This trip turned out to be way more adventure than I ever expected it to be! Right off the bat the excitement began; but not in a nice kind of way. My bus was scheduled to leave the rodoviária (bus station for between states) downtown at 8:00pm and so I decided to get there with lots of time and leave the house at 7:00pm. The walk to the bus station by our house takes about 5 minutes and then there are 3 different buses I can take from there which would take about another 15 minutes. So I estimated arriving at around 7:30pm because of bus times and other things. As you can probably guess already that did not happen as planned. I had all my things ready to go and was about to leave the house when I was struck with a wicked stomache pain; I won't get into details but needless to say I didn't leave the house on time. It was about 7:30 when i got to our bus station and the next bus was not scheduled to leave until 7:39! I decided to take one of the buses that I wasn't familiar with but I knew would pass the bus station. I was told that if I took that bus I should get off at the stop before the final station and it would be right by the rodoviária. Since I had been downtown lots and had visited the rodoviária many times before as well I figured it would be fairly obvious when to get off the bus and didn't ask the cobrador to tell me when to get off... big mistake.
I ended up missing the stop that I was supposed to get off on and went to the terminal station. It wasn't a huge deal because I knew how to get to the rodoviária from there and it wasn't too far. Then I looked at the time and realized I had a total of about 4 minutes to get there before my bus was leaving; that is when I started to run. With a huge back pack, my purse full of things, and a plastic bag with my gum-boots I was making a pretty big scene running in between other people and their bags. I went straight to the door that my bus was to be leaving from and saw a bus sitting there about to leave. I yelled at them to wait and said that I thought that was my bus. One of the guys looked at my ticket and said "seu ônibus já saiu" - my bus had already left. He pointed me towards who I should talk to about my ticket and off I went. I walked passed a clock and it was 8:02pm - so close. All sweaty and out of breath I explained my situation to the guy behind the counter and asked if there were any other buses leaving that night for Guaraciaba. He informed me that there wasn't another bus leaving until the same time the next day. Not knowing what to do I told him to hold on a second so that I could phone João and see what words of advice he could give me. Two phone calls later and no answer I realized I'd have to figure this one out by myself. I walked back to the counter and told the man helping me that the next night wouldn't work. I was about to go ask some of the other companies if they had anything that night going to Guaraciaba - even though that would mean paying for two tickets - when one of the other employees started talking to the guy helping me. They were talking so fast and I had no idea what was going on but they were hurrying and writing a bunch of stuff on my ticket so I figured it was a good thing. One of them came around the counter and motioned for me to follow him. He explained to me that I was going to get onto a different bus that would take me to Lages where it would meet up with the bus I was originally supposed to get on and I could transfer there. After saying thank-you about a million times I got onto the bus. The rest went smoothly from there and I was pretty proud of myself and my portuguese to be able to make it through that situation successfully :)
I arrived in Guaraciaba at about 7:30am and met up with Rua at the apartment that they rent. Since I was nervous about missing my bus stop and didn't sleep too much or too well on the bus I went back to bed until about 12pm when João Lucas and Tracy all arrived. Tracy had been staying at a local families farm for the previous week and was just meeting up with the rest of the group that morning. Once we were all together we went out for some lunch and got some other things organized. Rua needed to come back to Florianopolis and so we got his bus ticket and dropped him off in São Miguel so he could get on his way. That afternoon they had another farm to go and visit and I got to tag along and see what they do when they are working in the west. We met up with the farmers and worked through a questionaire; this was a little bland because I didn't understand half of the questions or what they were talking about and it was a pretty large questionaire. After they observed the milking and tested each cow for mastitis and then measured the calves. On the way back to the apartment we stopped by the supermarket to pick up some meat and a few beers to have a bbq that night.
The next morning we jumped into the car and headed out for Foz do Iguaçu. During the ride it started raining so hard that cars were pulling over to wait it out and people were hydroplaning all over. At one point we could barely see out of the windshield already and a car went speeding past us and splashed so much water on us that we couldn't see for what felt like forever. All João could do was slow down gradually and hope that going straight was a good direction for us. It was cool to see such a huge amount of water coming down but kind of scary to be driving in. We got to our hostel and unpacked all our things and then headed towards Paraguay! They have a friendly border agreement and so you can cross without showing documents unless they stop you. We parked on the Brazil side of the bridge and walked across to the street venders just on the other side of the bridge. After looking around for a while we went into an actual shopping centre to check it out. The prices there are so much cheaper than in Brazil that when you look at people driving or walking back across the bridge almost every single car is stuffed to the max and the poeple walking are carrying as much as physically possible. We ate sushi for lunch in the mall and it was absolutely delicious! Afterwards we went on a search for some costumes to wear later that evening at a party we were thinking of going to. We ended up buying some knock-off socker jerseys and some tall socks to look like socker players from team Vasco.
With our costumes and some other purchases in hand we went back to Brazil and went to buy our tickets to the show that night. We searched for some extra things that would really make our costumes more authentic but couldn't find what we wanted so we headed out for some dinner. There are a lot of different cultures in Foz do Iguaçu and we decided to check out one of the Arabic restaurants. Tracy and I tried kibe cru for the first time which is a raw beef dish mixed with a type of flour and spices. The fact that it was raw bothered me a bit but I tried it and it wasn't half bad. To me it just kind of tasted like the flour that was in it though and the conversation earlier was all about how you prepare tongue to cook it so I wasn't really in the mood for eating things like that. After dinner, all nice and full, we decided that a nap was what we needed before going to the party (we weren't planning on leaving the hostel until about midnight). After a power-nap we got into character, had a few drinks, and headed to the party. I was unbelievably excited to be going to a costume party! It completely made up for the loss of this years halloween. The party was absolutely awesome; it was outdoors, multiple stages, live music, dj's, one giant beer garden, and tons of people having a great time!
The next morning we went to a chinese food buffet for breakfast; a strange choice but it was tastey. After breakfast it was back in the car and off to see the waterfalls. They were massive! Such a beautiful landscape and a great way to spend our morning. After the waterfalls we went to Itaipu - the biggest hydro electric plant in the world! It was very interesting and we were pretty lucky with the time that we went; only a small part of the year is the water level high enough to see the gates open for the overflow and when we went they were open! After that it was back to the apartment in Guaraciaba.
Monday there were more farms to visit and so it was another early morning for us. There was only one farm in the morning and the family was extremely nice. After the milking and feeding we went to do the questionaire in their house. They brought out tons of oranges and magoes along with whole bunches of pastries and breads. We hadn't eaten breakfast yet so I was really excited to see them. After the questionaire was completed we hiked up the hill to where the cows were grazing and I watched as they collected the flight-distance information for each of the cows. One person would walk up to a cows front shoulder at a ninety degree angle and then say how many meters away they were from the cow when it started to move. Luckily the farmer knew all of his cows and they didn't need to try and read the ear tags at the same time as figuring out the flight distance.
After we were done at that farm we went for lunch at the mom of one of our friends, Grazy's, hotel restaurant. She probably fed us enough food to feed ten people and not just four, but it was delicious and we made a sizeable dent in what she had served us. We sat in the restaurant for a while talking with Grazy's mom and digesting before heading out again. Before going to the next farms of the day we visited a couple other places to ask if they would let them visit them later on in the week to do the same thing. We stopped by two farms before it was time for the next milkings. There were two farms in the afternoon so we split up into groups: João and Tracy, Lucas and I. Both these farms had about 44 cows and it went pretty fast. Again we were with extremely nice people and I enjoyed being there very much. I couldn't imagine waking up and visiting so many different farms every day the way that they do for their project but I'm glad I was able to see what they do.
That night I bought my bus ticket back to Florianopolis and I left the crew after dinner. Now it is back to work for a little bit and then off to Rio!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
How many sleeps?
18 sleeps until I get on a plane and start my journey home!
Now to start the real post :P For whatever reason I feel like all the animals were going crazy today at work! Or I was just easily amused... I was changing the water for the turtles as normal and watching to make sure it didn't get too full when one of the turtles moved to stand right underneath the stream of water from the hose. He made a very beautiful turtle water fountain for all the rest of the turtles around him and he seemed to be having a great time while doing it. One of the other turtles found the only patch of grass that is in the whole enclosure and was sitting right on it in typical superman pose; maybe it felt more like he was flying that way. And one of the other turtles was walking around with a leaf on his shell all day and it just really made me laugh. I think the leaf amused me so much because it reminded me of when I would feed Virgo (my bearded dragon) and would make her a lettuce hat.
I have been helping with the rehabilitation project with the parrots lately too. What I have to do is clean them up, disinfect the walls, make them fly around (done simply by shooing them from the outside), feed them, and make sure not to interact with them in any friendly way so that they start to not like people. The project is starting to become a success because they are definitely not liking me very much! They were dive-bombing me like crazy! It never was a problem before so I didn't duck too far, but some of them actually were kicking me as they flew by! (reminded me of when Annie was trying to save that baby crow and almost ended up with stitches in her head haha) When I came in with the food they obviously knew what was going on and they all wanted a part of it. 20+ parrots can be pretty scary. I tried to get in and out as fast as I could but one of the parrots, who has been named Batman, would not leave me alone! He flew up onto my shoulder and was perched there very nicely. I thought it was cute but this was definitely not allowed in the protocol. I asked him politely to get back onto his perch and reluctantly he left my shoulder. It didn't last more than about 30 seconds before he was back on my shoulder though! I would have let him stay there but the birds were making such a scene that I was starting to draw a lot of attention to myself and had to enforce the rules. Sorry Batman.
