Psh, Hemingway. So overrated.

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Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I've just finished reading a book set in Manaus as it happens, Marcus. Until England were scheduled to play Italy there in the World Cup I'd never heard of the place, now it's everywhere.

Really!? Fiction or nonfiction? I thought for a moment it could've been Fordlandia but then remembered it was as far from Manaus as London is from Glasgow.

Speaking of which, I'm glad you're seeing it everywhere! I've come to love this city about as much as London (my favourite city after my hometown). It's no world city yet, but the population doubled in my lifetime and it became a lot more modern. It went from being a backwater to the 7th city in the country. Not sure you're hearing good things about it though

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Originally posted by DJ RANN My brother spends half the year there every year and it's absolutely fucking beautiful. He travels about 500 mile north of manaus, up the rio negro - some crazy shit happens up there though (pirates, river battles, etc).

Why does he do it, and could you tell him that's pretty bad-ass?

My wife did a similar journey up the Solimões river, although it was a lot less "exciting" - she just taught literature in a county (município) the size of Ireland, but with a population of just 17 thousand people. She said the inhabitants are really warm and hard-working, but it's so far remote from everything the place is our (Wet &) Wild West (e.g. the opposition candidate for mayor had just had his house burnt down by an arsonist).

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I look like a gay

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Originally posted by Lira Why does he do it, and could you tell him that's pretty bad-ass? My wife did a similar journey up the Solimões river, although it was a lot less "exciting" - she just taught literature in a county (município) the size of Ireland, but with a population of just 17 thousand people. She said the inhabitants are really warm and hard-working, but it's so far remote from everything the place is our (Wet &) Wild West (e.g. the opposition candidate for mayor had just had his house burnt down by an arsonist).

The reason he does it is even more badass; by trade he's a forest engineer and he used his savings to buy a big swathe of forest to protect it and figure out how to monetize the rainforest without cutting down trees. In a nutshell he comes up with sustainable means for local/indigenous people to make money from the forest while protecting it.

His most successful project is sustainable honey. They bred the Amazonian bee with the African bee and got a less aggressive but high honey yield bee (those were the flaws of each breed) and then install hives for the locals to run. The honey is really high quality so is the propylis and wax etc) so commands a high price and in turns the locals now want to protect as they now understand the forest has more value as endlessly sustainable pollinator grounds rather than a one time timber payout. he also says the people are amazing and very warm but they are in the middle of nowhere so life can be tough. He's also working on other things like trying to bring ancient/shamanic and traditional knowledge of the flora for modern day medical uses. Essentially a giant lab testing ground. The fucked up thing is that none of this might have happened; he was booked on a flight from Paris to Rio and about two weeks before had to postpone as work at home was too much. He was super pissed about not going then.

.....that was the Air France flight 447 that went down

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Originally posted by DJ RANN The reason he does it is even more badass; by trade he's a forest engineer and he used his savings to buy a big swathe of forest to protect it and figure out how to monetize the rainforest without cutting down trees. In a nutshell he comes up with sustainable means for local/indigenous people to make money from the forest while protecting it. His most successful project is sustainable honey. They bred the Amazonian bee with the African bee and got a less aggressive but high honey yield bee (those were the flaws of each breed) and then install hives for the locals to run. The honey is really high quality so is the propylis and wax etc) so commands a high price and in turns the locals now want to protect as they now understand the forest has more value as endlessly sustainable pollinator grounds rather than a one time timber payout. he also says the people are amazing and very warm but they are in the middle of nowhere so life can be tough. He's also working on other things like trying to bring ancient/shamanic and traditional knowledge of the flora for modern day medical uses. Essentially a giant lab testing ground.

This is bloody awesome!

Tell him a Brazilian guy (whose wife lives in the Amazon) says "Muito obrigado" and that I wish him luck!

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Originally posted by DJ RANN The fucked up thing is that none of this might have happened; he was booked on a flight from Paris to Rio and about two weeks before had to postpone as work at home was too much. He was super pissed about not going then. .....that was the Air France flight 447 that went down

And, phew, what a close call!

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