We woke up later today. I didn’t get up until almost 0645. This night was just a much better night of sleep. I was a little sore from sleeping all cramped up in the hammock, but I was rested. That was our last night sleeping in the hammocks. Tonight we’d be traveling all night to get back to Salvador. I can’t believe SAS scheduled red eye flights. Very un-SAS, but I’m glad we’re not wasting a day traveling back. That way I’ll get most of the last day in port to shop and maybe meet up with Jonathan and get a few beers before I head back to the dictatorship and dry campus that is the MV Explorer.
We awoke in some random place with group A again. They fed us a lot of breakfast again. I had some bread and loaded up on my carbs again and had more chocolate milk. They told us to put on sneakers or boots and long pants to go piranha fishing. Whatever we caught would be served for lunch. They made it sound like that was all we were going to be fed for lunch and it made me a little nervous. I did not want to be eating fish. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about fishing. But when in the Amazon…
I put on my disgustingly dirty and smelly pants and put my boots back on. Before long we were divided up into two different motorized canoes to go off and fish for piranhas. Antonio led our boat. We drove for about 10 minutes before he stopped for us. They handed us long wooden sticks for poles with line attached to the end of it. There was a big metal hook with some type of red meat on it. Antonio showed us how to disturb the water with the end of our pole to make the piranhas think that something was dying at struggling up at the surface. We all tried this, not nearly as effectively as him. He told us to be patient and that it could take awhile for us to catch anything because we’ve never done this before.
I think it was Ricky who was the first to catch one. It was so cool to see a real, live, wild piranha. They have obscenely sharp and menacing looking teeth. At leas their bottom jaws looked that way. And they’re small fish, which I knew from seeing them in aquariums. But still, seeing them in person, out of the water is very different. We continued to try to catch piranhas. Antonio told us to hold our poles really close to the water so that the line would be down really far, since they live deeper down. He told us to hold it rather than prop it against the side so that we could feel the nibbles. When we felt a nibble we were supposed to jerk it up to hook the fish in the jaw. I felt a lot of nibbles on mine, but every time I jerked it up and brought it to the surface there was no piranha on the end of it. I lost my bait to the piranhas a few times. One of the girls on the boat lost her bait every 2 minutes. She just kept feeding the piranhas down below. Will was the second one to catch one. Then Antonio caught one, but he wasn’t really trying very hard. Ryan caught one, but as she brought it up and was pulling it over into the boat it came off the hook and fell back into the water. They had us re-bait our hooks after awhile as most of our meat was looking nasty and water logged. We were struggling. It was hot out on the water with no cover over us. We were out there for over an hour in this one spot trying to catch some.
After Antonio felt like we’d fed all of the piranhas here, he had our driver take us to another spot. We threw our hooks back in and waited. We tried disturbing the water, but nothing. I felt a few bites, but like before, there was never anything on the end of my hook except for the bait. I lost my bait again and had to have Antonio put more on. He caught another one. Just for kicks to show us how easy it was. He showed us the jaw and played with it out of the water for awhile. Then he tried to get it to bite through a piece of tree. It started to, but it wasn’t too cooperative. I can’t say that I blame it. We spent almost another hour here. Some of the girls started complaining that they were bored. I wanted to catch a piranha and could have stayed there for awhile. But we did have to move on eventually to go for another hike. We pulled in our poles and threw the bait into the water for the fish. Then we motored off. I love just being on the water; I could spend hours on one of these canoes.
The canoe took us right up to the shore of a dense jungle area. Antonio advised us to bring our bug spray with us. I doused my body in it. We climbed up the hill to flatter ground. This hike today was way more intense than the day before. Today we were actually climbing through the jungle, rather than following a path. There was no path. Antonio showed us more trees and plants that were medicinal. We found some of the same ones as yesterday and some new ones. There were some other sweet bugs. We even found a frog! It was a fat brown one. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a pretty Amazonian female frog (frogette?) for Batfrog. I had really wanted to bring him home an exotic girlfriend. Oh well. I’m sure they’d give me dock time or some absurd punishment for trying to bring an animal onboard.
There were way more bugs here than anywhere else we’d been in the Amazon so far. A bunch of the girls were hardcore complaining about the bugs. I don’t totally know what they were expecting. One of the girls was complaining about how she was getting attacked because she was dressed head to toe in black. She yelled at all of us for not telling her ahead of time that mosquitoes are attracted to black. Uhh, sorry? I loved this hike. But it was even hotter than the two days before. It was supposed to be a much longer hike, but they cut it short because the girls were complaining and it was so hot. We hiked back to our canoe and got back in. they took us back to the riverboat.
I quickly changed out of my pants and took off my boots. We had some free time before lunch and before our next destination. I laid in my hammock and enjoyed the breeze created by the moving boat.
