sights, sounds, senses of the amazon river



the quiet serenity and the peaceful coexistence of the amazon river and me would best describe the last 3 days spent on a riverboat with 3 old friends, 2 sas life long learners and a myriad of folks from all over the globe....one of those experiences you dream about yet in reality was just as magical as i imagined it would be!
as noted before, we spent the first day in manaus being with 2 million people in a large city on a typical bustling sunday.

monday around 11, we headed over to the tropical hotel early so we might visit the zoo and have some lunch before boarding at 2pm. with traffic and distance, we had time to walk around a bit and have a lunch in the lobby and soon they were bringing us down to the river to board 2 green motored canoes for 26. 50 meters away was our home on the water for the next 3 days-really quite nice looking comparing to the myriad next to the ship with hammocks and river taxi's.

the premium clipper river boat

~the shortcut~

as we boarded, they had fruit drinks to cool us down and introductions of our 2 guides, sarvis and  along with a briefing for the rest of the day down the river. we were assigned our air conditioned cabin rooms and got settled in. once moving, the captain decided to attempt a short cut up one of the canels, as the waters were rising daily. later we were told that he only had a couple meters to spare, but with slow and steady perserverence we shaved off 2 extra hours to get settled on our first nights destination 2 hours later.

it was absolutely serene, peaceful and a beautiful way to get out of city life and onto the life of the river.

soup was served in the afternoon along with my first caipirinhas soon thereafter at the bar~for those inquiring minds and some of my favorite margarita makers and participants, these may beat out my fav(and soon to be yours)!

our first excursion that evening took place after dark to see the nightlife of the Amazon river. The guides knowledge of the river and ability to spot the small eyes of even a 2 foot snake was astounding...

snake in the tree

even as far as one of the staff jumping in so we could witness a small caimen in our canoes!
the pitch dark quiet night full of sounds of the wild, the ripple of the water against the canoe, the evening dampness dripping down your face, the bugs buzzing around your head and que'd into every sense in your body was quite surreal! i was on the amazon river experiencing one of my dreams with 3 very close friends and a couple I knew from SAS that came with us on this adventure.

caiman!

we later came to the boat to share stories of what it was like and settled in for the night as the next morning knock came at 0530 to begin our second day on the amazon!

deb and i tossed and turned getting use to the new surroundings that night and as it turned out so did everyone else! 0530 came quickly and we had enough time to throw on some clothes, spray ourselves with deet (attempting to not get bitten by the one maleria mosquito) and grab a cup of brazilian coffee (i thought i liked my coffee french press strong) before we were in the canoes watching the sunrise, overlooking the waters where gray and pink dolphins were jumping all around us!

we again went looking at the abundance of birds (thousands of species, sizes and types to mention) but couple of my favorites turned up time and time again~this would definitely be a bird watcher's heaven on earth!

life on the amazon started occurring to me like life on the waters of vietnam on the mekong delta or early mornings on the vernassi in india~or inle lake in burma~i started having this sense of oneness on the planet where we all go about doing our lives in similar fashion and yet we seemed so far apart in so many ways about how we feel contenment in where we are and what we have. i will say that i just had this sense that people living on the amazon were happy, content and always smiling~i wondered if i was projecting at all those moments traveling the globe my own sense of contentment and happiness for being there with them and experiencing them the way i see life at home-such a wonderful and over-whelming sense of peace came over me that morning that we really are one...really~families preparing morning meals together, kids being picked up by the school bus to head off to the local school, farmers tending to their jobs fishing or working with their gifts in life...so moving!



river school bus



laughter on the school bus!

   soon we headed back for breakfast and more conversation and within an hour were ready to head to one of the local villages to experience a small river side community.



breakfast on the back porch

  along the way, we saw more about life on the river~the pull up gas station (steve, i thought you might appreciate this commerce!),


gas station on the river



and beautiful water hyacinth and lettuce along the river "road"

and more beautiful birds. we were able to observe kids playing soccer on a make-shift dirt field,

work of the leaf cutting ant

a beautiful school house where 800 kids from K1-K12 came to school and pathways leading through small wooden houses that created the community...and of course more flora and fauna along the way!

of course a couple of my favs, bananas and cows~look at those listening ears "like a cow"...

"looking/listening like a cow"

lushish banana tree

 

santa barbara is tropical and we have many of the same plants, yet how it is placed at home versus walking among all the lush vegetation wandering through this village was open and freeing!

alongside were some of the more creative arrangements for electricity and other amenities we take for granted~very simple & humbling.

re-purposing

 

 that night had us home on the riverboat, more conversation, more caipirinhas and early to bed, as the next day was also at 0530...fishin for piranha! again, the wake up call came early but we were ready! fishin talents showed up early with dwight catching the first catfish and catch of the morning and after a few moments people were bringin in one pirahna after another-jane, deb and i were slow at the start, but soon caught up with the rest of them~total catch, over 50! and later to find that our catch turned into piranha soup that night!



first catch of the morning



deb and hers



dwight & jane with jane's catch!

 

comin home from fishin'



pirahnas make pirahna soup

after the mornings catch, we came back to breakfast and able to hang out on the riverboat....everyone went their separate ways and I found myself downstairs sitting and staring at the river. life seems so simple and calm here and without the larger ship & home, i sat and wondered what life would look like in this simple form. i am always in such a simpler place when i come home from these 100 day adventures and sat there and wondered what this trip would bring in my worldly transformation~and then the next moment i went back to just wondering and being...

reflecting on the waters

i watched as local farmers brought on foods for our meals and the life of the local farmer. that evening we

we had some fun with debbie giving us lessons on the amazon and drank a few more caipirinhas.

later watched an amazing bbc video of life in south america and the amazon and looked at some of the issues being presented today with the move towards deforestation, farming and cattle-raising happening in the amazon...it really had me keenly aware of the possible troubles ahead if human being does not wake up and literally smell the coffee!

That night we had an amazing meal, as most of the meals were~ made by a crew on board that were there in the background (as they are on our home ship) making life amazing for us!

 

catch of the day for dinner

Our final afternoon was spent spending time at another location within a local village as well, and this time walking a dip deeper into the forest, seeing the essence of the forest, the beautiful lily pads,


lily paths on jungle walk

seeing monkeys and experiencing a bit of the jungle nature of the amazon.

our guides were amazing and shared with us thier 25+ years living near by and all there was to learn about the amazon~this day all of our senses were present walking, listening and observing...and yet again, there were the people, smiling, curious and observing us!


 

pet sloth

sunset on the amazon



pathways of life on the amazon

 our final morning on our way back to our home away from home away from home, we had the final experience of the amazon!~ la encontro das aguas~where the amazon meets the nigro river~such an amazing phenomena and so wild to see it in person!





encontro das aguas





 the riverboat was beautiful, the guides were amazing, the company was loving and the experience, well just life altering....i will definitely be back and for now, what an amazing 3 days of life!

 back to manuas...

 

good bye...for now, amazon!     worldly heart ro











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