Christmas in Manaus

Christmas in Manaus Originally uploaded by Road Trip

The main plaza in the city center held all the festivities. The building in the background is the famous Amazon Theatre

The Holidays

So I arrived in Manaus, Brazil in time for the holidays. Apparently it was once called thr Paris on the Amazon for the huge performing arts theatre they have here. I plan on staying with Labbish, a friend of the family as well as a Marine Biolosist like my father, who works down here. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication (mainly on my part) and I had some troubles finding his place. Luckily a guy I met on the boat was nice enough to put me up with his family the first night and also invite me to spend christmas with them. It was a lot of fun, and a little more realaxed than on the boat because most of them speak really good spanish. I finally did make it to Labbish's place. A few of his colleagues from China left this morning, they spoke very little english and understood even less so much of the few days together were spent writing notes to each other on pieces of paper. Made for a very different type of conversation. But I'm here now, and even though its 95 degrees in the shade and extrememly humid, the mango tree that hangs over his back wall has been kind enough to drop a few on his side of it each day and so far, from what I've seen of it, Manaus seems like an interesting place. Labbish isn't back until the 4th, he has tons of tanks of colorful fish here from the Rio Negro which I think have inspired me to go with him on the week long trip he has planned mid January to visit his main operation in Barcelos. He runs Project Piabas, which teaches locals how to raise and sell aquarium fish rather than cutting lumber from the jungle. As for me, I've been in touch with a few local NGO's concerning water projects but no luck yet. If I can't find work from here I really have no plan, probably Rio de Janeiro at some point but so far Brazil seems promising.

Amatura

Amatura Originally uploaded by Road Trip

One of the bigger towns along the river. From what I can tell by the people I met on the boat that are from there it's full of friendly people

Sunset on the River

Sunset on the River Originally uploaded by Road Trip

the river was so wide that most of the time the jungle was pretty far away, but there was still plenty to see

Travelling accomodations

Travelling accomodations Originally uploaded by Road Trip

there were probably close to 100 people, on this level, all strung up in a maze of hammocks, mine is in there somewhere

A similar lancha (boat) swimming upstream

A similar lancha (boat) swimming upstream Originally uploaded by Road Trip

the lanchas in Brazil are so much nicer than the ones in Peru

Travelling in style

So I just finished 6 days on the Amazon River. When travelling up or down the river over long distances people here just tie up hammocks and hang out while their on the move. Compared to those of Peru the lancha's in brazil were 10 times nicer and cleaner. Still they packed you in pretty tight, and everytime you pulled up to a place where people were getting on you had to rush back to your hammock because if you weén't there to guard your space someone would tie up theres, literally right on top of you. Thanks by the way to Nathan and Michelle, I'm getting good use out of the hammock. I ended up staying two days at the border in Tapatinga waiting for the boat to leave. It worked out though because unbeknownst(sp?) to me Brazil requires a visa to enter the country. So those two days were filled with paperwork and being zipped from place to place on the back of motorcycle-taxis. The people on the boat I was waiting for were nice enough to let me tie my hammock up and stay there free of charge while I was running errands and waiting for them to leave. Sitting around on the boat all day you end up talking to the people around you. I ended up meeting some very cool people this way, including a cool girl Maria Paracida, and Sidinete and her son Alan, this cool kid Luis and a guy named Fransisco that is part of the indigenous group Kokoma, years ago they were known to paint their faces before going to war (something they did quite a lot) and then to put their victims heads on pikes as trophys and to warn off nearby clans. No Shit! The old man next to me really helped me out by keeping an eye on my stuff even though I don't think either of us understood a thing the other was saying. Of course the bad comes with the good, meaning every once in a while I had to bullshit with this guy Nikolas from sweden who was a cocky putz. Other than that, 3 times a day a whistle would blow to let you know it was time to eat. And when you weren't in your watching the river of the jungle or in your hammock trying to sleep through the heat of the day there were drinks, snacks and beer up on the top deck. It was funny that as soon as the sun went down all the younger people would wash up, put on there nicest clothes and hang out up top. Apparently, for the people down here, a slow boat on the river is a singles paradise.

Cayman

Cayman Originally uploaded by Road Trip

let me run down to the store and pickup some baby alligators and a few fresh tomatoes

A baby sloth

A baby sloth Originally uploaded by Road Trip

first I had ever seen in person

Lion Monkey

Lion Monkey Originally uploaded by Road Trip

honestly fits in the palm of your hand, and it has huge freaking ears

The animal trade

The animal trade Originally uploaded by Road Trip

notice the boa in the coke bottle on the table

Wood harvesting

Wood harvesting Originally uploaded by Road Trip

this is in iquitos but you see it all along the Amazon

Giant Lily-pads

Giant Lily Pads Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Floating Houses

Floating Houses Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Belen in Iquitos

Belen in Iquitos Originally uploaded by Road Trip

Leaving Lima

Lima is Huge!!!! I was coming back from a park in the southern end of Lima and I fell asleep on the bus. I was awake for about half the trip but after a total of 2 hours on the bus I still hadn´t left the northern end. It took me a few minutes after I woke up to realize that I was way passed my stop. I got off in a pretty shady area so I got a cab as quickly as I could but I was so far from where I wanted to be that I payed out the ass, killing the whole ideas of saving a few bucks which is why I was on the bus to begin with. So the plan is to go down the Amazon to Manaus in Brazil. It´s like a 7 day float so rather than adding on an additional 3 days on the river I flew into Iquitos, Peru. It has no road links and with 400,000 people is supposedly the largest city like this in the world. Its right on the Amazon and the edge of the jungle. The market in Belen is insane. There are dozens of blocks there filled with stuff out of the jungle, natural medicines, weird fruits, and tons of animal products (including live). It was sad to see these animals in cages but I couldn´t help be interested at the same time. Many of them, like the sloth for instance, I had only seen in magazines or on television. Belen is one of the poorer barrios in Iquitos. Many on the locals there live in floating houses. I was lucky enough to meet some people with a canoe that showed me around. Living on the river as they do is probably the most different type of lifestyle that I have seen. For about half the year when the river is low their houses are on dry land and a lot of them use the newly exposed land to plant rice, then for the other half of the year they put huge balsa trees under their house so that it will float and anchor it the best they can. Out on the river is about the only place you can get a breeze, its so hot here I sweat even if I´m just sitting in town reading a book.

Casa de Fierro

Casa de Fierro Originally uploaded by Road Trip

"House of Iron" was designed by Eiffel (the same that designed the tower in Paris), it was shipped to Iquitos in the mid 1800's