Dear Mum and Dad
hi guys, in presedente figueiredo – a functional (horrid) little town!! anyway – thanks for sending parcel – just checked, you wouldn´t believe it but they buggered up again (is it really a german company?!) – this time sent to the wrong facility in spain according to dhl.co.uk tracking. We have 3 more days running til the limit of the indian reserve which we may or may not be allowed to pass, then 3 days in it, if allowed, then not sure when we next get access, perhaps nova paraisa, which is unlikely to be a new paradise, the old one was ok i thought!! Problem is i dont know when I can check to see when it is genuinely ready to collect…. would you be able to check it is moving now and then and hasstle DHL if not? The trip back to manaus is possible, not as many daily departunres as i had thought, but possible, but only to be contemplated once it is truly ready to collect as it is a matter of a day or so on buses there and back, not a couple of hours.
hope to call tomorrow before we head off again. Spent 2 days in camp 41, totally alone, which was lovely. It has had many famous people tread these paths, Kennedy, Al Gore, Clinton, Tom Cruise!! Not sure how they coped with the facilities which are excellent for us, but in the context of a research field centre, not a sheraton. The Jaguar didn´t turn up which was a mixed blessing as always. Rains did, but lovely to be in the forest, true primary undisturbed forest. Our friend in the Research Institute (INPA) sent 4 science books too for us to feast on, and we brought a tray of eggs. meandered the tracks, found some exotic birds, didn´t find many more but heard them, and smelled a million smells. It´s a blessing to be in a true, natural state forest, and pleasant surpise to find out how few troublesome insects exist – an irony that it is anthropogenic activities that bring that particular problem!!
lots of running in the two days since – put in a marathon today, climbing and descending all the way, over 800m with a water-logged trailer. The undulation is a new theme this side of the amazon and is hard work, but affords amazing views – if we ar in the mood for looking!! Rain has been off and on, super heavy at times. Somehow this culminnated in prickly heat once again, perhaps road dirt and high humidity? More liklely i skipped a wash last night as we arrived int he dark and fumbled with hammocks at the forest edge into the night, fatal!
anyway – hope to talk soon, much love d&k