Manaus, Brazil

Sunday January 23rd - Monday 24^th 

After traveling down the Amazon/ the Rio Negro for 2 1/2 – 3 days the ship finally arrived in Manaus. The ride down the Amazon was nice, but man did it get hot! The one day that I tried to do my homework outside I could only stand the heat for 25 minutes, and in the end I didn’t get anything done and had to go back inside! However, it was fun observing some of homes located on the edge of the riverbank and seeing people paddle by in their fishing boats.

My first day in Manaus was spent visiting an orphanage called Monte Salem Orphanage. In the U.S. this orphanage would be most similar to a shelter/foster home for children that have been abandoned, come from abusive homes, etc. They also have a school that the younger children attend while the older kids go to a school within the community. There were 22 children living there and most of them were under the age of 12 even though they do take in children up to 14 years old. This was a fun experience, but also a difficult one because we were only there for a few hours and there were twice as many semester at sea students as there were children. However, this didn’t stop us from having fun! Our tour guide ended up bringing boxes of face paint for the kids, which provided the perfect opportunity to interact with a few of the kids as we painted their faces. This was right up my alley since I love art! The majority of kids were boys so it was fun to see what designs the little boys wanted painted on their faces. The little boy whose face I painted wanted to be an army man so I covered his face in camouflage. Oh did I forget to mention that we quickly discovered how few people speak English in Brazil? This language barrier not only caused complications, but it definitely made for some funny/interesting stories, which made most people’s experiences in Brazil much more interesting than they would’ve been if there hadn’t been a language barrier. The best part about interacting with kids within a different culture whether or not they speak English is that by painting a face or kicking a soccer ball (fútbol) communicates just as much, if not more love than when you can speak the same language. Showing them love and spending time with them even for a few hours makes a world of difference. 

One of the main highlights of my trip so far was the night of the Samba dance party! One of the professors on the ship is Brazilian and may have grown up in Manaus, but he invited anyone and everyone participating in semester at sea to come watch a performance presented by one of the communities. All I knew before hand is that there would be music and there was a possibility that I’d learn how to samba, so once I heard this I instantly wanted to go! A group of my friends, along with the majority of the students and adults from the ship went to a street somewhere in Manaus where the Brazilian professor had reserved an area for semester at sea participants to watch the Samba performance. This performance I learned later was a practice session to prepare for the festival of Carnival, which will eventually take place in March. Carnival is one of the biggest events celebrated in Brazil. In Rio people celebrate non-stop for an entire week with drumming, music, dancing, and singing. In Manaus Carnival only lasts one night, but during this night a large competition takes place between the different communities/neighborhoods as they basically have a big dance off. Several hundred men, women, and children back up the main dancers with an awesome beat as each person has a drum or some other instrument that they play. While playing their instrument they also have coordinated dance moves to go along with the music. We probably waited for about an hour before it started, but my friends and I definitely had the best place to view the performance. We stayed out of the street while the majority of semester at sea participants roamed amongst the well over 2,000 people walking around in the street which was only about a block and a half long. As it got closer to starting they taped off the area where all of the musicians were congregated. The way in which they were lined up reminded me of my days in marching band, but what was even better was that instead of a full band in front of me, it was a giant drum line! Everyone had some type of drum or a type of shaker in hand and when they began to play it was AMAZING!!!!! Blaring out of the speakers, that we were standing right next to, came the music from about 3-5 men that had guitar like instruments and were singing. Once their music and the rhythms of hundreds of drums and shakers came together, it was almost impossible not to dance!!! The best part about the whole night was when my friends and I decided to go out into the street, as the locals wanted us to join them in dancing. This is when I learned how to Samba. The one thing that I know for sure is that Brazilian men and women have legs of lightning as they can move their legs incredibly fast to the rhythm of the Samba. I will never forget this night as long as I live!!!!