B​y karen​

On June 14th, we left for a three-day excursion up river from the Jungle Lodge. For this long excursion, it was just Ted and I, our guide (named Krishna), and the two boat crew. Our excursion took us to the town of Novo Airão, where we spent the night, then through the Anavilhanas Archipelago, a night camping in the jungle, then back to the Acajatuba Jungle Lodge. On the way to Novo Airão, our guide decided to guide our boat through a short-cut in a small channel that is only passable during high water. That was fine until we came head on with a fishing boat going the other direction! Confusion and mayhem ensued until the two boats were finally able to find a way to squeeze past each other.

We arrived in Novo Airão at 2:30pm, and went directly to the pousada (guesthouse) where we were spending the night. The Bella Vista Pousada is owned by an older German woman. She wasn't expecting us to arrive so early, so she sent us down the road to get lunch at a small restaurant. We noticed that a lot of the town signs had manatees on them. It turns out that the town used to have an aquarium with a manatee display, but the government shut it down because it is illegal to have manatees in captivity. Novo Airão still celebrates a manatee festival every year anyway. The population of Novo Airão is about 10,000, and one very large generator provides electricity to the town. They also have a NGO-run souvenier center where they make handicrafts for export. However, most of the residents here are fishermen, boat makers (all the boats used in the Manaus area are built here), or own a shop. Over lunch, our guide Krishna told us his life story (some of which sounded fishy):

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Krishna's story:

Krishna was born and raised in Guyana, the grandson of slaves from India. His father died when he was 6 years old. He is the oldest of many children, and his mother was pregnant when his father died, so he had to work to help support the family. He worked many different jobs including farming and fishing. He learned Spanish while working as a fisherman, because they worked partly in Venezuela. At age 20, he and a friend decided to get out of Guyana, but they didn't have any money. So they walked for over 300 km through the jungle to the Brazilian border. Krishna said that they often saw jaguars, and that he had his life flash before his eyes more than once on the journey. It took them 17 days to get to the border. They also saw a very large anaconda snake that already had something large in its belly, so it didn't bother them. Since then, Krishna worked as a guide in far north Brazil (near Venezuela) for 2 years, and then here in the Amazon for 14 years. He has a wife and two young sons who live in Manaus. Krishna has never become a legal citizen, so he does not get paid as well as the other guides. Most of the money that he and his wife earn goes towards their rent. He said that it would cost him about R3,500 to put in an application for citizenship (about US$1200), which is a lot of money for his family. Because of his job, he only spends 3 or 4 days in Manaus at a time.

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We began the next day by watching the iguanas in a tree behind the pousada as we ate breakfast. After breakfast, we went to a "snake farm" where they keep snakes that were captured from people's homes in the town in large outdoor enclosures. So it's more like a snake zoo than a farm. They also breed small boa constrictors (in conjunction with the federal government) for export to international zoos and pet stores. A baby boa can sell for R1500, so there is high security around the snake farm to prevent theft. We looked at three different types of boa constrictors, and also some large box turtles. We each took turns holding a red-tailed boa constrictor.

After the snake farm, we headed to the dock area of Novo Airão to see the pink dolphins that live in the Rio Negro. The owner of a riverside restaurant feeds them daily, and she let us help with the feeding. She has been feeding the dolphins for 6 years now, and signals dinnertime to them by splashing the water. Then she kissed each dolphin on the nose and said that you have to kiss them first (but we opted to let her do all the kissing). We found out later that if a woman sees a pink dolphin, that means she is pregnant - and here I was feeding them!! Well, thankfully, so far that seems to be myth! A friendly parrot is also in residence at the restaurant, and it can talk a little - they say it repeats all the gossip! Ted bought a beer, and the parrot helped himself to a sip.

That afternoon, we got back on the boat to cruise through the Anavilhanas Archipelago, which is the largest fluvial archipelago in the world. It was a very beautiful area with large, forested islands in every direction. Around 5pm we pulled into a small cove to pitch hammocks for a night of sleeping in the jungle. We set up 4 hammocks in the trees, then returned to the boat for dinner. Just before sundown, we climbed into our hammocks for the night. I was already nervous about camping in the forest because Krishna had been telling us stories about native Amazonians that have killed tourists in recent years, and about people killed by jaguars and anacondas. Also, in the rainforest, there are always the noises of leave rustling and twigs snapping due to small critters walking around and things falling out of the trees. So it often sounds like there is someone walking around the forest. On top of that, dinner didn't agree with my stomach, and so I had to get up several times in the middle of the night to use the 'facilities,' scared to death that I might step on a well-camoflauged snake. Well, needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink all night, and I was relieved to be alive at sunrise.

At 6am we left the camp area behind and headed down river for 2 hours, until we reached a small Indian village. The village is composed of people from 4 different tribes, with a total population of about 130 in the village (22 different families). The tribes gathered to live in this location about 17 years ago when the land was resigned to them (previously the land was owned by Japanese farmers). A Swiss missionary (I suspect she is a nun) helped them to build houses, learn Portuguese, get clothing and other goods, and to work together as a community. The community leaders showed us around town and invited us to sit with them for a bit while they had breakfast. They also let us play with an old-style blow gun, although they do not keep poison darts around anymore for safety reasons. They have a small generator for electricity, and a communal television. We gave them some groceries to thank them for their hospitality, and some of the town children gathered to watch us as we left.

Then back to Acajatuba Lodge. Krishna left for Manaus for his days off, and we joined the other guests with a different guide, named Hertizog. Hertizog is a native Amazonian who grew up in Manaus. His parents named him after the German missionary that helped their tribe. His grandparents still live in the jungle, and they go to visit them 2 times a year. Hertizog learned English from U.S. missionaries, and French from backpacking around Europe and living in Switzerland for 2 years. He was a very charismatic fellow, who liked to joke a lot and make funny facial expressions. It was under Hertizog's guidance that we went to see the giant Sumaumeira tree, and swim in the Rio Negro. The river was very warm to swim in - like a nice warm bath.

We also visited an area that is part of the river at high water, but is an isolated lake during the dry season. Hertizog mentioned that we were going to visit the floating house. Ted asked what the floating house was, and another guest (a Brazilian who had lived in the USA) started singing the Beverly Hillbillies theme as a response. So I first I was thinking oil, but then we realized that me meant that the floating house was owned by poor people. When we pulled up to the house, a very skinny dog came out to greet us. I told Ted that Mitzi (my parents' overweight terrier) needed to meet this dog - Mitzi often whines that she doesn't have enough to eat. We traded 5 Reais for a bottle of cachaça (a very strong liquor) and some lime candies. Even with the candies, the alcohol was too strong for me to drink much. We could see that it was raining in the distance, so we headed for a nearby house (friends of Hertizog's). It started pouring down rain just before we got there, and we all ran inside. Hertizog's friends generously let us sit out the storm in their living room, while everyone passed the liquor around and told jokes and stories in various languages. After the rain cleared, we headed out for some caiman spotting, but everyone was a little drunk by then, and so our guide had a lot of trouble finding the caiman! (He did find one eventually...)

On June 18th, we went back to Manaus and spent the night there.​


y karen.

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