Thought for the weekend

Just short one pink dolphin (or two tree frogs, or four Brasil nuts). So crack, leap or jump right up….

Have a good weekend!

Just missing a Pink Dolphin or two

Giant Samauma Tree, Adolpho Ducke Reserve, Manaus

We’re just £30 from our week-two target of 40% funding. A pink dolphin and a tree frog would do the job, while a manatee would blow it wide open. We could also do it with just 6 brazil nuts!

Anyone out there wanting a fun ride with the Amazon Handbook over the next few years, and their name permanently associated with the best-loved English-language guide to the Amazon, please step up!

Making a contribution is quick and easy, and you will be helping us help visitors to one of the last great rainforests on earth, which still needs more visitors and a higher profile if it is to be effectively protected in the long run. Visitors sometimes need protecting too, of course, and that’s also where we come in 🙂

Anyone who can donate a minimum of £5 will be making a difference! A minimum of 95% of your donation goes directly towards the printing costs (we lose a bit on currency exchange, Paypal and bank charges).

Please help us towards our target. If you have already donated, then it’s your project too – please talk to someone else who you think would like to participate. Or why not give someone a gift –  a donation in their name will get them a free copy of the 3rd (Olympics) edition of the Amazon Handbook with their name in the credits (£20 for the e-edition; £40 for the printed edition) in the book and on the website. We think that’s pretty cool.

Full Project Details  (opens in new window)

Friends of Amazon Handbook Donations Page (opens in new window)

List of Friends  (opens in new window)

Thanks from us all!

Come up and see us sometime!

Scarlet Macaws (by Charlie Fayers)

…or down, as the case may be. With the Brazilian currency buckling at the knees, your own currency has never been worth more in the heart of the Amazon!

So come on – pick a bargain flight avoiding the south of Brazil, and come via Miami or Lisbon. You’ll be here splashing the spondoolies about quicker than you’d think. Beer at half the price (330ml bottle of Heineken for £0.57/US$0.90/€0.81), cheap hotels, cheap jungle lodges, cheap tours – it’s a veritable bargain!

How about a hot and humid Christmas with the primordial rainforest mists swirling round you as your canoe glides gently down the black waters and a pair of macaws pass low overhead? And after a relaxing dip in the warm tropical waters you can settle back with a tropical cocktail or three with the Amazon Handbook team at Cahoots Café and Bar.

More information at our website Amazon Handbook.

WANTED: TREE FROGS AND PINK DOLPHINS

As many will already know, we have opened the 3^rd edition of the printed Amazon Handbook to crowd (actually ‘select group’) funding. In exchange for a minimum donation of £5, all our contributors will be mentioned in the roll of honour in the guidebook and on the website, and there are other rewards depending on whether you choose to be a Brazil Nut, Tree Frog, Pink Dolphin, Manatee or Jaguar Donor.

We are hoping to raise enough to cover just the costs of the print run, which come out at R$8,700, and at the date of writing our Friends have already donated just over R$3,000, leaving us just R$360 (£70) to raise to reach this week’s target – so we are currently on the lookout for 3 Pink Dolphins and a Tree Frog!

The amount we have raised so far is very encouraging, and bodes well for the completion of the funding round before the end of August, following which we will be scheduling the printing with a planned publishing date of 30^th September.

Grateful thanks to all our Friends who have donated so far, and if you have not yet made a contribution but would like to know more about the project, why not visit our project page on the website (or if you just want to donate right now, go direct to our Friends page).

Thanks from Clive and the Team

Get your name in the Amazon Handbook!

Today we launched our Ulule.com crowd-funding appeal. It is an exciting time for us, because if we are successful with the funding we will be able to publish the completely revised, special Olympics version of the Amazon Handbook!

We hope all our readers will consider making a small donation in exchange for putting their name in the book – or perhaps giving a larger amount for other goodies. Every penny or cent counts, as does any help you can give by telling others  – friends or colleagues – who you think may be able and willing to participate.

The Amazon Handbook helps visitors, raises the profile of Manaus and the Brazilian Amazon, and in a small way helps build the kind of global audience who can help protect the region. It has been written, produced and published by volunteers since 2009, and has already helped thousands of visitors to the region.

Please have a look at our project page on ulule.com:

http://www.ulule.com/amazonhandbook

And if you need to know more, contact us through outreach<AT>amazonhandbook.com

Mad March Toucan Promotion

Bring toucans of Guinness and take part in our promotion!

It is (nearly) March, St. Patrick’s day is approaching, and we have gone mad here at Amazon Handbook and Cahoots Café & Bar in Manaus.

From now until 17th March, bring us a can (or bottle) of Guinness and get a free coffee and muffin (normal price R$10) at Cahoots.

Bring us tou cans (or tou bottles) and get a free, signed copy of the Amazon Handbook (normal price R$25)!

