The Amazon

Esconderijo
It is 9:37 and I am in the computer lab of Liceu my school starting my blog entry.   Here with me are my friends Justin from South Africa and Andrea from Columbia.  Its only us here.  This lab serves as the exchange students periodic get away from the hallow drum of class. 

Amazonias
The Amazon was incredible.   I traveled with over forty exchange students from fourteen different countries through the hot and humid state.  We flew into the capital, arriving there in the early morningof the 4th.  From there we took a two floor bus to our hotel that was about two hours away in a different town called Presidente Fevereiro also known as ´´the land of waterfalls´´.
The first day we were take to see some waterfalls and then a certain part in the river where we were allowed to swim.  The river was kind of rough.  There was a bend in the river where many of the exchange students were crossing to get to the other side, which was a steep rock wall.  I was nervous to cross rough river being that I am not such a strong swimmer, but I challenged myself and crossed successfully.  The second part of the first day we walked through the very lush Amazon forest.  The path we walked was wet and muddy and full of steep inclines and declines.  I saw so much, but with that being said, the majority of the time my eyes were on this earth path; not only to keep myself from tripping, but to avoid the tarantulas and snakes that the guide said would often enough be found on the trail.  We hiked about three hours into the forest to see the various waterfalls that were hidden within it.  As we arrived at our last point, it began to rain.  It was perfect. Of all of the forty kids, I was the only nerd wearing a poncho.
Day two  we were taken to a very small animal reserve.  This reserve exists as a sort of apology to the people of Presidente Fevereiro.  In the sixties, if I remember correctly, a hydroelectric company was attempting to make a damn.  Mistakes were made and they ended up flooding an area 10 times the amount of land that they had intended.  This caused the death of many plant and life.  So, this animal reserve that we went to was there attempt (weak) to balance the damage they had caused.  After the reserve we went to the flooded area that is now a lake with lots of dead trees in the middle.  They call it the Tree Cemetery.  Later that same day we went to another waterfall to swim.
Day Three we packed up and left for Manaus, the Amazon capital, after breakfast.  We were taken first to a zoo, where I helped feed a monkey.  After we were taken to our ``six star´´ hotel.  Our hotel was very large, and very nice.  With in it were various restaurants, a theatre, a zoo, many stores, bars, game room and of course a pool.  After dinner we went to the theatre to watch a singing and dancing performance of Boi Bumba.  Boi Bumba is a story about a man who loved his bull.  His bull was his best friend.  Eventually this man got married and his wife became pregnant.  One night his wife told him that she wanted cow tongue, but the man only had one bull and he did not want to kill him, but the wife insisted.  So, one night the man went to his bull and cut off his tongue and the bull died.  Then the man was sad. 
The performance of this show was really neat.  The dancers used elaborate costumes, decorated with colored feathers and sparkle, and body paint.  The live music was done really well too.  At the end of the show the dancers invited the exchange students on stage and we all mimicked the native style dance behind them, most of us ending up in a sweat.  It was fun. 
Day Four began with a very good breakfast provided by our hotel******.  After we took our two floor bus to a fish market in downtown Manaus.  At night in the hotel I ran into some college students from New York and spent a good part of my night talking with them. 
Day Five we boarded our barco, where we would be staying until the end of our trip, showering with river water, battling with bugs, sleeping in hammocks...  We made our way up the Rio Negra.  The main event of this day was when arrived at the spot on the amazon river where Rio Negra and Rio Solimões meet.  The two rivers are drastically different colors.  Rio Negra is black and Solimões a light brown.  The two rivers meet, but do not mix for over 18 kilometros, or just over 11 miles, creating a very strange line of difference in the two waters. The reason they do not mix, you may ask,  is because of the diversity in pH levels.
Day Six we left our boat and took canoes into a very swampy part of the amazon and then into the forest.   Our large group was split into two and each half was taken through a fresh trail of the jungle by a military man.  These military men live in the jungle with the purpose of protecting it.  My group´s guide was amazing.  He was a native to the Amazons and therefore knew all the tricks of the trade.  He gave us short demonstrations of how to "sobrevive" or survive in the jungle by building fire, shelter and traps.  The two groups met at a clearing where we reapplied seriously needed mosquito repellent and ate lunch.  The military men prepared fish in a fire under a type of rough shelter, the kind that our guide showed us how to construct. In the middle of the clearing was a rough table made from leaves and branches.  It resembled the shelter, only smaller.  