Brazil and Amazonia!

Brazil: Salvador and the Amazon

Salvador

I woke up early in the morning once again to see us pull into Salvador. Coming around the coastline you can just see the beautiful churches of the Pelhourino and the vast dichotomy with the favellas that are down by the port area. Elise, Bryan, Jeff, Jen and I went to breakfast, and then we had to clear immigration. Again we had to have a face to face meeting with an immigrations officer, and they are pretty serious. I think it was Dean Mike who said that they are particularly tough on Americans coming into the country because the United States is stringent with the Brazilians we let in. After we went through immigration, a US Consular Agent spoke to the entire ship in her diplomatic briefing. She decided it would be a really great idea to tell us a story of a carjacking where a 6 year old boy was caught in the seatbelt outside the car and dragged 6 kilometers to his death. Was it really necessary to tell us that? Marvel, the ship shrink, was sitting in the piano lounge too, and we all noticed her shaking her head and putting her hands up. Later I talked to Dr. Wes’s wife, because they have a six year old son, and apparently after that briefing he asked whether something bad was going to happen to him like that. NOT cool.

Jen had to stay on the ship for them to take her to a dentist in Salvador, so Bryan, Elise, Jeff and I went out exploring in Salvador. We walked to the Elevador Lacerda trying to find the Mercado Modelo, and couldn’t find it, but we explored some really interesting parts of Salvador. Off of the elevator we turned left and kept walking and walking and we finally reached these amazing old cobblestone streets. We found some great local artisans and Elise bought some jewelry, Jeff bought a mask, and I bought a painting of Capoeira. We bought some ice cream at the top of the elevator on recommendation from Marvel as she walked back down to the elevator, and then we came back to the ship for lunch because we all had FDPs to go on anyways.

My FDP was the Candomble Temple and Museum. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but I certainly learned a lot more in depth material than what was covered in global studies and cultural preport. Our guide was a member of a Candomble house, and so she explained about each of the house shrines we passed. It was a little bit of a let down that we could not enter, but they are only for the members of the house. They had the beads that represent the orixas, and so I got a string of white and blue beads because they represent the orixa Iemanja. She represents water and life. We also heard some stories from Mother Detina. She has lived in this Candomble compound almost her whole life, and she spoke about her time away from Candomble and her return. It was incredible to hear such wisdom from her and it was easy to see why she is so respected within the community.

I returned from the FDP at 1800, and I decided not to go out to Carnaval. I mean, I am sure I would have been okay, but at dinner I heard a story about three girls already being held at knife point and robbed, so I decided to play safe. I went to bed at 8 pm, because I had to wake up at 12:30 am for my adventure to the Amazon!

*The writing from here on out for the Amazon is basically my personal journal that I updated each night on the riverboat*

Amazon: Day One

Holy cow! I could leave the Rio Negro right now and still be completely satisfied. We met in the Union at one o’clock this morning and departed the MV Explorer around one forty-five. When we arrived at the airport, the tour operator took me and Jika to the ATM and then we rejoined the rest of the group. The security here in Brazil is so incredibly relaxed. At no point were we asked to present our passports or other photo ID, and there was just one little x-ray scanner that looked like it was made in 1970. One kid from our Amazon group showed up absolutely blazing drunk from Carnaval. In the Union before we left he was so obviously drunk and a lot of us wish he wouldn’t have been allowed to come, because everyone had to babysit him a little. At the airport he was inappropriate and we were all a little embarrassed to be there with him. At one point he had all of his cash hanging out of one pocket, his passport barely in his back pocket and then emptied an entirely different pocket into the hands of the ticket taker when he went to board the plane. GAH. These are the people that give this program a bad name.

We boarded our plane to Sao Paulo after eating ham and cheese croissants and drinking water with some major gas. Seriously, gassy water does not hydrate. I felt more parched after drinking that water, but that’s a conversation for a different day. Haha Oh – and a Jeff quote. He said something about Marvel that was along the lines of “Hi verb, I’m a proper noun. What do you do in your spare time? Join together subjects and objects?”

