“We’re in Brazil!”

Best Party I have ever attended last night! Called “The Samba”. An area of the street was blocked off solely for this festival.  About 500 native Brazilians with every instrument you can drum or shake, dancing and playing in unison in the middle of the street. Beer and the strongest drinks I have ever had.  Danced the night away! It was ridiculously fun! I named this post “We’re in Brazil” because that is what we kept singing as we danced☺

My first two days in Brazil have been great.  It is nothing like I anticipated it being.  Opposite of Dominica except that they are both rainforests.  The city of Manaus is very sketchy/dangerous.  We were warned during our pre-port meeting of this… Do not go anywhere alone, always travel with a male, hold everything in front of you (purses/bags/cameras/etc)…. Its all true.  I don’t want anyone to think I’m in danger. I’m not! I’m having a great time. No worries!

Yesterday a group of us went to see “Where Two Waters Meet”.  It is were the Amazon River and river water from Columbia come together but do not mix.  We took a boat about 20ft long with ten seats out to the exact spot.  It is really awesome how you can see the line with dark brown colored water on one side and a creamy coffee color on the other.  After that we did a little fishing and shopping on this little store in the middle of the river.  I was loving this part…. Sitting at water level on a boat that goes 30mph tops, put my arm out the side to feel the splash… Mighty Mississippi style right there! We checked out a fish market and headed back to town (where the port is).

We shopped around a market that is only open on Sundays.  I got some goodies there… We visited with some hippie locals for a long time.  My friend Mel speaks fluent Spanish so she pretty much saved our day.  The locals made us rings out of wire, then one made me a flower and asked me to marry him (don’t worry, Mom, I’m not getting married). He did give me one dreadlock though! After having dinner and a shower on the ship we walked to the Opera House where there was a concert outside.  Awesome live music (even though it was in Portuguese).

Today I did a Semester at Sea sponsored trip.  We left at 7am and drove 2 hours to the middle of the rainforest.  We hiked to a cave/waterfall. Our guide was telling us about trees and Indian tribes but I was too far back in the hiking line to hear anything.  After that we hiked to a waterfall reserve and swam for about an hour.  Lunch was held at a little café, amazing Amazonian food followed by a zip-line across a river.  It wasn’t exactly all I expected it to be and I’m sure I could have done the same thing for a lot cheaper than SAS made me pay for the day but I did enjoy myself.

I hung out with Mel on the ship for the night.  Tomorrow I have another early morning/long day.  At 7am I am doing a riverside villages tour.  I’m not sure exactly what it consists of but I’m excited.  Tomorrow night we’re going to go to Buffalo steak house…. I hear it’s pretty delicious.  Wednesday I’m going to the zoo with cancer patients! That’s going to rock. I’m thinking I’m going to finish my Brazil trip with a little more shopping and just exploring more of the city.