Amazon - Part One

I have been asked by several people about our trip to the Amazon and when will my blog be posted - I have been traveling for 3 weeks, and haven't had any long blocks of uninterrupted time to really gather my thoughts.  I have started an introduction about our experience in one of the world's greatest gifts to us and will share that now, with more to come...

Amazing Amazon

I am sitting in Guarulhos International Airport with Ian and Alex, waiting for our first flight which will take us one step closer to the U.S.  We arrived three hours early, having given ourselves plenty of time for traffic - luckily, it wasn’t bad and now we have plenty of time to spare. As we wait, the boys sit playing with their iPod Touch and I am going to attempt to summarize our wonderful vacation to the Amazon.  There really aren’t words to describe the beauty of the place we visited, or what we felt while there – along the same note, the pictures we took, while beautiful, could not capture the magnitude of the breathtaking, magnificent views we were blessed to experience.  It truly was the best family vacation we have taken, and will live in our memories forever.

One of the benefits of accepting an assignment in another country is the opportunity to travel and see places that would otherwise be difficult to afford – for lack of time and money.  The Amazon was at the top of our list of places to visit, and when invited by our friends, Pilar and Rafa, to join them on their vacation we were tempted to accept.  Despite the fact that our trip to the States would be just a few short days after our visit to the Amazon, photos of the scenery and the website for a remote jungle lodge beckoned us.  We figured that we only needed a few days between trips to do laundry and repack the suitcases and decided it would be a great experience for the boys – and for us – and agreed to go.  

After a four hour flight, we arrived in Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas, on a hot Saturday afternoon.  I was surprised to learn that in the north of Brazil, so close to the equator, the seasons were different than in Sao Paulo, and they were beginning summer.  There, in the Amazonian Rainforest, the wet season lasts from around December to May and the dry season starts in June.  It is at this time that the local rivers are at their highest stages (having risen about 11 meters on average).  The two main tributaries of the Amazon River are the Rio Negro (Black River) and the Solimoes, and these join together in Manaus – the black water of the Rio Negro meet up with the brown murky water of the Solimoes; the waters of the rivers don’t mix for several kilometers, running side-by-side, resembling black coffee alongside café-au-lait.  They call this phenomenon “Encontro das Aguas”, the Meeting of the Waters.  After settling in at the hotel and enjoying a delicious feijoada (Brazil’s national dish of beans and slow-cooked meats) for lunch we were ready to explore. 

  

We would only be spending two nights in Manaus, one before heading into the jungle and one before returning to Sao Paulo.  Pilar had done her research and found that aside from the historic Amazonas Theater and the Meeting of the Waters, there really isn’t a lot to see in the city.  We decided to try to find a boat to take us to see the waters – after going back and forth with the travel agent in the hotel, we had a driver that, for R$350,  would take us out onto the Rio Negro to see the city’s greatest attraction.  It felt surreal to be speeding down the river, level with the tops of submerged trees, and thinking, “We’re in the Amazon!  We’re on the Amazon River!” – we could not get over how massive the river is!  I’ve borrowed this bit of information from the New World Encyclopedia, “At its widest point the Amazon River can be 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) wide during the dry season, but during the rainy season when the Amazon River floods the surrounding plains it can be up to 24.8 miles (40 kilometers) wide.”  We made it to the point where the two rivers merge, at first a bit disappointed that it wasn’t as dramatic as we had expected (apparently the difference in colors is much more visible when the river is at its lower stages), but then clearly seeing the two rivers side by side.  While our boat sat quietly, allowing us to take in the beauty surrounding us, we were accompanied by regal-looking egrets resting on large lily pads and several grey river dolphins swimming and jumping nearby.  After taking several pictures and trying to capture the beauty of nature, it was time to turn around.  On our way back to the hotel, we had the chance to witness a breathtaking sunset – the sky put on a show of spectacular light and colors as the sun became a giant orange ball that appeared to sink into the river.  At the risk of sounding corny, it truly was a magical moment.