Our flight to Sao Paulo stopped in a place called Vitoria, but we were not aware that we were landing before Sao Paulo. So…five of us SASers got off the plane in Vitoria and made it to baggage claim before we realized that no one else from our group was coming. Luckily the baggage claim was right off the tarmac, so ran back out, and Paul Travis and I showed our tickets to the people on the ground who hurriedly pointed us back to the plane..OOPS.However, we did make it to Sao Paulo, and somehow Sao Paulo is an hour ahead of Salvador, even though it is further west. Our flight to Manaus was on a huge plane with two aisles. The seats went two – four – two. I sat next to Ryan from Texas who took up most of my leg room because his legs are so long. Not entirely his fault, I know, but pretty uncomfortable for me. I slept most of the way to Manaus, but I woke up in time to catch episodes of The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and The Jetsons! HELL YEA!

Upon arrival in Manaus after three and a half hours in the air, we split into our two boats. We gave our boat one guides, Antonio and Allan, our passports and then set out in our motorcoaches to the river. Our riverboat was named the Joas Silva VII, and as soon as we got there, Jika, Perry and I claimed awesome hammocks in the very back of the boat. They gave us some snacks and then we went to the meeting of the Rio Negro and the Suliemon (I have no idea how it is spelled!) River, which form the Amazon River. The Rio Negro begins in Peru, the Suliemon begins in Colombia, and then they meet near Manaus and it is the Amazon all the way out to the Atlantic Ocean.

One is black and the Suliemon is tan because it is full of clay, but when they come together they actually stay very distinctly separate. The pictures are amazing because there is actually a line in the water where they come together but do not mix. We aren’t actually on the Amazon River, because it has far too many bugs and too many birds, so it isn’t as conducive to the trip that we want to have.

They gave us some time in our hammocks until we reached our next location, and they were pretty darn comfortable. We woke up to go see some absolutely enormous lily pads. The lily pads were great, but the kicker was the completely unsturdy and swaying platform we walked across and stood on to see the lily pads. Perry and I hightailed it out of there because we were mildly terrified of the thing crashing down. There was also a souvenir shop there, but nothing struck me as something I wanted. We had a lot of time budgeted to be there, but there wasn’t a lot to do, so almost all of us came back to the boat. Some people slept, but most of us decided to have group bonding time downstairs.

At five pm we crawled into our motorized canoes which held ten of us in each canoe plus one driver and one guide. Perry and I grabbed the very front seat which was awesome. As we were heading out, some local people came by with sloths, baby caimans (or gators), and….AN ANACONDA! I held the sloth and the anaconda. I don’t think anyone will ever believe that I ever did these things! We continued for awhile more, and then we disembarked the canoes to see this absolutely enormous tree. Antonio, the guide, said that 17 men holding hands cannot fit around this tree, and I believe it.

After we returned to our canoes, it was time to look for caimans!! Most of the time it was petrifying to be sitting up front. Everytime we would go head first into the tall grass, I would freak out and grab Perry’s hand! Antonio caught a little 8 month old caimen right at the beginning of the search and we held it up front most of the time. It kept trying to fight Perry and he would say, “No, Sir!” and so we named the caimen Sir and we became a little attached to it. After many failed attempts into the grass, Antonio caught a 4-5 year old caimen. I also held that!! It was a risky day for me! It really is a good thing I have pictures because no one would EVER believe this at home. I kind of like that I am beating everyone’s expectations for me and my trip.

After that we came back to our riverboat for dinner and some Uno action in the dark! I’ve never played a game so badly that we all had to resort to just putting cards down or passing because at the end we would only have one card in the draw pile at a time. Haha Now it’s time for bed, because tomorrow is the day of the jungle trek!

Amazon Day Two: Amazon Trek

At several points last night I woke up in my hammock and it was simply pitch black. The engines and generator were off and it was just us in the middle of the Rio Negro with the sounds of the Amazon around us. We woke up really early this morning both because of the engines but also because of the natural sunlight pouring into our hammock area. How wonderful! I woke up this morning and my first thought was, “Thank you, God.” Kind of cheesy, I know, but it was just so wonderful. We ate a filling breakfast and then again got into our motorized canoes to arrive at the start of our jungle trek.

