Day 1 – Denver to Miami

My father and I stayed in the Miami International Airport Hotel, which honestly felt like another country in itself, as English seemed not to be a primary language for most, and it was a melting pot culture. We decided to take a stroll (or cab ride, rather) down to South Beach and ate some dinner along the restaurants there. I eventually went up the Atlantic Ocean, even though it was dark and felt the surprisingly warm water. We lounged around and got a cab ride from a guy originally from Haiti to South Beach, and on the way back got a driver native to Turkey. Again, there was such a melting pot of diversity. It was pretty cool. We decided to call it a night around 11, even though we didn’t have our flight to Manaus until nearly 7 the next evening. We were both prepared to get a lot of sleep, in case our arrival into Manaus (at 1 a.m., no less) should give us problems. We wanted to be alert.

Day 2 – Miami to Manaus, Brazil.

We hung out at the Hotel bar for almost the entire afternoon, waiting to check in our bags with TAM. We tried to take a small walk around Miami, but anyone that’s been at an airport knows that it’s nearly impossible to leave on foot, unless maybe you’re in San Diego or something. Anyway, the flight down there was relatively quiet, and we arrived around 1 a.m. Getting off the plane you could just feel the humidity and sticky-ness of the air as it clings to your skin. I figured it was going to be a hard demon to fight, as I’m a wuss with heat. We met up with our guide for the city, Prakash, an India native, who took us to the hotel. On the way, he told of one of his colleagues that we’d meet later who was absolutely crazy. He apparently was crazy in the sense of being like the recently deceased Steve Irwin. Prakash made a joke that he always said if this colleague ever got bitten by a poisonous snake, the snake would probably die, not this guy. I laughed at the joke thinking “Yeah, right.” I found out a couple days later just how much the joke was on me.

The weird thing about arriving to Manaus was that the time zone was the same as EST, so it was like being in Miami. But if you look on a map, Brazil is technically in a different time zone, since it’s so many miles East of where Miami is. We got to the hotel which was absolutely stunning with its rich Brazilian woods and cast iron accents, red shingled roofs and stucco-like walls. Our room was pleasantly cool, and I finally collapsed around 2 a.m.

Day 3 – Manaus

Today was our city tour, both with Prakash and by ourselves. In the morning we took it upon ourselves to visit the beach and put our legs into the Rio Negro. It wasn’t too cold, but that wasn’t surprising on a day where the temperature was in the low 30’s C (between 94-100 F). Manaus is situated 3 degrees from the equator, so one can imagine that the temperature is pretty hot, and even reaches up to 118-119 (with 90-100% humidity) in the wet season (late December to late June). After seeing the beautiful sand, existing so close to the Amazon, we took our city tour.

One of the first things that we saw was the Opera House, the first major landmark to be built in Manaus in 1896. The city, at the time was a booming center for rubber extraction. It was at that point one of the richest areas in the world, and so to commemorate it, they imported a theater from many parts of Europe. Portugal, France, England and somewhere else I believe. To say the least, it was stunning, especially to view it and realize that when it was built, it was transported over 2000 miles, then assembled in the middle of the Amazon.

Also on the tour we stopped by a market where fish and fruit were hung and we learned of their interesting (and dangerous) properties. We saw fish that were essentially the same, genetically, but had different colors for camouflage purposes, in both the Rio Negro and Amazon (Rio Salimoes? I forget how to spell it, but there’s the Black River and the Brown River).

We also saw some of the slums of Manaus which were so incredibly poor. Words can’t describe their lifestyle, but a lot of them had satellite dishes (virtually pointed up to the equator), so it’s all relative I suppose. After our tour we went back to our hotel and hung out for the rest of the night. I believe today was the hottest day while we were in Brazil, clocking in at 37 C, which translates to about 104 F. The humidity was in the upper 90’s, if not 100. We ate at the hotel restaurant and I had good spaghetti with meat sauce. I wasn’t sure what the food would bring in the next few days, as the next afternoon we would be heading into the jungle.

