Brazil
I attempted to post an entry yesterday stating that I will be updating today from an internet café I was at in Salvador, but all of the commands (computer jargon is odd anyways) were in Portuguese and I think it didn’t post somehow. I was going to attempt to post it again, but it was hot (101 degrees) and I was just stopping through to check my e-mail with some friends on our way to the soccer game.
So…I’ve been receiving some concerned responses…
Just for the record: I did not shave my head.
Yes, we are all aware of how ridiculously impulsive I am, but not so much so that I would sever something I consider a limb.
Beck and I wanted to see how long we could keep you folks at home guessing…
Neptune Day
Instead of shaving my head, I participated in an additional initiation ceremony that consisted of being dunked in fish guts, kissing a fish, a ring, and reciting an oath in Greek to Lord Neptune and Queen Minerva. We then had to sit in the fish guts for an hour in the hot sun of the equator and wait while the guts baked on you…the smell was awful- I was very close to puking. The captain and his crew woke us all up that morning in traditional dress with drumming, whistles, shouting, and pounding. It was a crazy day.
So…Brazil.
I am absolutely in love with Brazil.
(Maybe Cass is right; I always fall in love with my most recent endeavor. hehe)
In caveat, there is much to say- just warning you so you’re not annoyed when you skim half way down and realize you’re not even into a minute portion of the girth that I have to impart.
Salvador:
On our pre-port and our diplomatic briefing they warned us that this is one of the most dangerous ports we will be visiting. They assured us that we will be robbed in a potentially violent manner (way to go for optimism!) and that there have been 12 deaths in Salvador in the last month alone. Moreover, they warned us that the Salvadorians are aware that hundreds of unfamiliarized and comparatively wealthy foreigners are arriving (as it is advertised in the local news in each port we are visiting prior to our arrival), and subsequently know how to reach our boat…which nonetheless makes for further safety hazards. This made me a little nervous, but I shrugged it off. You can be mugged anywhere, so what if the stakes are raised a bit (sorry if this makes you guys nervous- I am careful)
The Portuguese in Salvador was tough, but luckily, most speak Spanish (as they are surrounded by Spanish speaking nations) and my Spanish worked out for us quite well.
Salvador and its people are completely unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Salvador praises itself on its immense elevator. There is a lower city and an upper city divided by a massive cliff and this large elevator, for a charge, takes one from the lower city to the upper city. Upon exiting the port and entering the city you immediately hear samba rhythms on the bongos- the city is never without these sounds. There was not a moment on my trip that I did not hear the percussion of samba or reggae and now, although it is definitely not quiet, I feel as though there is certain silence. The beat almost delegates the rhythm of the pace of these people as music and dance is as much an everyday portion of their lives as breathing is. It is tough to describe the meaning of this music seeing as music itself does not lend itself well to verbal discourse. There are what is called, ‘samba de rodo’ and more familiar to us, ‘dance circles’ in every portion of the city- from the more rural areas to the flavellas (the slums) to the more affluent portions. Like we in the States would request a specific song from a band/DJ in a club to dance to, they bring their own percussion instrument and request that the musicians play that instrument for their turn in the circle. The samba de rodo’s are very competitive and attract amazing dancers of all ages.
(Random side note- if its one thing I’ve learned thus far on my trip its that people from the States are horrible dancers)
When I initially entered the city, a crowd of people- older women, young men, young women- came up to me and began tugging on my arms and pulling at me. They were talking a lot- but all I could understand was bella. My friends came up and had to aggressively and physically pull these people off of me. I was left incredibly confused and I have to admit, a little frightened. After the duration of my trip and continually being photographed by the locals and consistently being told that I’m beautiful, I finally realized what it was all about (as there are gorgeous girls here on the ship and the Brazilians themselves are some of the most stunning people I’ve seen) : I look like one of the Condumble Goddesses. I was shown one of the cards - she has long wavy hair, darker skin with a warm tone, and light eyes-with the exact shape.
Brazilians are absolutely gorgeous. I think it has something to do with their skin tone. Their mix of Portuguese, Anglo, and Afro make for a stunning caramel complexion. Absolutely beautiful.