Lunch was again delicious. There was some really good pasta with marinara sauce and some spaghetti. They served up the piranha. I guess the other canoe only caught one or two, so there wasn’t much meat. But most of the people on the boat weren’t eating it anyways. So everyone who wanted some, got enough. I steered clear of the piranha. I couldn’t even bring myself to try it out. Not happening. After lunch we had almost an hour drive to the next village we’d be checking out. Everyone just chilled and relaxed until we got there. They told us we could wear shorts and flip flops if we wanted. Done. Anything to stay cool in this climate.
When we got there, no one was really feeling it. We weren’t greeted by children or anything. We walked up a grassy hill. Paul led us around. We saw a few buildings and some canoes that were in the process of being made. They were pretty cool looking. They were the beginning stages of the ones that we’ve been on the past few days. There was almost no one in this village that was out and about. I ran into Nic and Brandon. They looked miserable and hot. They said that they were there until 1500, another hour and a half. They were told to just roam around and chill there. But do what? There weren’t people to interact with. There was a small gift shop. When I say gift shop, I mean there was a room in one of the wooden buildings that sold handicrafts. There were all sorts of beaded necklaces and bracelets. I ended up buying two little bracelets to add to my collection. I wanted to get something so I could say I have a bracelet from an Amazonian village. It’s really cool. There were a few women in this store taking our money. They had some random stuff in here. The most random thing I saw was a hand carved wooden statue. It was a dolphin, wearing a captain hat, having sex with a girl in a bikini. I’m not even kidding. These were selling these. I don’t know what the thought process behind this was. It wasn’t even a pink dolphin. So I’m not sure of the significance of that.
Paul had left us to check this place out on our own. I sat down at a table and chilled in the shade. Bea and Victor appeared out of nowhere to join me. A few people walked by with ice cream. Next door was a little store that sold ice cream. I found Emily, she’d already discovered it, naturally. I bought a chocolate fudgcicle-like thing. It melted quicker than I could eat it. It was so good. I looked like a 5 year old covered in chocolate. The young woman selling stuff laughed at me and handed me a napkin. Some things are universal.
I wandered about outside, unsure of what to do, when I heard someone say that if we all got back to the riverboat in the next few minutes they were going to take us somewhere to swim. That sold me. I was bored and hot. So we went back to the boats. They were in a different spot. People had already climbed down the hill to them and some people were even swimming in this water. They were bathing with shampoo in the River. One of the guides had told us the first day not to use shampoo in the River itself, but that we could shower on the 2nd deck. Everything on the 2nd deck flowed off the side into the River. In fact, one of their guides was in the water with them showering. So…? Yeah.
I got back on and was about to change into my bathing suit when they told us we’d be leaving in the next few minutes. Marvel had me count everyone to make sure no one would get left behind. Then we were on our way. They told us we had awhile before we got to wherever it was that we were going. We would get to swim somewhere before we took the 3 hour trek back to Manaus. I laid down in my hammock to read my National Geographic. Before long I was passed out underneath it. I woke up almost an hour later. That was such a great nap. We were almost at our destination.
Our destination was the same place we’d been at the night before. We were back at this white sand beach. I wonder if this white sand was imported. I hadn’t seen much sand anywhere in the Amazon. This area had certainly been cleared and made into a beach. It was just a sandy area surrounded by thick vegetation. It was touristy, there was even a volleyball net. When we got there, group C was there, too. We hadn’t seen them since the airport the first day. They had been there for several hours already. They were just chilling. They told us about how Bo got really sick the first day and was so sick that the doctor on their ship had taken him to a hotel. He was too sick to be out in the Amazon. Today on our boat Wade was deathly sick. It’s so strange how people are getting sick. No one knows from what. One of the girls on group A had been sick, too.
I was happy to get off the boat and get into the water. We played around with a volleyball. I hung out with Victor, Chad, Scott, the kid who was on crutches (this is horrible how I still think of him as that and don’t actually know his name), and a few girls from my boat. We played around in the water for awhile. A bunch of people were playing actually volleyball, but this was way more fun and less intense. Some people were just chilling on the beach, but it was too hot for me to enjoy that. One of the times, one of the boys absolutely nailed some random girl in the nose. I thought he broke her nose. She was pretty concerned about it.
We stayed here for about an hour and a half. Bea had been chilling up on the 2nd deck of their boat taking pictures of everyone. She came down to bathe in the river before we had to leave. I used her shampoo and conditioner and sudded up. Again, it was merely the illusion of being clean. There was no way we were. But it felt good when I got out and brushed through my hair. Again, my towel was covered in the clay colored river water. Lovely. I got back on the boat a few minutes before we had to leave and was able to change and pack up before everyone was in the way. It was nice. I attempted to clean the dirt out of my boots so I wouldn’t be taking that all back with me.
