The Amazon Rainforest
Day 1
Friday, January 2, 2015 Our first full day in Brazil! I was very excited to wake up and open my curtain to see the beautifully, colorful view I had of Manaus. We woke up, got breakfast, and then went on our way to start our first adventure. A van picked us up from our hotel and the driver gave us a tour of Manaus. First, we visited the Amazon Teatro, which was established in 1896. Our tour guide didn’t have very good English, but we made the best of it. He began by showing us a statue outside of the theater and told us the story of the stone sidewalks. They are made of stone from the Amazon and Europe. The black stones symbolize the Rio Negro and the white stones symbolize the Amazon River. The guide also mentioned that the ground outside the theater was made of rubber from the Amazon, known as white gold. That way during the operas they would not get interrupted when carriages came to drop people off, because the rubber did not make any noise. The second floor of the theater was beautiful. The wooden floor is from the Amazon and Europe. It is made of mahogany and maple. The lighter wood represents the Amazon River and the darker wood represents the Rio Negro. The ceiling was painted in 1899. There are two mirrors hanging on parallel walls, causing an infinite image effect. After that we went to the church across the street. It reminded me of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Some of us sat down and said a prayer. Tait’s friend who lives in Brazil, but also speaks English, came with us. As we were leaving the church she told us that in Brazil when you walk into a church for the first time you are supposed to make a wish. Once we were done there our tour guide took us to a market near the harbor in Manaus. There were lots of fruit and meat. Everything smelt bad and was very unsanitary how all of the meat and fish were out in the open. The market was scary, because we kept getting warned that watch our belongings in case someone steals them. Then we went to the harbor. There were lots of cruise ships and the guide told us that ships bottoms were flat because rounded ones would cause them to bottom out due to lots of vegetation. I also learned from his that there are 26 states in Brazil. Once our day was over we went to the mall to get water bottles for our “excursion” that we would be going on the next day. We went back to the hotel and fell right asleep. Day 2 Saturday, January 3, 2015 This day wasn’t what we expected it to be. We were supposed to get on a boat that would lead us to smaller individual boats that would take us through the Amazon on a more personal level. Then we would get out and take a hike about five miles into the forest. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We went to the harbor and got on a boat along with many other tourists. Before we stopped the boat needed to refuel. Floating on the Amazon are gas stations for boats to refuel, just like a regular gas station. We were able to see where the Amazon River and the Rio Negro meet. The Rio Negro is darker than the Amazon River. They don’t mix due to different densities. Then while we were on our way our boat was stopped by poachers. They came aboard and allowed us to hold the animals they had just captured, but they did ask for a small donation in return, although most people did not offer one. They had a baby alligator, a baby anaconda, and a baby sloth. I was able to hold the anaconda and sloth, and it was no doubt a very cool experience, but it was sad because those animals are in captivity. It gave me a good insight on what poachers really do, and I can’t help but feel guilty. We got to our first stop and walked on a little wooden bridge where we got to see some of the rainforest. We saw gigantic lily pads that had spikes on the bottom of them, which usually means that there are piranhas in that water. After that we ate at a restaurant that was located on the water right before the bridge. Once we finished there we went to an area of the river where the people had fixed the dolphins in the water and trained them to come to them when food was smelt. These weren’t just any dolphins, they were pink river dolphins. They are pink because of the acidity of the river. They are in the fresh water because over time the river flowed from west to east and eventually, due to plate tectonics, mountains began to form, and the river began to flow from east to west. The waters merged and evolution allowed the dolphins to adapt to the water. Not only was I given the opportunity to see them, but I also got to swim with them. Their skin felt smooth. Just like the other animals I saw that day, I can’t help but feel bad for them. Our next stop was to a native tribe that lives in the forest. They performed a few of their native dances and even had the crowd interact with them. It was interesting to see how different their culture was, not only to ours, but to the people who live in the city of Manaus. People who live in the city live just as we do, with a few differences, but the tribe who lives in the jungle lives completely different. For starters, they live in a village in the rainforest. Not to mention, they don’t wear clothes. They even spoke a completely different language other than Portuguese. Our river adventure had ended after that and we made our way back to the harbor. Once we get back to the hotel we went to the mall to eat, again. Day 3 Sunday, January 4, 2015 The third day! Tait has some connections and we were lucky to spend the day with David, a 19 year old who goes to school in Manaus and works for the United States Embassy in Brazil. It was interesting to hear from someone who lives there and is my age. He took us to the freshwater beach in Manaus. There were many food stands there and all the girls got ice cream that is native to Manus. David taught us certain words in Portuguese and told us that Brazilians are very fascinated with the way Americans look, we are known as griengos. The beach was surprisingly polluted with garbage. I had honestly expected to see it much cleaner. We spotted a huge bug in the sand and were completely fascinated about its size and the people on the beach thought we were crazy because it was so normal to them, but so different to us. One thing I found I saw that was different was the amount of stray dogs that were on the street. David said that they don’t really have animal shelters there, except for cats. |