A little later on in the day, when I was about to leave, the monkeys started a riot! The three of them are usually pretty quiet unless they start playing around; other than that they just make cute little cooing noises to you when you walk by. But today, man oh man, it sounded like the end of the world in their house! I don't know what started it but there was no one around so it must have been an internal dispute between them.
That's it for interesting work stories.
As for the rest of my stay here, my schedule goes like this:
Dec 2 - work and then leave to meet João and Tracy in the West
Dec 3 - arrive in Guaraciaba and visit Foz de Iguaçu
Dec 6/7 - get back from the west
Dec 8 - work and huge sushi dinner with Nivaldo's brothers at the Kuhnen residence
Dec 9 - work
Dec 10 - last day of work!
Dec 11-14 - Trip to Rio with João and Tracy
Dec 15/16 - open for things that we still haven't done (like Campeche islands or about 30+ more beaches)
Dec 17 - huge bbq/year end/going away party
Dec 18 - recovery and going to Costa da Lagoa with my coworkers for a final goodbye
Dec 19 - packing and plane ride home!
It is a busy couple of weeks and they are guaranteed to fly by just like the rest of my trip has!
I'm already sad to go, but I'm always excited to come back home :)
Now to start the real post :P For whatever reason I feel like all the animals were going crazy today at work! Or I was just easily amused... I was changing the water for the turtles as normal and watching to make sure it didn't get too full when one of the turtles moved to stand right underneath the stream of water from the hose. He made a very beautiful turtle water fountain for all the rest of the turtles around him and he seemed to be having a great time while doing it. One of the other turtles found the only patch of grass that is in the whole enclosure and was sitting right on it in typical superman pose; maybe it felt more like he was flying that way. And one of the other turtles was walking around with a leaf on his shell all day and it just really made me laugh. I think the leaf amused me so much because it reminded me of when I would feed Virgo (my bearded dragon) and would make her a lettuce hat.
I have been helping with the rehabilitation project with the parrots lately too. What I have to do is clean them up, disinfect the walls, make them fly around (done simply by shooing them from the outside), feed them, and make sure not to interact with them in any friendly way so that they start to not like people. The project is starting to become a success because they are definitely not liking me very much! They were dive-bombing me like crazy! It never was a problem before so I didn't duck too far, but some of them actually were kicking me as they flew by! (reminded me of when Annie was trying to save that baby crow and almost ended up with stitches in her head haha) When I came in with the food they obviously knew what was going on and they all wanted a part of it. 20+ parrots can be pretty scary. I tried to get in and out as fast as I could but one of the parrots, who has been named Batman, would not leave me alone! He flew up onto my shoulder and was perched there very nicely. I thought it was cute but this was definitely not allowed in the protocol. I asked him politely to get back onto his perch and reluctantly he left my shoulder. It didn't last more than about 30 seconds before he was back on my shoulder though! I would have let him stay there but the birds were making such a scene that I was starting to draw a lot of attention to myself and had to enforce the rules. Sorry Batman.
A little later on in the day, when I was about to leave, the monkeys started a riot! The three of them are usually pretty quiet unless they start playing around; other than that they just make cute little cooing noises to you when you walk by. But today, man oh man, it sounded like the end of the world in their house! I don't know what started it but there was no one around so it must have been an internal dispute between them.
That's it for interesting work stories.
As for the rest of my stay here, my schedule goes like this:
Dec 2 - work and then leave to meet João and Tracy in the West
Dec 3 - arrive in Guaraciaba and visit Foz de Iguaçu
Dec 6/7 - get back from the west
Dec 8 - work and huge sushi dinner with Nivaldo's brothers at the Kuhnen residence
Dec 9 - work
Dec 10 - last day of work!
Dec 11-14 - Trip to Rio with João and Tracy
Dec 15/16 - open for things that we still haven't done (like Campeche islands or about 30+ more beaches)
Dec 17 - huge bbq/year end/going away party
Dec 18 - recovery and going to Costa da Lagoa with my coworkers for a final goodbye
Dec 19 - packing and plane ride home!
It is a busy couple of weeks and they are guaranteed to fly by just like the rest of my trip has!
I'm already sad to go, but I'm always excited to come back home :)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Belem
Here begins my third and final entry of my trip to the Amazon!
Nov 21 Where I left off in the last part of the story was getting off the boat once we arrived to Belem. We got a cab to our hotel which we were extremely surprised about! We had heard a lot of things about Belem being a high violence city and for the three of us to be very careful while we were there so I was not expecting to be staying in such a nice hotel - especially since it was cheaper than the one we stayed in while in Manaus. We felt very weird walking in there with our huge backpacks on and carrying around our hammocks all crazy looking from our boat trip; a lot can change in a person when the showers are generally something to avoid and you don't look at yourself in a mirror - or rather care what you look like - for five days.
I think the first thing that each of us did when we got into our room was lie on each of our beds and marvel at the feeling of a flat, steady surface to sleep on. The next most exciting thing was a clean bathroom with toilet paper and a seat - what a luxury! We were so giddy, you would think it was our first times staying in a hotel in our lives. Right across the street from us was this little market and we had decided to check it out before showering and going for lunch. So we didn't stay in the room long and we were out the door again! This market had pretty much everything you could imagine in it: sunglasses, dresses, t-shirts, earings, necklaces, toys, crafts, paintings, clothes for your dogs, clothes for your dolls, magnets, knick knacks, mice, guinnea pigs, rabbits, fish, aquariums, you name it they had it! Once we had gotten our fill of the market and bought some really awesome souvenirs we went back to the hotel. Again, it wasn't for long.
We just went in there long enough to drop off our purchases and then headed out the door again! This time we went to the mall to get some food (something other than rice, beans, beef, and salad). So many options I could hardly decide, although anything probably would have tasted like a delicacy at that point. Once fully satisfied we jumped into another cab and headed for a museum that everyone had told us to check out. As we walked up to buy our tickets and I was reading some signs it seemed like it focused more on animals than museums normally do. Sure enough it was a zoo! They have exhibitions there at certain times and different buildings that you could go into when it was the right time but for us it was a lovely walk with lots of animals. It seemed like parts of it were under construction and we hit a lot of dead ends but it was a nice way to spend our afternoon. Oh! and it only cost 2 Reals... that's about $1.40 CDN! Awesome.
Afterwards when we were finally feeling like it was time to shower and rest we headed back to the hotel for the night. We ordered food from outside of the hotel and they deliver it up right to our door! Room service! I don't know if we have anything like that at home, but it was the first time I had done it and I was pretty excited that I didn't need to do a thing. Showered, fed, and feeling good we all hit the hay and were gone until morning.
Nov 22 We had made a rough plan for the day to check out the times of the boats that take you across the river to beaches on the other side and then to look around at the bigger market near by once we had bought our tickets. Once knowing the times that it leaves and returns and knowing we didn't want to come back when it was starting to get dark we decided to take the 11 O'clock boat there giving us a little over an hour at the market. This one was more food based than the one close to our hotel but it had lots of weird things too. They had lots of flours, nuts, spices, key chains, masks, oils, and of course an animal section as well. It was tons of fun looking around at everything and the time went quickly while we were there.
Next was our boat trip to Barcarena which was so beautiful and interesting. It went fairly slow through a fairly narrow river that went through a whole community of houses. Between the trees, water, and unknown wildlife that was all around were the classic houses on stilts. I wish we had brought our cameras to take some pictures but because of all the warnings we had we thought it would be better to leave all valuable things at the hotel. When the boat arrived at Barcarena we took a bus (aka large van) to praia caripi. It was a pretty long trip but once we got there it was really nice. We got all settled in and then did what any person does at the beach - relaxes. The trip back took a bit longer because the tide was lower and we needed to leave by going around the community instead of going through it. Could you imagine living in a place that part of the day you can walk around and the other part you need to take your boat? So strange to think about how their days must be like.
Back on our side of the water we decided to go to Docas. It's an old part of the city that has been preserved in a sense but also has really nice restaurants and shops in the stores along there. It was the most touristy place we saw while in Belem and also one of the places where we felt the safest. Even though it was getting to be dark out the walk was lit up and there were security people all over. Other than the three of us it was either groups of people out for dinner or couples there on dates. We decided to go inside and check out an ice cream store they had inside and ohhh man was it ever delicious. I think we talked about it for the rest of the night!
Another cab and another evening of food, tv, and showers and then it was bed before another day of adventures.
