gazpacho brasileiro

We're in Manaus, which is just about as far into the Amazon as you can get. I have all sorts of great stories about our latest adventures with anacondas, alligators, incredible tropical fruits, howler monkeys, and mighty tropical rivers.

Unfortunately, none of those stories are true.

We've been in Manaus for five days now, and I have to admit that the city doesn't suck anywhere near as badly as I expected. I thought it would just be a stinking industrial pisspot surrounded by maddeningly deflowered forest. But it's actually a nice place--surprisingly safe and relatively clean, with some interesting markets near the ports. Still surrounded by maddeningly deflowered forest, though--not that I've seen any of it lately.

Poor Amber came down with a nasty little flu, so I've been on nurse duty. I'm even wearing one of those cute little white nurse outfits with the skirt and everything.

Okay, I'm lying about that, too. The outfit, I mean. Amber really does have a bad flu, and is in no shape to travel yet. She's getting better--and no, Mom(s), she clearly DOES NOT have the symptoms of any creepy tropical diseases--but our stay in Hostel Manaus is dragging on.

So I am left to amuse myself by trying to find new ways to get Amber to choke down a crapload of vitamin C, in spite of her lack of interest in food. I made gazpacho. Something got lost in the kilogram-to-pound translation, and I accidentally bought enough tomatoes and cucumbers to make five full blenderloads of the stuff. Then Amber didn't like it.

My Dad did a wonderful job of laying the whole "starving kids in Japan" guilt trip on me when I was a kid. I hate to throw food away and gazpacho is really perishable, so it had to go down my hatch. I'm sloshing with gazpacho now. Say a prayer for the plumbing in this poor hostel.

And that's about it from here. The hostel is tolerable enough, and I've had some nice meals in some really sketchy stalls near the ports...tasty stuff for US$2, served with a dirty tin cup of water and a dash of classic third-world grime. I pass on the water, and stick to canned beer.

There's really no cheap way out of Manaus without taking a really long boat ride--almost two full days to our next stop, Santarem. For US$40, you get to string up a hammock on the deck...meals are included. Not a good situation for feverish Amber.

So here we are, until further notice. Send cold soup recipes--my gazpacho failed.