Offer limited to one free coffee and muffin and one Handbook per person. Handbook offer only while stocks last. Cahoots, Rua Pará, Vieiralves, Manaus, CEP 69.053-070 (+55 92) 3238 6121

 

“Nah mate, that’s not corruption – this is corruption….”

I laughed until the tears rolled down my trouser legs after reading this story reported in the local newspaper A Critica yesterday, 9th February 2015. The story involves the Mayor of a large town on the Amazon River, 500km upstream of Manaus. The A Critica reports that a recent investigation at the Coari Prefeitura (the Mayor´s Office/Town Hall) suggested that the Mayor, whose name is Igson Monteiro, was guilty of a little nepotism. I won’t translate word for word, as it’s a bit long winded, but the gist of it is as follows (as faithfully as I can):

“According to receipts discovered on Sunday by the A Critica…Igson Monteiro, who became Mayor…when the previous Mayor was imprisoned, nominated his father as a Special Adviser, with a monthly salary of R$2,600. …[His] mother was also appointed a Special Adviser, with a salary of R$7,000 gross, [although]…this was reduced to R$5,500 after tax. Four of Igson´s brothers gained seats on [the council]. Izone Monteiro was appointed a Secretary with a salary of R$9,000. This was the same amount paid to Idiseu Monteiro, in his job as the Mayor´s Private Secretary.

Iva Monteiro and Iza Monteiro, sisters of the Mayor, were also appointed as Special Advisers, with monthly salaries of R$7,000 gross. Two brothers-in-law of the Mayor completed the list.

Yesterday, when A Critica phoned, no-one  answered the phones at the Town Hall.”

Today we learned that “for personal reasons”, Igson Monteiro has resigned…to be replaced by Iliseu Monteiro. If the name seems familiar, it probably is – Iliseu is Igson’s brother…

You have to laugh.

And… it’s free coffee night at the Palace Hotel Ballroom…

While we are getting ourselves organised here at Cahoots and Amazon Handbook, we didn’t want to deprive you of a decent cuppa, so we’re offering free coffee until the end of the week. Come on over and join us in Cahoots!

 Look forward to seeing you there.

 Offer valid until 20:00, Friday 6^th February.

p.s. – and anyone who can tell us what film the phrase in the title is based on can have a free bun 🙂

Cahoots, Rua Pará 4a, Vieiralves, Manaus

Cahoots Preparations

Cahoots from other side of Para.

A few pics of Cahoots before it opens to the public.  The first one was taken on the night of 2nd Feb. after a final clean-and-tidy-up. Note the large No. 4a, which we hope will help people find us on a road where the numbers can jump from 2 to 325 in a hundred metres.

Interestingly, even here in the back of beyond, within 4 hours of adding Cahoots to Google Maps, we received a phone call from Google Brazil to verify the details. “So you are in the same building as Kassara?” the guy asked. “No. Kassara has gone and we’ve taken its place.” “Ah. Okay.” So there we are – on Google Maps and Google Earth.

Staff Training – from left Rafael, Alex, Glenda

The next pic is of Alex training Rafael and Glenda in the art of making a decent coffee. I missed the training, sco I am still none the wiser, but at least I got the photograph. Maybe I can work it out from that.

The remaining photos are of the inside of Cahoots in the evening – one looking towards the magnificently reproduced Kandinsky at the client end of the shop, and another looking towards the business end.

Rafael did the Kandinsky with help from Naice, and a damned fine job it is too. There will be more art around the place in due course, including on Alex`s blackboard. We have a slight problem with that though, since no-one in Manaus seems to have any chalk…

Clients of Cahoots will love the Kandinksy

Inside Cahoots – looking toward the kitchen

There is still a lot to do before we are serving the public in anger, but we will be open provisionally by Wednesday 4th Feb. A proper inauguration will follow later, when we are operating smoothly. If you’re reading this, consider yourself invited!

 

A few pics of Cahoots the night before opening. All is nice and quiet and clean and shiny…

After running around like, well, very quickly, anyway, all morning sorting out a few little last minute things like, um, coffee and water (yes, really) and losing my credit cards and Alex’s keys, we had a quick bite and then Alex was straight into a bit of training with Rafael and Glenda, who will shortly be at the sharp end along with us two.

Staff Training – from left Rafael, Alex, Glenda

Below is a shot of Cahoots at night. The large number is an effort to ensure the post gets delivered to the right place.

Outside Front, Rua Para

Inside, at one end we have the kitchen and off to the left the corridor to the toilet. This is lined with old watercolours from Portugal, Italy and the UK, while the client side has our wonderful copy of a Kandinsky. All our own work, you know (mostly that of Rafael assisted by Naice in a spare moment).

Inside Cahoots – Client side

Cahoots – looking towards the business end

Tomorrow the doors open to the public, although we’re keeping things low profile until we’re sure everything is working (our only kettle decided to give up on us today, so we need to scuttle off first thing and resolve this, for a start 🙂

Once we get going properly, we’ll have a proper inauguration – and if you’re reading this, you’re invited!