Let the Amazing Amazon Begin!

9-8-08
By 7:00 AM Monday morning we were en route to the Salvador airport in order to get to the Amazon. Our first stop was in Brasilia, a little to the south and our second flight was back up north to Manaus. Air travel was quite different from the U.S. Many of us didn’t pack our bug spray or shampoo because we thought that the limits on liquids would still be in existence. But they were not! They did not check for liquids, we did not have to take off our shoes, and they did not check our boarding pass or ID’s at security. It was quite a relaxed environment. We also had wonderful snacks and meals on the plane! There was a snack package on the first flight, which consisted of a delicious chocolate chip cookie and bagel type crackers with jelly and cream cheese. On the next flight we had a tasty turkey sandwich-which is much more satisfying than the occasional packs of peanuts from U.S. airlines.

Once we arrived in Manaus we had about an hour bus ride to get to the Amazon. After we arrived we got onto a 2 story boat that was decorated with red, white and blue streamers and balloons and looked like it should be floating down the Mississippi. They had 2 Brazilian dancers in their swimsuit type outfits covered with feathers, beads and other decorative materials. They gave us straw hats and necklaces made out of seeds as we boarded and then we quickly made our way to the table full of snacks and goodies.

We crossed over the divide between the Rio Negro (a tributary of the Amazon) and the actual Amazon River. Since the two bodies of water have different contents and densities they meet, but do not combine. So we saw the clear color distinction of the meeting of the waters. It was a yellow-ish color next to a brown color. Since one is more acidic, they have very different plants and animals that can survive in each river as well. One of the species we saw right away was dolphins! They were always coming to the surface and we saw them several times a day, every day we were there.

At dusk we went out on smaller canoe type boats to catch some alligators. On our way we passed by a little shack on stilts on the side of the river. Five or six children came running out with Anacondas and baby sloths as the adults calmly sat on the front porch. We pulled up to the small wooden shack and the kids and a few adults jumped onto our boats and let us touch or hold the animals. Although snakes aren’t my favorite animal in the world I figured when else in my life could I wrap an Anaconda around my neck while canoeing down the Amazon. So I put it around my neck just long enough to get a feel for its slippery skin and snap a quick photo. I was going to hold the sloth too, but when a girl in the boat next to me was bitten by it I decided to just admire its cuteness from afar. Our guides told us that tourism is helping people to conserve and save the jungle and its species, because now they don’t have to kill them or poach them to make money. They can create income by keeping them alive. However another group told us their guides wouldn’t let them stop to touch the animals because they said the indigenous people don’t care for the animals or feed them. Instead they just keep them until they die and then go get new ones from the jungle. I’m not sure who to believe. It has to be a combination of the two.

After a little more strolling down the river, we pulled up next to another canoe because their guide had caught a baby alligator! It was actually about 2-3 years old. He just caught a glimpse of it above the water and reached his hand in and grabbed it! After holding the alligator it was time for us to hang out on the boat and head for bed. The top deck was open air and we slept in hammocks. Quite crowded fitting about 25 of us up there, but luckily I was second from the end so I had some room to breathe. I had imagined it being super comfortable, being able to be rocked to sleep and cradled like a baby in this hammock. It was the complete opposite. I SLEPT HORRIBLY! Those of you who have ever tried to sleep in a hammock, you know what I mean. It was so hard to get comfortable, my feet kept falling asleep since they were so elevated and it even got a little chilly in the middle of the night but I couldn’t curl up to get warm. So the second night I slept on the floor on top of life vests and that was a great night’s sleep!

Amazon Day 2

9-9-08
The next morning we woke up with the sunrise a little before 6:00 AM. We had breakfast and then went straight to the jungle for our jungle trek! Surprisingly there weren’t too many mosquitos, but we saw lots of cool bugs and spiders. They all looked different from anything I’ve seen before because they were bright colored (usually yellow or green) and often times had spikes or were odd shaped. One spider that I looked down and saw on my leg at one point had a yellow body and it looked like a daddy long-leg but its legs were even longer! Each of its legs were probably close to 2.5 or 3 inches even though its yellow body was tiny. I wish I would’ve snapped a photo before I quickly flicked it off my leg! We saw oversized ants, a walking stick, and beetles. They had a machete with them so they slashed certain trees with it to show us the milky substance that comes out. One of our guides said it was sometimes used for medicinal purposes so he let some drip into a water bottle that he planned to bring back to his ill friend. They made a little funnel with a twig and we each got to taste a few drops from the tree. It is also something they use as an ingredient in chewing gum. So it tasted quite minty. They also cut a branch from another type of tree that stores water really well. Water just dripped out of it in a steady stream. So they walked down the line of us on the path as we held our mouths open for water from the branch! They also showed us how to hit a certain tree with a large branch because that’s how people that live in the jungle communicate. It can travel for up to a mile and still be heard. So we each took turns banging on the tree with a branch.