This week in Salvador marks the Yemanja Festival. This is an incredible event. A little background… Condumble could be considered Brazil’s national religion. It is between that and Roman Catholicism. Condumble is an Afro religion taken from Nigeria to Brazil through the immense slave trade and colonization of Brazil by Portugal. It is the source of Samba for Brazilians as the religion is based entirely in music and dance as it is their source of communication, prayer, trance, and ritual with their Gods. It is a matriarchal religion and women are those who conduct and lead the ceremonies. The Yemanja Festival occurs on Feb. 2nd, is world renown, and marks a celebration for the Fertility God who happens to be quite vain. In comdumble you must wear white linen at any religious ceremony and the Yemanja Festival consists of dancing to the sea at dawn and making offerings to the vain fertility God, Yemanja. Since she is known for being vain, the offerings consist principally of garlands, but make-up, perfume, and dolls as well. If the gifts are washed away at sea, then you have good fortune for the rest of the year; if they are washed back upon the shore, then you have bad fortune for the rest of the year. (Some, in order to safeguard from this, go out on boats to make their offerings…I was amused by this). 1.2 million came down to All Saints Bay (where the Explorer is) for this offering. In Salvador for the last couple of days women have been in Yemanja dress everywhere and it is stunning. In accordance with the festival, there have been Brazilians everywhere passing out ribbons representing each of their Gods. They tie it to your wrist with a series of knots and request that you make a wish for each knot and then seal it with a very specific handshake. On every corner I met people like this and walked away from Brazil with about 12 ribbons and many wishes.
In addition to the samba de rodo’s there are Brazilians practicing Capoeria all over the city as well. Capoeria is a martial art combined with dance; they usually practice in a circle with the two competitors in the center. Capoeria derives from Afro slaves practicing martial arts for protection but needing to hide what they were doing from their masters. They did so by masking it as dance complete with about 3 percussion instruments- the central one being that of the Barambou (a form of a percussion instrument with a string), and the others being bongos and tambourines. There are also street musicians on every corner playing Samba Reggae and or Samba (in Bahia there is the 2nd largest Rhasta community in the world).
In what one could imagine to be typical Brazilian fashion…. while walking through the middle of town, some men practicing Capioera ran to me and began dancing samba with me in the middle of the street to one of the reggae street bands. Initially they instructed me in some Capoeria moves which I was awkward with as I was wearing a wrap dress with flip flops, but we soon finished and just danced Samba. I danced for about a half our until the guy I was dancing with moved in for a kiss and after turning my head and him literally getting a mouthful of my hair, I decided it was time to move on. The men here know how to dance, if you’re a man and you don’t know how to move, you’re somewhat alienated and isolated. You’re considered much more the man in South America if you can dance-funny… it’s quite the contrary in the states.
I found a shop where they were making drums right there in the store and on the porch while playing reggae. I spent a lot of time here and after befriending them, bought one of the drums made that week for much cheaper than what they were selling them to their other customers for. Who will be the lucky person to receive this gift….eh eh??
(If you haven’t noticed, I’m attempting to take a musical instrument from each port home with me-mostly percussion instruments.…I will have an amazing music room in my house one day...not to mention it makes for some pretty rad drum circles...hehe)
We then ate dinner in the middle of town at an open, out-door restaurant right in the center square of Salvador with the Samba and Capoeria dancers…the heat….the music….the smells- everything I dreamed a night in Brazil would be.Later that night we went to a welcome reception at a local Samba school and I danced the entire night with the locals- right until I had to take my flight to the Amazon.
The Amazon:
We flew out of Salvador at 3:30 am, then had a layover in Brasilia for 3 hours, then flew to Manaus, and then traveled from there on a bus for a time- it was in total about 12 hours of traveling, but we had time zones on our side. I have been on quite a few flights, but never have I experienced such rough turbulence and landings in my experience of flying. It was definitely not the fun turbulence that sort of mixes up the monotony of long flights- there were times when the plane would literally just drop and you would no longer be sitting in your seat- pretty terrifying at times.
Midday we arrived to our riverboats which were completely open with rows of hammocks on the upper deck. This is what we called home for the next 4 days. When in our hammocks you could rock slightly and hit the person on either side of you. The entire night your hammock, or you, were touching your neighbor (Just to give an idea of how close our quarters were. For my own amusement, I would attempt to rock as much as possible and try to get a whole domino effect going….haha…I think this pissed some people off.) This first day we trailed the Amazon until we reached a small dock along the river where we picked up the canoes that we would be traveling in for most of our time on the river. On the river, Pink Dolphins (dolphins that frequent the Amazon) teased our small wake for about an hour. Preceding the dock was the jungle and after walking into the jungle for about 15 feet, I saw Spider Monkeys swinging in the canopy of the rainforest. After continuing on to a lagoon where there are water lilies about the size of truck tires, I saw Caimen (the largest specie of Crocodiles) resting on some of the lilies. Absolutely amazing. I walked out of the jungle and sat at the edge of the dock and took in the view of Amazon before me….meanwhile attempting to pinch myself so that I was able grasp where I truly was and what I was viewing.
