Boating down the amazon

I've been on this amazing amazon ferry boat now for 5 days and 4 nights. It has been one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Not the boat, but the river and it's natural beauty. I would assume this is what the garden of Eden looks like. The river is a chocolate milk brown depending on what part of the river we are on. The other half is a dark almost deep red color. I've made friends from all over the world. But I am the only American on the boat, so I thought but I'll get to that later. I now am friends with people from London, wales, holland, isle of man, Australia, Peru, Canada, poland, and of course brazil.










But back to the trip. I've basically been sleeping in a hammock every night. I say "basically" because I didn't really sleep the first night. Look at this place where we sleep.


Basically you sleep elbow to elbow with your neighbors. There is me in t hammock. And my friend who we don't talk. Ha ha.


So as we travel down the amazon we've seen pink dolphins that will ride up along the side of the boat. And there are a lot of people who live along the side of the river.



Their houses are pretty primitive. But I found out it's a custom when you float by the people will row out to the side of the boat and you are suppose to give them food shirts or anything to help them out. So they will row out and their kids will all wave and make a "whoop whoop" sound. And you throw your gift in a plastic bag that will float into the river and they will grab it.


Here they are all lined up waiting for the boat


And the more adventurist of them will row right up to the side of the boat and throw a hook onto a piece of metal and they will sell you fruits and stuff that they have picked. People also give them more stuff as well.



In one of the boats there was a little girl I'd say was around 10 years old. A girl I was standing next to took her little blue sandals off and gave them to her. It was very sweet of her.
So back to the story of me being the only American. So I thought I was the only American on the boat. But then we met the captain's son. He took us up to the front of the boat where the captain was driving the boat. And he was from savanna, GA. Which was pretty cool. He had been driving that boat for 30 years and was the expert of the amazon. He said CNN came down and did a story on him and his life on the amazon. He is the first and only American to be a captain of the amazon. I thought that was pretty cool.



Boat life...


My view from the shower.



Basically all I ate... Yumm!



I was very surprised that there were almost no bugs. I think I got one bug bite while on the boat. I did not expect that.
Here are a few more pictures from the amazon. Enjoy!


From the front of the boat at sundown.





Yikes... Piranhas




Last day on the boat.



Arriving in Belem!

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Location:The amazon river brazil.

The offerings of Manaus.

I have had such a great time in manaus. It is a lot more than I thought. I've met some wonderful people here and I'll have a hard time leaving. I wasn't able to meet up with my old mission companion because I guess he has changed email or something but I guess I'll try and get ahold of him when I visit again. I really haven't been able to do a lot of sight seeing while here because of the rain but what do you expect while visiting the "rainforest".

The hostel has been full of people because they are having a big fish convention for biology students around brazil. So, I've met some cool kids from all over brazil. Many have invited me to visit their house when I go through their city. So that means free stays! Que bom! One guy in particular Paulo, is from the state of menius gerails (spelt wrong) is really cool and I've met about 5 of his close friends here at their convention. They are all from the same city and have all invited me to come visit. So I'll be visiting the soon.



Today I went to the amazingly beautiful amazon river. I went with a girl I met here in the hostel, Jessica. She is from Pennsylvania and is half Brazilian. So she speaks Portuguese very well. We chartered a boat guide to take us in the forest and to see where the two rivers meet. Here are some pictures.




Us on the boat.




This is where the two rivers meet. This place was so cool. The brown water behind me is cold. But the darker water is warm. For some reason these two rivers don't mix. So you can actually see the two rivers separated. Really cool.



This is a sloth that was really smelly.







Cool Lilly pads. There were ton of alligators around here.


They had a big buffet in the middle if the jungle too. Ha ha so I ate there.

More to come. Tomorrow I'm going up river for 5 days on a boat with two Australian girls I met here.


The Australian girls are in the middle and Paulo whom I will visit os on the right. Jessica who I went to the amazon with is below me.

Stay tuned. Good night and good luck.
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Location:Manaus, brazil. The rainforest

My first day in Manaus, Brazil

So, after spending 4 days in the lovely city of Atlanta, I finally found my way to Brazil. Not to rio de janeiro, but to Manaus. Yes, that Manaus. It's a city of a little over 2 million people that is one of many cities that are found along the amazon river. Manaus happens to be the largest. I was really happy to finally get to brazil. I sat next to a guy on the plane that had to have to worst breath known to man kind.
After surviving the breath I landed in Manaus. Once I finally found a taxi I I made it to the hostel that I found in the lonely planet book on the way down. The taxi driver dropped me off in the front of the hostel. Little did I know the hostel was full. There is a big biology study going on here and every biology student in Brazil seems to be here. But the hostel owner found an extra hammock and stung it up for me. It was so hot out and I was up on the roof. When he strung it up he put it next to this girl that was sound asleep. When I tried to get in I kept swinging over and hitting her. So, instead of making her night miserable I layer my jacket out on the floor and soon fell asleep. We woke up and she looked at me and said "why are you sleeping on the floor" - enter Jennie from switzerland, my only friend.

Today Jennie and I walked around the street market. Got some food and now she is asleep on the couch and I'm starving again waiting for her to wake up.... WAKE UP!!


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My layover in Atlanta

Sometimes the worst thing is to have a long layover. Today was one of those days. I had the red eye flight from slc to Atlanta, which landed me in the airport at 6:00am. Before I left Leah reminded me that the largest aquarium in the world was in Atlanta. With nothing to do I thought I would make the trip. In looked it up on my iPhone and hound that it was only a few subway stops away from the airport. And for those of you that have been to the Atlanta airpot, you know the subway connects to the baggage area.

I stashed my bags in a baggage storage for 7 bucks and grabbed my camera. Needless to say I was amazed. Well worth the 30 bucks to get in. When I walked in I made my way right over to the largest tank in the world. This tank is the only tank that has 4 whale sharks in it, and is a little larger than a football field long.















After looking at these amazing fish I met one of the tour guides. I showed some genuine interest in these large sharks. He said, "hey, want to see these fish from a view point people rarely get to see?"
"of course" I replied. He took me over to the elevator and took me up to the 4th floor. We walked in to top of the tank! These monsters of fish were swimming so close I could have reached down and pet them. I tried and I was quickly scolded by my tour guide.












This was quite the experience to say the least. They were so graceful and had a beauty not like any other fish I've ever seen. But they were not the only sea creatures I saw today. Here are a few more that I saw.




Jelly fish




Sea horse




Manta ray




Hammer head shark




This was the coral fish exhibit. Beautiful colors.


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Location:Altlanta GA

Getting ready to go

So, today I finally got my ticket purchased and my bags packed. After booking my hostel in Rio, I'm finally ready to go. Stay tuned for updates.