Amazon Riverboat Adventure

On our second day in Brazil, I left for my Amazon Riverboat adventure trip. I was in group D with 30 other people, but there were also 3 other groups of 30 who were on different riverboats. We arrived that night to a brightly lit, colorfully decorated, double-decker boat that was waiting for us to board. The bottom deck had a small kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and a few tables. The top deck was lined with hammocks for us to sleep on.

We were greeted by a woman who told us to call her “Lou Lou.” As the program leader, she was thrilled to have us there, especially since SAS has been doing this trip for over 20 years. She introduced us to the crew members who would be cooking our meals and the tour guides who would be teaching us about their native land. We also met two Brazilian dancers who were there to entertain us during dinner. They were dressed in their native clothing, which wasn’t much. Their performance was great. After a delicious meal, the dancers left, and we headed up to our hammocks for bed. Once our boat left the shore and we started sailing, one by one, everyone started to fall asleep. I knew this because it immediately became an orchestra of different snores. Luckily, I was jet lagged from all the traveling, so I had no trouble falling asleep… despite the loud snoring that seemed to be coming from every direction.





The next morning, I woke up feeling surprisingly well rested. Although some people didn’t think so, I thought the hammocks were extremely comfortable. I also don’t get sea sick so I loved the way that the waves rocked me right to sleep. Either way, it was the first time we were seeing the Amazon during the day so no one was complaining. It’s crazy how many times I’ve been on boats this semester. I hope I never take for granted the feeling of going to sleep in one place and waking up to a completely new scene. This trip was particularly special because our boat was so small and open. We didn’t have air conditioning to block out the sound of birds or shaded windows to keep out the natural sunlight. When we pulled up to shore, we could practically reach out and touch the tree branches.

We ate our breakfast while the boat pulled up to shore and then we headed out into the jungle for a hike. On our hike, we saw different plants and trees, as well as spiders, ants, and mosquitoes. Some of the plants and insects were poisonous, while others were okay to touch or eat. However, it was hard to differentiate between what was safe and what was dangerous because our tour guides had a sense of humor and found it hilarious to trick us. It was also difficult to hear them if we were in the back of the line. They would pass back a plant and someone would say, “You can eat this.” But then one of the tour guides would burst out laughing and say, “No that’s poisonous! It will stop your heart and kill you almost immediately!” Our guide would laugh and laugh, while we just stood there sort of dumbfounded. Someone should explain to them where to draw the line between what is appropriate to joke about and what is not. I think a good rule of thumb is if it’s a matter of life and death, you don’t joke. But that’s just my opinion.







After a few hours of trekking through the jungle we each had enough mosquito bites to play connect the dots on our bodies. I swear people’s bug bites were starting to look like constellations—I saw a row of bites on someone’s arm that looked like Orion’s belt. Let’s just hope those malaria pills did their jobs because the mosquitoes obviously weren’t scared off by the DEET we’d sprayed all over our bodies. Unfortunately, the expensive, cancer-causing DEET seemed to only scare away other humans who could practically taste the bug spray every time they came close to you. The only upside was that the DEET masked the body odor I’m sure we all had after a full day of traveling on buses and planes, a night of sleeping on hammocks while floating down a river, and a day of hiking through a jungle—all without showering. Did I mention that at this point we aren’t even halfway through the trip?




Later that day, we met up with another group and went swimming in the river. (I should probably clarify now that the river I’ve been talking about is the Negro River, not the Amazon River.) After, we took a small wooden boat to a local village where we visited a man who makes the wooden boats. We watched him for a few minutes and then went over to the elementary school where we were given a tour. It goes without saying that I spent hours chasing the little kids around, trying to talk to them in Spanish. (Yes, I know they speak Portuguese… And yes, I quickly realized that the languages are not as similar as I had thought… Or more likely, my Spanish was not as good as I had thought.) Lucky for everyone, I stopped trying to communicate with the kids when I was asked to play soccer, a trip tradition. We played a pretty serious match—SAS women vs. Brazilian women. Even though some of the Brazilian women were not as young or as fit as us, and none of them were wearing shoes, they had some pretty fancy footwork and put up a good fight. But for reasons other than my own contributions, (apparently my 6th grade soccer skills didn’t come back to me as fast I would’ve hoped) the American team won for the first time in 9 years!








When we got back to the beach where our ship was docked, there was a barbeque waiting for us. Soon after, fireworks started going off. After dinner, we went alligator hunting. I’ll save you from getting your hopes up now… we never caught anything. But I have to mention what an awesome jungle badass my guide was—standing barefoot on the front of our small wooden boat, chopping away with his machete to clear the stray branches… even scratching his back with his knife—all while making special noises to attract the alligators. I’m not sure what I was more afraid of—the alligators or the knife that my guide kept swinging awfully close to my face.
The next morning, we went Piranha fishing off of the small wooden boats. Luckily, someone did catch one… And it was pretty big too! We each took turns holding it by the string and looking at its teeth. (I think it might have been one of the fish we were served at dinner that night, but I’m trying not to think about it.) After, we visited another village and learned how they make their special flour, a staple ingredient to their community.






The last thing we did on the riverboats was visit the “Meeting of the Waters.” This is the point where the Amazon River and the Negro River meet. You can actually see the line where they touch, but don’t mix together. The Amazon River is a dirty-looking, light brown color, while the Negro River is a much clearer dark blue. Not only are they completely different colors, but they also differ in temperature, velocity, and pH—a phenomena beyond my comprehension.




We left our riverboat and met up with the other groups. Luckily, we were one of the only groups who hadn’t gotten sick. And I mean deathly sick… throwing up for 10 hours straight. Before we all headed to the airport, they had a party for us with music and Brazilian dance performers. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be in the mood for this. Several people were sick, all of us were tired, and most of us hadn’t showered in 3 days… We were ready to go back to the ship. However, part of me didn’t want to leave, knowing it was the last time I’d be off the ship before heading home to Ft. Lauderdale.