I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to sleep in until 0600. Every other trip on SAS I’ve had to leave at some absurd hour of the night. Not even morning. I had to be up in the Union at 0630 to leave at 0700. It was light out when my alarm went off. I took a quick shower and finished packing up all my stuff. I went up to the Union and checked in. Most of my friends were up there, but we had to sit by groups. I didn’t know anyone in my group. I kept watching people filter in and hoping that they’d be in my group. Most of the people sitting around me I’d never seen before. Scott was in my group, but we didn’t really know each other aside from shark diving. And that girl Ryan was on safari with me, but I barely saw her while there. Shelia was in my group. That was my only friend in the group. Most of the trips I’ve done I haven’t known more than a few people doing it with me and I’ve met some great people. But I’ve always had someone I consider a good friend along with me. This will be interesting. Atleast it’s a small group, so we’ll all get to know each other. I knew most of the boys, atleast who they were. Will, Wade, Tom, and the other Will. That was about half of the boys. Not many of them with us. Group A was stacked with my friends. Even group C was sick. I would have taken group E of F. My group…was random. Most of the people in it I’d never seen before on the ship. That’s a little strange.
We grabbed all our stuff and headed out to our bus. It was a really nice bus, with air-conditioning! The ride was only about a half hour and we were at the airport. We walked to security and Marvel handed out the tickets. She told us to make sure we were through by 0840 for boarding. She told us to shop around and eat outside until then. I hate being alone in airports, mostly for fear of getting lost of left behind. I saw Ryan was alone, too, and asked if I could tag along. She seemed happy to have the company. We went off in search of a bookstore. I was done with all my books on the ship, as was she. We spoke to a few people, and they pointed us in one direction. We found a book store. They had very limited books in English. They were mostly romance. A few other SASers had the same idea and were struggling to find books. I found a trashy magazine and National Geographic. They cost some absurd amount of money. I tried not to dwell on it and bought them. I needed something for this ride. It wasn’t like I brought my computer. Although Sam did bring hers to the Amazon. So funny. I didn’t have my phone either.
We paid and went through security. Security is such a breeze. I didn’t have to take off my hiking boots or take out my liquids or anything. I was through in seconds. On the other side, almost every other group was there, except for D. D was leaving in the afternoon for some reason. I bought a water and hung around and waited to board. Nic wasn’t looking too thrilled to be going out roughing it in the Amazon. Finally they called our flight and we all got in line. I was glad to only have my backpack so I didn’t have to flight for overhead space. Everyone had their massive backpacking backpacks. So it would have been a struggle. I was seated next to Max. Some random Brazilian guy had the window and Max had the middle. I gladly took the aisle and started talking to Nic who was in front of me. Victoria came along and we realized this guy wasn’t supposed to be here. I got stuck with the middle. Sickkk. Whatever. I put on my headphones and passed out before we even took off. The flight wasn’t too long. It was a few hours to Brasilia. When we landed we were instructed to stay on the plane. We just had a stop over. It was the same plane. This made life easier. Within a half hour they were boarding it and we were ready to take off again for Manaus. This flight was longer, close to 4 hours. But we were now in east coast time and went back an hour. So when we landed, it was really only 1400 or so.
We all deplaned and waited around for everyone to be ready. Then we separated up into our groups. We met our guides who we’d be with for the next 3 days: Antonio and Paul. They led us to our bus. Shelia sat with me. We drove through the city of Manaus while Paul talked over the microphone. He gave us background information on Manaus, the Amazon, and Brazil in general. Shelia and I were off in our own world for most of it. I was really intrigued by her life and living in Missouri and her family in Ghana. She seemed interested in Miami and Boston, too. It took us awhile to get to the River. The city of Manaus is so much more built up than what I would have thought.
When we got down by the water, we were dropped off. There were three riverboats right there. They were red, white and blue and had balloons and signs saying “Welcome Semester at Sea.” They were a little aggressive. As I gathered my stuff and walked down I met a girl named Lindsey who goes to USF. She noticed my U tattoo and knew the U immediately. I had no idea there was someone from USF on the ship. I had never seen her before, which also shocked me. She was cool. Maybe not knowing anyone would be ok.
