New Year's Eve in the forest

Dec 31 – I see now that in my exhaustion Dec. 30 seemed to slip past me! However, we are now located on New Year’s Eve and have had a long, hot, interesting and very sweaty day out on the Rio Negro and Rio Solimans and Lake Januari. 

So – why all the river names when we said we were heading down the Amazon? Well, the Amazon is a river made of rivers and runs through several countries. Apparently the people whose job it is to name rivers and decide exactly how long they are can not agree on this one.  So, officially the Nile is the longest river in the world and the Amazon, the widest. People are still searching for the source of the Amazon and at last count (unofficially) it is quite a bit longer than the Nile, stretching more than 7000km across the continent from Bolivia and Peru in the Andes to the Atlantic. The indigenous peoples of the entire area have their own names for their sections of the river system – hence the naming confusion.

Back to the Rios (pronounced Hee-yos in Portuguese)at hand:

We set off on a river boat at 9am headed for the Meeting of the Waters where the R. Negro (Black River) meets the R. Solimans (or Amazon). The Rio Negro is a wide, flat, deep river that runs from the heart of virgin rainforest and joins the Amazon at Manaus. The water is the colour of very strong, dark tea because it flows off of the forest land and the wood and leaves colour it and give it a strong acidic pH of 3.8. This acidic water means much fewer mosquitoes and other larval insects. But acid loving ones thrive as do larger, heartier species of fish including the largest freshwater fish in the world. R. Negro is also one of the deepest rivers in the world at over 120 m in depth in some places. From dry season to rainy season the river will rise in excess of 15m or about 3 inches a day from January through July.

The other river – flows from the Andes and higher reaches and as a result is swifter and carries much more sediment on its way to the Atlantic so it is yellow in colour. Because it spends less time in the rainforest the river is lighter and has a much higher pH of 6.7-7.0 or neutral. Where they meet they do not mix for over 10 miles. There is a clear line in the water and at this junction there is an abundance of fish along with birds and larger water fauna that eat them – egrets, herons, eagles, vultures, cayman, river dolphins and more.

After admiring the view we went on to a small rainforest village of fewer than 20 families where subsistence is still the way of life. The village is located on an island in the river and the homes are all on stilts as the river inundates the entire island during the wet season. The village has a small rubber plantation and gardens to sell vegetables to Manaus. The residents are first and foremost fishermen – that is their diet and their means of making a living. The standard rainforest diet is fish and manioc (cassava). Manioc raw is poisonous and has to be heated, dried and ground to become edible. We watched a 100 year old man cooking it in a huge pan. Contrary to what most of us think, the rainforest (at human level) is not filled with fruits and abundance – it is actually quite a meager living at the forest floor because the light does not penetrate far enough for things to grow readily. Most animals in the forest live off of leaves and other vegetation that humans don’t digest well and then hide, so the humans can’t digest them!

We were then shown the traditional forest way of harvesting and processing latex from the rubber trees and vulcanizing it into rubber. This raw rubber was (and is) sent down the river and eventually to the world. The trees are tapped and the latex runs during the cooler nights. In the morning the sap is collected and then heated and sulphur is added to vulcanize and stabilize the latex into rubber.  Natural rubber has fallen out of favour due to the development of synthetics but is still used where the substitute product can not match the natural rubber qualities. The first Europeans to see the natives with waterproof hats and bowls were impressed and thought this a useful thing though the Europeans first use was as erasers (hence the name “rubber”) it took a Scot (Macinaw) to make the first raincoats and then things took off in industrial use.

Back in our river boats we headed to a National Park Reserve and Lake Januari (pronounced: JAN – oo-are-ee). Januari is a native term meaning “evil spirits” and was so named after the Portuguese  killed off many natives there. The Lake is not a lake for half of the year (like Rush Lake!) and then is filled with the abundance of the Amazon during the rainy season. Small floating villages are located around the lake making for “sharp rises and falls” in the real estate…! Every one does everything by boat. Fuel stations in Amazonia are located out in the river; children go to school in School Boats, not buses; and if you don’t like your neighbour you can cut his lines at night and he won’t be there in the morning!

After an awesome lunch at a floating restaurant (Grilled Arapaima is wonderful! Can’t say the same for the manioc) we climbed into smaller 10 person boats and looked at the Lake and the wild rice plants, birds and other such things. We finished up with a hike up to see some Vittoria Regis (Queen Victoria) lilies. These are the largest waterlilies in the world and can reach more than 5 feet across. Monet would have loved them I am sure! I can say it was definitely worth it but I would advise anyone considering hiking in a rainforest at 2 in the afternoon to reconsider. I am unable to describe the heat and humidity in language most of you would understand. Let’s put it this way – I heard Floridians gasping about it and Florida is not exactly a dry cool spot itself. 

Tonight we have a formal dinner and I am not looking forward to climbing into formal clothing – I want to lay back and REALLY appreciated air conditioning as an invention!

We have now left Manaus and are headed down the river to Parantins. Tomorrow I will try to get to a little info about the indigenous people and some cool things about Brazilian politics…

Bom Dia (bomb GEE-uh) or Good day!

p.s. I did see one small snake curled in a sunny spot in the wild rice patch but he didn’t seem impressive enough to be an anaconda…

p.p.s. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

December 30 - Manaus achieved!

Dec 28 – left home for Regina in mixed snow/slush conditions. Rupert is at home in care of a friend and we are off to the Amazon.