Nov 23 This was our last day in Belem so we checked out of our hotel that morning but left our things at the front desk until we came back later. We had planned for another beach day only at a beach even further away than caripi was. To get there we needed to take a bus to Icoaraci and then a boat to Cotijuba and then some sort of a trolly that would take you to all the different beaches they had there. So off we went. The bus and the boat took a while but it all went smoothly. Once we got to Cotijuba we realized that it wasn't any sort of trolly that would take us to the beaches. Our choices were either splitting up and going by moto-taxi or going by horse and buggie. We took a look at the horses and talked to some of the drivers to see what the best deal was we could get. One of the horses was so skinny and sick looking that we didn't even consider taking that one. When we decided on a horse that looked like it was taken care of and a nice driver we were on our way. There were lots of beaches there to choose from but we were on route to go to praia do vai-quem-quer. As we were riding down the road we realized that the beach was a lot further away than we had thought. It was so hot out and their horse was just small pulling a wagon with 5 people in it. We were all feeling very guilty about the mode of transportation that we were taking. Every time he would make their horse canter I wanted to tell him that I didn't care how long it took us to get there but to not make him work so hard. We had made a deal with them to drive us back to the boat at about 3PM and I was worried that they would keep working their horse while we were at the beach. But to our very pleasant surprise we saw the cutest thing down the beach from us a little after we arrived; there was our driver, stripped down to his underwear, with his horse in just his bridle being let into the river. He had brought his horse down to the water and took him totally in for a swim and a drink to cool down. We had some snacks with us again and decided to feed the horse a couple of our bananas while he was cooled enough. I didn't feel so guilty going back knowing that he truly did care about his horse. This beach, again, had very few people on it. I loved feeling like we had the beaches all to ourselves, it was great! I read a bit of my book, went for a swim, had a little nap... it's a tough life but someone has to do it right?
The way back was going pretty much the way that the way there had gone, and then all of a sudden our wagon tipped to the right and then quickly tipped to the left. I thought we had hit a bad pot hole and lost one of our wheels or something. Well it wasn't quite that, but it was close; one of the bolts that connects the horse to the wagon just broke off. They didn't have a took kit or anything like that with them and so they used what they had to fix it: string. On the sides of the wagon are some plastic flaps in case it rains and they were being held up with some string. He snapped off enough of it to tie the cart together I suppose (I didn't look too closely because honestly I didn't want to see what he had done to "fix" it) that we made it back to the boat. The whole time from then on however our driver was so concerned with the broken part that he barely watched the road. It was very interesting to say the least.
The boat back to Icoaraci was more adventurous going back as well. The water was a lot more rough and it made for a lot bumpier of a ride. Older ladies on the boat were even starting to get frightened - we all thought it was fun! We took a bus that would take us to Docas (the tourist area) again so that we could try a dessert made with Acai as well as to get some more of that delicious ice cream. Two desserts later and 3 happy ladies we went back to the hotel to grab our things and head to the airport.
Our flight home left at 3AM and we arrived at the airport aroun 7PM because we had checked out of the hotel to avoid paying a night that we didn't need. It was a long time to be there but we survived the boredom. The rest of the story is just typical plane rides and then arriving back to Florianopolis safe and sound.
The End
Nov 21 Where I left off in the last part of the story was getting off the boat once we arrived to Belem. We got a cab to our hotel which we were extremely surprised about! We had heard a lot of things about Belem being a high violence city and for the three of us to be very careful while we were there so I was not expecting to be staying in such a nice hotel - especially since it was cheaper than the one we stayed in while in Manaus. We felt very weird walking in there with our huge backpacks on and carrying around our hammocks all crazy looking from our boat trip; a lot can change in a person when the showers are generally something to avoid and you don't look at yourself in a mirror - or rather care what you look like - for five days.
I think the first thing that each of us did when we got into our room was lie on each of our beds and marvel at the feeling of a flat, steady surface to sleep on. The next most exciting thing was a clean bathroom with toilet paper and a seat - what a luxury! We were so giddy, you would think it was our first times staying in a hotel in our lives. Right across the street from us was this little market and we had decided to check it out before showering and going for lunch. So we didn't stay in the room long and we were out the door again! This market had pretty much everything you could imagine in it: sunglasses, dresses, t-shirts, earings, necklaces, toys, crafts, paintings, clothes for your dogs, clothes for your dolls, magnets, knick knacks, mice, guinnea pigs, rabbits, fish, aquariums, you name it they had it! Once we had gotten our fill of the market and bought some really awesome souvenirs we went back to the hotel. Again, it wasn't for long.
We just went in there long enough to drop off our purchases and then headed out the door again! This time we went to the mall to get some food (something other than rice, beans, beef, and salad). So many options I could hardly decide, although anything probably would have tasted like a delicacy at that point. Once fully satisfied we jumped into another cab and headed for a museum that everyone had told us to check out. As we walked up to buy our tickets and I was reading some signs it seemed like it focused more on animals than museums normally do. Sure enough it was a zoo! They have exhibitions there at certain times and different buildings that you could go into when it was the right time but for us it was a lovely walk with lots of animals. It seemed like parts of it were under construction and we hit a lot of dead ends but it was a nice way to spend our afternoon. Oh! and it only cost 2 Reals... that's about $1.40 CDN! Awesome.
Afterwards when we were finally feeling like it was time to shower and rest we headed back to the hotel for the night. We ordered food from outside of the hotel and they deliver it up right to our door! Room service! I don't know if we have anything like that at home, but it was the first time I had done it and I was pretty excited that I didn't need to do a thing. Showered, fed, and feeling good we all hit the hay and were gone until morning.
Nov 22 We had made a rough plan for the day to check out the times of the boats that take you across the river to beaches on the other side and then to look around at the bigger market near by once we had bought our tickets. Once knowing the times that it leaves and returns and knowing we didn't want to come back when it was starting to get dark we decided to take the 11 O'clock boat there giving us a little over an hour at the market. This one was more food based than the one close to our hotel but it had lots of weird things too. They had lots of flours, nuts, spices, key chains, masks, oils, and of course an animal section as well. It was tons of fun looking around at everything and the time went quickly while we were there.
Next was our boat trip to Barcarena which was so beautiful and interesting. It went fairly slow through a fairly narrow river that went through a whole community of houses. Between the trees, water, and unknown wildlife that was all around were the classic houses on stilts. I wish we had brought our cameras to take some pictures but because of all the warnings we had we thought it would be better to leave all valuable things at the hotel. When the boat arrived at Barcarena we took a bus (aka large van) to praia caripi. It was a pretty long trip but once we got there it was really nice. We got all settled in and then did what any person does at the beach - relaxes. The trip back took a bit longer because the tide was lower and we needed to leave by going around the community instead of going through it. Could you imagine living in a place that part of the day you can walk around and the other part you need to take your boat? So strange to think about how their days must be like.
Back on our side of the water we decided to go to Docas. It's an old part of the city that has been preserved in a sense but also has really nice restaurants and shops in the stores along there. It was the most touristy place we saw while in Belem and also one of the places where we felt the safest. Even though it was getting to be dark out the walk was lit up and there were security people all over. Other than the three of us it was either groups of people out for dinner or couples there on dates. We decided to go inside and check out an ice cream store they had inside and ohhh man was it ever delicious. I think we talked about it for the rest of the night!
Another cab and another evening of food, tv, and showers and then it was bed before another day of adventures.
Nov 23 This was our last day in Belem so we checked out of our hotel that morning but left our things at the front desk until we came back later. We had planned for another beach day only at a beach even further away than caripi was. To get there we needed to take a bus to Icoaraci and then a boat to Cotijuba and then some sort of a trolly that would take you to all the different beaches they had there. So off we went. The bus and the boat took a while but it all went smoothly. Once we got to Cotijuba we realized that it wasn't any sort of trolly that would take us to the beaches. Our choices were either splitting up and going by moto-taxi or going by horse and buggie. We took a look at the horses and talked to some of the drivers to see what the best deal was we could get. One of the horses was so skinny and sick looking that we didn't even consider taking that one. When we decided on a horse that looked like it was taken care of and a nice driver we were on our way. There were lots of beaches there to choose from but we were on route to go to praia do vai-quem-quer. As we were riding down the road we realized that the beach was a lot further away than we had thought. It was so hot out and their horse was just small pulling a wagon with 5 people in it. We were all feeling very guilty about the mode of transportation that we were taking. Every time he would make their horse canter I wanted to tell him that I didn't care how long it took us to get there but to not make him work so hard. We had made a deal with them to drive us back to the boat at about 3PM and I was worried that they would keep working their horse while we were at the beach. But to our very pleasant surprise we saw the cutest thing down the beach from us a little after we arrived; there was our driver, stripped down to his underwear, with his horse in just his bridle being let into the river. He had brought his horse down to the water and took him totally in for a swim and a drink to cool down. We had some snacks with us again and decided to feed the horse a couple of our bananas while he was cooled enough. I didn't feel so guilty going back knowing that he truly did care about his horse. This beach, again, had very few people on it. I loved feeling like we had the beaches all to ourselves, it was great! I read a bit of my book, went for a swim, had a little nap... it's a tough life but someone has to do it right?
The way back was going pretty much the way that the way there had gone, and then all of a sudden our wagon tipped to the right and then quickly tipped to the left. I thought we had hit a bad pot hole and lost one of our wheels or something. Well it wasn't quite that, but it was close; one of the bolts that connects the horse to the wagon just broke off. They didn't have a took kit or anything like that with them and so they used what they had to fix it: string. On the sides of the wagon are some plastic flaps in case it rains and they were being held up with some string. He snapped off enough of it to tie the cart together I suppose (I didn't look too closely because honestly I didn't want to see what he had done to "fix" it) that we made it back to the boat. The whole time from then on however our driver was so concerned with the broken part that he barely watched the road. It was very interesting to say the least.