All the other groups were there, too. We walked down to the dock and walked across the boats to the second one to get onto ours. There was a male and female Brazilian dancer. They were both gorgeous and really cool to watch. They were dressed in little costumes. They gave us all necklaces as we boarded the boat. These riverboats were two floors. The second floor was where all the hammocks were and where we’d be living. I went up there and claimed a hammock. Lindsey took one to the right of me and Emily to the left. Once everyone had boarded we headed out onto the River. Right by Manaus is where the brown waters of the Amazon River meet the black waters of the Rio Negro. It’s called the Meeting of the Waters. We’d be on the Rio Negro for our entire trip. We would first check out where the two rivers mixed together. They fed us as we were leaving. The food was so good. They gave us some type of chocolate syrup-covered cake and banana chips and little meat packets. It was all delicious. And there was some type of juice. A good start to the food.
We drove out a few minutes. I thought there would be gradual changes where they mixed. Nope. There was a stark contrast between the light brown and black. It was like yin and yang. I got some sweet pictures, too. This would actually be our only real time on the Amazon River. The Rio Negro is technically just a part of the Amazon. Or at least that’s what they told us. I’m still a little confused on what’s what.
We all sat around in plastic chairs up on the 2nd deck admiring the waters. There was a huge cloud over the city of Manaus and we could see the rainfall there. At the top of the cloud the sun was peaking out and their was a circular rainbow. It was so sweet.
Paul and Antonio introduced us to the crew that would be living on the boat with us and cooking our meals and steering the boat, etc. Also, the owner of this company, Antonio’s wife, was on our boat. At least for the time being. She introduced herself and gave us a little rundown on the company and basic stuff. She seemed really nice, I found myself wishing she’d be staying with us for longer. They showed us on a map where we’d be going over the next few days and stuff like that. We’d be given 3 water bottles a day and it was really important to stay hydrated. It was so hot and humid already. I was somewhat dying in my long pants and hiking boots.
When they finished up we all just chilled in the back and in our hammocks. We cruised through the waterways of the Rio Negro. We saw some pink river dolphins! Those things are crazy looking. They actually are pinkish in color and have a ridge on their backs. I can’t wait to get home and have access to the internet and google them. I can only imagine what they fully look like. So sick.
We cruised down the Rio Negro for over an hour, just chilling. Ricky sat next to me. I’d never met or seen him before on the ship. This surprised me. He was really cute. He was yet another person from Chapman. He asked me in complete seriousness if I’d ever heard of it. Almost half the ship is from there. I’d never heard of it before, I’ve definitely heard of it by now.
The Amazon was nothing like what I expected. I expected to be encircled by trees and vegetation. The parts we were in were wide. There were tons of trees and vegetation, but they were spaced far across from each other. Some parts of the River were over a mile across. There were also little houses and places on the sides of it. We’d see little motorized boats jet by. I guess I had expected there to be less development. Not that this was very developed. Marvel was on her blackberry. I asked her if she had service. She did. What the hell! Cell phones should not work in the Amazon! I had wanted this to be the first and total disconnect. Apparently Verizon’s got it covered out here. Weird.
We were on our way to somewhere for a canopy walk to see the giant lily pads. They’re Victoria Regia water lilies. We got out at a little dock and wooden structured area. There were picnic tables all around here and a little gift shop area. All the stuff was made locally. I wanted to buy a blowgun more than anything, but we can’t get them back on the ship. So lame. I had no expected to find little gift shops around in the Amazon either. We waited for one of the other groups to finish up on the canopy walk. I’m not sure why they called it a canopy walk, because, it was max 15 feet above the ground. While we waited we looked up into the massive trees. There were monkeys everywhere! They’re like squirrels in all of these countries, but way cooler. We all stood around taking pictures of them for awhile. I wonder if foreigners come to America and are fascinated by our squirrels. I highly doubt it. I’ve never witnessed anyone get excited by squirrels.
The floating dock we were on was tipping from side to side. It looked really worn and old. That’s why they wouldn’t let us up on the canopy walkway, too. It was old and worn and they didn’t want us to break it and get hurt. As the other group finished up and passed by us they told us that Eric had fallen through a part of the walkway. The wood was rotten and he had scraped up part of his leg. He was fine. It was pretty funny. As we started our walk I was really cautious to walk in the middle of it so as not to fall through. We passed by the board that he had fallen through. It looked really rotten, like it had just given way. Haha. It’s funny because he was ok and he laughed at it.