Later that evening we went out on our canoes- approximately 7 to a canoe and went Caimen hunting. There were 2 canoes and signals were sent to each other with our flashlights. When on the trail of a Caimen we usually would be rowing through flooded portions of the jungle where the brush was thick, and I must say, I was a little nervous but more excited, that one was going to come right on the side of my canoe and snap at me or my paddle. We eventually got to a Caimen and our guide jumped right out (in a red speedo no less) onto the Caimen meanwhile calling out directions to us as to what portion of the tail we should grab and how to stabilize our canoe. The Caimen was about 6 ft long and afterwards we let her loose. (Take that Crocodile Steve- try hunting in a canoe in the Amazon)
The next day we began our jungle trekking- jungle trekking where the only way to get through the jungle was to cut brush with a machete. We learned survival techniques of the jungle: what vines carry water and how to obtain it, what resin is flammable (very important in a rainforest as the moisture makes it almost impossible to start a fire), how to bend brush in such a way to use it to climb trees, how to weave palms and cut branches to make shelter, how to set traps for game, as well as traps for fish- all using a machete. We then had to apply what we learned throughout the day. We additionally gained knowledge of which trees alleviate headaches and sore throats when burning its resin, and which root systems to hide in when protecting yourself from an Anaconda or other snakes. It poured several times throughout our trekking- pelting rain like I’ve never felt before- it was warm, but felt like gravel was being thrown at you. On our trek we saw sloths and were able to hold them. Sloths have always and still do crack me up. Our guide in the rainforest was from a local tribe and brought his young daughter as he was training her to be a ‘jungle girl’ (what he referred to her as) - he thinks his daughter should know as much as his sons. His native tongue is the local dialect, but he speaks Portuguese and Spanish as well.
After trekking we went to a portion of the river and went swimming. There were about 30 children on the bank of the river with their mothers and older sisters washing clothing in the river. Initially they were wary of our presence and after being somewhat coy for a brief amount of time, a young girl about the age of 7 tapped me on the shoulder and proceeded to jump into my arms and give me a hug. Immediately a flurry of the children jumped in and began splashing while other SAS participants joined in. We played with the children in the river chicken fighting (I somewhat questioned whether or not I was encouraging violence b/c my counterpart and I got quite competitive), flipping the kids, and just general splashing. Eventually we were called out of the water by our guide away from the children in order to be briefed for the next leg of our trip. The young girl shortly after then approached me again, grabbed my hand, and led me up the hill to her village. It was moving. We spent time in this village interacting with the inhabitants and learned about their daily life. In the center of the village there is a large soccer field where most of the young men were playing soccer. The men invited some of us to play and I immediately volunteered. Their footwork was amazing and there speed was expeditious, but I kept up with ease (thank goodness I’ve kept up working out). We had quite an audience and after about an hour of playing, they picked an MVP; I happened to be the MVP and they marked this with presenting me a Brasil jersey (this additionally meant a lot seeing as I am a woman).
I don’t know why I stopped playing soccer. I miss it terribly.
The next day we continued jungle trekking and we saw tarantulas, baby anacondas (they were still about 5-6 long), armadillos, owls, and most dangerously, Picima- a heard of white wild boar. We saw signs of them- flattened plants and prints and soon began sprinting as we heard there approach. We were directed to huddle together as they tore past. Amazing.
The way most make their money in the Amazon is through rubber tapping- we learned and watched this process as we moved on from jungle trekking to an additional tribe, the Aducabaja. (I’m beginning to get vague as I realize how long this is getting….ask me more about certain things I’ve been and will be cryptic about if you are still curious)
Later we rowed to a lodge that was built on the Amazon that reportedly good ol’ George Bush (surprise surprise) and Bill Gates have stayed in.(Bill Clinton was invited, but refused..thats my man) The locals are very upset about the presence of the lodge here.
