Amazing Amazon!

My anticipation to be in the Amazon made my two early morning flights seem like an eternity. When we arrived in Manaus, and the first thing that everyone noticed was the heat! It was muggy and hot, which turned out to be the weather combination of choice for the next few days! It actually never rained until we were the way back the last night!
The river boats were great!!! The bottom was used for eating and had a small bathroom, and the top was the sleeping/seating area. The first thing I did was go check out the hammocks! They were all colorful, and lined up close together; (I would always bump into someone whenever it started swaying!) I picked out a pink hammock and settled in! What a cool place to sleep for the next few nights!
Looking across the wide river before me I saw what looked to be a sandy beach out in the distance. As it turned out, it was not sand at all, but rather the meeting of the rivers where the Amazon and the Rio Negro touch, but never mix. It was a beautiful sight to see as we got closer. The Amazon was a light muddy color compared to the dark water of the Rio Negro. No one knows exactly why these two rivers don’t mix, and that makes the sight even more special!
Then we moved to a floating dock with a restaurant and place to buy crafts. Here we made our way onto a long wooded plank leading to a pond with giant lily pads! It was a great place to take pictures! (Kate Lilly with the lily pads…very cool!)
Several times during the three days, we got into smaller motorized canoes to go into more narrow parts of the river. They reminded me of the jungle ride at Disney Land only 100x better because it was real!! At one point a group of paddle canoes came up to our boats. My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I realized that a man holding a huge Anaconda was stepping onto my boat! Several of the little kids were holding sloths too. I guess some of the local people living in shacks on the waters edge catch these animals, and then try and make some money by showing them to tourists.
There were so many amazing experiences during the trip that it is hard to even list them all! Alligator catching at night was certainly a memorable time. When the light from a flashlight moves across an alligator’s eyes they will glow red, and the animal will freeze for a few minutes. This is enough time for the guide to move in and grab it!! There were fireflies everywhere, and it was a completely surreal experience to be charging into floating grass on a little riverboat to catch alligators underneath an incredible painted sky of stars! Once they did catch a good sized one, & they opened its mouth to let us see its teeth! I was very jumpy, and was just waiting for one to get loose and bite someone!
We took a couple good rainforest hikes! We would always start at what looked like just a random pace off the river. There were no real paths, so our guide Antonio just used a machete to lead us through the forest. It wasn’t exactly what you might think it would look like. We didn’t see any jaguars, anaconda, or even monkeys. It was just a peaceful beautiful walk in the forest where we learned about traditional medicines from different trees, and lit the sap on fire that the early Portuguese used to use to make gun powder.
One of the highlights from my trip was stopping in a little village called Terra Perta! When I was listening to an introduction from the village president, I noticed a little girl hiding over by a tree who wouldn’t stop smiling and laughing at me. She must have thought I looked crazy or something, because she wouldn’t stop laughing! When we started walking, I held out my hand and she immediately came over and grabbed it. she spoke a different dialect of Portuguese, but we could communicate a little bit in Spanish. Her name was Lydia, and she was ois (ocho) anos. She was just the cutest thing ever! I found out later that she was laughing at my blond hair and my shoes. Here we all were in our hiking boots and the kids had no idea why! She didn’t really leave my side during the tour. We saw some of the houses, all of them were on stilts incase there is flooding. We saw the school where most kids are required to attend until age 14, and the soccer field where the boys from our group later played the Brazilian boys. The village was simple, yet beautiful and it was so interesting to hear about how these people make a living, and contribute to the rich indigenous culture and heritage of the Amazon region.
Fishing for phirana was also a crazy experience! I actually did catch one, but didn’t know how to hold the pole to show the fish so the picture is a little awkward! The guide took the hook out and opened up the mouth so I could see the razor sharp teeth, ahhhhhhh! They cooked up all the fish later in the evening for dinner and we all tried a bite of the day’s catch!
Time sure did go by fast! It was actually a very peaceful trip. The river was absolutely stunning, & I was there with great new friends. Basically life was just amazing in the Amazon, and I will never forget my time there!

Feb. 17, 2007

Hello All! I’m sorry that I have not posted in a while, I had my first exam last week and the satellite internet did not get service for a few days at sea.
I am officially in Salvador Brazil and celebrating my 21st birthday! Thanks for the wonderful birthday wishes! I feel so blessed to have such loving family and friends!

The festivities started last night, when my best friend Katie ordered a huge ice-cream cake after dinner. So far I have met so many wonderful friends on this trip, and it was very special to share that with them! I did stay up until midnight to officiate the day, and then went to sleep for a few hours, but got up at 5am for the sunrise over Salvador! It is truly amazing to wake up so early and sit up at the bow, slowly watching as soft pinks and oranges light up a new city, with new and endless possibilities. I thank God so much for this amazing way to spend my 21st birthday! His beauty and grace always continue to astound me! For the rest of the day I explored the city of Salvador on foot. The city is split into upper and lower sections, connected by one huge elevator in the middle. At the top of the elevator we immediately started to recognize the presence of Carnaval all around us.

Just in Salvador alone, Carnaval draws over 2 million people every year, so everywhere you go, there are tons of people. What has now become known as the world’s largest party actually has very humble beginnings. All of the music, singing, dancing, eating, and drinking of early Carnaval started as a way to bring a community together. Basically it is hard to stay mad at anything too long when there is a celebration that just lets people be together and have a good time! Carnaval developed into a Christian tradition, meant to use up all of the disorder in the world before Lent begins. Also, the more wealthy members of the community would often pay for this celebration to take place, so it is a way of redistributing the wealth. During this week, no previous social norms apply…men can dress as women, a street child can act like a king, and for a moment, everyone appears equal not confined by society’s labels. Just walking through the city I saw such a vibrant culture, with colorful decorations, drumming down every street, and the faces of endless delight with the start of every song!

