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With a current population of 1.8 million people, Manaus is the Amazon’s largest city. Manaus alone represents approximately 50% of the population of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, which is the largest state.
Cho and I wanted a place to recover and rest before our last push to the Atlantic - but Manaus isn’t that place for us. The prices are over double that outside the city limits and the industrial sprawl (now electronics assembly) is dirty and hectic.
So we are moving out to a small town 150km from here in a couple of hours by bus. From there we will repair the boats; solder the frame back together on my Macpack; and eat lots. Our schedule is tight if we want to arrive in Belem by the end of August this year - but we need to be 100% again before we leave.
Prince’s Rainforest Project - Courtney Jade - aged 7 from Walking the Amazon Videos on Vimeo.
The break gives Cho and me the time to concentrate on raising money for the expedition because - irrespective of money that might come in post expedition - we still need cash to continue.
However this week I would like to draw attention to my appeal to raise money for one of our charities – The ME Association’s tissue bank appeal.
Many of you will know this - last week Kay Gilderdale was charged with the attempted murder of her daughter Lynn. Lynn (3 years younger than me - pictured above) had very severe ME since she was a teenager – so severe that she was completely bed-bound for all that time. She could not even feed herself – she had to be tube fed. She was in huge pain as well as suffering many other ME/CFS symptoms. Believing she would never get better, unable to face a life of abject misery, she committed suicide just over a year ago. Her mother, Kay, a totally selfless and devoted mother who had cared for Lynn day and night for all those years, reluctantly accepted her daughter’s wishes – and tried to assist. On Monday, for various reasons, she was cleared of the murder charge.
Please spare a thought for this woman and all she has gone through. I know it will be of comfort to her if money is raised in her daughter’s memory. Donating, say £5 ($8.12 USD), to the ME Association tissue bank fund would mean a lot to Kay. Click on our charities page and follow the links. This is to help finance a tissue and post mortem brain bank to try to find the causes of this dreadful illness. My sister has been a sufferer for 17 years although she is not in Lynn’s category. She is a mild sufferer now but is still affected and as a family we have great sympathy for ME/CFS sufferers. If the cause can be found it may well spare other families like the Gilderdales.
If you don’t have internet banking, and want to help, please send a cheque payable to The Ramsay Research Fund to The ME Association, 7, Apollo Office Court, Radclive Road, Gawcott, Bucks MK18 4DF. Note on the back that it is for Ed’s tissue bank appeal in memory of Lynn Gilderdale.
Ed
My teenaged son who has mild ME (was ‘moderate’ but moderate is bad enough!) rarely comments on things he hears in the news, but he was shocked by this. Lynn was the first person he had heard of that had actually died as a result of this illness. I can’t imagine how her mother must have felt. I didn’t realise until I became an ‘ME Mum’ myself how many children and young people (and their families) are affected, at least six in Andrew’s school! I feel as if 5 years of Andrew’s childhood were stolen from him yet that is absolutely nothing compared with the suffering that some families go through.
Ed and Cho,
Wow! We didn’t know Manaus is the largest city in Brazil. We are learning about the Europeans coming to South America and we knew exactly what you said. Thanks for checking our website. We’ll keep checking on you and cheering you on. Come on August!
Mr. Noltner’s fourth grade class
http://www.sd25.org/~mnoltner/dryden/index.html
Mr. Noltner’s fourth grade class,
Manaus is the biggest city in the Amazon not in Brazil. If Ed said that he was just being tired! LOL.
Un abrazo,
Cho
Congrats on getting this far. I’ve just returned this week from a cruise up the Amazon as far as Manaus, stopping at Parintins and Santarem. Make sure you go to witness the Boi Bumba dancing in Parintins when you pass (mesmerising). I have severe M.E. and suffer the most extreme symptoms but without the exhaustion and weakness of many people but 41 extreme and terrifying symptoms. I lost a career as an airline pilot as well as rowing, tramping, surfing, sailing etc. Recently read your article in Ramblers magazine and so proud of you guys seeing as I collapsed after 5 mins trying to walk in the heat of Parintins. I will get well though…trust me, I want to live life. Wishing you safe travel and good health.
hey hi there,rob here from Ireland.keep going ,a fan here.i have deep connection with this river myself.i solo sailed 800k in a bath,two raft races on the river.and this year plan power para glide in my bath from Arequipa river source to brazil finish .poss 2 months challenge.to help promot my project with a medical centre for the river children.manaus cool .blessings rob
Keep trekking Gents !!