Preparations are underway

Welcome to those who may be interested in following along from your desks and armchairs. Dale and I figured that since we had done the top of the world and the bottom of the world in our travels that it was time we had a look-see at the middle. (if you missed our Antarctica Blog  you can check it out at: http://aroundthehornin16days.blogspot.com/)

So - we are off to Brazil and the rainforest leaving on the 28th of December and coming back in mid-January.  We have been stabbed with vaccines including diptheria, tetanus, polio, influenza and yellow fever and we start taking anti-malarial medication a couple of days before we leave for Brazil. We have our passports plus travel Visas courtesy of the Gov't of Brazil. We still need to find some Reals (Ray - ALS': the Brazillian Currency) and hope there is still a store somewhere here with some forgotten Deet products on a shelf as it is recommended we wear DEET 24 hours a day especially on the Western part of the Amazon. We are travelling in the rainy season when the river is at its most navigable. We are told to expect average temperatures between 27 and 32 degrees Celcius (81-90 degrees F) and a MINIMUM of 100% humidity. I anticipate my curls getting a teensy bit out of hand...

We start our journey down the river at Manaus, Brazil. This is a city of over 1.5 million located in the heart of untouched Amazon rainforest. It is only accessible by air or via the River. Manaus was founded by Rubber Barons and was the key center of rubber production and export for the world until a European rubber magnate managed to smuggle out some rubber plants and took them to Asia which now outpaces South America in production.

That is it for now - I will start posting once we arrive in Manaus and get some sleep - the travel to get from Rush Lake to Manaus will take more than 40 hours with only 1 hotel figuring in that equation and 4 airports... oh the things we are willing to put up with to see the world! The places marked in Red on the map are places we will be putting ashore. More once we reach the forest...

Marsha