amazon day 1 part 1

It’s really hard for me find the words to describe our trip to Manaus. It was unbelievable. Since June when we came to Brazil, we have done countless amazing activities. We’ve seen so many incredible things. We’ve visited really awesome places. But none of those compare to our trip to Manaus. The 4 days we spent literally in the jungle, has no comparison to the rest of our time in Brazil.  Everything we have witnessed so far has been amazing and wonderful, but most had to do with man-made things such as churches, historical sites, buildings, etc. Nature, here in the Amazon, is what God created. Even though man has done some incredible things and created amazing things, in the end it cannot compare to what God has created. Here in the Amazon, it’s like you can feel something incredibly spiritual about nature. It’s hard to explain...but I’ll do my best.

On our way to catch our boat to get our hotel, we passed the brand new Manaus Temple. It literally sits on the banks of the Rio Negro, close to where we got our boat to cross.  Vanessa asked our driver to pull over so we could walk around for a few minutes.  We walked around the temple grounds and I felt really lucky to be able to see the temple here. 

We caught our boat to take us across the river, which was about a 30-40 minute boat ride. Our hotel has barely just reopened up after being closed for 3 months.  The amazon river has risen between 25-30 METERS, and many places were completely flooded..including our hotel.  The river spends 6 months rising, and 6 months going down, there is no tide. So during the wet season, it flooded REALLY bad.  Our tour guide said that the last time it rose very high was in the 1950s and this time was worse.

Here is an excerpt from my journal after that first day.

“After getting settled, Jordan and I sat on the dock. Our huts are over some water where some caiman live. We sat down and we were both silent. After a few minutes, Jordan turned on some music which is customary for us, to sit down and listen to music together.. But he quickly turned it off. It didn’t feel right to ruin the moment with music.

I wish I could describe my first feelings here in the jungle. There aren’t words that could suffice. I’m just really grateful for nature. At that moment, I could finally understand why it is that people have ventured off into the jungle. I could finally understand why people attempt to be one with nature. There is something really spiritual about being secluded from the world, literally in the jungle.”