At the base of one tree Edvan used his machete to bang on the trunk. This had the effect of causing quite a few large insects to come running out of the ground at the base of it. They looked like 1-inch long ants. Edvan told us that if one of them bit us, we would have a fever for 24 hours. We also saw what looked like two flies having sex on a leaf and a giant beetle in the jungle. I swang on a jungle vine before we got back. We took quite few pictures on the walk. There was an opportunity to buy something to drink before we headed back. The sun was low in the sky on the trip back which made for some excellent pictures on the river.
The buffet dinner was again at 6:30 PM. This time we sat across from the Russian couple.
After dinner, we got back into canoes for some aligator spotting. The stars far from city lights were spectacular. The canoes split up as each tried to catch their own small aligator. Our guide would shine a flashlight into the grass. The light would reflect off aligator eyes. The aligator would be so transfixed by the light that the guide would be able to bring the boat alongside it and catch it.
It took quite a while for Edvan to get ours. It was pretty small. Edvan held its mouth closed by holding the top and bottom of its mouth in one hand and the body with his other hand. He made sure everyone had a good view while he told us about it. Then he let some of us hold it for ourselves. Sara took my picture when it was my turn.
Before we went back. Edvan had the canoe stopped and the lights turned off. In the dark silence we could hear the sounds of the jungle and see the wonder of the skies above. Edvan was from the area, and he made a moving speech about how much he loved it here before the lights were turned back on and we headed back.
Back at the hotel we ordered wooden name plates (R$10 each) for ourselves and friends at home. We each had sodas and were in bed before 10:30 PM. I wrote in bed for a while before falling asleep.
Table of Contents
|
Amazonas
I showered again at 6:30 AM. Breakfast was at 7:00 AM. After breakfast, on our way back to the room a small monkey climbed on my back and was determined to stay for a while. It was very cute. Sara eventually had to help coax it off of me. I wish we had our camera with us.
This morning's adventure included piranha fishing. We got into canoes, and Edvan took us to a spot where we could fish. Our fishing poles were little more than long sticks with a hook tied to one end. Bait was nothing less than raw beef. Sara didn't want to try it because she didn't want to kill any fish. I caught one fairly early, but it was pretty small. It was still neat to see a mouth full of teeth on a fish. I caught another one after that which was also pretty small. Edvan caught quite a few, but his fish tended to be much bigger. He used a different technique sending his line out far from the boat. Some people didn't catch any.
It started to rain while we were fishing. Sara and I hid under her new beach towel until it passed. Fortunately, it didn't last long. Edvan collected the piranhas caught for the electric eels back at the hotel.
Then we got the chance to swim in piranha infested water. We moved the canoes to deeper water not far away from where we were just fishing. Edvan said that it was safe as long as you weren't bleeding. I was up for it, but I didn't want to be the first in the water. And then, I entered the water. Sara joined me after a while. It was fun swimming and treading water in the river. We were grateful that someone took our picture with our camera.
The electric eels were in a small pool at the hotel. They also had a carnivorous turtle in another pool. Soon after we returned to the hotel, it started to pour heavily. Some newly arrived tourists who spoke French were completely soaked.
We ate lunch at noon. Then at 2:50 PM we took the canoes to visit a nearby village. Only one couple sat in front of us on the way there. I wore my wind breaker, but we only had a few raindrops. Edvan told us an anaconda story on the way.
The villagers had a church, a medical post, a dance hall and -- if you noticed -- sprouting from the tops of their houses ... television antennas. One of the three Arabs bought a large container of honey. He generously let us try it. I was the first to try it, but Sara declined.
We took a very grassy way back to the hotel. It was really neat to see densely packed grass all around you but know you were in water. It was very beautiful. We saw a quite a few birds and DOLPHINS! It was quite a sight to see them swimming in the river.
We got back around 6:15 PM. We took pictures of three squirrel monkeys playing together on the catwalk between towers. Dinner was at 6:30 PM. I took a picture of our little group -- the Arabs, the Russian couple, the Brazilian couple (actually we weren't sure if they were together in a romantic way) and a guy from San Francisco who danced in the Carnaval parade at the Sambadrome on the first night of the parades in Rio. The Asian group had apparently cooked some of the piranhas.
After dinner, Edvan (with some trouble) started a video for us on fishing for spotted peacock bass before he took another group out for aligator spotting. The video was pretty hilarious, and we ended up fast forwarding through it.