Day 4 – Manaus and transfer to Jungle Othon Palace

Today my father and I had a late breakfast but I decided to try an omelet type food, only instead of eggs it’s made from a tapioca base. With butter on it, it’s not unlike a tortilla, but definitely has a different taste and texture. It was quite tasty though. So after that we took a trip down to the beach area again and sat down to have some drinks. While we were there, a man who looked drunk began to stagger towards us. The vendor quickly ran up to the man and shoved him away, as to not disturb us. It was unique in the sense that the man was probably relatively harmless, but all the same the vendor didn’t want him around. After a couple hours of this we went back to the hotel and got ready to check out of our room, as we would be meeting up with Moreno, our previously mentioned jungle expert. We waited in the hotel lobby until about 2:30, and met up with an Italian couple, Max and Nancy who would be taking the boat ride with us. Max is 32 and Nancy is 28. Max spoke decent broken English and Nancy didn’t speak a lick but picked things up here and there from her husband.

The boat ride out was pleasant, as I can’t remember the last time I took a boat ride. Probably in 2003 in Waco and nearly broke a friend’s back. Fortunately for all who were there, I wasn’t the driver this time around. The ride was about an hour and a half, nearly 30 miles NW on the Rio Negro. Our floating hotel finally came into sight in a tributary off the main river and we landed, greeted with a very sweet drink from the staff.

The Jungle Othon Palace is a floating boat hotel. It has 24 rooms but only 12 were available as the others were undergoing construction. In front of the main hotel was another floating piece which housed the swimming pool, restaurant (and “bar”) and recreation area with pool and ping-pong.

After we got settled into our room (and not the one we paid for, since it was under construction and unavailable) we had dinner. It was buffet style and I found enough there to satisfy my hunger and tried to stay safe with foods that I knew. Afterwards I dipped my legs into the pool and tried to lie in the hammock. That is, until the bats came in and flew with their erratic pattern overhead. I decided to play pool with Maia (a man who spoke good English and was happy to converse with me) and discovered the pool tables are quite tiny. But then again, so were the pockets. And the pool balls. It was weird to see such a scaled down pool table but I made a few decent shots, being the horrible pool player that I am. After that we hung out for a while by the pool and decided to call it a night, as we would be quite busy the next day.

Day 5 – Jungle Othon Palace and surrounding areas

The morning was early and unwelcome from luke-warm water in a trailer like bedroom. I woke up and realized I had bug bites all over me, I think because our room had the insulation of a paper towel, and my bed was butted up against an area that looked like bugs could easily access it. Oh well. We had a small breakfast and then got on the boat for our 45 minute trip to a small village of about 700 people. It is located in the South side of the Rio Negro (Manaus and our hotel, Jungle Palace are located on the North side). This small village was complete with 2 protestant churches, a catholic church, a sort of nightclub, a bar, and other things you would find in Brazil. The centerpiece of the village was a soccer field, unsurprising in these parts.

Also, this village was home to the first jail of Manaus. The city itself isn’t accessibly by car (something that may be cured in the next 10-20 years), so essentially is an island. The convicts of Manaus would be shipped over by boat to this establishment and punished there, either by execution or whatever. Executions included being weighed down by rocks and thrown off the boat, thrown into pits of spikes, or having their limbs amputated while trying to be kept alive, for maximum torture.

It was built in the late 1890’s and probably relocated to Manaus as the city grew larger, benefiting from rubber extraction. After the jail had left, the building became a hospital for the village and in extreme cases, Manaus. After this venture didn’t take hold, the building was used to house the lepers of Manaus, so they would not contaminate the city. The men were separated from the women and children (even though they were all infected) and treated like prisoners. The building was big enough to house both sides in relative autonomy, as the building was a huge square with a courtyard in the middle.

After the leper quarantine, the building became a school until the 1970s, and sits in the state that it’s in now – ruined and deteriorating. When I think of a ruin, I tend to think vines all over walls, very little roofing left with trees taking over. This building was no different, as our tour of it proved that it was definitely in ruin. The vines of the trees (the tree’s root system, since the soil is so poor in the Amazon region) have strangled the walls so much that if the wall were removed, the tree would die. And if the tree were removed to try and preserve the building, the wall would collapse. It’s amazing to see this mix of man and nature, and how each side is required to let things stay the way they are.

