Day 2:
After a long night of sleeping in my hammock, I woke up just in time to watch the sunrise. The view I had sitting at the back of the riverboat was absolutely perfect and it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen.
Just a few hours later we were moving from the riverboat into the canoes and were leaving for our rainforest hike. I mentioned it before, but man was I ready to go with my hiking boots and my pants tucked in my socks! Anyway, we ended up walking through the rainforest for almost 2 hours and I was blown away at all of the useful plants that our guide taught us about. Sid would pluck off a leaf and say, “instead of taking malaria medicine, we just chew a little bit of this leaf and we have malaria medicine.” Then sometimes we would stop and everyone would gather around a tree as Sid used his machete to poke a hole in the side of a tree. Then while watching as a milky substance dripped down the tree he would say, “this is used as a sweetener and can be mixed in your coffee instead of putting cream in it.” I tasted a little bit, but it didn’t have much flavor.
Lots of the information Sid shared with us incorporated jungle survival tips and many of the plants we learned about throughout our hike had medicinal uses. One of the coolest plants he taught us about was a type of vine that you could chop down when in need of water. We all had a chance to take a drink from the vine, which ended up being a really neat experience.
The highlight of my rainforest hike came when we stopped on the trail, and the next thing I knew I saw Sid swinging from a vine that was hanging down from a very tall tree. The funny thing about this was that just before we stopped walking I had been saying how cool it would be to swing on a vine in the rainforest like Tarzan or George of the Jungle! I was so excited for this moment that ended up only lasting about 5 seconds, but my wish came true and everyone on the trip got to swing on a vine like Tarzan. I couldn’t have asked for a better day in the rainforest!
The rest of the day was spent swimming and visiting an Amazonian village. Here we learned about how rubber is made and saw what a rubber tree looks like. However, the best part about visiting the village was playing with the kids until the sun went down. While we were here, 2 futbol games took place. The men’s game was first as we watched the U.S. vs. Brazilians. I actually didn’t watch much of the game because I was busy climbing a big olive tree with several of the village kids. This was by far the best climbing tree I’ve ever seen/climbed in my life! In addition to me there were probably 6 other children in the tree climbing at the same time and several of the children climbed up to pick off the olives and ended up eating them like candy.
After the men’s futbol game was over it was time for the women’s game. Since there were so many of us, and the majority of us wanted to play we decided to split up into 2 teams. This was fun because the teams ended up being half village girls and half U.S. girls. During our game 2 of the American girls got hit in the face with the soccer ball, which made our game more entertaining for all of the men watching, but luckily neither incident was bad enough to cause an injury. After a long hot afternoon it was time to leave the village, which was hard, but so much fun. After a long canoe ride back to our riverboat, our boat crew welcomed us as we pulled up on the beach, and were surprised as they had prepared a feast for us! The day ended with a bang (literally) as they set off fireworks for us while we ate BBQ on the beach listening to Brazilian music. Right before I got back on the boat to swing to sleep in my hammock, I had a bittersweet moment as I helped my new friends build a bonfire on the beach. In this moment I was reminded of the many bonfires my friends and I have made back at school in Kentucky. No, they’ve never been located on a beach, but it definitely made me miss them and made me wish they were here with me! In the end this was by far the best day of my Riverboat Adventure!
To save you from having to read a 3rd part to my Amazon Adventure I’ll cap it all off by letting you know that my 3rd day in the Amazon was spent hiking once again in the rainforest, but this time it was pouring down rain. Before this hike we visited another village to see how tapioca is made. (If you’re thinking it’s the same kind of tapioca found in pudding, its not, but I’m pretty sure it’s made from the same plant it’s just processed differently.) Since it was raining while we were in the village, our guides gave us a choice to go back to the boat or to go on the hike, which was the original plan. In the end, half went back to the boat and the rest of us trekked through the rainforest. Experiencing the rain in the rainforest was fun, but man was I soaked! We returned to the ship wet and dirty, but it was totally worth it! Our ship left Manaus, Brazil later that same night, and spent the next 2 ½ days on the Amazon River sailing back to the Atlantic Ocean. There was a small delay as several people had to get off the ship to receive rabies vaccines after coming in contact with monkeys at a lodge they had visited in the Amazon. This was a surprise to everyone, but luckily everyone is fine and no one had to go home. After reaching the Atlantic Ocean the calendar said it would take us 7 days, and the captain never gets off schedule!!!