To begin we went up a huge hill! I think we were all sore just after that ten minute hike! I went with the guide Antonio and our native machete wielding guide, Michel. For most of the time we were not on a path and Michel was simply cutting away. At one point we lost Stephanie Sue, our resident director/trip leader and Michel had to go back and find her. Antonio showed us many things like the chicle tree which is used to make gum, and a plant called breyo. Breyo is the plant which can be used to make gun powder. It is lit on fire an the burning oil falls onto a leaf and when it hardens it can be ground together to make gun powder.

And yes..Antonio started fires about three times in the rainforest. Oy! Our hike took about two and a half hours and then we ended at a waterfall. I made it all the way through the hike without doing anything stupid and then right at the end I stepped on a mossy rock and fell quite hard onto my behind. And it is quite a fun shade of black and blue already. Some people swam at the water fall, but the rest of us just waited and then we returned to the boat to eat lunch.

After lunch we went swimming in the Rio Negro!! I wasn’t going to swim but then I said what the hell! I’m probably going to be in the Amazon only once, so live a little and take some more risks! The water was amazingly warm, but then there were little pockets of cool water. Some of the local kids came to swim with us, and then after about half an hour we dried off on the boat and then climbed all 140 steps up to the village. Their medicine man leader showed us around, but I was definitely more interested in the kids that were following us around.

Stellani and Manyete guided me down the hill to the manioc plantation that supports their community and then Heicey and Stellani took me up to the store. I bought a bracelet and necklace. Then…it was soccer time in the raging heat. This whole trip has been absolutely humid and hot. I know all of the people back home in Ohio will despise me for complaining about the heat, however, so let’s move on!

The SAS guys played against the Brazilian guys from the village, and Team Gringo got their butts handed to them on a platter. However, they did score one goal and managed to keep some dignity. The best part for me was that during both the guys and the girls game, Hiecey sat in my lap and Stellani was resting on my leg. At one point Hiecey fell asleep in my lap and it was absolutely priceless. When we left we all wanted to bring our new little kid friends with us…we all just kept yelling, “Ciao!, Ciao!”

After we left the village we went back to the riverboat for snack and then Perry, Stacy, Danielle and I had mad karaoke time with the iPod and sang our hearts out. At around 6 pm the guides hurried us onto canoes and said we were going to go see the sunset and the stars and that we would be back by 7. The sky was absolutely fabulous. I can’t even describe it in such a way that would give it justice. There were no lights whatsoever and even the tiniest stars twinkled brightly.

Around 8:30 we began to get suspicious, and finally I remembered something about a beach party from the SAS itinerary and we began to piece things together. We swung the canoes back around to the beach where our riverboats were, and we immediately saw fireworks being set off, which seems mildly inappropriate in the Amazon, but there were also little fires all over and it was a big beach barbecue! IN THE FREAKING AMAZON!

The other boat was there as well and Jeff finally admitted that boat one was better. They had so much food at this barbecue” meat on skewers, rice, potatoes and the list could go on. We had limbo, tug of war and musical chairs. The lifelong learner, Donna, played musical chairs and we all booed when the “Canadian Killer” of musical chairs, Lindsay, got her out…Lindsay was awesome…I told her I am making her a Canadian Killer tee-shirt haha. I did tug of war, so it was a little reminder of April Reign here in February.

We clambered back into our riverboats, and set out for the night. Most of my boat decided to lay our towels on the back, open sky area and stargaze and talk. Jayme brought a star chart, but nothing would match up in the sky. Finally Owen realized it was for US use only, and it was a good thing nothing matched up because we would have been imagining things. We did find the Southern Cross though, and it was huge! We all hung out and told stories, but I am going to bed now, because I am tuckered out!

Amazon Day Three: Piranhas!

As seems to be usual, we woke up pretty early again this morning as the sun came up and the engines revved for the day. We ate our hearty breakfast and set out in our canoes once again. Our task for the morning? Piranha fishing! Allan was our guide and there was also the captain of the boat. We used beef as our bait and the piranhas are tricky little devils! They would nibble the bait right off of the hook…the worst part was that you could feel their little tug on the line, but then not be able to get the line up in time to hook them!