On this table laid a watermelon, about a dozen enormous cooked fish and a pile of what looked like fat green sticks.  My guide handed me a huge green leaf and told me to use it as a plate.  I grabbed an entire fish, carefully so not to burn myself, and put it on my leaf plate and then found my Canadian friend.  Together we devoured the fish with our hands.  Then for dessert came the green sticks which I came to learn were fruit.  One had to break open the shell, and then suck or chew on the green, squishy, mentos-sized seeds until the flavor was gone, and then spit out the seed.  The tart flavor was reminiscent of a type of candy I have eaten before.  They were very good.  Later at night we took our canoes for a ride on the river.  Our guide caught a baby alligator.  We then passed the alligator around the three canoes.  Everyone had a chance to hold him and take a picture with him.
Day Seven we were taken to a swampy part of the river and went fishing for piranhas.  Later that day our guide steered his boat into a tree that was half-way swamped under water, as most of the trees there were.  He then climbed the tree, very avidly, grabbed a sloth that no one but him had noticed, and returned to his canoe.  All of us then had a chance to hold the sloth and take a picture with him.  For lunch we returned to our main boat.  Shortly after our main guide came and told us that she had haggled with some locals and was able to get all of us a chance to swim with fresh water dolphins for 15 reis each.  So with in the hour we all were in the Amazon river swimming with pink dolphins.
Day Eight our group visited some native villages along the river.  The exchange students were told to bring gifts for the native children.  The place I went to in the village first was the small school which was a pavillion with desks and a flat screen T.V.  I brought an ornament of Dorothy and Toto that sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and gave it to the classes teacher.  There at the school we actually ran into a church group of about a dozen from Tennesee who made a short stop in the village to do an art project at the school and make a few medical check ups.  That night after leaving the village, we watched the sunset on the river.  After dark we went to a small beach where we had a luau.  The luau involved a cook out and dancing.  Our guide that night said her goodbye and spoke about the fun year she had traveling with this group of students (Rotary students travel with this company starting in November and ending in May, so she had known some of the students since November.)  Eventually, I returned to the boat, leaving the luau a bit earlier than the rest.  I went to the top deck of the boat and laid down on a bench facing the sky.  It was a perfect night to star gaze, the right time, and the right silence to let the experience of my trip to sink in.  Eventually the others made their ways back to the boat and one by one joined me in star gazing.  Together, with the people I became closest with during the trip, we witnessed various shooting stars.  Before the night ended I was asked to sing and so I chose "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", a song who's melody assumed would be familiar to everyone.   Eventually we returned to our hammocks, but the night went on for those in hammocks near to my own.  Our guide told us horror stories and after her many others, including myself, took their turns giving  goose bumps to those who listened. 
Day Nine our boat returned to dock in Manaus.  From there we took a bus to a small beach and I spent about an hour telling people's futures with my deck of Cracker Jack cards, a feat I had become known for among the group.  From the the beach we went to the large shopping mall and remained at the mall for five hours.  There I ate and watched Iron Man II with my new friends.  Shortly after the movie ended it was time for us to leave for the airport.  There we made our check-ins, said a few goodbyes and then took a five and a half our flight to São Paulo. 
Day 10 at five in the morning we arrived in the shockingly diverse cold in the city of São Paulo.  There I made my tired goodbyes and left with Rosalie and Rui, two Rotarians from Piracicaba, for home.

It's in the Details
The entire trip was hot and insanely humid, just like I expected it to be.  The humidity left the dry clothes wet and the wet clothes hopeless.  The bugs were not as bad as I imagined, except for in the jungle where the mosquitoes would come in clouds.  My legs after the hike on day six were pink and bumpy.  The crazy jungle mosquitoes were able to bite through the pants I had used and left my legs looking as if I did not use pants or repellent.  The food from the Amazon differed a bit from the customary foods of São Paulo.  The beans they use there are black, they use lots of tapioca, and some fruits, like açai, guarraná, and that green fat stick fruit that I ate on day six, are only found in the North.  The Amazon people have less European ancestry and because of this the people of this region are darker skinned and generally shorter.

Brazil 101
-Some Amazon tribes believe that there exists a fresh water dolphin who can turn into a man.  The legend is that this creature at night comes onto land to go to festas to be with women.  And then at night he goes back into the water...leaving some tribe woman pregnant.
-60% of the Amazon is located in Brazil.
-The Amazons touches nine countries.