Yes, the bugs are enormous here and more than Malaria, we were all frightened of Dengue Fever which there has been a recent break-out of. It is fatal, 200 died in January, and apparently feels as though all of your bones are breaking. It is too transmitted through mosquitoes and there is no known treatment as of yet.
The cats on our boats all got very close as you had to count on one another for things you never could imagine you’d have to count on each other for. (At one time, a group of my friends and I, in regular fashion, mooned one of the passing boats-one of my friends from the other boat threw a bottle at my bare ass. How hilarious…)
There were no showers and we bathed with soap in the river. There were certain precautions we had to take every time we went into the river, but one enhanced how you could not pee while in the river due to a pesty fish. The fish, the Conjumba, is attracted to the scent of urine and will swim up into your urethra and latch on….just an example of one of the uncomfortable effects of the potentially harmful species in the Amazon.
The weather is unlike anything else as we are practically on the equator. It gets up to well above 107 degrees in the middle of a dry storm including thunder and lightening. There were several times where you would look down the river and see an enormous storm coming your way while it was still sunny and hot where you were.
After spending much time here, I hope to come back working and training others to use the forest for additional products like rubber, vitamins, etc…which would provide more jobs for Amazonians while preserving the forest and protecting it from deforestation. While the deforestation is inconspicuous, it still occurs at an incredibly rapid pace. Brazilians feel foreigners should avert their eyes as they have the right to use their land as they wish, for isn’t that what other nations have done? Wow, I could go about this topic for pages- I will stop.
We left the Amazon in the middle of the night and had an additional 12 hours of travel back to Salvador. Once back in Salvador, I immediately showered and left to go to the Bahia v. Vitoria soccer game. The game was everything I ever dreamed a soccer game in Brazil would be- it was absolutely packed with dancing and drums, fights and firecrackers, songs and chants. There were definitely dangerous moments- and at times I wasn’t sure who I should be more frightened of-the police or the local citizens. The most amusing thing to me about the game was that the refs had a full police escort on and off the field- complete with bullet proof glass and dogs.
Wow- sorry this is so long; I think it’s about 6 pages and there still much left unsaid.
Needless to say, I’m exhausted….not to mention that between now and South Africa we will be losing an additional 5 hours.
The ocean is beautiful today- it looks like multitudes of layered indigo hand-blown glass.
Love love love.
So…I’ve been receiving some concerned responses…
Just for the record: I did not shave my head.
Yes, we are all aware of how ridiculously impulsive I am, but not so much so that I would sever something I consider a limb.
Beck and I wanted to see how long we could keep you folks at home guessing…
Neptune Day
Instead of shaving my head, I participated in an additional initiation ceremony that consisted of being dunked in fish guts, kissing a fish, a ring, and reciting an oath in Greek to Lord Neptune and Queen Minerva. We then had to sit in the fish guts for an hour in the hot sun of the equator and wait while the guts baked on you…the smell was awful- I was very close to puking. The captain and his crew woke us all up that morning in traditional dress with drumming, whistles, shouting, and pounding. It was a crazy day.
So…Brazil.
I am absolutely in love with Brazil.
(Maybe Cass is right; I always fall in love with my most recent endeavor. hehe)
In caveat, there is much to say- just warning you so you’re not annoyed when you skim half way down and realize you’re not even into a minute portion of the girth that I have to impart.
Salvador:
On our pre-port and our diplomatic briefing they warned us that this is one of the most dangerous ports we will be visiting. They assured us that we will be robbed in a potentially violent manner (way to go for optimism!) and that there have been 12 deaths in Salvador in the last month alone. Moreover, they warned us that the Salvadorians are aware that hundreds of unfamiliarized and comparatively wealthy foreigners are arriving (as it is advertised in the local news in each port we are visiting prior to our arrival), and subsequently know how to reach our boat…which nonetheless makes for further safety hazards. This made me a little nervous, but I shrugged it off. You can be mugged anywhere, so what if the stakes are raised a bit (sorry if this makes you guys nervous- I am careful)
The Portuguese in Salvador was tough, but luckily, most speak Spanish (as they are surrounded by Spanish speaking nations) and my Spanish worked out for us quite well.
