Brazil

After spending a little over a week’s time in Brazil traveling up and down the Amazon River and flying down to Rio de Janiero, we’ve headed out of the country and are beginning the over 3,000 nautical mile straight shot across the Atlantic Ocean to the African continent and Ghana. The seas have started to get rougher as we head further out into the Atlantic Ocean. The ship is currently at a location where oceanic gyres come together that makes for rough seas and some pretty large waves. I’m have not been seasick so I have been enjoying the ship’s bouncing which I think makes it more fun but some people are struggling. From the Amazon rainforest to Rio’s famous beaches, I’ve seen a lot of Brazil over the past week we spent there. Both locations are unique characteristics to the country that make it understandable why this is an up and coming nation in the world today.

            When I left you off last we were sitting in Macapa before moving up the river. The two-day trip to Manaus was very interesting because U.S. diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Brasilia joined our trip. It was a great experience listening tothem speak about Brazil and about their jobs in the foreign service. Some interesting facts I learned was that the U.S.A. is becoming a very popular destination for Brazilians with an over 100-day wait to get a Visa currently. On average, Brazilians spend around $4,000 on things in the U.S.A. when they come to the country. Brazil has a women president who did not hold public office prior to the presidency. The middle class is improving and becoming more self-sustaining as they are able to buy more modern things, which is one of the main reasons why rapid development is occurring in Brazil today.    

The ship arrived in the city of Manaus on Tuesday Jan. 31, a bustling port city on the Rio Negro just off the Amazon River. Manaus is essentially an island to the rest of Brazil because it is really only accessible by plane and boat. Infrastructure is one of Brazil’s biggest struggles at the moment and will be over the next 10 years. Majority of roads and secondary roads outside of the major cities need work and it’s not easy to travel within the country by car. Manaus was a lot bigger than I expected it to be. The city has over 2 million people and is not something you would expect in the middle of the Amazon.

My four days on land in Brazil were packed with rigorous travel plans down to Rio de Janiero and back again to Manaus to meet the ship. We were first off the ship at 8 a.m. and immediately boarded a river boat to get a small taste of what the Amazon River and surrounding rainforest areas had to offer. The boat cruised down the Rio Negro, which runs into the Amazon River and is the second largest river by volume in the world behind the Amazon. It gets the name Rio Negro because the water actually appears to be black. The boat took us back to small river villageswhere people live right on the water. At this spot, we boarded smaller canoes to explore the area closer and quicker. The motorized canoes took us around the river areas and back into rainforest river areas to view the beauty off therainforest. We also took a small hike to view a swamp area where we saw huge plants, flowers, trees, and unique birds. The soothing sound of the rainforest is just as you would expect it to be. Back on the riverboat, we continued back out to the Rio Negro where we went to go see the meeting of the waters. This is the location where the Amazon and Rio Negro meet. The meeting of the waters is a unique experience because it is clearly visible where the rivers meet. The Amazon has a muddy brownish color and the Rio Negro has a blackish tint andit’s very clear where they meet because the rivers are divided visibly. This is due to different PH levels in the water. As we headed back to the dock, we were able to see great views of Manaus. Our flight to Rio was in the afternoon so we immediately boarded a bus to go to the airport for our 3.5-hour direct flight to “The Marvelous City.”

We arrived in Rio at 10:30 p.m. so there wasn’t much of a chance to admire the city’s beauty right away; that would have to wait until morning. The group headed to our hotel where we threw our bags in the hotel rooms and headed out to find some dinner. We finally found a small café where we choose to finally sit and relax. In Brazil, lunch is dinner and that is when they eat their main meal. Dinnertime is actually meant to be like our lunch so small things like sandwiches are what the locals eat for dinner. (I’m starting a section at the bottom of food and drinks that I tried at each spot)