Everyone got back on and showered and changed and got into their hammocks. I journalled some more and chilled. I could have spent one more night on the riverboat sleeping in my hammock. Yesterday I did not feel the same way, but this lifestyle is pretty sweet.
It was dinner time. I’m never even hungry for these meals because they feed us so frequently. More pasta and carbs. Delicious again. There were fries this time! I miss fries. After dinner everyone tried to pack their stuff up in the disappearing sunlight. We were on our trek back to Manaus. We all ended up hanging out on the back of the boat. Will had us play a game to pass the time. Everyone had a great time. Wade was slowly dying and puking up everything in his body.
When we were almost back, Paul and Antonio came up to talk to us and hang out. Antonio went around to each of us and took a picture with us individually so that he could remember us. It was really cute. Then we took a big group picture. They told us we could buy our hammocks if we wanted them. I had heard this and was glad I’d brought some money. I bought mine. I’ve always wanted a hammock. And what’s cooler than saying, “Oh, yeah, that’s my hammock that I used when I was in the Amazon for a few days.” Yeah, that’s pretty sweet. So I had to pack it up into my bag. I had to get a trash bag to put my hiking boots and towel into. They were dirty and gross.
We finally arrived in Manaus. The last 2 miles into the city we moved so slowly. It took forever. We were all starting to get excited to head back to the ship aka home. We were all exhausted and we had a long night of traveling ahead of us. When we docked in Manaus, it was at a different place than where we’d originally gotten on. They wouldn’t let us off of our boats for awhile. I don’t know why. They kept us detained. I guess it was because the buses hadn’t arrived yet. The buses would be taking us to a hotel for a show and party. YES! Nice bathrooms and maybe even showers. The bathrooms on the boat were a little sketchy. They were better than almost anywhere else I’ve traveled in any country, with the exception of Japan. The bathroom on the boat was a small confined room that smelled gnarly. Whenever we flushed the toilet it dumped directly into the River. So we couldn’t flush toilet paper or anything. And we couldn’t use it whenever we were stopped if people were swimming. Ew. Plus there was a shower in there. The crew members used this shower. This shower got everything wet, so it was constantly wet from the humidity. I was happy to be done with that bathroom.
We were finally allowed off. All of the riverboats were here. We were all meeting up at this party together. The dock we got off onto was a little sketchy and it almost tipped over with us walking on it. That’s a good sign. We climbed up the stairs and followed the pathway up to the buses. The bus was air conditioned and really nice. Lindsey sat down next to me. My stomach was starting to hurt a little bit, I don’t know why.
It took us about 20 minutes to get to the hotel. They let us through a big gate that was barb-wired off. They let us off. Wade didn’t get off. He was going to stay on the bus and not move. He looked terrible. We climbed down the stairs down the hill to a pool area. This was not a hotel at all. We were at some outdoor venue. I went to use the bathroom. It was worse than on the boat. The floor was covered in water and there was no toilet paper and the toilets didn’t flush. So gross.
They gave us vouchers for 3 free drinks. Everyone was getting their beers. I found my friends. A few of my friends had bought a bottle of whiskey at the village this afternoon and were already wasted. They were the only people swimming in the giant pool. There were about 150 people here altogether. I got a beer hoping it would make me feel better. But it didn’t. The show started up. It was a bunch of dancers in brightly colored and glittery costumes. It was really cool to watch. I had thought it would be lame. They wore very little clothing, but they were all so attractive, girls and guys. At one point they dragged all of us up there to teach us a dance. I really did not want to do this, I was not feeling great. My stomach would hurt really badly for a few minutes, then I’d feel fine. I kept hoping that every time I felt fine, that the hurt wouldn’t come back. But that never happened. I finished my beer. I got a second one. But I couldn’t drink more than a sip of it. I gave it to Victor. People were really taking advantage of this party and most of them were getting wasted. I didn’t even feel like socializing. I felt like such a bitch and buzz-kill. In what world does Steff Chaston not want to run around socializing and drinking free beer? Apparently in the world of Manaus.
We were stuck there until 2230. All of the guides got up onto the stage to thank us and say stuff. I barely paid any attention. Buddy got up on stay and sang his song, he was wasted. He had to apologize after for being culturally ignorant in case he offended anyone. A few of the girls stripped down to their bras and underwear and went swimming. Not the best idea when they’re white. One of the teachers pulled them aside and told them to put clothes on. People kept forgetting that teachers and adults were there, too. I was feeling pretty terrible.
I saw Pat from afar. He was puking everywhere. Everyone claimed it was because he had been drinking and just couldn’t hold his alcohol, but he looked horrible. What was this? At least I wasn’t puking. Finally, Antonio told groups A and B to get onto the buses in 10 minutes. I said goodbye to everyone for now and headed up early. I just wanted to sit in the air-conditioning and feel better.
No comments:
Post a Comment