January 30, 2011
Sorry I never update my blog. I actually am going to try to update it everyday from now until I get to Ghana. I just spent about 5 days in Brazil... which I will say now, was amazing. The first two days I spent on a riverboat on the Amazon river. Although I have always thought I was an outdoorsy person... nothing compares to the Amazon, roughing it was a challenge to say the least. On the first day I got to see the meeting of the waters between the Amazon and the Rio de Negro (i advise you to google this phenomenon... because its redic). We also went to this lagoon area where the lilipads were actually about 6 ft in diameter... which was unreal. Later that night, after a 5 hour boat journey we arrived at this little lake area where we got to go on a caiman search. It was a little freaky because I had no idea what to expect, I was in a tiny canoe with lots of people, and it was pitched black (the stars were beautiful though). My guide somehow with his barehands was able to catch the gator like animal and pull him right onto our boat. It was about a meter long, so a young one, and I got to hold it (i took pictures, no worries). After the search, we were sent to sleep on hammocks, and for those who know me... I CANNOT fall asleep on my back... so after a few hours of torture I ended up untying my hammock and sleeping on the ground. We woke up at 5am the next morning to go pirana fishing which was pretty neat, but unfortunetly I caught absolutely nothing! Luckily a few people in my boat did, so I got a good close up on the little teeth. After fishing we went to a tapioka plantation and got to see how this family harvest tapioka and how they cook it and produce it for selling. We then headed back to Manaus- were our ship was and got the afternoon free to explore the city. To be quite honest... Manaus is not the most exciting cities in the world, so i was glad I was heading for Rio. Our flight to Rio was at 1am, with a layover in Brasilia- so needless to say... I didn't get a great night sleep that night either. Anyway... since I've talked with some of you, you already know about how much fun I had in Rio. Well about 30 mins after walking off the plane, I suddenly felt like death and ended up throwing up in the middle of the sidewalk on copacabana avenue (really embarrasing... great first impression for those I had recently just met as well). Anyway... I was sick the entire time there so I missed out on all of the fun nightlife Rio had to offer. I did how ever manage to suck it up and do all the things I could during the two days we had in Rio. We went to see "Christ the Redeemer" (google) which was beautiful, we saw the botanic gardens, and saw wild monkeys, and I also did a high ropes course and zip line too. I bought a few things from the market and overall did have a good time... I just wish I wasn't so sick the whole time. Luckily about 10 other people were similarly sick while we were there, so it easily could have been worse.
As of now... I am day one out of the Amazon, and day one on the Atlantic making my way to Africa, scheduled to arrive in Ghana by Sunday. I couldn't be more excited... I have a lot of service visits planned and can't wait to get started. Hoping ill find some free internet so I can reach out to all of you. Sent out a bunch of post cards in Rio... so look for one in the mail if you gave me your address. I'll talk to you all soon... miss you!!!
Love, Keira
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