Reflection 1/2/17
I cannot believe that we are finally here! All the preparation and anticipation is finally paying off- we are in Manaus. Our hotel is very nice and the city of Manaus looks beautiful. I've been trying to pick up some Portuguese but it really is not easy! After we got to the hotel our tour guides, Rafael and Marcus, took us around and showed us the city. We went and toured the surrounding area of the city called the Largo de São Sebastião. The area is a lively, cultural space that is home to the monument "à Abertura dos Portos em Manaus", the Manaus opera house or "The Amazon Theatre" and a few other buildings with beautiful architecture and design. After we were finished seeing the city, we went to MUSA or the Museu da Amazônia and took a little tour of their grounds as we hiked through the rainforest. It is absolutely beautiful here! We ended our day by watching the sunset from the top of one of their observation towers. Visiting MUSA was really a big picture activity. The land that it stands on was preserved because of an exponential increase in development in the city of Manaus and is an educational tool that allows visitors to see the positive impact of natural resource management. Tomorrow, we go on a boat and cruise along the Amazon River. We will get to see an indian tribe, pink dolphins and much more. Reflection 1/3/17 Today was awesome. First off, we got to meet Dave today. He is a student here in Manaus and he studies international relations. He is so nice and I really enjoy learning from him. We started our day at the market. The market was separated into different sections to make it easier for the buyer to shop. The different sections included meat (carne), fish (peixes), produce, and hand crafts. Our group got to the market very early which was beneficial in seeing how fresh the market truly is run. As we were walking through, fish were being scaled and filleted, meat was being hung and vegetables were being taken from carts and set in crates for sale. It was very different than typical American food stores in the sense of freshness levels and convenience, I would much prefer if we had markets like those in Manaus. After we were done rummaging through the market, we went on the boat to tour the Amazon river. The boat was beautiful and had enough room for our whole group, three tour guides (Rafael, Marcus and Tayke) and another woman whose name was Colleen. Colleen was a biologist who moved to Manaus from Canada because she loved studying the Amazon. Our first stop was to a native indian reserve where we got meet and learn about the native people's culture. They preformed a couple dances for us and we even got to participate in one. These dances are so important to their culture and it was an honor to see them. Our next stop was to see the pink river dolphins. Only Tyler, Christian and Andy swam with the dolphins because the rest of us were under the impression that the dolphins were in captivity. But we later found out that the dolphins were not captive and they come into the area because they are used to being fed there. I probably would have swam with them if i knew that because I would have felt less guilty about it. On our way to lunch, we listened to a presentation from Colleen about the water in the Amazon. She presented some facts to us about climate change and deforestation, but the presentation was not at the level that I expected from someone that has studied the Amazon for their life. It was sort of comical because everyone kept dozing off, I even caught professor Tait struggling to keep his eyes open! We stopped at a place along the river to eat lunch and I got the chance to eat pirarucu, also known as arapaima, which is my favorite fish (and also delicious). We also got to feed Capuchin monkeys there! We then went to see the meeting of the waters and we all jumped in and swam in it. The current was so strong that Kim and Dave almost got swept away but Marcus dove in and saved them. On the way back to port, we listened to Brazilian music and our guides taught us how to samba and salsa dance. A great end to an even better day. I don't think there is any way that today to be topped. Reflection 1/4/17 I was so excited that I got to hangout with Dave again today. He is a really cool person and I am happy that he is my friend. We started our day by meeting up with local geologists and hiking through the rainforest. The hike was exciting and very enjoyable, the best part of the hike was that it led up to a cave. Oddly enough, the cave was cut into sandstone by years of hydraulic action. As we walked further into the cave, we came in contact with tons of creepy animals. We saw excessive amounts of fruit bats because the cave was a bat nursery, we saw a Brazilian wandering spider which is one of the worlds most venomous spiders, and we saw spider crickets and bugs that covered the ground. The freakiest part of the cave excursion was when we all turned our flashlights off and talked about how to escape a cave when you don't have a light- by following the water! When we finally got out of the cave, we continued to hike through the rainforest until we got back to our starting point. After our hike, we went to a wildlife preserve and got to jump into an area of a river with tons of water falls. We must have spent a good two hours there just jumping off of this platform into the water. It was like something out of a movie, we were having SO much fun. Lester even jumped in! Once we were finished swimming, we headed off to another waterfall to look at. We talked about tectonic plates and it was very interesting. Our guides have been amazing in Manaus, today might have topped yesterday if I didn't have to say goodbye to Dave. I was very sad, Ill admit I shed a tear! I am looking forward to seeing Rio though. |