amazon day 3

On our last full day in the amazon, we traveled by boat to see the encounter of the waters.  Two rivers meet together and there is a distinct line between the waters since they do not mix. One is the Rio Negro, or the black river and the other they call the white water (which is more clay color).  These two rivers are different densities, different temperatures, and move at different speeds and all these factors prevent them from actually mixing. In the clay colored water, there are grey dolphins and we saw a lot of them when we got there.

Afterwards we traveled along the amazon river to reach a restaurant where we planned to have lunch. It was amazing going down the river. We saw so many homes that unfortunately had to be abandoned because of the floods.  We did see many homes there and I just couldn’t imagine living there.Our tour guide said that there are anacondas & aligators in this region and that anacondas will eat dogs, chickens, even small children.

After arriving at our destination, we walked out to see these giant lilypads. It’s hard to tell from the pictures but these lilypads were huge! Two people could probably sit on one together.  This placed used to be filled with lilypads but because of the floods many of them died.

After eating lunch, we took some fruit and fed the monkeys! There were a ton of baby monkeys and they are the cutest little things ever. All you had to do was stick your hand out with some fruit and they would come right to you and just grab it out of your hand. It was so fun to be able to feed baby monkeys! 

Afterwards, we left to visit a little house on the river that had an anaconda.  It was such a tiny little wooden house on some planks over the river. We stopped our boat right on the house, and only a few people could go out on the house at a time in fear it would sink or break.  This young boy, probably around the age of 14/15 came out with a anaconda.  They had barely caught it like 3 days ago, but apparently they always keep an anaconda in the house to eat the rodents and stuff. It literally lives cage free in the tiny little house with them, a wild anaconda..They keep it for a little bit and then put it back in the wild and get another one.  It was insane. So the boy let us all hold the anaconda while he held the neck. (except jordan insisted he hold the anaconda all by himself and he did..he even put it next to his face. I about died.) The family also had a pet sloth, and I was so excited to hold the sloth! Ever since we saw sloths in Costa Rica I have loved them. They are so cute. 

Afterwards, we came back and rested for a while. After dinner, we had our goodbye party as a group. It was a ton of fun, but i’m sad to be leaving Manaus. 

I am so grateful for this opportunity that we had. I’m so grateful to have been able to get to know the country that I have loved my whole life. I never saw Brazil outside of the South. It’s a whole different world up here.  Brazil has so much to offer. So much natural beauty. I really would love my mom to be able to see all this..this is her country and she has no idea what it’s like besides the south that she’s used to. Brazil is so amazing. I wouldn’t trade these two months for anything. I have seen so many incredible things that I will never forget. I’ve been able to do things I never thought I would. I’m just so grateful. I am so happy that Jordan and I were able to do this. We love Brazil so much.

amazon day 1 part 2

Later in the afternoon on our first day,  we went fishing for piranhas. We got on the boat and we went about an hour to a part of the river where there were “swamp like” places.  He attached the boat to a tree and we fished near the trees and bush.  We were given sticks with a line attached, and some meat. We were told to splash the stick around really hard in the water in order to attract the piranhas.  

After a few minutes, people started catching them one by one.  The red piranhas, known as the Caju Piranhas, were the one’s we most caught.  For those of you that do not know, Caju means “cashew”, and the cashew nut comes from the Caju fruit.  The Caju fruit is red, and therefore these piranhas have the same color as the Caju fruit. Apparently, those are the most dangerous because they live in packs of 200-300 and they can leave a person in bones within 5 minutes.  After we would catch one, our guide would unhook them and show us their teeth.  He said that one bite could take a person’s finger off easily. Yikes.

Jordan ended up catching 5 piranhas, but I caught the biggest. So I think we are pretty equal :P They kept the best piranhas in order to cook them...the people here like the taste of the piranhas.

After it began to be dark, we saw this..

Here is an excerpt from my journal that I wrote about that sunset.

“I’ve never seen such a beautiful sunset, nor do I think one exists, than the one I saw yesterday over the rio negro of the amazon river.  There aren’t much words to describe it. Honestly, it didn’t feel real. Literally, there were rays of orange, blue, pink. Distinct rays that you could point out, not a mesh of colors that a sunset usually portrays. Yesterday felt like a dream. At that moment, I wished that everyone in the world had a chance to see what I was seeing. I thought about the fisherman that live in houseboats along the river, do they realize how beautiful this is? or has it become something they take for granted? Jordan was sitting on the opposite side of the boat. I looked back at him and he waved at me to come sit next to him. I wish I could have remained in that moment forever. Sitting in boat, watching the sun go down on the Amazon River in Brazil, with the love of my life. My heart was full of joy.”

It was breathtaking and amazing.

When it finally got dark, we went searching for caimans.  You can see them in the dark because their eyes appear red.  Our tour guide would literally lean over the boat and try to grab them. He was unsuccessful, but the boat next to us caught one so we parked next to it and all took turns holding the caimans. I thought I was pretty tough at that moment, holding a caiman..but wait until you see the pictures of me holding a wild anaconda..yup.

I would say our first day in the jungle was definitely a success.

:)

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.”

amazon theater.

today we left for the airport at 3:30 AM to catch our 6 o'clock flight to Manaus.

After leaving our  bags in the hotel, we ventured off to visit the Amazon Theatre.

We were able to take a tour of it, and it was so amazing.

It was built in the late 1800s with the intent of creating a "paris of the amazon".

During this era, Manaus was booming due to the rubber industry and there were many wealthy people here in the area. The Opera House was built out of materials shipped from Portugal, Italy, France and Brazil's own resources as well. It's amazing!

Tonight we were able to see an Opera performed by the Korean Foundation that was really beautiful. It was just amazing being in that theater, knowing it is well over 100 years old. Knowing that it was built in the middle of the amazon. There is just such a feeling of pride in that building. It's one of the prettiest buildings I've ever been inside & seeing an actual opera being performed in that building was amazing.

Apparently, over a spand of 90 years, the Opera house was closed down and there was not one performance. Fortunately, nowadays there are performances held there and we got to watch one!

Being in the theater, you felt like an aristocrat or royalty or something..

Since they don't allow flash photography, most of my pictures of the inside are SUPER dark. So I pulled this picture off the internet to show you a better idea of what it's like inside.

This picture hardly gives it justice. The Opera House is in a renaissance style, with lots of detail and is breathtaking. This picture is taken facing the back. The ceilings are painted beautifully and so is the front of the stage.

Here are some more pictures: