Wow, I’ve finally recovered from the craziness of the Maresia King of Wake in Manaus, Brazil.  Never in my life have I partied harder, rode harder, and meet so many rad people as this last weekend in Manaus. The first thing you must know, is the clubs in Manaus don’t close until early in the morning, like 8 am, and, somehow I found myself there until 8 every night/morning. The next thing is that the local riders, the Black River wake crew, can party all night, and ride their faces off all day.  At the ripe age of 23, I am definitely not able to do all that they do, but I managed for the last two days I was in town.  Manaus was probably the closest to wakeboarding perfection possible. Everyone there had massive wakes, so much so that when I went back to Orlando the wakes felt small.  Also, the Amazon is always calm, and the scenery is amazing! All that, plus the most stoked crew I’ve been with, made my week the best trip I’ve been on.  There were some gnarly times, like when a local shot mortars at our boat because we sunk his canoe, but luckily no ones hand/foot got blown off. Although, one of the mortars did hit our bimini and bounced off to explode in the water about 5 feet from the boat! After that, the crazy local wasn’t as funny anymore.  Even crazier than the local shooting the mortar was the driving! In Manaus, lanes are simply a suggestion.  Andre, the guy who brought us in, would periodically cut between two cars going about 50 mph, in middle of two lanes!! Seriously, it was like Fast and Furious driving! I think the picture of the flipped car explains it all. Another point that stood out in the trip was the crazy freshwater dolphins that swam in the river.  I have no idea what they were, but they looked just like dolphins and played around in the water in the same way.  Overall, I am stoked on Manaus, and am looking at an excuse to go back. Thanks to Andre, Hugo, Felipe, Angelina,Diana and everyone else that helped us out on our trip. Also, thanks to Austin Hair for getting me involved, you’re the man bro! Look for the vids to be popping up soon on NickJonesWake.com

Nick Jones in Paradise from Nick Jones on Vimeo.