Table of Contents
|
Amazonas
At 5:00 AM I heard wake-up knocks for others. This morning I dreamt of not smoking pot and watching a movie with Sara about a man whose wife leaves him. I got up at 6:00 AM and showered. Breakfast was again at 7:00 AM. I took more pictures before it was time for us to leave. I took a catwalk out alone to reach a small beach on the main river to take a few more pictures. I paid R$43 on my MasterCard when I checked out. We ended up getting three wooden name plates because I had made a mistake in writing out what I wanted written on one of them.
Our 8:00 AM boat left late, but we saw more birds flying and more dolphins before we left sight of the hotel. At first the water on the river was very calm, but soon clouds rolled in, and it began to rain. There were a number of doctors on board. We ended up going below to get out of the rain that kept getting blown under the above deck cover.
After we docked, we checked into the Hotel Tropical -- room 2125. The room had double beds and was damp from the humidity. It smelled mildewy or moldy. Otherwise, it was a very nice and very large hotel. We confirmed our flights on Varig from our room to avoid paying something like $5 to have someone at the travel desk do it for us. The woman at the reception desk called South American Tours to confirm our transfer to the airport -- pickup would be at 2:00 AM.
Having taken care of that, we explored the magnificence of the hotel, took some more pictures and shared a club sandwich at the Coffee Shop. Sara had a guarana while I had a carbonated mineral water. Then we did a little shopping. There were a number of shops right outside the hotel. Sara bought a T-shirt (R$25 on VISA) with toucans on it. I got a dried and mounted piranha for R$12. Sara couldn't believe I had actually bought it.
We toured more of the hotel and walked through their mini zoo which had birds, jaguars and monkeys. It made Sara sad to see the animals caged. We ended up napping from 4:00 to about 5:10 PM. We followed that with a walk on the grounds going through the Orchid Garden, their mini jungle walk path and by the riverbank. I took a few last pictures of the river as the sun was setting.
Back inside the hotel we had drinks and ate a lot of nuts at a small bar. Sara had a pina colada while I had a strange yet potent fruit daquiri. All that cost about R$13. We had dinner outside by the pool which consisted of pizza, salad and carbonated mineral water. We could see a small girl and a just turned 5-year-old playing by the pool with their family nearby.
After dinner, we walked around the hotel some more. We looked into a huge aquarium, played with a friendly black and white cat and saw at least one turtle in a small pool. Our walk took us on an overpass that looked over the pool. Back in our room Sara took a bath while I took a shower. Sara was very concerned about the caged animals we'd seen in the zoo.
Table of Contents
|
Manaus -> Belem -> Miami -> Chicago
We didn't get much sleep. We ended up falling asleep with the lights on and with CNN on television. A 1:30 AM wake-up call got us up. At 1:45 AM or so our ride from South American Tours arrived. It was raining. I paid the hotel bill with my MasterCard.
Sara and I checked in at the airport only to find that we were given identical boarding passes. I had to get mine fixed. We were on Varig flight 800 to Miami which made one stop in Belem in seats 20A and C. The movies were 'Chain reaction' and 'Matilda,' so I was able to see how that movie ended after all. We were relieved to find our coats still in the locker where we had left them on our arrival at O'Hare airport.
Sara and I had a wonderful time. It was an amazing vacation. We had no crime problems, didn't get sick and enjoyed the beach and sights of Rio. The rooftop pool was wonderful, and Copacabana beach just a block away was very convenient. Corcovado and Sugar Loaf were very scenic. I'd definitely recommend them. Even though we didn't decide to go to the samba parade until the very last minute, we are so glad we did (even if tickets and transportation ended up costing us about $200 each).
Iguassu was beautiful. Itaipu Dam, the shopping excursion across the friendship bridge into Paraguay and the trip into Argentina for the Argentine view of the falls were welcome unexpected additions to our itinerary. The Macuco safari with its water trip up to the falls was fantastic. We were soaked on both sides of the falls as well.
The Amazon experience was also spectacular and full of activities. We played with monkeys, saw dolphins, caught piranhas and swam in piranha infested waters. I even got to hold the aligator our guide caught while aligator spotting in one of our evenings at Ariau. The richness of the wildlife was amazing as were the views.
We also had unbelievable luck with the weather. It hardly ever rained on us. Even in the rain forest it tended to pour while we were eating meals and not during our excursions.
The itinerary was great. Despite how varied it was, each place had its own charms, and it'd be hard to place one spot over another. It felt as though we spent just the right amount of time in each place for the amount of time we had.
Any comments, feedback or corrections are most welcome. Please email me at nowak@comm.mot.com.
Table of Contents
|
|
