BJJ in Manaus

December, 2022

Welcome to the Jungle BJJ

Duration: 5 days, 5 nights

Location: Manaus, BRA

Costs: Flight 500$, Hotel150

Entering the home land of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. My first stop in the capital and the biggest city in the Brazilian state Amazonas.

Thanks to my friend Kiki Melo I had already some contacts there before arriving. As well I get in contact with Ycaro who is a black belt and went a couple of times to Switzerland.

Getting here

I had to take an airplane from Quito to Manaus because the distance was too big.

There is also the possibility to go to Manaus by boat but it will take days to get there.

BJJ

Thanks to my contact to Ycaro and Kiki`s friend Franco my fist trainings in Manaus were in MPBJJ Nova Uniao. The gym is runned by Marcio Pontes and his son.

Based on the first floor over a pharmacy you will find the academy. Around 200qm and the most of it is mat area.

It was the first time in my life I entered a gym and saw so many black belts in a training.

I was very welcome to train there and some of the people of the gym also offered me to do things in my leisure time.

The second station to train form e was Team Karina Dias BJJ. It is the Academy of Kiki`s sister. I went there for an evening class and was heartily welcome by her team.

The academy is based on the first floor and around 300qm big with a 180qm mat area.

After a small warm up and some drills it was time to roll and show my skills J

When the training ended Karina invited me to have an Acai with them and to the Team BBQ and pool party the next day.

On the way to the Acai place we stopped in the academy of Kiki`s and Karina`s father Cosmos Dias. It was my first time in my life I met a coral belt.

The gym is legendary. Many well-known fighters trained there, such as Jose Aldo.

The gym is in an area I wouldn`t go by myself. Based on the basement the gym is around 60qm.

Some more places to train:

Academia Charles Baston, Anibal Jiu-Jitsu, GFTEAM and Ribeiro.

Food and drinks

Manaus is all about fish. Thanks that the city is surrounded by to rivers there are always available.

Tambaqui is the main thing. It’s a big freshwater fish. Depending on the size 3-5 people will be needed to eat one.

Tacaca is a soup that is normally served with shrimps. Inside there is Jambu which is a green vegetable and gives the dish its taste.

And as well every BJJ favorite Acai. You can’t get enough of it while you are in Brazil. A puree made out of a purple fruit of the Amazon. Normally served with Granola and fruits.

What to do

The city center has some historical buildings which are very nice to see. Spending an afternoon walking around you will see them all.

The main thing to do is a boat tour. The will bring you to the places where the Amazonas and Rio Negro meets. Thanks to the different colors you will get a nice picture. After that they bring you to a fish farm. You will get lung and you can walk to the jungle before you meet indigenous people. At the end there is a swim with de river dolphins.

Nightlife

All over the city there are bars which play music and people start dancing. The closer the weekend the more people are out.

Good to know

The clima in Manaus is hot and wet.

I always used UBER when no one of the gym was driving me to move around.

Entering was for me very easy no forms needed.

The currency is the Brazilian Real R$.

off to Rio de Janeiro