“A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of its going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east.” - John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
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Swimming with Pink Dolphins
We had the opportunity to play with some pink river dolphins. They were very friendly and quite large. The natives call them river dogs and they are nice to have around because they eat piranhas. |
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Traditional Brazilian Meal
We had a homemade meal from our host on the river. It consisted of fresh watermelon, bananas, rice, beans, pasta, grilled chicken, and mandioca.
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The Flooded Forest
June is the end of the rainy season in the Amazon so most of the land was covered in about 6 feet of water. There were some incredible reflections making is seem like the forest went on forever in both directions.
We took a walk through the forest and saw a healthy amount of spiders. We pulled a tarantula out of the ground and I put my hand on an ants nest. Not the most friendly place on the planet.
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Open Water
I'm pretty sure we were on the Rio Negro side of the amazon because the water was fairly dark and not muddy like the Amazon.
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Sunset on the River
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| Pirahna food? |
Wow, I miss swimming in rivers. I was a little worried that some piranhas might take a nibble at my toes or possibly a black Cayman snapping me up or an anaconda eating me whole. Despite the danger, I laid back and looked into the sky.
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Alligator Time
Our guide hopped in the water and grabbed a baby alligator. I can't tell if he is smiling or grinning. |
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| Rounds of Volcanized Rubber |
Our next stop after the Amazon Rainforest was historic recreation of a rubber plantation. It was created as a set for the 2002 Portuguese film "A Selva" (The Jungle). The rubber plantations were active in the early 1900s and were a form of indentured servitude since slavery had been outlawed in 1888. The rubber barons, or seringalistas (syringe makers), provided all the living amenities for their workers. They manipulated, mislead, and abused everyone around them in order to get insanely wealthy.
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| An Old Piano |
My Spidey Sense told there was a piano nearby. I found it. It's been kept outdoors in the humid weather :(
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| A Rubber Baron's Kitchen |
The clothes iron can hold a small fire to keep it warm and the other machines were for grinding coffee.
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Don't mind my headlamp
The rubber tappers worked from 2-5am because that's when the most sap from the tree sank to the bottom of the trunk. (@Jessica I think the headlamp you bought me is better). |
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| Call me a rubber baron |
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| It's not a church, the priest is an actor |
Churches were one way the rubber barons could give hope to their workers and keep them from rebelling. Some priests were hired as actors and would pass on the workers confessions to the rubber baron to prevent uprisings, runways, and attacks. The rubber barons would also throw occasional parties where alcohol and women were brought from the city .
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| A Cut Up Rubber Tree |
A rubber tree gets two cuts, at an angle, to produce the white sap. It is then collected in a small cup during the night.
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| Vulcanization |
Our guide, Milton, showing us the process of vulcanization. The process was invented by Mr. Goodyear and got its name from the fire pit sort of looking like a volcano (I did not fact check that).
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Indigenous Welcome Dance
After the somewhat depressing tour of the rubber plantation, we visited a cultural display of the indigenous Amazonas. While they live and dress modernly, they still perform tribal dances and wear ceremonial clothing. |
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| The Tribe |
While there are hundreds of tribes in the amazon jungle, we had a small group living at this cultural site. There are several tribes present and living together because intermarrying between tribes has become the standard. Tribes were too genetically homogenous, so they have, in recent years, limited marrying within a single tribe to increase genetic diversity.
As they were in ceremonial dress, everyone was shirtless, which made some of our BYU coordinators squirm 😏😏😂. We, the students, had hoped our coordinators would have been a little more mature about the differences in culture. Nonetheless, I was grateful for the opportunity to be exposed to a culture so vastly different from my own.
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| A Young Tribal Girl |
She gave me a face paint.
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| Channeling my Inner Amazonian Warrior |
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| A Capuchin Monkey? I don't remember |
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| A much larger Cayman |
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| Meeting of the Two Waters |
We went to the were the Rio Negro and the Rio Amazona meet and begin to mix. You can see a little of the difference between these two rivers. The Rio Negro is dark and clear on the left while the Rio Amazona is lighter and opaque. The video like below gives some more information about these rivers.
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| Templo Manaus |
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| Wild Blue Phlox |
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