New year greetings to you. We returned home to Sydney on 30th November and got caught up with Christmas celebrations, hence the delay in our reply.
We were very happy with our accommodation at St. Paul’s hotel, the staff were very helpful and we were very close to the Opera House and Downtown.
The cruise on the Iberostar Grand Amazon was a delight, great food and a lovely cabin, but we were disappointed that we didn’t see more animals or birds, only spotted some caymans but the crew worked very hard to keep us entertained . Having the worst drought in many years probably contributed to the lack of wildlife. Must mention the concert on the last night was excellent with professional dancers.
Our trip to Amazon Ecopark was a wonderful adventure. When we received your email at St Paul saying our booking at Tiwa Lodge was cancelled we were very disappointed but Eco Park turned out to be fun. Our guide (who I can’t praise enough) was waiting for us when we docked in Manaus and we were driven to our departure point on the river where we caught a small boat that took us up river as far as it could before the river became too shallow to proceed, due to the drought. We then stepped onto planks that the men had laid across the mud to the sandy beach. We were given an umbrella each to protect us from the sun as it was as hot as hell and we proceeded to walk the two kilometres to the Eco Park. When we left the beach and entered the jungle what did we find, two plastic chairs to sit on and a container of ice cold water, what service. Our luggage was loaded into wheelbarrows and pushed by two young men.
Our cabin at the Park was small but adequate and was airconditioned.
The buffet meals in the open air restaurant were a delight, lots of delicious fruit and salads plus various meats, fish and pasta.
We particularly loved the natural swimming pool in the jungle.
We had a terrific holiday Luciana and we would like to thank you for all your help. Regards, Dorothy and Stefan Darvodelsky