67/365 06/02/09 Second Jungle Hike and Pink Dolphin Tour---Visit to a local community

Our second jungle hike was just like the first----pouring down rain, with Piro as our guide (and he was still barefoot.)

A worm that is edible--Piro showed us how to get it out of the seed and said it tasted just like coconut.....I didn't try it but one guy in our group did!!

Piro opening the seed with a machete....

Very dangerous tree with spikes...


Huge ant colony..Piro could clap his hands in a certain rhythm and the ants would swarm out!

This was the awful bullet ants....Piro rubbed the trunk of the tree with his machete and out came these ants. A bite by one is terribly painful and if you get bitten by 3 or more--maybe death!!!


Piro coaxed a trantula out of its nest with a small stick...

After hiking over an hour, back into out boats....
After loading up and heading out, Piro says "who wants to swim in the river?" and guess who is first into the water......

Mike swimming in the River!!

And on to feed the Pink Dolphins.......

Me feeding the dolphin.....

and Mike feeding them!

Later in the day we went to a local village community. The kids ran out to meet our boats. They were so cute, all dressed up in their grass skirts and feathers and face paint.

The chief and his son

Piro opened a fruit that looked like a pomegrante and rubbed the seeds and then painted

Mike's face.

This was my favorite part of the trip, going to the village. We got to buy their hand-made crafts from them--- necklaces, bracelets, paintings, etc. It was an awesome experience and I loved the kids!!

That night, Piro, who is also a well-know singer and musician in Brazil

(what can't this guy do?) performed for us in a native costume. After that,

we listened and danced to a band formed by all the guides.

They played music from Pink Floyd "The Wall" to "Country Roads Take Me Home" to " You Are My Sunshine".

It was so much fun!!

66/365 06/01/09 Hiking in the jungle (in pouring down rain) and boat ride into the flooded forest...and alligator spotting....

Our first hike in the jungle.....pouring down rain.....

Our awesome guide Piro, grew up in the Brazilian rain forest and knew everything about everything in this jungle-- what tree bark was good for medicine or food or dental care, about all insects-- which one were poisonous or harmful or even which ones we could eat... about making all kinds of things from leaves, bark, roots, and seeds....AND he hiked BAREFOOT through all the thorns, the snakes, the spiders, the poisonous frogs, bullet ants, stinging termites.....
The thorns on this plant are what is used for the darts in a blow gun....

We saw the poison they use for these darts which is secreted by a poisonous frog....kills in 3 minutes and we just walked by the foamy looking stuff on a tree....

We had to cross over streams....

and Piro wove together palm leaves to show us how to make a hammock, just in case you ever have to spend the night in the jungle. He showed us the resin you can use to light a fire in the rain because you need ashes to encircle your camp. No animal or insect will cross the ring of ashes (so he says, I don't want to test it myself)...without the ashes he said "you'll be in trouble!".

Later that afternoon we went on a flooded forest tour by boat. The river is up higher than it's been in 50 years and is over 50 feet above normal. So lots of the area is flooded and we were able to go in boats among the trees and vegetation.

The water was so smooth that in these 2 pictures the water is like a mirror.

We saw elephant ears growing in the trees....

and macaws flying ....

and green parrots...

a toucan...

and a beautiful sunset.

Later, after dinner, in total darkness, we went out again in boat alligator spotting. Piro, our guide, would shine a spotlight into the gators eyes, blinding him. The boat driver would get as close as possible and then Piro would just lean over the side of the boat and try to grab the gator and pull him in!!!

The only one that didn't get away (and we saw several big ones!) was this little baby one. She had lost an arm and a leg to a piranha.

While we were looking in the water for gators, Piro noticed this very venomous snake coiled up in a tree very close to our boat!!!!!..

It was an awesome adventurous day and I loved every minute of it!!

65/365 05/31/09 Leaving for our ship--Iberostar Grand Amazon

We had breakfast at the hotel and spent the morning shopping and waiting for the bus to pick us up to take us to the ship. We also took pictures around the hotel of the beautiful flowers......

and a dragonfly!

Our cruise ship - the Iberostar Grand Amazon--

We had lunch as soon as we boarded and it was delicious!!

Good bye to Manuas....

Off to our jungle/river adventures......

64/365 05/30/09 First Day of Trip--Touring city of Manaus

Houses along the river in Manaus.....

Went to an art and history museum.....


Then to the fish and vegetable/fruit market. There were all kinds and sizes of fish, brought in that morning from the fishing boats, and laid out for sale. The aisles were very narrow and there were lots of people there buying things.

These are peacock bass (notice the spot on the tail like a peacock)


This man was happy to hold up his fish for us to take pictures...

After the fish area, there were booths and booths of fresh veggies and fruits, many of which I had no idea what they were. This man had all his limes (I think) stacked so perfectly.

And these were the longest green beans I've ever seen!

Here we were in the open area of the market where there were SO MANY bananas everywhere.

I don't know how they could possibly sell so many before they ripen.

Rows and rows of bananas!

Then off to lunch at a local restaurant where we were served buffet style. The meat was cooked over a fire brazilian style.

After lunch it was on to the opera house that was built in the 1880's. It was very beautiful inside and they still have opera performances there. In the courtyard out front is this unusual tile work---black and white curves--that symbolize the meeting of the Amazon river with the black water of the Rio Negro river.

Later that evening we were taken to a beautiful historic building for dinner.

63/365 05/29/09 Manaus, Brazil

Left home about 6:00 am, arrived in Manaus, Brazil about 11:00p.m. We were at the Tropical Manaus Hotel for 2 nights.