Brazil-AMAZON

Long overdue are some South American posts... so here goes:

Q and I flew to Sao Paulo via Mexica City and stayed the night. The first 24 hours were a huge culture shock for both of us and Q was a bit overwhelmed by the language, but a long talk with the taxi cab driver on the way back from a super mall helped him kick into Portuguese mode. I was dumbfounded that I have a husband who speaks another language! It was crazy to hear Q just rattle off lengua nueva because I had never ever heard him speak Portuguese before and it has been 7 years! The next morning we flew to the Amazon and stayed the night in Manaus at the Tropical before crossing the Rio Negra into the jungle where we stayed at the Tiwa Jungle lodge for 2 nights.

(ABOVE): LEAVING THE TROPICAL HOTEL (the one with the zoo)
The beach of the Rio Negra, awaiting our boat ride into the jungle.
This was positively the hottest most humid moment of my life.
A bit of me literally melted off and I had to leave it on the dock.

(ABOVE): ADVENTURES IN THE AMAZON
We went parana fishing with stick polls but only managed to catch these poisonous catfish.
Q learned how to set a jaguar trap from a native in the jungle.
We caught alligators in the marshes of the Rio Negra.

(ABOVE): THE TIWA
Our jungle lodge- little huts built on stilts in the river.
Just off our deck is out 3 foot pet alligator.
We named him Carl.

(ABOVE): TO THE MEETING OF THE WATERS
We hopped a small boat to ride to the Meeting of the Waters.
This is where the Amazon River is formed from two rivers that don't mix.
Sewage pipes along the bank just empty into the river.

(BELOW): NATIVE AMAZON VILLAGE

(ABOVE): We played with this sloth, tried on the gear, and learned about rubber trees.

(ABOVE): The river floods up this high every year so all their huts are built on stilts.
The village is very smelly.

Q was stung by some massive flying rodent... at least that's what it looked like.
He became woozy, dizzy, and sick soon after.
The wound bled and swelled to the size of a tennis ball.
He still has a puffy scar two months later.

(ABOVE): Our boat broke down on the way back and we were stranded in the Amazon.
These big boats are how natives travel the Amazon.
They set up hundreds of hammocks to sleep in and sit on during the long ride.
Our boat had to let Q and I off on a random shore so we could catch our plane on time.