The captain came and helped me for about 15 minutes and I finally caught one! It was such an exhilarating moment, because when else am I going to catch a piranha? Only 4 of 10 people in my boat caught them, but we all had a lot of fun. Right after fishing we went on another hike. This one was shorter and a little more focused on rainforest survival and things like that. The very interesting part of this trek is that during this hike, Antonio found bug larvae and told us they were edible. He started a fire of leaves and cooked about ten of the larvae and offered them to us to eat. And yes, friends, I ate firefly larva. It wasn’t horrible, but it had a very chewy exterior and a creamy interior. It took me a second to choke it down, but I did it.

After our hike we returned to the Joas Silva VII and changed into our swimming attire. We went to a different beach and it was also amazing. Lindsay and I swam some laps and talked and then vanity set in. Stacy brought a razor with her and we all shaved and then we got Lindsay’s shampoo and conditioner and the hairwashing began. We all just felt a little better. We also discovered that the sand on the bottom of the Rio Negro made a great exfoliant…our feet have never been so smooth!

After our swimming adventure we ate lunch on the boat and had about an hour before we reached the next village we were visiting. The man who greeted us was making a canoe when we walked up the hill. We saw the rubber trees that they tap for extra money and then we walked into the main part of the village. We were given time for shopping so I bought some more jewelry to be presents for people at home (Steph and Mom watch out, you’re getting Brazilian jewelry!)

There were three churches in the village and only 25 families. The Presbyterian and Baptist churches are both pretty small, and then the Roman Catholic church has about 20 of the families. The Protestant churches don’t really have any leaders, and the RC church has a priest come in from Manaus once a year. When the priest comes every couple who wants to get married gets married on the same day.

After we wandered around, a local artisan came out from the store with a fruit that can be mushed up to make dye that sticks to skin for about two weeks. I thought it would be really unique so I got one. I told him to do whatever he wanted, so I now have a bird and flower on my left wrist. It was really cool at the time, but now it is a little smudged and kind of ridiculous looking!

We left the village and began the four hour boat trip back to Manaus. To keep us entertained Antonio and Allan brought a map of the region upstairs and we were supposed to guess where we were. They finally told us we were at the widest part of the Rio Negro. After that, they taught us how to make things out of palm leaves! I made a fan, and Matt made me a crown! Then we played that game where everyone picks one person to recognize and it is everyone’s worst fear to be the last one called out. Haha well, yes, my friends, this time it was me. But hey, Antonio gave me all of the chocolates that were left for my pain. Haha

After that it was show time at the Tiwa Lodge…there was an Amazon “show” which just involved scantily clad women and men dancing. They gave us three drink tickets, so I had a Skol beer and a Soda Antarctica. Jeff was on a roll as he nursed his two sodas all night long and kept yelling “oopa!”

We returned to our boats at 11:15 and departed for Manaus.

Day Four: Return to Salvador.

At midnight we disembarked our boats carrying all of our possessions. I should mention that I bought my hammock. They gave us the option of buying them for 15 bucks and I figured why not! Maybe next year instead of having a futon underneath the one bunked bed, I can have a hammock! We said goodbye to our crew and guides and traveled for 12 hours back to Salvador.

Our first plane left at 2:30 am for Brasilia and then we had a 3 hour layover in Brasilia during which I slept on the floor using my hammock as a pillow and sharing with Jika and Jordi. We boarded our plane home and then we got on our busses and arrive back at the MV Explorer around noon. Thus far I have not been this excited to see my ship!

We showered, ate lunch, napped, and then Elise, Bryan, Jeff, Seth, Jen, me and some of Jen’s friends went out to eat at a Brazilian steakhouse. It is like a revolving buffet in which the meat cutters come to your table and constantly cut you more meat. We spent about 40 bucks each, but it was definitely worth it. That brings my total spending in Brazil to $100 dollars. Thank goodness.

Back on the Boat:

The only real update is that I shaved my head into a Mohawk last night. I’m rocking the hawk today and the scary thing is that I look halfway decent. Tomorrow is Neptune Day and I am getting rid of the rest of it.

And I had my first batch of sea sickness today, so that’s always a joy.

Anyways…off to do work now!