BRASIL

Brazil was a port filled with many ups and downs, but I will save those moments for later.

        The voyage that I am on is the first SAS voyage to ever sail down the Amazon River.  We had to sail down the Amazon River 1,000 miles, which took 3 days, to get to the port city of Manaus.  Now here is a note; the Amazon River is HUGE!!!!!!  I have been on many rivers in my life, so I thought I knew what to expect…..boy, was I wrong.    First off the Amazon River is extremely muddy and brown in color.  It is really amazing to go from the navy color of the ocean, to the rich brown color of the Amazon.   The reason the Amazon is so brown is because the river is extremely fast moving, so the flow picks the sediment and mud off the bottom and brings it to the top!  Another crazy thing is the sheer size of the Amazon.  At some points during our trip down the river neither one of the sides could be seen.  It could also get up to 300 ft deep.  That being said, there are also huge moving sandbars.  At one point the sandbar shifted so much, that our ship on had 3 feet of clearance to make it over.  I do not even want to think what might have happened if the ship became grounded.

        Another cool thing that happened while we sailed down the Amazon was seeing all the small riverside villages.  Most of these people had probably never seen a ship the size of the MV Explorer, so they would get in their CANOES and paddle out to get a closer look.  They were as amazed of us as we were of them.  It was really cool passing riverboats of people commuting to work taking pictures of us, as we took pictures of them.  One of the best moments that happened while sailing down the Amazon was sailing into and out of rainstorms.  It would be bright and sunny one moment, and a torrential downpour the next.  This on and off rain made for some AMAZING rainbows. (They definitely rivaled the rainbows in Dominica!)

Now onto my time in Brazil’s mainland.

     My first day in Brazil was kind of like a sandwich gone bad.  The “bread” of my day was awesome, but the “meat” was kind of rotten.  I joined a random group of SAS people who, like me, just wanted to walk around the city of Manaus and find the famous opera house.  We walked through a street fair that was selling some amazing crafts and other knick-knacks.  We found the opera house and it was BEAUTIFUL.  90% of the materials that made the opera house was shipped in from Europe when Manaus was in the height of its rubber boom.  The top of the Opera House had a dome that was made completely of Mosaic tiling.  It was so unique; I had never seen anything like it before!  When the group arrived at the entrance to the opera house there was a long line.  Thinking that they were giving a tour of the place, we jumped in line.  They ushers told us, in Portuguese, to sit down.  They said other things, but we could not understand them.  Little did we know we walked into a free orchestra concert.  It was great, especially for the price…LOL!    Now here comes the rotten meat part of my day.  After the concert I could not find anyone from my original group so I jumped into a group of different SAS people.  My plan for the day was to go to a Brazilian BBQ place, but the guy in a group wanted Japanese food (even though in a few short months we are going to Japan where we can get real Japanese food!)  When I outright refused to go he became mad and pouted for the rest of the day.  I compromised and went to a local eatery that was really good.  The food was really yummy, but the guy’s sour mood made the meal awkward and kind of unbearable.  At least the end of my first day was crazy amounts of fun.   The inter-port lecturer set up a group of people who were practicing for Carnival to perform for us at a street party.  A few hundred SASers showed up, as well as a few hundred local Brazilians to have an amazing dance party.  By the end of the night over 1,000 people were there having a great time dancing in the streets.

     For 2 days and 1 night I stayed in a remote Amazon village, which was a 3 hour riverboat ride away from Manaus, called Acajatuba.  The people of this village are extremely poor and have to rely on farming and a small arts and crafts co-op for income.  These people may be poor, but they are so happy and spirited.  It sounds crazy, but the cheesy saying “money doesn’t buy happiness” is very true.  I hope that one day I will be as happy as the people in this village.

     During our stay we stayed in the homes of people from the village.  I stayed in the home of a married couple and their 8 month old daughter.  I also had a roommate during this trip, who just so happened to be the Academic Dean of the spring 2011 voyage, Dean Lisa.  It was really nice to get to know a dean outside of an academic setting.  Dean Lisa’s two daughters (15, 19) were also staying at the village.  Our Assistant Executive Dean (also known as the Voice), Marti, was also on the trip with her partner, and their young (10ish) daughter.
    
     The people of the Acajatuba village have totally figured out the solution to the problem of figuring out sleeping arrangements on Thanksgiving.  They just put up hammocks for people if they are sleeping over.  It is the perfect solution!  The one problem with hammocks is that there is a special way to be able to sleep comfortably in them, and unfortunately, I was not able to find this special way.  Between not knowing how to sleep in a hammock, and the rooster crowing every hour all night long, and having to get up at 5am to watch the sunrise and spot dolphins, it was not a very restful night.
I did learn some interesting facts about village life in Brazil while I was there.  The village I was in did not get there school until 5 years ago, and until then the children had to travel up to 2 hours by boat to get to school.  Also, if something bad should happen in the village, the police would take 3 hours to get to the village.  This leaves the village very vulnerable to attack.  I also found out that most people in the village get pregnant, and then get married.  This was the case with the family I stayed with in the village.

     In Brazil I also did a service visit to an orphanage for abandoned special needs children.  The people in the orphanage were ages 0-38, but were all considered children.  We took these children to the zoo.  Almost all of them had never been to the zoo before, and it was exciting to see them experience the zoo for the first time.  It was an inspiring and upsetting day that I would remember for a long time.  I will especially remember the lack of human right laws had in Brazil for years.  Up until 5 years ago parents could beat their children and not get into trouble for it.  I thought these laws were appalling and I am glad that they are changed.

        I had a great time in Brazil, but I am extremely excited for Ghana!