The boat back to Icoaraci was more adventurous going back as well. The water was a lot more rough and it made for a lot bumpier of a ride. Older ladies on the boat were even starting to get frightened - we all thought it was fun! We took a bus that would take us to Docas (the tourist area) again so that we could try a dessert made with Acai as well as to get some more of that delicious ice cream. Two desserts later and 3 happy ladies we went back to the hotel to grab our things and head to the airport.
Our flight home left at 3AM and we arrived at the airport aroun 7PM because we had checked out of the hotel to avoid paying a night that we didn't need. It was a long time to be there but we survived the boredom. The rest of the story is just typical plane rides and then arriving back to Florianopolis safe and sound.
The End
The Boat
Here begins the second post of my trip in the Amazon which is set (mostly) on The Amazon Star!
Day 1 We started bright and early (as usual for our mornings in Manaus) so that we would be able to get to the boat before many of the other people had arrived so that we could snag the best sleeping spot. We left all of our things in the hotel, other than our hammocks, so that we wouldn't be walking around all over the place with huge bags on our backs all day. I think we got to the boat at about 8:30 AM and to our surprise there was nobody there except for the few people who had already set up the day before! I think that we had all expected it to be a mad rush of people racing to get their stuff in their first; I was very relieved to find out it wouldn't be a war to get on. We got to our boat/home for the next five days and met up with two of our favorite people - Gorete and Nalto. Gorete showed us where we should put our hammocks (close to the windows on the same side as the girl bathrooms) and Nalto tied them up for us. Once we had chatted with them a little bit more and felt confident in our location we left our spot to go do some grocery shopping and to grab the rest of our things. The boat was not scheduled to leave until 12 that afternoon and it was only 9 at this point so we knew we had enough time for some last minute organizing.
Since we had no idea what the food would be like I was a little scared that we would want to have something else with us just in case. We loaded up on crackers, some fruit, a few gluten-free snacks for Tracy, and of course tons of water (a 5 litre jug for every day to be exact). Once we purchased all our goodies (which is always an experience in itself - the lines in that supermarket were guaranteed to be ridiculous!) we lugged our snacks and water back to the hotel. Luckily Silvana wanted to say goodbye to us again and offered to give us a ride with all our stuff to the boat. Tracy and I shared a bag, Vanessa had one for herself, we had our massive amounts of water, and then we had a giant box for us to store our food in (initially we got it for taking our hammocks on the plane home without knowing it would come in very handy during our trip). We barely fit in the car! We arrived back at the docks and Silvana helped us carry our things until where you needed to present your ticket and we all said goodbye with many thank-you's for everything that she and Marcus had done for us during our stay. When Gorete saw us walking in with our stuff she started laughing and joked that we had brought all the water of the Amazon River on board with us. I'm not sure what time we got back with all of our things but we were already thinking about what we might do for lunch that day. The boat was supposed to leave at 12 and then arrive at another port shortly after in the same city to load more passengers and leave Manaus for good at about 4PM; because of this there was no lunch scheduled on the boat that day. However, like it often is in Brazil, we didn't leave at 12.
We hung out in our hammocks for a few hours watching other people slowly pile into the boat and started thinking up a game-plan, later known as "The System", for each time we dock at a new port. At this point we had only decided that at each stop, once people started to load, we would all go to the hammocks so that we could watch our things. Rule 1 = Watch your stuff. Not many people were boarding at the same dock that we had but we found out that the second stop in Manaus was for foot passengers, thus less expensive, thus more people. A lot more people. At that stop the number of passengers easily tripled but it was less people than we had been expecting. We had done some research before looking at other peoples blogs of the trip and at pictures that Vanessa's brother took from when he had done it (he stayed in one of the individual rooms but had pictures from the hammock area as well). Vanessa's hammock was positioned beside a pole which protected her from getting too close to her neighbors (although it did attack her a couple times in the night), Tracy was in the middle, and I was on the other side next to a fairly big open space. My first neighbors were a young couple who were sleeping in the same hammock - since it was a double wide they took up a lot of space when they were both laying down in it but they were still not close enough for our two hammocks to hit when laying down. Seeing how much more space they took up when laying down led to the creation of our second rule of the system; when at our hammocks during loading times we would all stretch out as big as possible making people think that there wasn't enough space for them (occassionally swinging side-to-side when someone did start to look, hopefully making them think twice). Rule 2 = Look big. Another strategy we had to make it look like there was no room was to put the bags, water, and food box between me and my neighbors because it was less likely that someone would want to have to move a lot of things to get a spot. Rule 3 = box location. To prevent people from going in between us was another thing we wanted to avoid and probably the easiest one to accomplish. All we had to do was talk really loud with each other (no one wants to be neighbors with three obnoxious foreign girls right?), clearly show that we were a threesome of friends (as if our appearence and our matching hammocks didn't clue them off), and finally glare at people when they looked at spaces around us. Rule 4 = be bitchy.
That evening we were excited to hear the dinner bell (literally a man walking around the boat ringing a bell) and eat our first meal on the boat. We didn't know that you needed to buy tickets upstairs first and then come down to eat so it was a little disorganized for us in the beginning, but we caught on fast. After our second attempt of getting dinner we succeeded! I was very pleasantly surprised with the food: beef, salad, rice, beans, and noodles all 100% recognizable!
Day 2 The first morning bell comes around at 6AM sharp and we were all groggy after our first, somewhat unsuccessful, sleep in our hammocks. None of us had mastered how to sleep comfortably yet and on top of that the air conditioning seemed to be on full blast all night (and of course we didn't bring blankets to the Amazon... I mean really!). It was made a little extra awkward because everything really important (like cameras and passports) were kept in our purses which we slept with. The best thing that we did last minute was all thanks to Vanessa who thought to grab pillows when we left the plane; without them it would have been an even more interesting sleep. That day was spent doing a variety of things: making up stories about our neighbors (we had a very suspencefull soap opera on the boat), reading, cross words, snacks, lunch, dinner, but most of all making new friends. We went to breakfast which consisted of a huge plate of fruites, a bun and a slice of meat and cheese with optional pre-sugared coffee or juice from mystery water. Overall a good breakfast. I can't remember details from this day but I will tell you about our little friend Duda. She was living down the hall a little ways from us and in the beginning of the trip would just stare at us as she walked by. Eventually she started to get a little braver and would stand and watch for a little bit and run away after a few minutes. Then she got brave enough to talk to Vanessa a bit and eventually we were all great friends. I think she may have spent more time at our hammocks or with us than she did with her family. Her mom, another Silvana, was a really nice lady. When they had first arrived on the boat they didn't have enough rope; Gorete knew that we had extra and pointed her in our direction when she asked for some. Our extra rope was another thing that made us a lot of friends on the boat. It didn't take long before we were getting to know all of our neighbors.
At some point during this day we had a stop to pick up some more passengers. We followed all the rules of the system but unfortunately there was a flaw; the couple that slept next to me weren't in their hammock and the size of the gap between us was impossible to miss. I was not too excited with my new neighbor at first and tried very hard to make her not want to be there, even after she had put her hammock up, but eventually came to terms that I had a spooning partner for my second night. By the end of the trip however I was sad to see her get off of the boat before our destination in Belem!
Dinner that night was made a little extra exciting. We were into the habit of sitting and chatting in the dining room for a while after we ate dinner; it was a nice change of scene and was good to sit in a really air conditioned area sometimes. This night however I all of a sudden had a really sharp pain in my stomache and about 10 seconds later I was making a break for the bathrooms. Which description of the bathrooms: usually no toilet paper, the doors don't lock or even stay closed on their own, it is always really hot and steamy in there, and to top it off there are no toilet seats. Not exactly the place where you want to be having stomache issues. Luckily I had brought along some medication for times like these left over from Sri Lanka; I didn't wait long before taking one that night.
Day 3 We all slept a little better for our second sleep but did notice that the boat was a lot hotter - I thought it was just me and my close quarters with my neighbors! We were arriving at a new port in Santarem that morning to load some more goods onto the boat meaning that it would be a longer stop. We had planned to take a chance with our stuff and our spot to catch a cab to go check out a beach near the port. After getting ready and dealing with a still unsettled tummy we packed some snacks for the road and got stoked for some good old fashioned beach time. The beach we went to was about a 30 minute cab ride away and was called Alter do chao. Our cab driver had given us a deal to go both ways with us because she had a friend who lived by the beach who she would visit with while we were there. We only had a few hours and they went by so fast. The water was so nice and fresh and the morning was absolutely gorgeous. It felt very similar to hanging out near a lake at home so it was hard to believe we were actually on the Amazon River. Unbelievable. I hope that the pictures will capture even half of what it was like there because words can't describe.
It was sad to have to leave so soon but we couldn't risk missing our boat. When we arrived back at our stuff people had hung their hammocks all around me in every way. So many people had come on board and the boat was buzzing. Luckily some of my neighbors packed up and moved away when we came back - I'm not really sure why they did but I didn't really mind. That night however was the most crowded night that I had. I would open my eyes when rolling over and my neighbors but was right over my face. I even woke up because I smacked her a few times from below (her hammock was higher than mine). It was really funny and by this point I was used to having neighbors and it was actually the best sleep that I had yet. I was so comfortable I never wanted to wake up!
