The Amazon

There is a meeting of many forces at this juncture of the voyage. The days are palpably numbered until we arrive home. Students, and everyone else bemoan the ending of this adventure, and also eagerly anticipate the return to family, familiar routines, favorite meals. Food is the oft repeated theme of so many conversations, partially because we have been exposed to so many savory new flavors, but also because the routine of the shipboard fare is wearing thin. Many of us are particularly craving good Vietnamese Phó as a comfort food on familiar ground.

Manaus is a big city in the middle of the rainforest. First impressions: heat, humidity. Just as in Ghana, I am struck by the scent of the area, and realize it has to do with arriving in communities that burn stuff. It feels sacred, reminiscent of incense in church when I was a child.

The first day we wandered the city, and most interesting were the food markets with rows and rows of meat and fish, and stalls full of fruits and vegetables. I got off the ship with the intention of trying Capuaçú, and was enthralled by the line up of guys tossing watermelons to stack. Bananas too are in abundance.

We has some juice first from a market, Passion Fruit--cold and refreshing. I picked it according to image, and not reading portuguese, just hoped for delicious. This is one of the excellent moments of travel, to taste something completely unfamiliar and to be delighted by it. The second juice was from a vendor, picked by color and this one I did later ascertain was Capuaçú.

Rest in the afternoon and Opera House. The city is famous for this building, an investment from the days of Rubber being big business here. We saw a philharmonic whose arrangements were on par with performances I have seen in Los Angeles.

Day Two was a Waterfall trek and I was group leader with 29 participants, all female students except for Jonathan, one of the RDs. Two hours drive north of the city, then a ten minute walk into the woods, brought us to a waterfall. The girls squealed with delight and took lots of photos of each other under the falls. The guides gave everyone about 45 minutes here to hang out and play. It is always great when the pace slows down.

The next stretch was a rainforest hike and some caves. We then enjoyed a lunch served family style with platters of fish and meat, and side salads. Fruit juice bars for dessert with more new flavors to sample.

We then went to a very local beach where a zip line was set up and each took turns flying over the river back and forth, Three local boys seemed to run the operation, and having set up and run zip lines 20 years ago, I was in awe of both how much easier the set up can be than it was back then, and how they were doing everything right in terms of safety. Not a bad way to bring money into the rural economy. Then, on their own, what great fun to be had!

The next morning was a riverboat ride to see the Meeting of the Waters. This is a confluence that coexists where the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the Solimões River's brown waters, flowing together without mixing for nine kilometers (5.5 miles).

Short walks off our river boat took us to a village where we saw a demonstration of how rubber used to be harvested. The liquid from the trees coagulates quickly. We were told that at the time of birth, this material was used to seal the snipped umbilical cord after a woman gives birth.

Watermarked from floods that lose all the crops in the area.

Rubber sap.

                                                                                                

Thank goodness for tourists in communities like this. The Brazilians go to the beach, but huge touring vessels make the passage down the river to this area, and we saw lots of European tourists in the various sites we stopped.

We were taken to see the lily pads, and some members of our group held a baby sloth. Those fellows earn their name, as evidenced by their extremely slow movements.

Then back on the river again. Twelve days to go. Consolidation of the experiences is big for everyone; reflections and regrets are reviewed. I am mostly enjoying this stage of work, as students find the words to tie this all together. In some ways, the voyage is Semester at Sea “Lite” because of the percentage of time in Europe and the tone that set. For many, the experience of Manaus and the Amazon has been the place where they have tested the limits of what they have learned, and are starting to formulate how they want to be as they go home. This is the personal confluence we all are invited to face.