Arrival; January 1st
The day I had been waiting for for months had finally arrived. I was ready to leave the frigid winter temperatures of New Jersey in exchange for the summer in the southern hemisphere. I carpooled to the airport with another one of the students going on the trip around ten in the morning, even though our plane was not set to take off until five in the evening. My insides were a mixture of excitement and nervousness; we had a long flight ahead of us, and I am prone to not being able to sleep sitting up.
When we finally arrived at the airport, we immediately saw more members of our group already in the line for check-in. This was the first time I had ever gone through the check-in process myself, and it ended up being easier than I thought. Once everyone turned in their luggage, we made our way through security and began the long wait at our gate until we could start boarding the plane. None of us really knew each other that well, especially me, since I had only been to two of the meetings throughout the fall semester. I would come to find by the end of the trip that these are some of the best people I had ever met. I love flying on planes, and I love flying at night even more. Luckily for me, my seat was in the perfect position to watch the sunset. I was surprised at how humongous the plane was, and that it even offered USB charging ports on every seat. Not only that, but they served us entire meals and snacks multiple times during our flight. I was less worried about not being able to sleep after sifting through the movies offered on the little entertainment screen on the seat in front of me- I found that they had multiple movies I had been meaning to watch, but never had the time for. I ended up watching two movies on the way, and drifted in and out of sleep during the rest of the time. Before I knew it, we had finally landed in the Sao Paolo airport. I immediately felt the temperature change, even though we stayed inside of the airport. While we waited for our layover flight to Manaus, I bought my first taste of Brazilian food- a chicken empanada. It was amazing, and I would come to buy it every time we would have a layover in this airport. After another four hours of flying into the Amazon, we finally reached Manaus and were ready to start our first day of activities in Brazil. |
Looking down the aisle inside of the airplane.
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View from our hotel room on the eight floor.
Looking up from the staircase going up to the top of the lookout tower.
View from the top of the tower, with the city seen in the distance.
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Day 1; January 2nd
Stepping outside of the airport into the warm air gave me a feeling of pure joy and happiness that I had not felt in months. On the bus ride to the hotel, I finally got to see for myself what the cities and streets of Brazil were like. It reminded me slightly of some parts of Florida, except that absolutely all of the road signs were in Portuguese.
After receiving our room keys and settling into our rooms, the 17 of us walked over next door to a buffet-style restaurant to have our first taste of authentic Brazilian food. I added things onto my plate that I had never even seen before, and surprisingly, I enjoyed every last bite. After lunch, we were greeted by our tour guides that would be with us for the next four days in Manaus. Our first stop of the day was San Sebastian Square, only a few minutes from the hotel, so we walked there as a group. Standing beside a large statue in the middle of the square, our tour guide, Rafael, explained to us how Eduardo Ribeiro and the rubber barons reconstructed the city of Manaus. Because of the rubber boom during that time, the barons were the ones with the money and the farmland. The weather in the Amazon is what allowed for this boom to happen; however, Malaysia is now number one in rubber production in the world today. Wanting to attract more wealthy people to the city, Eduardo and a group of others came up with an idea in 1881 to build an extravagant opera house. Today, it stands facing San Sebastian Square. Eduardo was also able to finish building the harbor. To commemorate its opening, he contracted various artists to decorate and create monuments and other features around the city. The black and white curved pattern of the tiled square was thought to represent the Meeting of Waters at first, but it was later concluded to have just been a simple design. Continuing onto our second location, we were transported by bus to Musa - Museu da Amazônia. As our first glimpse into the Amazon Rainforest, this was a safe place to start. We were able to see the famous Tambaqui fish, along with others, swimming in a large tank. The snake exhibit allowed us to observe various types of snakes within the confines of their cages and habitats. A small hike followed afterwards along a trail, in which we came upon a large tower. It was built in 2006, and after about a ten minute climb to the top, you could see well above the treetops of the rainforest, which stretched out as far as the eye could see in all directions. The city of Manaus was also seen in the distance. The tower and exhibits we saw earlier were built in an effort to stop development and show others that there are important things (like habitats and wildlife) to preserve in this area. I realized there was no doubt they achieved their goal once I reached the top of that tower, and took in everything I saw before me. After a day of on and off rain, the sun finally shone through the clouds and gave way to a mesmerizing sunset. The rays of light hit just the tops of the trees, and pronounced the city visible in the distance. We kept spotting different types of birds amongst the treetops, in which Lester, our chaperone, helped us identify. Being with everyone in this setting, taking pictures and laughing as though we've known each other for ages, gave me the greatest sense of euphoria. From this moment, I knew it was going to be a great trip. |
Day 2; January 3rd
Our busy day began with visiting the local fish market. I had never seen anything like it before- the entire building was stocked with raw fish piled on tables, while the workers behind the tables were seen cutting and cleaning the fish. My skills in identifying fish is weak, but I could tell from observation that there were many different types, and most that I had never seen before. We traversed through the narrow aisles of tables until we reached the section of the market that sold fresh produce. This included many types of fruits and vegetables. We eventually left the food market into another building right across from it that had handmade crafts and weavings made and sold by locals. We were allotted enough time here to scope out any souvenirs we wanted to buy.