Salvador and its people are completely unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Salvador praises itself on its immense elevator. There is a lower city and an upper city divided by a massive cliff and this large elevator, for a charge, takes one from the lower city to the upper city. Upon exiting the port and entering the city you immediately hear samba rhythms on the bongos- the city is never without these sounds. There was not a moment on my trip that I did not hear the percussion of samba or reggae and now, although it is definitely not quiet, I feel as though there is certain silence. The beat almost delegates the rhythm of the pace of these people as music and dance is as much an everyday portion of their lives as breathing is. It is tough to describe the meaning of this music seeing as music itself does not lend itself well to verbal discourse. There are what is called, ‘samba de rodo’ and more familiar to us, ‘dance circles’ in every portion of the city- from the more rural areas to the flavellas (the slums) to the more affluent portions. Like we in the States would request a specific song from a band/DJ in a club to dance to, they bring their own percussion instrument and request that the musicians play that instrument for their turn in the circle. The samba de rodo’s are very competitive and attract amazing dancers of all ages.
(Random side note- if its one thing I’ve learned thus far on my trip its that people from the States are horrible dancers)
When I initially entered the city, a crowd of people- older women, young men, young women- came up to me and began tugging on my arms and pulling at me. They were talking a lot- but all I could understand was bella. My friends came up and had to aggressively and physically pull these people off of me. I was left incredibly confused and I have to admit, a little frightened. After the duration of my trip and continually being photographed by the locals and consistently being told that I’m beautiful, I finally realized what it was all about (as there are gorgeous girls here on the ship and the Brazilians themselves are some of the most stunning people I’ve seen) : I look like one of the Condumble Goddesses. I was shown one of the cards - she has long wavy hair, darker skin with a warm tone, and light eyes-with the exact shape.
Brazilians are absolutely gorgeous. I think it has something to do with their skin tone. Their mix of Portuguese, Anglo, and Afro make for a stunning caramel complexion. Absolutely beautiful.
This week in Salvador marks the Yemanja Festival. This is an incredible event. A little background… Condumble could be considered Brazil’s national religion. It is between that and Roman Catholicism. Condumble is an Afro religion taken from Nigeria to Brazil through the immense slave trade and colonization of Brazil by Portugal. It is the source of Samba for Brazilians as the religion is based entirely in music and dance as it is their source of communication, prayer, trance, and ritual with their Gods. It is a matriarchal religion and women are those who conduct and lead the ceremonies. The Yemanja Festival occurs on Feb. 2nd, is world renown, and marks a celebration for the Fertility God who happens to be quite vain. In comdumble you must wear white linen at any religious ceremony and the Yemanja Festival consists of dancing to the sea at dawn and making offerings to the vain fertility God, Yemanja. Since she is known for being vain, the offerings consist principally of garlands, but make-up, perfume, and dolls as well. If the gifts are washed away at sea, then you have good fortune for the rest of the year; if they are washed back upon the shore, then you have bad fortune for the rest of the year. (Some, in order to safeguard from this, go out on boats to make their offerings…I was amused by this). 1.2 million came down to All Saints Bay (where the Explorer is) for this offering. In Salvador for the last couple of days women have been in Yemanja dress everywhere and it is stunning. In accordance with the festival, there have been Brazilians everywhere passing out ribbons representing each of their Gods. They tie it to your wrist with a series of knots and request that you make a wish for each knot and then seal it with a very specific handshake. On every corner I met people like this and walked away from Brazil with about 12 ribbons and many wishes.
In addition to the samba de rodo’s there are Brazilians practicing Capoeria all over the city as well. Capoeria is a martial art combined with dance; they usually practice in a circle with the two competitors in the center. Capoeria derives from Afro slaves practicing martial arts for protection but needing to hide what they were doing from their masters. They did so by masking it as dance complete with about 3 percussion instruments- the central one being that of the Barambou (a form of a percussion instrument with a string), and the others being bongos and tambourines. There are also street musicians on every corner playing Samba Reggae and or Samba (in Bahia there is the 2nd largest Rhasta community in the world).
In what one could imagine to be typical Brazilian fashion…. while walking through the middle of town, some men practicing Capioera ran to me and began dancing samba with me in the middle of the street to one of the reggae street bands. Initially they instructed me in some Capoeria moves which I was awkward with as I was wearing a wrap dress with flip flops, but we soon finished and just danced Samba. I danced for about a half our until the guy I was dancing with moved in for a kiss and after turning my head and him literally getting a mouthful of my hair, I decided it was time to move on. The men here know how to dance, if you’re a man and you don’t know how to move, you’re somewhat alienated and isolated. You’re considered much more the man in South America if you can dance-funny… it’s quite the contrary in the states.
