Amazon Rainforest: Conquered

I'm back in Manaus, after about 10 days of Amazonian madness. My little problem that I wrote about in the previous entry was resolved, luckily. I showed up at the terminal, frantic, only to be met with the typical, laid back mentality of the north of Brazil. No one seemed to care. I boarded the boat, even though I had no hammock, just my giant travelers backpack. The port was totally empty. There was only one person on the boat, a woman who was in a wheelchair. I asked an employee if there was a hammock that I could borrow on the boat, he smiled, almost laughed, and then told me to ask the manager who apparently was sleeping. I left to get some food for my trip, leaving the backpack with the lady in the wheelchair (she seemed trustworthy enough). All of the hammock stores in the streets were closed, still. It was still only 6 AM. I got my food and when I got back to the boat, the manager had woken up. He told me that there were no hammocks on the boat, but there was still time to buy one. How? I asked. If we`re leaving at seven, how is it possible? The stores don`t open until eight! He laughed, we`re not leaving until ten! You have plenty of time.

And this is the story in Brazil. People are constantly giving false information.

The boat ride was beautiful. Sleeping in the hammock was fine, the nights were beautiful, with stars and stars and a bright almost moon, one night. On the banks of the River Solimoes, were tiny communities who lived in houses on stilts, because of the seasonal flooding of the river that happens. In this region, people travel principally by boat. The school buses are school boats. The gas stations for the boats are also afloat. I made some magnificently happy friends, who were great company. One night we all sat in our hammocks singing songs, me American songs, them Brazilian songs. One woman invited me to her house in Tefe, and I accepted, as I had no other plans. When we got to Tefe, which is the jumping off point to the Amazonian Reserve Mamiraua, we got to her house and it was locked. Her son had the key, and he was away for the weekend in this tiny village of 400 people. After visiting with her mother, brother, and daughter, we went to Caiambe for 2 days. When we got back I went to the Reserve.

The pousada (bed and breakfast) inside the reserve floats above the water, and is made of a beautiful wood. All day and night long, you hear the loud, healthy calls of all different types of birds, the Reserve alone has 950 different varieties. Some other things I learned about the Amazon:

- Its 7 million km2 , which is about the size of Europe
- 1/5 of all river water comes from the Amazon
- the Amazon has 60000 types of plants, 324 types of mammals, 300 types of reptiles, and 1500 types of fish.

I saw some animals, including sloths, howler monkeys, a huge cobra, lots of caimans, pirarucu (rare fish), and some jaguar pawprints.

My room in the pousada luckily came with a mosquito net, because the creatures in the Amazon are brutal. They own the Amazon. They buzz all around you all the time, and not just 1 type of mosquito, a few different types. God are they ugly. I visited a community that benefits from the Reserve, and I thought it was interesting. They live 100% sustainably. If the world ends in 2012, they`ll be fine : ) .

All in all the trip was awesome.!