Day 4 Tracy had started to have stomache pains as well during the night and around 4AM I had woken up to go to the bathroom and saw her just sitting in her hammock looking forward to nothing. She seemed so sad but there wasn't much I could do for her. We stayed up for a little while and I told her the stories of my night with my neighbor which seemed to cheer her up a little. The next time I woke up things were a lot crazier. I heard some moving around happening and opened my eyes to check it out. Tracy looks at me in a panic asking if she can take my towel and then just tells me that Vanessa is messed up. I had no idea what she meant by this but then she hurried off to the bathroom and left me in charge of watching the purses with all our stuff. I was almost falling asleep there when I heard a little more commotion going on. One of the other girls from the boat was going through Vanessa's bag and needed help finding her new clothes. She tried to explain to me what happened but she was talking so fast that I could not understand anything other than that she had fallen down. I thought that she had a concussion and it was so bad that she was throwing up and imagining all these terrible things that could be going on. I wanted to go and help but I knew, especially in the morning, that there would be a lot of people in there already and I would not be of much help. So I sat.
A while later one of our neighbors, a wet Vanessa, and Tracy all walk by. I tried to figure out what was going on but all I could determine was that she was going to a room somewhere. She was walking and talking so I figured it wouldn't be long before she was all better and I could talk to her myself. While I was sitting there everyone even remotely close to us was trying to talk to me about her. Asking me questions and telling me things that happened but I wasn't there and I was still half asleep so Í don't think anyone was too satisfied with my answers. After a little while I decided to venture out to find them so that I could get the scoop first hand and not be worried any more. Luckily Tracy was coming back to get some water for Vanessa and I passed her on my way otherwise I would have gone the complete different direction of where they were. I followed Tracy downstairs to this little medical room where they were trying to hydrate Vanessa and get some vitamins into her through intravenous. At this point Tracy filled me in on the details and everything that happened in the bathroom. The basics of it is that Vanessa had woken up to go to the bathroom and had fainted while in the stall. The story is really a lot more exciting when you hear it in person with all the details so I'm going to save it for later.
So now that we had this big drama happen we were even more of a spectacle on the boat. Vanessa was practically famous! People we had never even seen before would come up and ask us how our friend was and if they saw her they would stop her to see what happened. All three of us now feeling a little sorry for ourselves because of our stomaches were comforted a little to find out that it wasn't just us that was sick. Other people on the boat had been doing the same trick as we were - so it wasn't just a gringo thing.
That evening was the part of the boat trip where the river starts to get a lot narrower. When this happens the people who live in the villages on the edge of the river canoe up to the side of the boat to get gifts from the passengers and to sell shrimp and other goods to the boat. It was so interesting to see the people on the boat all throwing food, clothes, and other goods to these families when they themselves don't have a lot to their name. It was even cooler to see them come to sell things though. Since we went so much faster than them they would paddle up so they would meet with the nose of the boat and then they would hook onto some of the tires that are on the side of our boat for when it docks. Once they had caught on they would pull up tight to the boat and tie their canoes on to stay there as they came on board. Oh - and these are all kids younger than about 14 years old doing this. Pretty much our whole day was dedicated to watching them as they came on and off or sitting and watching the vegetation go by.
That whole day it seemed that my neighbor was constantly changing. By night time I ended up having a ton of room because my closest neighbor had put his hammock so high that I could move freely under it no matter how I layed down. By this time we couldn't believe that we had practically finished our boat trip and that night would be our last. Truly an experience like nothing else.
Day 5 Our last day on the boat was mostly watching as the boat was slowly emptying more and more at every stop. We hung out on deck for most of it watching as we could see Belem get closer and closer. We even got to have a special tour of the cock pit and see the kind of equipment they were packing. This is when we found out Naldo wasn't only a super nice guy who would help us out but was also the captain! No wonder we didn't see him much while we were travelling. We got to our stop at about 10 in the morning and were going to get a cab driver who was the brother of one of our friends on the boat but it didn't work out. We said goodbye to our boat neighbors and new friends and started on to the next part of our journey in Belem!
To be continued...
Day 1 We started bright and early (as usual for our mornings in Manaus) so that we would be able to get to the boat before many of the other people had arrived so that we could snag the best sleeping spot. We left all of our things in the hotel, other than our hammocks, so that we wouldn't be walking around all over the place with huge bags on our backs all day. I think we got to the boat at about 8:30 AM and to our surprise there was nobody there except for the few people who had already set up the day before! I think that we had all expected it to be a mad rush of people racing to get their stuff in their first; I was very relieved to find out it wouldn't be a war to get on. We got to our boat/home for the next five days and met up with two of our favorite people - Gorete and Nalto. Gorete showed us where we should put our hammocks (close to the windows on the same side as the girl bathrooms) and Nalto tied them up for us. Once we had chatted with them a little bit more and felt confident in our location we left our spot to go do some grocery shopping and to grab the rest of our things. The boat was not scheduled to leave until 12 that afternoon and it was only 9 at this point so we knew we had enough time for some last minute organizing.
Since we had no idea what the food would be like I was a little scared that we would want to have something else with us just in case. We loaded up on crackers, some fruit, a few gluten-free snacks for Tracy, and of course tons of water (a 5 litre jug for every day to be exact). Once we purchased all our goodies (which is always an experience in itself - the lines in that supermarket were guaranteed to be ridiculous!) we lugged our snacks and water back to the hotel. Luckily Silvana wanted to say goodbye to us again and offered to give us a ride with all our stuff to the boat. Tracy and I shared a bag, Vanessa had one for herself, we had our massive amounts of water, and then we had a giant box for us to store our food in (initially we got it for taking our hammocks on the plane home without knowing it would come in very handy during our trip). We barely fit in the car! We arrived back at the docks and Silvana helped us carry our things until where you needed to present your ticket and we all said goodbye with many thank-you's for everything that she and Marcus had done for us during our stay. When Gorete saw us walking in with our stuff she started laughing and joked that we had brought all the water of the Amazon River on board with us. I'm not sure what time we got back with all of our things but we were already thinking about what we might do for lunch that day. The boat was supposed to leave at 12 and then arrive at another port shortly after in the same city to load more passengers and leave Manaus for good at about 4PM; because of this there was no lunch scheduled on the boat that day. However, like it often is in Brazil, we didn't leave at 12.
We hung out in our hammocks for a few hours watching other people slowly pile into the boat and started thinking up a game-plan, later known as "The System", for each time we dock at a new port. At this point we had only decided that at each stop, once people started to load, we would all go to the hammocks so that we could watch our things. Rule 1 = Watch your stuff. Not many people were boarding at the same dock that we had but we found out that the second stop in Manaus was for foot passengers, thus less expensive, thus more people. A lot more people. At that stop the number of passengers easily tripled but it was less people than we had been expecting. We had done some research before looking at other peoples blogs of the trip and at pictures that Vanessa's brother took from when he had done it (he stayed in one of the individual rooms but had pictures from the hammock area as well). Vanessa's hammock was positioned beside a pole which protected her from getting too close to her neighbors (although it did attack her a couple times in the night), Tracy was in the middle, and I was on the other side next to a fairly big open space. My first neighbors were a young couple who were sleeping in the same hammock - since it was a double wide they took up a lot of space when they were both laying down in it but they were still not close enough for our two hammocks to hit when laying down. Seeing how much more space they took up when laying down led to the creation of our second rule of the system; when at our hammocks during loading times we would all stretch out as big as possible making people think that there wasn't enough space for them (occassionally swinging side-to-side when someone did start to look, hopefully making them think twice). Rule 2 = Look big. Another strategy we had to make it look like there was no room was to put the bags, water, and food box between me and my neighbors because it was less likely that someone would want to have to move a lot of things to get a spot. Rule 3 = box location. To prevent people from going in between us was another thing we wanted to avoid and probably the easiest one to accomplish. All we had to do was talk really loud with each other (no one wants to be neighbors with three obnoxious foreign girls right?), clearly show that we were a threesome of friends (as if our appearence and our matching hammocks didn't clue them off), and finally glare at people when they looked at spaces around us. Rule 4 = be bitchy.
That evening we were excited to hear the dinner bell (literally a man walking around the boat ringing a bell) and eat our first meal on the boat. We didn't know that you needed to buy tickets upstairs first and then come down to eat so it was a little disorganized for us in the beginning, but we caught on fast. After our second attempt of getting dinner we succeeded! I was very pleasantly surprised with the food: beef, salad, rice, beans, and noodles all 100% recognizable!
Day 2 The first morning bell comes around at 6AM sharp and we were all groggy after our first, somewhat unsuccessful, sleep in our hammocks. None of us had mastered how to sleep comfortably yet and on top of that the air conditioning seemed to be on full blast all night (and of course we didn't bring blankets to the Amazon... I mean really!). It was made a little extra awkward because everything really important (like cameras and passports) were kept in our purses which we slept with. The best thing that we did last minute was all thanks to Vanessa who thought to grab pillows when we left the plane; without them it would have been an even more interesting sleep. That day was spent doing a variety of things: making up stories about our neighbors (we had a very suspencefull soap opera on the boat), reading, cross words, snacks, lunch, dinner, but most of all making new friends. We went to breakfast which consisted of a huge plate of fruites, a bun and a slice of meat and cheese with optional pre-sugared coffee or juice from mystery water. Overall a good breakfast. I can't remember details from this day but I will tell you about our little friend Duda. She was living down the hall a little ways from us and in the beginning of the trip would just stare at us as she walked by. Eventually she started to get a little braver and would stand and watch for a little bit and run away after a few minutes. Then she got brave enough to talk to Vanessa a bit and eventually we were all great friends. I think she may have spent more time at our hammocks or with us than she did with her family. Her mom, another Silvana, was a really nice lady. When they had first arrived on the boat they didn't have enough rope; Gorete knew that we had extra and pointed her in our direction when she asked for some. Our extra rope was another thing that made us a lot of friends on the boat. It didn't take long before we were getting to know all of our neighbors.