I found a shop where they were making drums right there in the store and on the porch while playing reggae. I spent a lot of time here and after befriending them, bought one of the drums made that week for much cheaper than what they were selling them to their other customers for. Who will be the lucky person to receive this gift….eh eh??
(If you haven’t noticed, I’m attempting to take a musical instrument from each port home with me-mostly percussion instruments.…I will have an amazing music room in my house one day...not to mention it makes for some pretty rad drum circles...hehe)
We then ate dinner in the middle of town at an open, out-door restaurant right in the center square of Salvador with the Samba and Capoeria dancers…the heat….the music….the smells- everything I dreamed a night in Brazil would be.Later that night we went to a welcome reception at a local Samba school and I danced the entire night with the locals- right until I had to take my flight to the Amazon.
The Amazon:
We flew out of Salvador at 3:30 am, then had a layover in Brasilia for 3 hours, then flew to Manaus, and then traveled from there on a bus for a time- it was in total about 12 hours of traveling, but we had time zones on our side. I have been on quite a few flights, but never have I experienced such rough turbulence and landings in my experience of flying. It was definitely not the fun turbulence that sort of mixes up the monotony of long flights- there were times when the plane would literally just drop and you would no longer be sitting in your seat- pretty terrifying at times.
Midday we arrived to our riverboats which were completely open with rows of hammocks on the upper deck. This is what we called home for the next 4 days. When in our hammocks you could rock slightly and hit the person on either side of you. The entire night your hammock, or you, were touching your neighbor (Just to give an idea of how close our quarters were. For my own amusement, I would attempt to rock as much as possible and try to get a whole domino effect going….haha…I think this pissed some people off.) This first day we trailed the Amazon until we reached a small dock along the river where we picked up the canoes that we would be traveling in for most of our time on the river. On the river, Pink Dolphins (dolphins that frequent the Amazon) teased our small wake for about an hour. Preceding the dock was the jungle and after walking into the jungle for about 15 feet, I saw Spider Monkeys swinging in the canopy of the rainforest. After continuing on to a lagoon where there are water lilies about the size of truck tires, I saw Caimen (the largest specie of Crocodiles) resting on some of the lilies. Absolutely amazing. I walked out of the jungle and sat at the edge of the dock and took in the view of Amazon before me….meanwhile attempting to pinch myself so that I was able grasp where I truly was and what I was viewing.
Later that evening we went out on our canoes- approximately 7 to a canoe and went Caimen hunting. There were 2 canoes and signals were sent to each other with our flashlights. When on the trail of a Caimen we usually would be rowing through flooded portions of the jungle where the brush was thick, and I must say, I was a little nervous but more excited, that one was going to come right on the side of my canoe and snap at me or my paddle. We eventually got to a Caimen and our guide jumped right out (in a red speedo no less) onto the Caimen meanwhile calling out directions to us as to what portion of the tail we should grab and how to stabilize our canoe. The Caimen was about 6 ft long and afterwards we let her loose. (Take that Crocodile Steve- try hunting in a canoe in the Amazon)
The next day we began our jungle trekking- jungle trekking where the only way to get through the jungle was to cut brush with a machete. We learned survival techniques of the jungle: what vines carry water and how to obtain it, what resin is flammable (very important in a rainforest as the moisture makes it almost impossible to start a fire), how to bend brush in such a way to use it to climb trees, how to weave palms and cut branches to make shelter, how to set traps for game, as well as traps for fish- all using a machete. We then had to apply what we learned throughout the day. We additionally gained knowledge of which trees alleviate headaches and sore throats when burning its resin, and which root systems to hide in when protecting yourself from an Anaconda or other snakes. It poured several times throughout our trekking- pelting rain like I’ve never felt before- it was warm, but felt like gravel was being thrown at you. On our trek we saw sloths and were able to hold them. Sloths have always and still do crack me up. Our guide in the rainforest was from a local tribe and brought his young daughter as he was training her to be a ‘jungle girl’ (what he referred to her as) - he thinks his daughter should know as much as his sons. His native tongue is the local dialect, but he speaks Portuguese and Spanish as well.
