Sorry for any grammatical/spelling errors—I don’t really have the time or patience to read over it once I type these haha.

And sorry its so long…get a coffee and some snacks!! Lol but I had quiet an experience in Brazil!!

Ok—I finally posted pics of Puerto Rico and a few of the ship! None of Brazil yet. I will tell you all about Brazil now so you can make mental pictures in your head until then J Ok, Ok this is going to be long but I will try to keep it as brief as possible and still tell ya all the good stuff! soooo I got into Salvador, but couldn’t really go out with my friends because I was leaving for the Amazon in a few hours and didn’t want to have to come back to the ship myself, soooo I found some girls I didn’t know that were going to the Amazon also. We got a cab to try and find some restaurant but remember, they speak Portugese!! The language barrier sucks. Well, we have a sheet of paper that helps us say what we want and we showed him and pointed to it. He was nice and took us into town. He stopped by police officers and started talking to them about us. All the police have big guns they carry. Its cool. There were extra since we arrived during Carnaval!!! So the police officers signaled us to follow them, sooo we did. We were kind of wondering what the hell was going on, but it was cool that we had a police escort into town. Then, we realized that they were escorting us to the police station!! Haha we walked in with them like omg what did we do. Well, they talked about us some more and the sergeant came up to us and spoke English!! Yay!! He told us the good places to eat and told us where to go, etc etc. He knew we were from semester at sea and he knew someone who was getting on the ship. It was fun. He gave us his number and told us to call him or come back if we needed anything. So we ate, drank a beer (I just had to since I am legal!!! And I have been trying local beer from every place I go!), then headed back to the ship, then to the airport!!
We got to Manaus and had to stay overnight in a hotel and would be leaving the next morning. OMG this hotel was shhaadddyy. Our air conditioner didn’t work right and we were SO hot. And there were aunts in our beds!! Yeah---gross. The next morning we got on our little boat and headed off J There were 15 of us in the group and our two guides were awesome. The guide I was with most of the time, Edson, was 25years old and grew up in the jungle!! He left when he was 15 for Manaus and lives in the city now. But, his dad and some siblings still live in the Amazon. In fact, his dad is a medicine doctor and makes all kind of cool natural medicines for the jungle people. And that’s exactly what he refers to them as---jungle people. He said he lived 25k into the amazon! Ok, so first we went to the meeting of the waters. This is where the Rio Negro nd the Solomons (I think???) river come together to make the Amazonian. Its awesome because the Negro and the Solomons are two completely different colors and they run side-by-side for 7km without mixing! It looks like peanut butter and jelly. Blackish water and light brown muddy water just running side by side making a perfect line between them. Its because one run at 9km/hr while the other only runs at 2km/hr.
Ah—I am just going to list the rest of the stuff I did. I went to a floating restaurant and market. We went into the forest (saw monkeys on the way) to this spot where you can see these giant lily pads. So cool. That is where we first saw the alligators (caiman) and also a big iguana. Every night I slept on this little riverboat in a hammock. All 15 of us pretty much slept on top of each other in this little area. I slept surprisingly well. I fell asleep to the sounds of the Amazon…how amazing. It was all open so we of course had to wear lots of DEET (bug spray) to sleep. We also fell asleep to the sounds of jungle people…no joke. We would hear chanting and drums at night. We also went Piranha fishing! Wahooo! I caught a Piranha!! Did not touch it of course and I definitely screamed like the whole time lol. But it was awesome. I bet you never caught a Piranha! Haha. What else---hmm so we floated around a lot on little motorized canoes. Went to some waterfalls and stuff. We floated in flooded waters since it is a rainy season. Trees and plants just grow under water. So cool. We in middle of the forest except in a canoe because it was flooded!! We also went alligator (caiman) spotting one night. It was scary being on this little motorized canoe in the pitch black in middle of the Amazon. Our tour guide was awesome. He got in the water and caught a baby alligator. We thought he was nuts. He put it