At some point during this day we had a stop to pick up some more passengers. We followed all the rules of the system but unfortunately there was a flaw; the couple that slept next to me weren't in their hammock and the size of the gap between us was impossible to miss. I was not too excited with my new neighbor at first and tried very hard to make her not want to be there, even after she had put her hammock up, but eventually came to terms that I had a spooning partner for my second night. By the end of the trip however I was sad to see her get off of the boat before our destination in Belem!
Dinner that night was made a little extra exciting. We were into the habit of sitting and chatting in the dining room for a while after we ate dinner; it was a nice change of scene and was good to sit in a really air conditioned area sometimes. This night however I all of a sudden had a really sharp pain in my stomache and about 10 seconds later I was making a break for the bathrooms. Which description of the bathrooms: usually no toilet paper, the doors don't lock or even stay closed on their own, it is always really hot and steamy in there, and to top it off there are no toilet seats. Not exactly the place where you want to be having stomache issues. Luckily I had brought along some medication for times like these left over from Sri Lanka; I didn't wait long before taking one that night.
Day 3 We all slept a little better for our second sleep but did notice that the boat was a lot hotter - I thought it was just me and my close quarters with my neighbors! We were arriving at a new port in Santarem that morning to load some more goods onto the boat meaning that it would be a longer stop. We had planned to take a chance with our stuff and our spot to catch a cab to go check out a beach near the port. After getting ready and dealing with a still unsettled tummy we packed some snacks for the road and got stoked for some good old fashioned beach time. The beach we went to was about a 30 minute cab ride away and was called Alter do chao. Our cab driver had given us a deal to go both ways with us because she had a friend who lived by the beach who she would visit with while we were there. We only had a few hours and they went by so fast. The water was so nice and fresh and the morning was absolutely gorgeous. It felt very similar to hanging out near a lake at home so it was hard to believe we were actually on the Amazon River. Unbelievable. I hope that the pictures will capture even half of what it was like there because words can't describe.
It was sad to have to leave so soon but we couldn't risk missing our boat. When we arrived back at our stuff people had hung their hammocks all around me in every way. So many people had come on board and the boat was buzzing. Luckily some of my neighbors packed up and moved away when we came back - I'm not really sure why they did but I didn't really mind. That night however was the most crowded night that I had. I would open my eyes when rolling over and my neighbors but was right over my face. I even woke up because I smacked her a few times from below (her hammock was higher than mine). It was really funny and by this point I was used to having neighbors and it was actually the best sleep that I had yet. I was so comfortable I never wanted to wake up!
Day 4 Tracy had started to have stomache pains as well during the night and around 4AM I had woken up to go to the bathroom and saw her just sitting in her hammock looking forward to nothing. She seemed so sad but there wasn't much I could do for her. We stayed up for a little while and I told her the stories of my night with my neighbor which seemed to cheer her up a little. The next time I woke up things were a lot crazier. I heard some moving around happening and opened my eyes to check it out. Tracy looks at me in a panic asking if she can take my towel and then just tells me that Vanessa is messed up. I had no idea what she meant by this but then she hurried off to the bathroom and left me in charge of watching the purses with all our stuff. I was almost falling asleep there when I heard a little more commotion going on. One of the other girls from the boat was going through Vanessa's bag and needed help finding her new clothes. She tried to explain to me what happened but she was talking so fast that I could not understand anything other than that she had fallen down. I thought that she had a concussion and it was so bad that she was throwing up and imagining all these terrible things that could be going on. I wanted to go and help but I knew, especially in the morning, that there would be a lot of people in there already and I would not be of much help. So I sat.
A while later one of our neighbors, a wet Vanessa, and Tracy all walk by. I tried to figure out what was going on but all I could determine was that she was going to a room somewhere. She was walking and talking so I figured it wouldn't be long before she was all better and I could talk to her myself. While I was sitting there everyone even remotely close to us was trying to talk to me about her. Asking me questions and telling me things that happened but I wasn't there and I was still half asleep so Í don't think anyone was too satisfied with my answers. After a little while I decided to venture out to find them so that I could get the scoop first hand and not be worried any more. Luckily Tracy was coming back to get some water for Vanessa and I passed her on my way otherwise I would have gone the complete different direction of where they were. I followed Tracy downstairs to this little medical room where they were trying to hydrate Vanessa and get some vitamins into her through intravenous. At this point Tracy filled me in on the details and everything that happened in the bathroom. The basics of it is that Vanessa had woken up to go to the bathroom and had fainted while in the stall. The story is really a lot more exciting when you hear it in person with all the details so I'm going to save it for later.
So now that we had this big drama happen we were even more of a spectacle on the boat. Vanessa was practically famous! People we had never even seen before would come up and ask us how our friend was and if they saw her they would stop her to see what happened. All three of us now feeling a little sorry for ourselves because of our stomaches were comforted a little to find out that it wasn't just us that was sick. Other people on the boat had been doing the same trick as we were - so it wasn't just a gringo thing.
That evening was the part of the boat trip where the river starts to get a lot narrower. When this happens the people who live in the villages on the edge of the river canoe up to the side of the boat to get gifts from the passengers and to sell shrimp and other goods to the boat. It was so interesting to see the people on the boat all throwing food, clothes, and other goods to these families when they themselves don't have a lot to their name. It was even cooler to see them come to sell things though. Since we went so much faster than them they would paddle up so they would meet with the nose of the boat and then they would hook onto some of the tires that are on the side of our boat for when it docks. Once they had caught on they would pull up tight to the boat and tie their canoes on to stay there as they came on board. Oh - and these are all kids younger than about 14 years old doing this. Pretty much our whole day was dedicated to watching them as they came on and off or sitting and watching the vegetation go by.
That whole day it seemed that my neighbor was constantly changing. By night time I ended up having a ton of room because my closest neighbor had put his hammock so high that I could move freely under it no matter how I layed down. By this time we couldn't believe that we had practically finished our boat trip and that night would be our last. Truly an experience like nothing else.
Day 5 Our last day on the boat was mostly watching as the boat was slowly emptying more and more at every stop. We hung out on deck for most of it watching as we could see Belem get closer and closer. We even got to have a special tour of the cock pit and see the kind of equipment they were packing. This is when we found out Naldo wasn't only a super nice guy who would help us out but was also the captain! No wonder we didn't see him much while we were travelling. We got to our stop at about 10 in the morning and were going to get a cab driver who was the brother of one of our friends on the boat but it didn't work out. We said goodbye to our boat neighbors and new friends and started on to the next part of our journey in Belem!
To be continued...
Friday, November 26, 2010
Manaus
Here begins the first entry of my trip to the Amazon!
Nov 14th was the day of our flight out of Florianopolis. Despite the fact that our flight left really early in the morning there is always last minute things to do and pack the night before. It was hard to imagine that a trip that I have been dreaming about for months was going to start the next day; so unreal! None of us got very much sleep that night but we definitely made up for that during the flights. While booking the trip we had arranged with a friend of Vanessa's Grandma to get picked up from the airport. When we were getting off the plane we realized that we had absolutely no idea what Marcus looked like, his age, the type of car he drives... anything! It was not a problem for us to find each other though because Vanessa Tracy and I stuck out worse than a sore thumb! We were the whitest and tallest girls there and definitely the only obvious foreigners so it did not take long for Marcus to pick us out of the crowd. We got all our stuff into the car and got a little tour of the city on the way to our hotel. We were shown places to go, where not to go, different viewpoints to look out at the new bridge and the water; a very nice introduction to where we were going to be spending the next few days.
Once we were at the hotel we sat down with the tour agent of the hotel, David, to find out what we could do while we were in Manaus. We already had plans to go out with Marcus and his wife Silvana the next day so we only had one other day to organize. David told us about a few different options: a hike with some waterfalls and touring native plant species, a boat trip to see the joining of the waters followed by a short walk through the flood planes, or going to see the pink dolphins of the amazon river. We had almost come to the decision that we would go see the dolphins since we would be seeing the joining of the waters during our boat trip and we wanted to do a bit more than hiking with waterfalls. Nothing had been finalized yet though. Once we knew the options and were all settled in Marcus, Silvana, and their family came to pick us up to go out for dinner. It was a very good evening and it was nice to get to talk to them a bit more before going out together the next day.