After the market, we were ready to board the boat that would take us down the Rio Negro to the Meeting of Waters. The boat had 3 main levels; the top, where the main seating area and captain's quarters were, the middle, where an indoor meeting room was, and a lower level where the bathrooms were located. Our first stop involved meeting a group of natives that lived along the Amazon. The men, women and children of the tribe performed for us a few cultural dances, and at the end, encouraged us to join in on one of the dances. We were all partnered up with one of the natives, and followed along in a sequenced dance. I remember I was smiling the entire time because of how interesting and welcoming it felt for us travelers to be part of such an intimate traditional dance. It was certainly a once in a lifetime kind of experience. Getting back onto the boat, we had a Canadian researcher, Colleen, join us to talk about climate change in the Amazon. It was striking to learn that the Rio Negro was not a suitable habitat for mosquitoes to breed because of the concentration of tannic acid in the water. This completely broke the ingrained thought in my head that every part of the Amazon was filled with disease-carrying mosquitoes. It is amazing what we tend to believe when we come across information from an ocean away, and how different reality is when you physically visit the location yourself. After a short talk, Rafael and other members of the group prepared some acai cups for us with fresh fruit. This was the first time I had ever tried natural, unsweetened acai... it was pretty bitter, but multiple teaspoons of sugar helped. Our next stop involved swimming with the pink river dolphins. Only three students out of our group participated, but the rest of us had a good view to watch and take pictures from. The ones that wanted to participate, but chose not to, thought that these dolphins lived within an enclosure for tourism and entertainment purposes. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that there was no enclosure, and the dolphins were free to come and go as they pleased. Our little break led into a more formal presentation from Colleen, where we all sat in the indoor meeting room and watched a PowerPoint on the "Amazon Basin and Climate Change". The basin itself is about five times the size of Texas, and the Amazon River is the largest in the world in terms of volume; it is so large in fact, that it influences the Atlantic Ocean. It has a significant number of tributaries, including the Rio Negro, which we were currently riding a boat on. She explained the science behind the Meeting of Waters- the place where the Amazon and Rio Negro come together, but do not actually mix at their contact. This is because the Rio Negro is old, and has been flowing for a long time, so its flow is calm. The Amazon, on the other hand, is fast and bustling because it is newer (relatively), but heavier because of the erosional sediments it carries from the Andes. The Amazon is considered to be a white (brown) water river, where the visibility is 4-20 inches, and the Rio Negro is considered a black water river, where there is 50-100 inches of visibility. We then learned of the dry and rainy seasons of the Amazon, how they affect the hydrologic cycle, and how they have been affected by climate change. After struggling to keep our eyes open for the long, but interesting presentation, we docked at a "floating" restaurant along the river. It served us in a buffet-style fashion, and I can still say that this was the best-tasting food I had on the entire trip. Once we finished eating, we walked behind the restaurant onto the banks of the river, and were greeted by a number of adorable little Capuchin monkeys. They seemed intrigued by us, but were probably used to frequent visitors feeding them whenever they visited. With the bananas we had in hand, we offered it to the monkeys, and they hesitantly grabbed them out of our hands. Once our interaction was over, we all piled back onto the boat and finally made our way to our final destination at the Meeting of Waters. It was here that we were able to jump into the water and swim, right at the divide. The water was warm and calm on the side of the Rio Negro, but as soon as we floated onto the Amazonian side, we barely had time to wipe our eyes before we realized we were at least 20 feet away from the boat. I had a two-second heart attack when I realized I would not be able to swim by myself against the current, but thankfully a rope was thrown out for us to hold onto. It was certainly an experience. Once everyone was safely back on the boat, we all congregated at the front of the second level of the ship to watch another incredible sunset. The crew members had speakers on board and were playing Portuguese music. Latin music always makes me want to dance, so it pleased me to see other members in our group dancing along, while Tait taught us some dance moves too. It was here that we danced and chatted for the remainder of the boat ride until it became dark. We could see the city lights sparkling along the shore as we rode into the dock. Another great day successfully spent in the Amazon. |
View of the dock from the fish market.
