortions of wealthy Brazilians who came to visit. The police were usually the ones who did the kidnappings.

On our final day, we watched a plane on final approach to the airport literally fall out of the sky and explode. People scarcely looked up.

Never have I been somewhere so bloody weird.
( Undercovercarrot got done for gross misconduct on..., Fri 30 Oct 2009, 12:47, 6 replies)

I really like this

( Throat And Ice Pie I see dem tatties dere., Fri 30 Oct 2009, 13:03, closed)

Ever seen Fitzcarraldo
with Klaus Kinski, directed by Werner Herzog?

I think you may like it
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 13:11, closed)

Is that
the boat being dragged over the mountain? No, but I've heard the song.
( Undercovercarrot got done for gross misconduct on..., Fri 30 Oct 2009, 14:01, closed)

thats the one
brilliant film, and yes, they did actually drag the boat over the hill
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Wed 4 Nov 2009, 10:50, closed)

That's just what I was thinking.
"For two days and two nights I've been rowing to see Caruso once in my life!"
(Connor Lingus is running this monkey farm now, Mon 2 Nov 2009, 12:59, closed)

Sounds pretty amazing
if a bit crowded, overheated and mosquito/organized crime ridden
( Fitznicely into a thimble, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 13:24, closed)