Nov 15th We went downstairs bright and early for the continental breakfast the next morning and then met Marcus and Silvana out front of our building. Our day in Manaus started with a hunt for some hammocks to sleep in while we were on the boat. We weren't sure where, if anywhere, would be open because it was a holiday. But we were in luck and found a massive warehouse type store with all types of hammocks. The man selling the hammocks was very nice and patient with us as we looked through almost every style they had to offer, from floor to ceiling. We found a few styles that we liked and then noticed that pretty well all of them had some writing on them. Deciding that it would be a good idea to know what it says we opened one up; on the side in huge letters was written "Deus e Fiel" meaning "God is Faithful". Although it would have been pretty funny if we didn't know that there was this writing on the hammocks and gotten one with it we were all fairly glad that we noticed. In the end the three of us all ended up with very similar hammocks that just varied a little in colour.
As we continued our drive around town we passed the ferry and saw that despite the holiday there was barely anyone there. Marcus suggested that we all go to see the pink dolphins with them instead of the guided tour. We were so excited that we would have the oportunity to do two of the tours and graciously accepted the offer. The ferry across the river took about 40 minutes and then it was a long drive ahead of us on the other side. It was very nice though because Marcus and Silvana were pointing out all the local trees and the types of fruits they had on it. As we drove around a corner we all noticed something on the road and realized that it was a sloth crossing the road! Vanessa Tracy and I were all eager to stand in the road with it to ward off any cars that may not see it right away. One of the first vehicles to pass was a man on his motorcycle; he pulled over and without a word walked up to the sloth, picked it up, carried it to the side of the road, and was gone just as fast as he came. Us, the three gringo girls, were all in awe thanking him over and over while trying to take more pictures of the sloth. He must have thought that we were absolutely crazy! Next we arrived in Novo Airao to hang out with the boto rosa, pink dolphin. On the beach was this little hut where you could buy fish to feed to the dolphins on the porch/dock in the back. We had so much fun with the first round of fish that we had to buy another! They are truly strange looking animals but are so graceful as they swim, you'll just have to see the pictures once I get them up! At this point we were all getting a little hungry and the sun was definitely starting to attack our fine foreign skin so we packed up and started the drive back to the ferry. We stopped along the way for a delicious fish lunch at this small river where we swam a bit to cool off and then ate our hearts out! Once we got back to the ferry we were very shocked to find that the line had at least doubled from when we had arrived; I guess all the traffic was going in one direction, woops. After a long boring 4 hour line up we finally got onto the ferry. We felt terrible that our day trip with Marcus and Silvana turned into almost overnight! They were very nice the whole time though and didn't seem to mind being stuck with us for so long either. Once back we had a quick run through the drive through for dinner, showered, and went straight to bed to prepare for another full day adventure.
Nov 16th Since we had gotten to see the pink dolphins the day before we had decided to go on the boat tour to see the joining of the waters, Encontro das Aguas. We woke up bright and early once again so that we could get to the docks to buy our tickets. It was very nice to be able to see the city from the water - it all looked so different from that perspective! You could really see just how low the water was this time of year from the height of the houses on stilts and all the boats that were on dry land instead of floating in the river. It was a very refreshing way to spend the morning floating down Rio Negro. We had a very good tour guide who clearly loved his job which made it even more enjoyable. He explained everything first in portuguese and then would repeat it again in english. I think here would be a good place for me to explain what exactly the joining of the waters is: The Negro and Solimoes rivers join to become the Amazon river but they do not mix together for about 16km. This creates a very distinct line separating the two rivers and is really quite the site! This is caused because they go at two different speeds and exist at two different temperatures. The Rio Negro gets its "black" colour because it contains more solutes from the decomposition that occurs in it and also because of a certain type of rock that is found in its waters. It was very cool learning all of this while seeing it in real life at the same time.
After we arrived at our "hike" destination we all got off the boat to go see a typical forest in the flooding areas of the amazon. In the wet season the walk is actually done by boat because the water level changes so much. Vanessa Tracy and I hung back from the group a little bit and somewhat made it our own walk-a-bout creating a bit more of a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. The highlight of the walk was probably these giant lily pads. They are strong enough that at full size they can hold 50+ lbs! The bulb that is in embedded in the pond floor has about 6-12 pads branching off of it. The flower starts out white and will become a really deep shade of purple, only opening at night so we didn't get to see it. Once it as lived through the flower stage it becomes the pad! It is a very interesting plant that is for sure. After our walk we had lunch an shopped around the little souvenir store that was attached. Next it was back to the boat to get to the docks.
Since you are not allowed near the loading areas of the boats unless you have your tickets showing that you are bording that day we had been scheming to sneak to the Amazon Star, the boat we would be staying on, after getting back from our day trip. All we wanted to do was talk to someone to see where the best place to hang our hammocks would be, what time we should come, what the food was like... just little things. We successfully got past the guards at the dock and everything was going smoothly until we actually reached our boat and realized we hadn't made a game-plan for after we got there. We arrived to find that there were more than 50 men loading things onto the boat and they were all very excited to see three lost girls hanging out at their boat. After about a minute, but what felt like a lifetime, we realized that we weren't getting the attention of the person that we wanted to. Luckily one of the men noticed we were trying to talk to someone on board and told us who we should go talk to and gave us permission to get onto the boat. This is when we met Nalto. He was so nice! He gave us a tour of the whole boat and introduced us to Gorete, the woman who would be watching and helping people with their hammocks, who would later become our best friend. You will be hearing about these two lots during the days on the boat.
Later on, after our exciting visit to the boat, we went to INPA - Instituto Nacional de Pesquiso da Amazonia. It was pretty much a zoo but the set up was very nice; it was like walking around an actual forest and finding animals along the way. We got to see their version of an otter (definitely not as cute as ours, but interesting to say the least), we read about their manitee project and got to watch them swim around and eat, we saw the amazon turtles which look unlike any other turtle I've seen before, there was another sloth sighting (not in a cage but just hanging out in the trees), uncountable little monkeys, and cutia's (which I like to refer to as the amazonian squirrel). It was a very nice way to wind down the evening.
The next day is the start of our boat trip so this ends Part 1 of the Amazon.
Stay tuned for more!
Nov 14th was the day of our flight out of Florianopolis. Despite the fact that our flight left really early in the morning there is always last minute things to do and pack the night before. It was hard to imagine that a trip that I have been dreaming about for months was going to start the next day; so unreal! None of us got very much sleep that night but we definitely made up for that during the flights. While booking the trip we had arranged with a friend of Vanessa's Grandma to get picked up from the airport. When we were getting off the plane we realized that we had absolutely no idea what Marcus looked like, his age, the type of car he drives... anything! It was not a problem for us to find each other though because Vanessa Tracy and I stuck out worse than a sore thumb! We were the whitest and tallest girls there and definitely the only obvious foreigners so it did not take long for Marcus to pick us out of the crowd. We got all our stuff into the car and got a little tour of the city on the way to our hotel. We were shown places to go, where not to go, different viewpoints to look out at the new bridge and the water; a very nice introduction to where we were going to be spending the next few days.
Once we were at the hotel we sat down with the tour agent of the hotel, David, to find out what we could do while we were in Manaus. We already had plans to go out with Marcus and his wife Silvana the next day so we only had one other day to organize. David told us about a few different options: a hike with some waterfalls and touring native plant species, a boat trip to see the joining of the waters followed by a short walk through the flood planes, or going to see the pink dolphins of the amazon river. We had almost come to the decision that we would go see the dolphins since we would be seeing the joining of the waters during our boat trip and we wanted to do a bit more than hiking with waterfalls. Nothing had been finalized yet though. Once we knew the options and were all settled in Marcus, Silvana, and their family came to pick us up to go out for dinner. It was a very good evening and it was nice to get to talk to them a bit more before going out together the next day.
Nov 15th We went downstairs bright and early for the continental breakfast the next morning and then met Marcus and Silvana out front of our building. Our day in Manaus started with a hunt for some hammocks to sleep in while we were on the boat. We weren't sure where, if anywhere, would be open because it was a holiday. But we were in luck and found a massive warehouse type store with all types of hammocks. The man selling the hammocks was very nice and patient with us as we looked through almost every style they had to offer, from floor to ceiling. We found a few styles that we liked and then noticed that pretty well all of them had some writing on them. Deciding that it would be a good idea to know what it says we opened one up; on the side in huge letters was written "Deus e Fiel" meaning "God is Faithful". Although it would have been pretty funny if we didn't know that there was this writing on the hammocks and gotten one with it we were all fairly glad that we noticed. In the end the three of us all ended up with very similar hammocks that just varied a little in colour.