We then took the canoes to a little beach where we got to get into the water for the first time! We had been warned that there are parasites and sketchy animals but our guides told us that in this acidic part of the Rio Negro we would be fine. So we played volleyball and hung out in the Amazon water! Our next stop was a small village on the edge of the river. We got to walk around and stop in their shops that had obviously come to existence because of tourism. Wedson and Tiago explained to us that their sources of income included fishing and furniture making which they would then bring to Manaus (the main city nearby) to sell. We then played soccer with the Brazilian natives! We were all pumped up to play and a bunch of us guys and girls walked out towards the field and they then informed us that the first game was only with guys, and that the girls would play their own game after. I was unsure if that was just a good way of dividing it up, or if there was some of the male-dominated society coming into play there. So I got my turn after the men and us women played the local women. It was amazing to see how talented even the youngest kids were at the game! They had a nice tradition afterwards each team chose the person they thought was the MVP from the other team. They then presented each other with a prize. In our case, they gave the winner a Brazilian soccer jersey. It was very sweet to see how excited they were to play with us and the competitive but appreciative nature that both teams had.

After a day with the village people the guides told us they had a surprise for us. We got back on the boats and eventually pulled up to a little beach and by this time it was dark out. There were strings of lights everywhere, music playing and then all the sudden fireworks went off! They had set up a feast for us with music and mood lighting on the white sandy beach. It was too shallow for the boats to pull all the way up to shore so we had to walk from about knee deep water up to the shore. After dinner we played tug of war and musical chairs (but we had to salsa dance around them). I noticed the gender separation again with tug of war. When they told us what we were playing the two different boats (we called ourselves the jaguars vs. the anacondas) each rushed over to get their place on the rope with their team. One of the guides started shouting “no, no we’re separating into men and women”. I immediately participated in the moans and groans of all of us students who were feeling bummed out and a bit surprised that the separation seemed so necessary. It was completely out of our frame of reference to continuously divide up by gender. However they did let the women go first this time. To our excitement, after males and females competed against each other, then they let us all do it together. Maybe I’m reading too much into this gender thing, but it was something I noticed immediately on several different occasions.

Last Day in the Amazon

9-10-08
The next morning we woke up bright and early once again. We traveled to another village to see how they made certain foods and juices. Our guide translated for a man who had lived off the land his whole life and now had a wife and family there as well. He said he preferred not to go into the city, that he is perfectly happy right where he is. They had a kiln and a stove for cooking food and an amazing contraption for mashing up a root that they grow to create different foods. This particular root can be lethal if you eat it without preparing it correctly. So they soak it in water for three days, and then the women chew on it and spit it into a bowl and then after that they process it some more with mashing and putting it into their contraption for the final stages. I was a little unclear about all the final details. They make different grains and breads and even tapioca out of this root. We got to taste a pancake type food they make out of the grains from the root. It was somewhat bland, but they usually put jelly or something else with flavor on it. We also ate some on our boat for our meals. They showed us how they used acai berries to make juice. It was actually quite tasty, it reminded me of a Jamba Juice smoothie. After talking with fellow SAS students I discovered that Jamba Juice actually has a smoothie with these acai berries! I’m sure this authentic version was much better though!

We then got back onto our canoes and went piranha fishing! The fishing rods were bamboo sticks with fishing line and a hook connected to them. We placed a small piece of raw red meat on the hook. There is a very specific method of slamming the tip of the pole against the water several times because the noise makes the piranhas think that something else is feeding at the top. We would repeat that process every two or three minutes. These fish are so sneaky that actually ate quite a bit of the meat without getting caught on our hooks! After sitting out there for probably close to an hour we began to pass the time by asking our guide lots of questions about the Amazon and then eventually about his life. He is actually a Portuguese teacher for teenagers. He said their public school system is very bad here so they don’t even learn how to read or write in the language very well until then. He said he used to be a regular guide, but eventually switched to teaching. His tour guide boss liked him so much he just calls him back to do our semester at sea trips because he knows he is so excellent!

Eventually we discovered that our guide, Tiago didn’t have a fishing pole, and he was probably the only one of us that actually had the technique and experience to catch anything! So we passed a pole to him and within minutes he caught us a Bass! It was definitely no Piranha but it was a cool fish to look at nonetheless! Some canoes didn’t catch anything, so we bragged about Tiago’s big catch all day long. Later in the afternoon we stopped at another beach and had time to hang out with the other boats of students. Many girls decided to sun tan on the beach but I was the only girl that went and played 3 flies up (throwing a football game) with all the boys. Later on some girls joined me in a volleyball game. It was nice to be active and to get to play on the beach and in the water of the Amazon! After a couple hour boat ride where we played card games and watched the dolphins jumping every so often we arrived on land once again. It was our last night so they had a big performance for us of traditional Brazilian dancing, music, and story-telling within the music. After a magnificent show with elaborate headdresses and costumes we got to join the professionals on the dance floor. They make it look so easy but my dance skills were not living up to be as good as I thought they were. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun and was a great ending to such an adventurous trip!

Our plane ride was around 2:00 AM so we were up traveling until then. I probably got about 4 hours of broken sleep during the plane flights and our layover in the airport. We were all exhausted by the time we reached the semester at sea ship that afternoon, but the exhaustion was well worth the amazing experiences we had in the Amazon!