Family vacations are intended to reduce stress, not pump up your adrenaline. But if given the opportunity to tour the Amazon, would snakes, mosquitoes, piranhas and malaria hold you back?

When my husband announced we were headed to Rio de Janeiro on business, I was ecstatic. For years, I've drooled over photographs of Corcovado, the Sugar Loaf and sun bathers at Ipanema Beach. But after I studied my world atlas, I also began to dream about the Amazon. Here was a golden opportunity to view the largest river basin in the world. It holds one-fifth of the earth's fresh water supply and is responsible for the replenishment of nearly half of our planet's oxygen.

Would I ever get a chance like this again?

Probably not.

But there were psychological obstacles to reckon with first: I loathe worms and snakes; I attract mosquitoes like a magnet; and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control listed certain areas I wanted to visit as high-risk malaria zones.

It didn't help to find the following posting on the Internet. I found it at an Amazon-related discussion group. It was submitted by "T. Wagner" on April 17, 1998:

"The Anaconda is found in the Amazon forests of South America. They can grow to be over 30 feet long. Some of the Amazon tribes people have said to have seen an Anaconda that was 140 feet long, but it was unable to be proven. Anacondas can be up to 550 pounds!! They kill their prey by constricting it until it is unable to breathe, then swallow it whole. They are often able to go up to two years without eating. They will kill prey as large as jaguars and caimen."

...or as meaty as short Korean women!! In response, I posted emails of my own -- asking about the likelihood of actually stepping on one of these reptilian creatures.

"Don't worry. There's nothing like the Amazon," said one traveler.

Even my cousin's husband, who almost died from malaria in Indonesia, said, "Go!" I must've talked to four doctors. They collectively assured me that the anti-malarial Lariam pills (which you begin taking two weeks before arrival and continue taking two weeks after your return), and shots for yellow fever, Hepatitis A, tetanus/diptheria and typhoid should keep me alive.

"I'd go in a flash," said the nurse as she stuck needles into my arm.

We flew in from Rio. Happily, my fears evaporated once we arrived in Manaus. We boarded our Amazon Clipper Cruise, named the Dona Selly, after one night at the Tropical Hotel. Our guide, Francisco de Silva, welcomed the twenty passengers who would become a temporary riverboat family. During the day, we made land trips through the dense tropical forests. We saw "caboclos" (river people) who have lived along the river banks for centuries.

One amazing phenomenon we saw was the "meeting of the waters," where the black waters of the Negro River and the clay colored waters of the Solimoes River run side by side for miles, without mixing. One night, we boarded our canoes and searched for caimen with our flashlights. Another day, we fished for piranhas. I caught three small ones, one of which ended up in a tomato-based soup, which I helped the cooks prepare.

In terms of my fears, I didn't encounter or step on any anacondas. The caimen were lifted at a distance by our guide. And yes, those bloodsucking mosquitoes found me. Not because I wasn't prepared. I was fully equipped with face, leg and foot netting. But I forgot to spray mosquito repellent over my long-sleeve shirt. They bit right through it! As for malaria, there's no sign or symptoms. The irony is that a week later I took a walk through my local nature preserve. I was bitten by a tic.

My doctor shook his head, "You'll have to take these pills."

"What for?" I asked.

"Lyme disease."

Discover Amazonia

Ariau Amazon Towers (The Treetop Lodge)

National Center for Infectious Disease/Traveler's Health

Tropical Medical Bureau: International Vaccination and Advice Centres

Medical College of Wisconsin Health Link (information on malaria)

(Article originally published by www.expatspouse.com)