I just arrived in Manaus deep in the middle of the amazon this morning at 4:15 AM a bit battered and beaten by 6 days and nights on a riverboat headed upstream from the delta into the interior. sleeping in hammock on the crowded boat was not very comforable at all, and the bathrooms were fairly substandard, but what the boat lacked in quality and efficiency was made up for ten times over by the unbelievable sensory experience of the Amazon. oppressive heat combined with the afternoon doldrums where there is no breeze to cool you off.