My first of many plates of some of the best food I had ever eaten.
Me (2nd) and some of the students after swimming at the Meeting of Waters.
Crossing under a bridge in the boat at sunset.
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View from inside the sandstone cave, looking out into the forest.
Me, wearing a face mask inside the sandstone cave.
Me (1st) standing alongside other students at the geopark.
Waterfalls seen on our way into the park where we swam in the river.
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Day 3; January 4th
On our final day in Manaus, we finally got the chance to explore deep inside the rainforest. It was raining on and off, so the rocky trail was slightly slippery, but we managed to make it through without anyone falling. With Rafael leading the group, he made frequent stops to explain the various types of plants that grew inside the forest. Many were medicinal, and some even had roots that hung down to the forest floor from the top of the tree. One of the plants Rafael showed us contained the same chemical as the active ingredient in malaria medication. We were offered to try a bite of the leaf so of course, I volunteered along with one other student. It was tasteless at first, but as I continued to chew it, it became more and more bitter. The taste was stuck on my tongue for the next hour.
After about an hour, we arrived at our first location - a large sandstone cave. The wide entrance led into a long passageway that had been washed out by water over the years. We were all given surgical face masks to wear so that we didn't breathe in any harmful particles in the tight space, since many bats lived inside. There was a small stream running through the cave and while some people went in barefoot, I tried my hardest to keep my hiking boots dry. The cave became darker and darker as we moved away from the entrance, until eventually I had to start using the flashlight on my phone to see where I was going. Looking up at the ceiling, you could see bats everywhere, some flying around and some with their babies clinging onto their mother's back. There were also many iron deposits seen in the corners. Going deeper in the cave, we came across something crazy. Sitting low on one of the walls was the wandering spider, one of the most venomous spiders in the world. Knowing this fact, the lot of our group still got as close as they could to take a picture of it. As we walked further, the number of cave crickets bouncing around the cave floor seemed to increase exponentially. Although they immediately jumped out of the way when you stepped down, it seemed like we were swimming in them. We eventually reached the end of the tunnel and looked up to see a bat nursery. From where I stood, it just looked like a giant black spot on the wall, but there were around 15 bats flying all around it. On our way back to the entrance, we stopped inside of a passageway and were told to turn off all of our lights. Once we did, everything immediately turned black and all you could hear is the subtle sounds of water flowing. It is crazy to think that hundreds of years ago, people walked through these caves with no light, trying to find a way out. Luckily we had modern technology to help us find our way out. We continued on with our hike to a small waterfall. My efforts in keeping my boots dry all throughout the cave were useless since I ended up walking through knee-deep water anyway. From the waterfall, we made our way back uphill to exit the forest. It was lunch time and all of us were starving. The bus drove us to a small resort-style setting where there were a number of colorful little houses that people could rent out. The food selection included fish, meat, and rice, which were the usual staples of any meal we have had thus far. After filling our stomachs, we walked down the road to a park that had a river with several waterfalls, and a platform where you could run and jump off from into the river. This was the most exciting part of the day, and where we spent at least two hours playing around. The platform was at a decent height, and even after multiple jumps, I still got a rush of adrenaline every time. I noticed a nearby waterfall and decided to swim up to it with a few others. The closer we got, the more difficult it became to swim against the current. It was only a 20-foot distance from where we were, but we had to grab onto the submerged rocks to pull ourselves up river against the current. It was definitely a workout, but we finally made it. Once we let go of the rocks, the current pushed us quickly down to where we were originally. After we had our fun and most of us felt sick from hitting the water after jumping so many times, we dried off and made our way to our final stop of the day. With the couple of geologists with us, we arrived at a location full of sandstone outcrops, where they explained a brief history of the area and the rocks that comprised it. This was interesting to me since my major is geology, and Brazil did not seem to have many outcrops where we were. The mostly horizontal sandstone beds were fun to jump around on, almost like a playground. This was our last day in Manaus, so I wanted to make the most of the time we had left. With such a busy, fun-filled day, most of us were exhausted and fell asleep on the two hour ride back to the hotel. I noticed my ear had started hurting slightly after our river adventures, but when I woke up once we got back to the hotel, it was very painful, I was deaf, and the entire left side of my head felt numb. I was worried I had ruptured my eardrum from jumping into the water from a high height, but after a few hours went by, I yawned and the problem just disappeared. I thanked my lucky stars because it was still the beginning of the trip and I did not want to start having problems this early. Manaus was amazing and it was disappointing knowing we would be leaving the next day. However, I was excited to see what Rio held in store for us, and only hoped it would be as amazing as the Amazon was for the past three days. |