Dec 29 – 5 am leave for the airport to catch a 6:30am flight to Toronto. Uneventful, arrived T.O. at around 10:30EST and proceeded to sit around and wait for our next flight which didn’t leave until 3:00pm. I have no compliments at this point for the quality of amusements behind the Homeland Security “Iron Curtain” – not even a Tim Horton’s for Pete’s sake! Anyway – you don’t care about that. We climbed aboard another uneventful flight to Miami and had a lovely (she reported sarcastically) eight hour lay over. I also have no compliments to the folks at Miami International Airport (acronym – MIA – seriously!). Some of the things that happened to be MIA at MIA were: directions to different concourses, any reasonable amount of seating – uncomfortable or not (never saw any comfortable at all come to think of it); available security at midnight when we were required to go through it; any source of beverages at midnight (not a vending machine to be had) and a few other things that I will not list here for fear of boring the audience. We did get a room at the Miami International Airport (MIA) Hotel which is an interesting throwback to the 80s in Miami – décor and sheets. And when was the last time you were in a hotel where there was an ashtray on the side tables? However, it was clean and provided a lovely refreshing shower and an attempt at sleep. We did not succeed in the sleep department for fear of missing our next flight but at least we got some horizontal time which was an excellent change from the endless Economy class airplane seats and Boarding Gate Dis-comfort zones.  Then – we boarded our flight to Manaus (a charter flight operated by Miami International Airline (also MIA) and yes, you may say “Who?” because we had never heard of them either which does make one a little nervous when heading off to the heart of the rainforest. Fortunately for us – despite the 70s era seats – the crew and the plane held true and we flew through the night to Brazil. I watched the sun rise over endless miles of forest and then watched the clouds close in as we neared Manaus. We broke through low-level cloud and rain at 8 am over virgin rainforest and the Rio Negro and Rio Amazon.  Wow – it really does look like those National Geographic documentaries and the scale of the place is off the charts. But more on the forest tomorrow. For today – we landed at a city of nearly 2 million in the heart of the largest rainforest on earth, accessible only by air and the Rivers. Yup, city of nearly 2 million; airport smaller than Regina’s. Seriously. Only 5 gates and we were the only plane there – well, the only operational one. They had nicely left some weathered hulks of 737s that had gone before at the end of the runway. Perhaps to remind us of what the jungle is capable of? Who knows. It felt a lot like an “Indiana Jones” or “Romancing the Stone” scene and made it wonderfully real.  One small luggage carousel and one cheerful, tiny customs agent later we were released to Manaus.  Holy Hot and Humid, Batman! 30˚C and approximately 120% humidity. At this spot in the Amazon basin they tell us it rarely goes much below 90% humidity even in the dry season. It is now the rainy season. What that humidex calculates to is more than I care to think about at this point. Let us just say that people who have been traveling in the same clothes for more than 48hours ought not to spend too much time in it! So here is what we saw – you step out of the little airport and there is the rainforest – huge and green and thick and lush and steaming and looking exactly like it ought – and no sign at all of that 2 million person city that you are supposedly in the midst of. It feels like it would take mere minutes for the rainforest to reclaim everything, including you.  You can feel everything growing almost feverishly all around you. 

We took a drive through the city and saw an interesting mixture of old and new, shabby and ultra-modern. Manaus in its heyday was the richest city in the world. Huge fortunes were made for Americans and Europeans. It all went bust when rubber seedlings were smuggled out to Asia and the city went into rapid decline. Apparently the white folk speak of those days longingly and the local Indian population speaks of them with horror. Fast forward a few decades and eventually the Government of Brazil stepped in and decided to make Manaus a “free port” – basically a tax haven – and the boom is on again. Our guide said that last year they exported 3000 cars a month into Manaus. This year it is up to 8000 a month – complete with an absolute traffic nightmare. Over 500 huge multi-nationals including such global giants as Phillips Electric and Yamaha now call Manaus home – and remember, no roads to speak of – access only by river or through that tiny airport.

Anyway, more about Manaus and the River tomorrow. Today we sleep and try to adjust to the climate. I wonder if Dale’s hair will curl? We are now aboard our ship – the Pacific Princess. Yes, those of you over 40 may recognize that name – it is the one and only Love Boat. The Captain is now an Italian and she is showing her age a little but it is nice to be on a relatively small ship on a big river. And hey, who thought we would ever actually sail on THE Love Boat?

Until tomorrow -

Preparations are underway

Welcome to those who may be interested in following along from your desks and armchairs. Dale and I figured that since we had done the top of the world and the bottom of the world in our travels that it was time we had a look-see at the middle. (if you missed our Antarctica Blog  you can check it out at: http://aroundthehornin16days.blogspot.com/)

So - we are off to Brazil and the rainforest leaving on the 28th of December and coming back in mid-January.  We have been stabbed with vaccines including diptheria, tetanus, polio, influenza and yellow fever and we start taking anti-malarial medication a couple of days before we leave for Brazil. We have our passports plus travel Visas courtesy of the Gov't of Brazil. We still need to find some Reals (Ray - ALS': the Brazillian Currency) and hope there is still a store somewhere here with some forgotten Deet products on a shelf as it is recommended we wear DEET 24 hours a day especially on the Western part of the Amazon. We are travelling in the rainy season when the river is at its most navigable. We are told to expect average temperatures between 27 and 32 degrees Celcius (81-90 degrees F) and a MINIMUM of 100% humidity. I anticipate my curls getting a teensy bit out of hand...

We start our journey down the river at Manaus, Brazil. This is a city of over 1.5 million located in the heart of untouched Amazon rainforest. It is only accessible by air or via the River. Manaus was founded by Rubber Barons and was the key center of rubber production and export for the world until a European rubber magnate managed to smuggle out some rubber plants and took them to Asia which now outpaces South America in production.

That is it for now - I will start posting once we arrive in Manaus and get some sleep - the travel to get from Rush Lake to Manaus will take more than 40 hours with only 1 hotel figuring in that equation and 4 airports... oh the things we are willing to put up with to see the world! The places marked in Red on the map are places we will be putting ashore. More once we reach the forest...

Marsha