Tomorrow I am off at 1am to an Amazon adventure. I will spend four days sleeping in a hammock on a river boat somewhere in the Amazon River! We will be fishing for piranha, and going alligator hunting, so I am prepared for anything and everything. I promise to do a post when I get back about ship life, and all of my classes! So for now, take care, & I LOVE YOU!

Bioluminescent Bay

I strap the wet lifejacket around my waist, and make my way toward the water. I jump into the front of a red kayak, and my friend Bob takes the back seat (so he can do the steering!) It is 9pm, and as we paddle away from the bus lights into the narrow salt water channel, darkness suddenly turns to pitch black. All we can see are the thousands of stars above us, and the faint blinking red light on the back of the kayak in front of us. Suddenly, my ears are overwhelmed with the sounds of crickets, tree frogs, and iguanas hidden away in the thick mangrove forest. This background harmony music continues as we navigate the sharp left and right turns of the passage. Baby tarpon are swimming beneath us, and I am startled when they splash the surface unexpectedly. I am so focused on keeping a steady pace and not bumping into trees, that I almost miss the guide yelling for us to look down. As my paddle sweeps the water below, it practically lights up! We are here I think, as the channel now opens up into a large lagoon. I let my fingers drag in warm water, and the glowing little dots slide over my white skin. Each dot is about as big as a sprinkle, but the light it emits is 10x its size. Our guide ties all of the kayaks together, as he talks about what we are seeing. They are single celled biological organisms, and when we touch the water we are applying pressure to the cell wall, causing them to glow. There are only five places in the world where this organism can be found in such high concentrations, and three of them are in Puerto Rico! This is because it takes a very particular environment, rich in biodiversity and nutrients from the mangrove trees for them to survive. If anything happens to alter this perfectly balanced ecosystem, the organism will die. As a last amazing addition to the night, we get to jump in and go for a swim. As I tread water in this bioluminescent lagoon, looking like a human glow stick, I can’t help but wonder what the rest of Semester at Sea will be like. After all…this is only the third day!!!

Hola Mis Amores!

Me encata Puerto Rico! Katie and I woke up at 6:30am Feb. 7 to see the sun rise over San Juan was the Explorer slowly made its way into the dock! AMAZING! I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to our first port. Soon after, we were greeted on board by the governor of Puerto Rico! He is a younger man, and interacted with the student audience very well. In my global studies class I have already learned a lot about Puerto Rico, and the interesting political relationship that they share with the U.S. Next, we went though customs and got off the ship and right on to a bus for a city orientation. We spent some time at Fort San Christobal, got to go inside the capital building, and walked around the colorful buildings of Old San Juan for lunch. I have been speaking Spanish constantly since we have arrived and just having the best time!

WOW!

I am writing this first entry in a surreal environment, one that I have dreamt about for what seems like forever, my cabin on the MV Explorer! To know that it’s real and to know that I am here is still too crazy of a thought to really understand fully.
We arrived in the Bahamas a week early, and stayed at the Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island. That place is a world of its own, with a huge casino, one of a kind art, and my favorite part, one of the most amazing aquariums in the world. Just looking at the huge manta ray swimming makes me at peace somehow. I went diving with dad on Wednesday, and both of the dives were amazing! I almost descend right on top of a HUGE stingray, and when I swim to the edge of the blue hole, I spot a reef shark 30 feet down in the darkness. I also saw my second ever lionfish on this dive!
On the morning of Feb 4, we got up around 7, ordered room service, and packed up the last remaining things. Then we went to the loading dock and waited in line for a loooooooong time, and then headed to the cabins. Our new home is cabin 4045, and it is actually a decent size, and I fit all of my stuff in, so things worked out pretty good. Instead of a porthole, we have mirrors! Big ones! But at night, when we shut off the lights, it is pitch black. The same applies in the morning; there is really no way to tell if it is 9 pm or 9am unless you look at a clock. Mom got to come on the ship to have a little tour and a short parent presentation before leaving. I was very sad to say goodbye, and so grateful for all that she has done to prepare me for this trip. Both my parents have been amazing these past few months! Thank you Dad, for spending hours researching cell phone options so that I would have the best way to communicate with you along the way. Thank you Mom for the many shopping excursions before departure to make sure that I was prepared for the next three months! Words cannot even say how grateful I am for this opportunity that you have given me. You have made me the person that I am, the kind of person who wanted to come on this adventure, willing to put everything that I think I know about the world to the test. Basically, THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE WORLD! I love you both so much!
We had a lifeboat drill at four, and the ship departed at exactly 5pm. During the lifeboat drill, we had to report to our muster stations and await further instructions. I saw a little man in a large orange vest come dancing past us with a camcorder following him, on his way to lifeboat #5. That was y first glimpse of Desmond Tutu, and it was sure a memorable one! He will be an amazing presence on this ship and that will surely be a highlight of the entire voyage!
The first night we had a welcome orientation. Our executive dean Larry Senegal gave us a great introduction about the most important port on our voyage. Not one of the 11 countries that we will be visiting, but the 12th port, our ship community. I love the quote “be the change you wish to see in the world.” What a unique opportunity it is to create a shipboard community, filled with cooperation, tolerance, diversity, and compassion, which reflects the type of world we all wish to live in! That night we were asked to reflect on two quotes which I will leave for you to think about as well:
“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I experience and I understand” ~Old Chinese Proverb
“Travel makes one wiser but less happy” ~Mark Twain
Well, this semester is off to an amazing start, I love all of you and will post again from San Juan, Puerto Rico!