Brasil!: Manaus, arriving in the Amazon

Rachel and I in the airport on our way to Manaus.

Here starts the adventure of Acheena and Áhscheou Glória.

This is how our names are pronounced here...roughly.

I go by Atena or Acheena here... it´s just how it comes out when you only speak portuguese and want to translate it into something recognizable and easy, as the "th" sound in english is generally not used. Poor Rachel, her name is extra hard to say in portuguese. "R" is pronounced like "h" and words ending in "l" usually sound something like "eooh"(it is hard to write this sound in english...) You may not be surprised to read that after realizing her name sounded like a sneeze in portuguese, Rachel gave up using her first name and just went by Gloria a lot. There were a few too many blank helpless stares upon introduction when the person realized they had no idea how to repeat her name.

Sooo here begins another huge post.

As my loving host from Salvador, Fabi, likes to say:

Welcome to the jungle!

Flying into the city of Manaus and seeing the incredible size of the Amazon was a reality check.

I had never imagined a river so large, in my head it was rediculously different. The truth of this place is wild and powerful, with points where you can't see the one side of the bank from the other... At one point from the aiplane I caught my breath because it literally looked like an ocean.

A few statistics for you: in the dry season the Amazon gets to be about 6.8miles (11km) at it's widest point, but in the wet season it swells to 24.8 miles at it's widest point... AAAAH, Nature, you rock my world.

We were here in the wet season!

On the rooftop deck of our hostel in Manaus, and playing ukulele on Rachels bunk.

I'm so glad I brought it!

Shout out to Glória ;) who let me use a bunch of her great pics!

View of the outside area of the hostel.

Roof deck of Hostel Manaus,

we enjoyed many a breakfast and late night hang out session here.

Glacial Ice Cream

This ice cream store is a fixture here in Manaus,

we made sure to eat some every day, with exotic fruit flavors from fresh açaí to cajú!

The most wonderfully strange pizza.

Basically marmalade mozarella.

Walking around Manaus I happened upon this and had to comment.

You know you're in Brasil when even the manequins got back.

BUNDA!

Well, not much more on the city of Manaus, its right by the Amazon river, and was mostly a way-point for us. The people here were quite different though, I felt as though I was in another country. They are much more indigenous looking with broader features and a shorter stalkier build. Rachel and I have become accustomed to being the center of attention wherever we go, but here we stuck out like sore thumbs, attracting open-stares and head-turning down every street!

After doing our research, we purchased a 4 day trip in the Amazon based in the Boca do Juma (Mouth of the River Juma). Getting there requred a 2 car rides and 2 speed boat rides, taking a total of 3 hours. We got to cross over the meeting of 2 rivers, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon. Check out the difference in water colors.

Here's a close-up of the meeting of the waters.

The main Amazon is the darker blue one, it is clearer, colder, more acidic, and has less mosquitos.

The Rio Negro is warmer, full of rich jungle nutrients, and has more mosquitos :)

A shot from the side of our speed boat once we reached the smaller tributary from the Juma.

Much of the river looks like this, with what seems to be a submerged forest, the trees withstand this every year... how do they do it? What I did learn is that there are 2 types of jungle here, adapted through time to suit their environment. The trees below the rise of the water level are ocmpletely different than the ones that are above it, and they require completely different things.

A local house along the side of the river.

Everyone here travels by boat, gotta have one!

Most houses here are built on stilts for good reason.

Beautiful children from a local family we encountered along the way.

Tucuma.

Some of the most delisciously strange jungle fruit I've encountered.

Tucuma.

The one on the right has been peeled, and you can see how thin the flesh is by the seed. The texture is thick and meaty like a fiberous plantain, but the flavor is mild and sweet. I had to buy a dozen, for the pleasure of getting to the fruit as much as the strange wonderful new flavor.