We walked through the jungle and saw all types of trees and plants. The ground was marshy. We were in the Lake Januari region. Our guides kept telling us we were in a lake, but it was still a part of the River. I was a little confused. After a few minutes we emerged to the end of the walkway. It was covered like a little hut. There were these giant Victoria Regia water lilies. They were so cool. They really were huge. I wanted to try jumping on them. Some had white flowers next to them. The flowers open up at sunset and are open for the night. They had just started opening as we neared sunset. Shadows were already cast over most of them. This area was a little lake or pond area. I think it was still connected to the River though. The sky was beautiful as it was the start of the sunset. After we took some pictures we walked back along the walkway. On one of the trees was a giant spider/tarantula thing. It was a little bit smaller than my hand. It was huge.
When our walk was over, we divided up into smaller groups to get into canoes. These canoes were motorized. Maybe this is just me, but never in my life have I heard of or seen a motorized canoe. They were long and could have about 12 people in them, 2 to a seat and they were covered. We would be cruising around this area of the river and going into some of the smaller waterways to find jacares or caymans. They’re like alligators. We spent an hour and a half cruising around with our guide and driver. We saw the sunset over the Amazon. It was so pretty. One of the best sunsets I’ve seen anywhere. I hadn’t expected to see amazing sunsets out here on the River. We drove around into the darkness. I loved being out here at night. A few of the girls on the canoe were not too keen about being on the Amazon in a little boat at night. It was a little cooler now and less humid and there was a slight breeze. It was really nice.
We drove past all sorts of high grass patches in the water. Occasionally we’d get tangled up in them and they’d get dragged along with us. About 300 bats flew by us at one point. We entered into some really small waterways that I hadn’t even realized were waterways. They were awesome. That is how I envisioned the Amazon from watching the movie Anaconda. It was creepy in the dark. I loved it. We went through with 2 other canoes. We got majorly tangled up with the floating grass patches. We ended up dragging one along with us for several yards. It took us a while to get freed and the others had to wait for us. Every now and then we’d get whipped across the face by a branch in the dark. Totally safe.
We weren’t able to find any caymans. We headed back towards the riverboats. One of the other canoes found one. Our guys were too proud to just go over and see it. They continued to look for one in the dark. They would sweep their lights across the riverbeds and try to catch the glow of the eyes in the flashlight beam. No luck. We looked around for another 20 minutes before the guys had to take us back and give up. Oh well. We were one of the first groups back. Nic and Brandon and Pat were back already, too. Their guide had caught one for them and let them hold it. One of the guys had dropped it in the boat by accident and Nic was in complete shock. Haha. They were selling cold beers. I was about to go get one when one of the guides yelled at all of them for having alcohol. This was a strict no alcohol trip. God a cold beer would have felt so good after the heat and humidity of the day. Nope.
The other boats trickled back. I think everyone saw a cayman except for us. Oh well. I would have liked to see one, but I wasn’t really bumming. I was still stoked to just be in the Amazon. We got back on our respective riverboats and we headed off into the night. They had prepared dinner for us. It was so delicious. There was so much food. All sorts of delicious pastas and meats. There was even rice and beans! So good. They gave us dessert, too. Flan. I could have done without the flan. It was a little too squishy for my liking. There was also some fruit drink. It had already been really dark for at least an hour. The moon was out and there were a ton of stars. I’d been checking them out while we were on our canoe. I saw a shooting star! I couldn’t get over how many I could see and how they came right down to the horizon or the top of the trees. They were crazy.
Everyone was pretty tired from a day of traveling. Everyone just chilled. Most people got into their hammocks to chill and doze off for the night. There were no lights up on the second deck except for one on the back. We struggled to find our stuff and get comfortable in the hammocks. There were 30 hammocks in this really small space. We were basically all spooning with one another in our hammocks. I think everyone was allotted about one foot of space. You were literally touching everyone around you. And anytime someone moved in their hammock, everyone would move because they were so close. This was a little annoying. Sopahn had a little light that she hung down from her hammock, so we could get a little bit of light. I journalled for a little while and listened to my iPod. That was basically what everyone was doing. It was so peaceful. I didn’t even bother to change. I was just going to keep wearing my long pants and tank top until they smelled horrific, which would probably be soon in this heat and humidity. I brushed my teeth and washed my face and decided that was good enough.
It was getting a little bit cooler with the breeze in the night. I curled up under the blanket that they gave us. We drove for several more hours in the Jacareubal region. The captain was eventually going to stop somewhere for the night. I fell asleep before we got there. It wasn’t the best night of sleep. Anytime someone repositioned in their hammock we’d all get woken up. It was tough. We’d all been looking forward to sleeping in hammocks, but we thought we’d have a little more space than this. At one point I woke up with Emily’s leg on top of me.
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