back, then caught an even bigger one!! It was only about 3feet long. Not a baby, but not a full-sized one either. Annndddd I got to hold it!! I wasn’t scared until it was actually in my hands and he said “if it starts to move don’t let go.” At that point, I had flashbacks from the Iguana in Puerto Rico lol. It started to move in my hands and I let go right away!! Thank god someone caught it again real quick or the other people waiting to hold it would have been pissed at me!! Haha so all I could think was I am going to drop this alligator and it is going to attack everyone around me. Haha. It was good thought and didn’t squirm. Well, we also got to do a little jungle trekking. Our tour guide showed us all kind of things. Like what kind of plants they use to cure what. They have a cure for EVERYTHING with the plants and trees! I mean vaginitis, erectile dysfunction, you name it!! Did I mention that we were being led on this hike by an Indigenous person (an Indian!) He did not speak English, but my tour guide grew up speaking the same language, so he asked him to show us around the forest. He was a pure 100% Indian. Face painted and all. He lived in a little community where there was a lot of incest. They don’t have children outside their race. We also got to chill on some nice beaches and swim in the Negro. I walked in a little…saw all the fish…and got back out. Haha. It was sooo dirty and polluted anyways!! On our last day we visited more jungle people. They were not pure Indian, but it was amazing. People still live in the jungle. It is sooo hard to imagine!! We hear/read about them but I actually experienced them. They hunt their own food, bath in the river, drink from the river, and wash their clothes in the river. They grow crops and do everything a wild jungle person would do!! Their lives seem so simple! And they chose to live this way!! They could get in their little canoes and go to the city if they wanted. In fact, some of them do!! But so many are still living in the Amazon. My guide left for the city to go to school, but most of his family stayed.
So let me tell you my opinion of the Amazon. Of course it was amazing. A little different than I thought. Def not as colorful as I thought. On TV you see so many bright colors, but it was all green. There were some colorful plants here and there. Just not as many as I had thought. BUT IT WAS STILL SO BEAUTIFUL!! I saw mokeys, iguanas, alligators, sloths, snakes, birds, and dolphins. Yes, dolphins! LOTS OF THEM!! Pink and grey freshwater dolphins everywhere!!!
After the Amazon, we arrived back in Manaus for the evening. Our flight wasn’t until 2am, so we walked around carnival a little bit. As soon as we started walking, we were being gawked at, starred down, make fun of, etc. It was horribly awkward. We only stayed around for a few minutes because so many people were uncomfortable. We were definitely the only Americans around. It is not a big place for carnaval or tourists. When we got back to Salvador the next day, I got to walk around all day and go to the market and out to eat and stuff. It was cool. But mom and dad, be glad I wasn’t in Salvador for carnaval!!
Salvador is where carnaval originated. Huge party and very dangerous. There are 700+ students and most were ok, but there were a few incidents. We were told beforehand to be careful and not to flaunt our assets—whatever they might be. Don’t take cameras, and don’t put money in your pockets. Some people don’t listen and 3 girls got robbed at knifepoint for their cameras. (that was in rio, I think?) In Salvador there were also incidents. One kid I know got hit in the head with a gun and knocked unconscious and robbed. A few other guys got held at knifepoint. Not a safe place to be during carnaval. SOOO many people. My roomie was OK, but freaked out by the fact that she saw a dead homeless guy. He was alive next to her a few minutes before and just croaked.
Ok, so be glad I wasn’t in Salvador and I was safe!! I am done--going to bed now!! Those were my amazing adventures in Brazil. I love you all and miss you so much!! Check out my new pics!! J

Next stop---South Africa!! Wahooooo. And while I am waiting for the internet to work I will tell you that I talked to Desmond Tutu today and he is just soooo cute. He Like a little teddy bear and I just want to hug and squeeze him. He took his hat off and bowed to me and a couple other people sitting at our table. We were just minding our own business and he came up to us. I was looking up info for my South Africa report at the time and his name is on every website I visited!! And here he is…living on a ship with me for three months. Amazing.