January 24, 2011

First off.. i'd like to wish a Happy 22nd Birthday to my amazing older brother Griffin- i tried to call you, but wifi apparently doesn't exist in Manaus, Brazil.   Hope all is well at home and I miss you all.  I just got back today from the first leg of my Amazon & Rio SAS trip.  We started off by meeting at 0930 yesterday morning and separating into our groups. I was on boat #2 with the coolest guides ever. We got on our litter river boats (by little i mean double decker, so maybe not so little, but compared to our ship) and traveled one hour down the Rio de Negro to a place where we saw lily pads 6 feet in diameter. On the way there we passed "the meetting of the waters" where the Amazon meets with the Rio de Negro and looks real cool (google it). After, we had a 5 hour trip to this small lake, upstream and we were all miserably bored because we didn't know it would be that long- until a girl on our ship, who conveniently is a certified yoga instructor, decided to give us a lesson on the front of our boat. It was really cool, and helped the time go by. Once we finally got to our destination it was dark out, and the sky was plastered in the most amazing display of the stars i've ever seen. We hoped on little motorized canoes and went crocodile hunting... which was so freaky- but so cool. I got to hold one of the little ones that our guide caught (pictures to come) and it made my day. Once we got back to the ship we had dinner then head to bed- on our hammocks.  If you know me, you're probably aware that I am the lightest sleeper/ need a fan/ need to sleep on my stomach.... so this was brutal. I ended up untying my hammock and sleeping on top of it on the floor- best idea...even though my shirt was stained my the bug spray residue all over the deck.   We were woken up at 5:30 am- leaving me only 4 hours of sleep- to go pirana fishing!  Ha i caught nothing- just my luck, but got to hold a pirana anyway. After fishing we had breakfast, then headed to a plantation in the jungle where a family produced their own tapioka. We got to try some, and also got to taste real acai berries, straight from the treat, and a few other native fruits.  After the visit we took an hour hike  treking through the amazon jungle and learning about survival and all that jazz. Finally, we head back to our boat for lunch, and some of us went diving into the river....scary, but soooo refreshing after 2 days in the Amazon.  Once we got back to port, my friend Jess and I explored Manaus together which wasn't too exciting to be honest- so we're glad to be heading to Rio.  We met up with a bunch of people at the port side bar who are also waiting for the 1am flight to RIo, which was a lot of fun. Now I'm about 20 mins away from the next leg, which I'm very excited for.  I'll keep you all updated if your following.

Miss everyone, having a blast though.

Keira