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Published: August 13th 2006
river life
main port for manausHello Everyone!!!
I am in Manaus, Brazil and arrived here almost two weeks ago. Flying over Manaus was a perfect introduction to the city. As the airplane lowered, looking out the window there was water as far as the eye could see. The Amazon didn't look like a simple river. This body of water is massive and appears to be an ocean. Dispersed in between mini rivers of the larger river were what looked like broccolli heads from above. Lots and lots of broccolli. There was dense jungle everywhere......surrounded by miles and miles of water. Beautimous. As the plane drifted over this place I knew this would be a very special year.
Manaus is super duper hot and humid and I'm sticky with sweat all the time. Air conditioning has become my new best friend and so has cold showers (no hot water here) I've been chugging water like theres no tomorrow trying to keep hydrated. Also, been eating a ton of fruit...papaya, mango, graviola, guava, avacado and other tropical goodies. My new favorite breakfast is fruit smoothies. The bananas are soooo sweet here, mmm.....I didn't realize they could be so damn good. .... like solid sugary goodness. Lunch
amazon river
a beast of water is a big meal here, more then dinner. I've been eating great meals, barbequed amazonian fish (pirarucu, matrinxã) with rice, farofa (like a cous cous), vinegrette (like pico de gallo) and beans. Scrumdidlyumptious.
It's so great to be re-united with my boyfie Fernando and it's lovely living with him as well. Six months apart has definitely made our relationship stronger. We have a cute apartment with yellow walls and wood floors on the second floor of a large apartment complex. Today I woke up to breakfast in bed. sweetness. Also, I'm learning Portuguese slowly but surely. Everywhere I go it's all I hear so my brain is starting to catch on. good stuff.
Yesterday I went on a tour of the Amazon river and it was totally amazing. It felt like a dream and was one of those moments I knew I would have in my memory forever. We took a big boat off of the Manaus port and went around too see the outskirts of the city, the meeting of the waters and some amazon houses. Then we all got on a smaller motorized wooden boat and scooted around through smaller tributaries of flooded forest. Soooooo
Teatro Amazonas
Opera house in downtown beautiful. Fernando and I were at the front of the boat with nothing blocking our view. There were white herons pecking at the foliage along the banks of the river. Overhead were tropical birds singing and darting in and out of the trees. At one point I saw an irredescent blue butterfly the size of my hand within arms reach. Little yellow and orange butterflies fluttered about as we whizzed by. The Amazon is so powerful and amazing to witness. It has an energy, like a force field around it, of goodness, mystery and wisdom. I felt like I was in the presence of something sacred, like a church.......where you should whisper. This place feels like heaven on earth, like a utopia of harmony......like the way things should be everywhere in this world. Balance. Unity. Calm. Peace.
We passed flooded forest, with trees growing straight up out of the water. You could see water marks five feet up from where the water now rested. The guide said that last week the water was at that level. We paused at rubber trees and watched river life along the banks of the amazon. Out of nowhere, little amazonian children would appear in
Pigeons
Symbolism of the Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes flowing along side each other and not mixing due to temperature, density etc. trippy wooden canoes. What a beautiful place to live and play every day!
I'm in the process of finding english jobs, volunteer work and portuguese classes. Things are good and I'm so happy to be here. I hope you all are doing wonderful and enjoying the last of summer! Take care.
Love, Lil
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Chloe
non-member comment
hey!
wow, ur pics are sooo amazing and pretty! and u look hot! ur hair's a lot longer than i remember.