After a long night of sleeping in my hammock, I woke up just in time to watch the sunrise. The view I had sitting at the back of the riverboat was absolutely perfect and it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen.
Just a few hours later we were moving from the riverboat into the canoes and were leaving for our rainforest hike. I mentioned it before, but man was I ready to go with my hiking boots and my pants tucked in my socks! Anyway, we ended up walking through the rainforest for almost 2 hours and I was blown away at all of the useful plants that our guide taught us about. Sid would pluck off a leaf and say, “instead of taking malaria medicine, we just chew a little bit of this leaf and we have malaria medicine.” Then sometimes we would stop and everyone would gather around a tree as Sid used his machete to poke a hole in the side of a tree. Then while watching as a milky substance dripped down the tree he would say, “this is used as a sweetener and can be mixed in your coffee instead of putting cream in it.” I tasted a little bit, but it didn’t have much flavor.
Lots of the information Sid shared with us incorporated jungle survival tips and many of the plants we learned about throughout our hike had medicinal uses. One of the coolest plants he taught us about was a type of vine that you could chop down when in need of water. We all had a chance to take a drink from the vine, which ended up being a really neat experience.
The highlight of my rainforest hike came when we stopped on the trail, and the next thing I knew I saw Sid swinging from a vine that was hanging down from a very tall tree. The funny thing about this was that just before we stopped walking I had been saying how cool it would be to swing on a vine in the rainforest like Tarzan or George of the Jungle! I was so excited for this moment that ended up only lasting about 5 seconds, but my wish came true and everyone on the trip got to swing on a vine like Tarzan. I couldn’t have asked for a better day in the rainforest!
The rest of the day was spent swimming and visiting an Amazonian village. Here we learned about how rubber is made and saw what a rubber tree looks like. However, the best part about visiting the village was playing with the kids until the sun went down. While we were here, 2 futbol games took place. The men’s game was first as we watched the U.S. vs. Brazilians. I actually didn’t watch much of the game because I was busy climbing a big olive tree with several of the village kids. This was by far the best climbing tree I’ve ever seen/climbed in my life! In addition to me there were probably 6 other children in the tree climbing at the same time and several of the children climbed up to pick off the olives and ended up eating them like candy.
After the men’s futbol game was over it was time for the women’s game. Since there were so many of us, and the majority of us wanted to play we decided to split up into 2 teams. This was fun because the teams ended up being half village girls and half U.S. girls. During our game 2 of the American girls got hit in the face with the soccer ball, which made our game more entertaining for all of the men watching, but luckily neither incident was bad enough to cause an injury. After a long hot afternoon it was time to leave the village, which was hard, but so much fun. After a long canoe ride back to our riverboat, our boat crew welcomed us as we pulled up on the beach, and were surprised as they had prepared a feast for us! The day ended with a bang (literally) as they set off fireworks for us while we ate BBQ on the beach listening to Brazilian music. Right before I got back on the boat to swing to sleep in my hammock, I had a bittersweet moment as I helped my new friends build a bonfire on the beach. In this moment I was reminded of the many bonfires my friends and I have made back at school in Kentucky. No, they’ve never been located on a beach, but it definitely made me miss them and made me wish they were here with me! In the end this was by far the best day of my Riverboat Adventure!
To save you from having to read a 3rd part to my Amazon Adventure I’ll cap it all off by letting you know that my 3rd day in the Amazon was spent hiking once again in the rainforest, but this time it was pouring down rain. Before this hike we visited another village to see how tapioca is made. (If you’re thinking it’s the same kind of tapioca found in pudding, its not, but I’m pretty sure it’s made from the same plant it’s just processed differently.) Since it was raining while we were in the village, our guides gave us a choice to go back to the boat or to go on the hike, which was the original plan. In the end, half went back to the boat and the rest of us trekked through the rainforest. Experiencing the rain in the rainforest was fun, but man was I soaked! We returned to the ship wet and dirty, but it was totally worth it! Our ship left Manaus, Brazil later that same night, and spent the next 2 ½ days on the Amazon River sailing back to the Atlantic Ocean. There was a small delay as several people had to get off the ship to receive rabies vaccines after coming in contact with monkeys at a lodge they had visited in the Amazon. This was a surprise to everyone, but luckily everyone is fine and no one had to go home. After reaching the Atlantic Ocean the calendar said it would take us 7 days, and the captain never gets off schedule!!!
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