After trekking we went to a portion of the river and went swimming. There were about 30 children on the bank of the river with their mothers and older sisters washing clothing in the river. Initially they were wary of our presence and after being somewhat coy for a brief amount of time, a young girl about the age of 7 tapped me on the shoulder and proceeded to jump into my arms and give me a hug. Immediately a flurry of the children jumped in and began splashing while other SAS participants joined in. We played with the children in the river chicken fighting (I somewhat questioned whether or not I was encouraging violence b/c my counterpart and I got quite competitive), flipping the kids, and just general splashing. Eventually we were called out of the water by our guide away from the children in order to be briefed for the next leg of our trip. The young girl shortly after then approached me again, grabbed my hand, and led me up the hill to her village. It was moving. We spent time in this village interacting with the inhabitants and learned about their daily life. In the center of the village there is a large soccer field where most of the young men were playing soccer. The men invited some of us to play and I immediately volunteered. Their footwork was amazing and there speed was expeditious, but I kept up with ease (thank goodness I’ve kept up working out). We had quite an audience and after about an hour of playing, they picked an MVP; I happened to be the MVP and they marked this with presenting me a Brasil jersey (this additionally meant a lot seeing as I am a woman).
I don’t know why I stopped playing soccer. I miss it terribly.
The next day we continued jungle trekking and we saw tarantulas, baby anacondas (they were still about 5-6 long), armadillos, owls, and most dangerously, Picima- a heard of white wild boar. We saw signs of them- flattened plants and prints and soon began sprinting as we heard there approach. We were directed to huddle together as they tore past. Amazing.
The way most make their money in the Amazon is through rubber tapping- we learned and watched this process as we moved on from jungle trekking to an additional tribe, the Aducabaja. (I’m beginning to get vague as I realize how long this is getting….ask me more about certain things I’ve been and will be cryptic about if you are still curious)
Later we rowed to a lodge that was built on the Amazon that reportedly good ol’ George Bush (surprise surprise) and Bill Gates have stayed in.(Bill Clinton was invited, but refused..thats my man) The locals are very upset about the presence of the lodge here.
Yes, the bugs are enormous here and more than Malaria, we were all frightened of Dengue Fever which there has been a recent break-out of. It is fatal, 200 died in January, and apparently feels as though all of your bones are breaking. It is too transmitted through mosquitoes and there is no known treatment as of yet.
The cats on our boats all got very close as you had to count on one another for things you never could imagine you’d have to count on each other for. (At one time, a group of my friends and I, in regular fashion, mooned one of the passing boats-one of my friends from the other boat threw a bottle at my bare ass. How hilarious…)
There were no showers and we bathed with soap in the river. There were certain precautions we had to take every time we went into the river, but one enhanced how you could not pee while in the river due to a pesty fish. The fish, the Conjumba, is attracted to the scent of urine and will swim up into your urethra and latch on….just an example of one of the uncomfortable effects of the potentially harmful species in the Amazon.
The weather is unlike anything else as we are practically on the equator. It gets up to well above 107 degrees in the middle of a dry storm including thunder and lightening. There were several times where you would look down the river and see an enormous storm coming your way while it was still sunny and hot where you were.
After spending much time here, I hope to come back working and training others to use the forest for additional products like rubber, vitamins, etc…which would provide more jobs for Amazonians while preserving the forest and protecting it from deforestation. While the deforestation is inconspicuous, it still occurs at an incredibly rapid pace. Brazilians feel foreigners should avert their eyes as they have the right to use their land as they wish, for isn’t that what other nations have done? Wow, I could go about this topic for pages- I will stop.
We left the Amazon in the middle of the night and had an additional 12 hours of travel back to Salvador. Once back in Salvador, I immediately showered and left to go to the Bahia v. Vitoria soccer game. The game was everything I ever dreamed a soccer game in Brazil would be- it was absolutely packed with dancing and drums, fights and firecrackers, songs and chants. There were definitely dangerous moments- and at times I wasn’t sure who I should be more frightened of-the police or the local citizens. The most amusing thing to me about the game was that the refs had a full police escort on and off the field- complete with bullet proof glass and dogs.
Wow- sorry this is so long; I think it’s about 6 pages and there still much left unsaid.
Needless to say, I’m exhausted….not to mention that between now and South Africa we will be losing an additional 5 hours.
The ocean is beautiful today- it looks like multitudes of layered indigo hand-blown glass.
Love love love.