Throughout our tour of it, we also saw the living conditions for the previous uses of the building and realized it’s not a place I would want to be held prisoner. They still use a cell on occasion for the misbehaved people in the village. The dining rooms still have the original tile from Portugal and look really good, even to this day, despite the fact that a roof hasn’t existed for decades. Anyway, the pictures I have posted give you a good sense of what it looks like today.

Along the tour we saw a cashew tree (although cashews go through a long process before they can be eaten) and saw other interesting plants. One plant closes its leaves when it is touched or can feel the proximity of danger. 1 of the videos I have posted a link to illustrates this.

After this tour we went back to the Jungle Palace and had lunch and relaxed in the early afternoon. Then it was time to take a boat to a similar location as the first village, only this time to an Indian village. The Indians that we saw are similar to the ones that exist in North America. It makes sense, but it’s odd to see a people that you could see somewhere in the U.S. Anyway, we saw a ceremony of song and dance and music that they performed, giving their interpretation of the Earth’s creation.

My father was chosen to dance with an Indian woman and her child, as were several others in our tour group. Afterwards we had the chance to buy things that they made, and I bought a mask made out of animal parts that looks pretty freaky. Not something you’d want to hang above your bed.

After this we went back down to the boat and I was amazed at how much sand there was and how white it looked. I sat on the beach and watched while children swam in parts of the Rio Negro, as Morena, Max and my father decided to jump into the water. It was here that we learned of a certain fish in areas further up the river that will literally sometimes lodge themselves in certain anatomical areas of a man or woman, causing major discomfort and death if not treated immediately. And by treatment, I mean either surgery within an hour or the removal of such anatomical devices. Haha, I’m trying not to be graphic.

The beaches were nice and we were informed that the water would rise and cover most of it come March or April. One of the greatest phenomenons is how the trees can grow and stay alive underwater. But it was very apparent in areas that there are many trees fully submerged underwater and can cause damage to motors if one isn’t careful.

It was after this that we set sail back to the Jungle Palace and caught the sunset over the Rio Negro. It was absolutely stunning, and it was also at this point that Francisco let me drive the boat and have my picture taken. It was quite serene and unreal to be in such an area of the world that few people hear of, much less visit.

That night we had the usual dinner and activities of pool and lounging by the pool. I decided to stay in a hammock for a while, despite the bats in order to enjoy myself. It was peaceful and good. We decided to call it an early night, as I would go on my jungle walk in the morning (of which my father would skip out on because he felt that he did the same thing last year when he went to Brazil) and we would fish for piranha in the afternoon.

I went down later in the evening to find our guide, Moreno, dripping wet. I asked him if he had spotted any Caymans (Crocodiles) and snakes with Max and Nancy, and he informed me that the oddest thing happened: their boat sank. He took them out in a wooden canoe and said that by the time he felt the water, he took one swing of the paddle towards the shore and their boat just went under. As they made their way to shore, it was pitch black save a low powered headlamp that Moreno carried with him. Normally they carry high powered lights on the boats at night, connected to car batteries, to spot animals, but not this night.

2 hours later, after swimming through water and trudging through jungle, Max, Nancy and Moreno were back at the hotel. Visibly shook up (as I only caught Max), it’s understandable that a thing like this doesn’t happen often, and the Amazon is a dangerous place to be at night, as most of the animals and creatures come out at night. Moreno mentioned that Nancy almost stepped on a few Caymans, and they were all cut severely by razor grass (I’ll explain later) and thorns. Moreno wasn’t wearing any shoes or sandals, and I swear is related to recently deceased Steve Irwin. In the other video I’ve posted online, our boat passes through a canal during the day, which was crossed by the trio at night. It’s not hard to understand that the Amazon is a scary place at night, as land is not so clear from water, since the water fluctuates by some 45 feet in height between seasons. Needless to say, I’m glad it wasn’t me.

But they were safe, and I was scared to take our boat tour the next night. Moreno was convinced it was a freak accident, as in his 7 years doing such tours, he’s never even HEARD of such a thing happening to anybody. I tried to sleep, taking all this into account and realizing that Nancy and Max got a closer look at the Amazon than most tourists would ever get. I was glad to not be there, but in a way jealous that it didn’t happen to me, as that will make a great story for them, if it hasn’t already.