As we continued our drive around town we passed the ferry and saw that despite the holiday there was barely anyone there. Marcus suggested that we all go to see the pink dolphins with them instead of the guided tour. We were so excited that we would have the oportunity to do two of the tours and graciously accepted the offer. The ferry across the river took about 40 minutes and then it was a long drive ahead of us on the other side. It was very nice though because Marcus and Silvana were pointing out all the local trees and the types of fruits they had on it. As we drove around a corner we all noticed something on the road and realized that it was a sloth crossing the road! Vanessa Tracy and I were all eager to stand in the road with it to ward off any cars that may not see it right away. One of the first vehicles to pass was a man on his motorcycle; he pulled over and without a word walked up to the sloth, picked it up, carried it to the side of the road, and was gone just as fast as he came. Us, the three gringo girls, were all in awe thanking him over and over while trying to take more pictures of the sloth. He must have thought that we were absolutely crazy! Next we arrived in Novo Airao to hang out with the boto rosa, pink dolphin. On the beach was this little hut where you could buy fish to feed to the dolphins on the porch/dock in the back. We had so much fun with the first round of fish that we had to buy another! They are truly strange looking animals but are so graceful as they swim, you'll just have to see the pictures once I get them up! At this point we were all getting a little hungry and the sun was definitely starting to attack our fine foreign skin so we packed up and started the drive back to the ferry. We stopped along the way for a delicious fish lunch at this small river where we swam a bit to cool off and then ate our hearts out! Once we got back to the ferry we were very shocked to find that the line had at least doubled from when we had arrived; I guess all the traffic was going in one direction, woops. After a long boring 4 hour line up we finally got onto the ferry. We felt terrible that our day trip with Marcus and Silvana turned into almost overnight! They were very nice the whole time though and didn't seem to mind being stuck with us for so long either. Once back we had a quick run through the drive through for dinner, showered, and went straight to bed to prepare for another full day adventure.
Nov 16th Since we had gotten to see the pink dolphins the day before we had decided to go on the boat tour to see the joining of the waters, Encontro das Aguas. We woke up bright and early once again so that we could get to the docks to buy our tickets. It was very nice to be able to see the city from the water - it all looked so different from that perspective! You could really see just how low the water was this time of year from the height of the houses on stilts and all the boats that were on dry land instead of floating in the river. It was a very refreshing way to spend the morning floating down Rio Negro. We had a very good tour guide who clearly loved his job which made it even more enjoyable. He explained everything first in portuguese and then would repeat it again in english. I think here would be a good place for me to explain what exactly the joining of the waters is: The Negro and Solimoes rivers join to become the Amazon river but they do not mix together for about 16km. This creates a very distinct line separating the two rivers and is really quite the site! This is caused because they go at two different speeds and exist at two different temperatures. The Rio Negro gets its "black" colour because it contains more solutes from the decomposition that occurs in it and also because of a certain type of rock that is found in its waters. It was very cool learning all of this while seeing it in real life at the same time.
After we arrived at our "hike" destination we all got off the boat to go see a typical forest in the flooding areas of the amazon. In the wet season the walk is actually done by boat because the water level changes so much. Vanessa Tracy and I hung back from the group a little bit and somewhat made it our own walk-a-bout creating a bit more of a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. The highlight of the walk was probably these giant lily pads. They are strong enough that at full size they can hold 50+ lbs! The bulb that is in embedded in the pond floor has about 6-12 pads branching off of it. The flower starts out white and will become a really deep shade of purple, only opening at night so we didn't get to see it. Once it as lived through the flower stage it becomes the pad! It is a very interesting plant that is for sure. After our walk we had lunch an shopped around the little souvenir store that was attached. Next it was back to the boat to get to the docks.
Since you are not allowed near the loading areas of the boats unless you have your tickets showing that you are bording that day we had been scheming to sneak to the Amazon Star, the boat we would be staying on, after getting back from our day trip. All we wanted to do was talk to someone to see where the best place to hang our hammocks would be, what time we should come, what the food was like... just little things. We successfully got past the guards at the dock and everything was going smoothly until we actually reached our boat and realized we hadn't made a game-plan for after we got there. We arrived to find that there were more than 50 men loading things onto the boat and they were all very excited to see three lost girls hanging out at their boat. After about a minute, but what felt like a lifetime, we realized that we weren't getting the attention of the person that we wanted to. Luckily one of the men noticed we were trying to talk to someone on board and told us who we should go talk to and gave us permission to get onto the boat. This is when we met Nalto. He was so nice! He gave us a tour of the whole boat and introduced us to Gorete, the woman who would be watching and helping people with their hammocks, who would later become our best friend. You will be hearing about these two lots during the days on the boat.
Later on, after our exciting visit to the boat, we went to INPA - Instituto Nacional de Pesquiso da Amazonia. It was pretty much a zoo but the set up was very nice; it was like walking around an actual forest and finding animals along the way. We got to see their version of an otter (definitely not as cute as ours, but interesting to say the least), we read about their manitee project and got to watch them swim around and eat, we saw the amazon turtles which look unlike any other turtle I've seen before, there was another sloth sighting (not in a cage but just hanging out in the trees), uncountable little monkeys, and cutia's (which I like to refer to as the amazonian squirrel). It was a very nice way to wind down the evening.
The next day is the start of our boat trip so this ends Part 1 of the Amazon.
Stay tuned for more!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Quick Note
This blog entry is here solely to let everyone know that we have made it back to our home in Florianopolis after a very exciting 10 days in the Amazon! Following this entry will come three different posts to try and organize the trip a little bit. The posts will be grouped by location: First will take place in Manaus, second will be on the boat going down the Amazon river, and third is from our stay in Belem!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Time for Adventures!
WE'RE LEAVING!!! Tomorrow morning we hop on a plane and head for Manaus to start our trip to the Amazon! My laundry is all clean and folded. My room is nice and tidy. I'm ready!
Beautiful!
About half way there :)
We are adventurers!!
Hiking Hiking Hiking 
We finally see our destination!
For the hike out we went the short hard way; and it was definitely hard. I was slower than the fast group but faster than the slow group so I was alone for most of the way out. I didn't mind though because it was such a nice place to be and allowed me to clear my mind of absolutely everything. It felt like I could have been anywhere in the world since I didn't have anyone talking around me. It was also nice that no one was right with me because I was SOO sweaty! It wasn't as sunny as it was when we had hiked in but I think it was equally as hot. Once we had all finished the hike we hopped onto the bus again and made a quick pit stop for some corn and cane sugar juice. Delicious! And as an added bonus, since it was the end of their business day, the corn was free! Made it taste even better. That night Tracy and I were so exhausted. All we did was watch a movie and go straight to bed after!
And now for an update of what I've been up to the last week. Saturday really early in the morning Tracy Anastacia and I all met up to go on a hike to Lagoinha do Leste. It was put on by an environmental group at the university so we paid $10 for a bus ride there and back and also got t-shirts! Lagoinha can only be reached by hiking in or boating to the beach. So we were dropped off and hiked in the long "easy" way around, about 3 1/2 hours! It was so beautiful and truly a nice trail. It seemed like we were walking up hill forever and ever. At one point we were pretty high up and I felt like if I tripped I would surely not survive the fall. Everyone made it though, don't worry.
Beautiful!
About half way there :)
We are adventurers!!
Hiking Hiking Hiking
We finally see our destination!Once we got to the beach everyone ate the food that they had brought in and then they discussed this article that they read. Since it was in portuguese and Tracy and I were really tired we napped while they did this :P After that was finished everyone went for a swim in the ocean and played in the waves. It was a little cold getting in but it was so much fun just hanging out in the water and swimming around.
For the hike out we went the short hard way; and it was definitely hard. I was slower than the fast group but faster than the slow group so I was alone for most of the way out. I didn't mind though because it was such a nice place to be and allowed me to clear my mind of absolutely everything. It felt like I could have been anywhere in the world since I didn't have anyone talking around me. It was also nice that no one was right with me because I was SOO sweaty! It wasn't as sunny as it was when we had hiked in but I think it was equally as hot. Once we had all finished the hike we hopped onto the bus again and made a quick pit stop for some corn and cane sugar juice. Delicious! And as an added bonus, since it was the end of their business day, the corn was free! Made it taste even better. That night Tracy and I were so exhausted. All we did was watch a movie and go straight to bed after!
During the week I went to work as usual on Monday and Wednesday. Cris and I continued giving the turtles their Vitamin A injections and the rest went on like normal. Their diet change has been going really well too! They love to eat all their new foods and I hope they start putting on more weight soon. Tracy and I went on Thursday instead of Friday because there was supposed to be a field trip that we were going to on Friday (but it got cancelled). Tracy came to help me because I needed to weigh all the turtles again and she hadn't been to R3 in a long time. It wasn't too eventful other than a penguin escape! As we were doing our thing we noticed a visiter waddling up to the fence to see us. Tracy stayed with the turtles and I ran around to go and catch the runaway. He wasn't very happy to be taken back to his enclosure so soon after his escape but I had to do it! Speaking of runaways; #6 has released himself! I couldn't find him the last few days and I thought that maybe, because he is so small, he was just hiding really well. But on Thursday I decided that he has for sure made it out. I hope that he is happy somewhere in the wild right now.
Another thing that we finally got accomplished was extending our visa's. I'm not sure if many of you know this but when we applied for our visa's in Canada they only gave us 90 days instead of the full 119 days that we needed. They told us that we would need to visit imigration once we were here to get permission to stay longer. Anyways after a couple of attempts and a lot of running around we got them! Once we had all the stuff we needed and were in the right place it was actually REALLY easy to get them. They barely asked us any questions and had actually started stamping our passports before asking why we wanted to stay longer. Vanessa told us after we had gotten them that one guy said to the other that he should ask us a few questions before filling it out so it didn't seem so easy I guess. It was pretty a pretty funny scene. They ended up giving us an extra 60 days and so technically we could be here for new years... TEMPTING!! But I won't do it haha.
Now Tracy and I are going to eat some dins and finish up some last minute things that we need to do. I cannot believe we're leaving tomorrow!! You guys will be hearing from me again some time after we get home on the 24th :)
Catch you later!
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