Our first day in Rio was packed with exploring the city from the Christ the Redeemer statue to sitting out on Rio’s world famous beaches. First thing we jumped in open-air jeeps that would take us up to the Tijuca National Forest and the statue. From the jeep, it was an awesome way to finally see what the city of Rio had to offer. We turned down to the beach area and immediately saw Copacabana beach and the marvelous waterfront. Beachgoers already at 9 a.m. were setting up for the day in the sun ahead. Since we were further in the Southern Hemisphere, it is currently summer in Rio. So it was very hot outside. I also immediately realized just how crazy the driving in Brazil is. Let’s just say that they like to be really close to each other on the road always. The jeep took the winding roads up Corcovadomountain where the statue is located. The drive offers spectacular views of the city and I began to realize just how unique Rio actually is. At the statue, I opted for the 250-step walk up to the top. From the city, the statue appears to be not too big however; at the top it’s truly amazing how big and high up you are over the city. From the top, the peak offered breathtaking views from the lush green rolling mountains of the rainforest to the dense city buildings out to the glimmering ocean waters. Our jeeps then took us on an exploration of the rainforest area, which is another unique part about Rio. In just 10 minutes you can be out of the bustling city to a dense rainforest. In the afternoon, I was excited to hit Rio’s beaches. The two most popular beaches are Copacabana and Ipanema. We headed to lifeguard post # 9 on Ipanema, which is a world famous area for tourists to visit. As we headed out to the beach it was amazing to see the mass humanity on the beach, just thousands and thousands of people for the entire stretch of the beach.  On the beach, vendors come around selling you various items from drinks to clothing, and crafts. The weather was perfect, hot and not a cloud in the sky. The ocean water is very cold actually because the ocean currents come from the south but it was very refreshing. One very cool moment while we were on the beach was seeing a bunch of Brazilians playing soccer on the beach. As you glanced down the beach, you could see tons of balls in the air for hundreds of feet as they all gathered to start juggling games with one another. I think it would be an awesome idea for a World Cup commercial. In the evening, we headed out to Lapa, the bustling nightlife area of the city with a lot of different Samba clubs, restaurants, and bars. As part of our tour we were actually given a Samba lesson, which was a lot of fun and you’ll have to ask me to show you when I get back. We were then able to hit the town and know how the locals dance. For a Wednesday night, the area was very busy. Actually on weekends they have to close the streets in the area because there are so many people. But Rio is one of those cities where you can go out any night of the week. Exhausted, I headed back to the hotelhoping to get a small amount of rest for another busy day ahead.

The next day we had the unique chance to go into a favela, a shantytown where the poor population lives. Most of the time these areas are too dangerous to enter because they are known for crime and unsafe conditions. This favela is unique because it was acceptable for tourists to enter and it is one of a kind in the world. They have essentially made it into a real life museum that people actually live in. The favela is built on the side of a hill with winding paths, and staircases providing for an astonishing site. They do have electricity, sewage, and water so even favela’s have moved into the modern world. I actually even saw people with flat screen televisions inside their homes. The government does not recognize these homes though. If you were to look at a map of this location, it wouldreveal that there is nothing located at that spot. At the museum center, they let our group graffiti the walls. Graffiti is an important aspect of the favela community and expression. Children in the community were also eager to look at our cameras and play games with us. It was great getting to interact with them even if we didn’t speak their language. After the favela, we headed to Old Rio and the more urban downtown center. Quite the contrast from where we just were. I ate lunch at this old Portuguese restaurant and continued to walk around the city center. The city was bustling at this time of day and I was amazed just how many people were out at this time. Rio is a city of over 6 million people and it showed. The last stop of the day was at Sugarloaf mountain where you can take cable cars to the top of a mountain at the entrance to Rio’s bay. The peak offers breathtaking views of the city from a perspective of looking toward the city from the coast. It is really hard to describe just how great these views were, only pictures can really do it justice. For our final evening, I headed out to a Brazilian steakhouse called, Carretao. This was an awesome eating experience because they come out and serve any meat you can imagine right on to your plate, freshly cut, and all-you-can-eat. This was the perfect for the situation because I was really hungry. The next morning we had an early wake up in order to head back to Manaus so it would be another night with little sleep.

The final day I’m pretty sure I was running on about 12 hours over our three night stay in Rio so the trip back was rough. Our flight out of the city offered more stunning views of the city just as the sun was coming up. We had one connection in Sau Paulo, which is actually the largest city in Brazil. Even though a brief stay, it was cool to at least get an aerial view of the city. We made it back to the ship at 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3. The ship finally departed at 7 p.m. after a slight delay because our fuel was late in arriving for the long trek across the Atlantic. This part of the trip crossing the ocean is going to be interesting and long, we’ll see how it goes.

 

Food ~ Grilled cheese with banana. Acai – Amazon fruit that is very healthy and served chilled with granola/banana. Very tasty snack that is pure fruit. Rare beef dish that had olive oil and cheese, which you then put on bread. Brazilian steakhouse – Any meat you can imagine served right on your plate.

 

Drinks ~ Skol – Brazilian beer. Carpionella – Not sure how to spell it but a vodka drink mixed with limes or other things like watermelon, also very strong. I had one that had chunks of watermelon in it, which was very tasty.

 

I am extremely happy that I made the choice to travel down to Rio. I still can’t really believe that I made it down there; Rio is a city that I have always wanted to go to. It’s easy to see why the World Cup will be here in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. People are going to be able to learn more about this city and country thanks to these two major events. It was made clear to me by the locals that they are very concerned with winning the Cup in 2014, it’s something that they desperately want to happen. I also must mention about Rio’s reputation as a crime haven. Not once did I feel unsafe or threatened while in the city. It may have been that I was overly cautious and aware of my surroundings but I came away impressed. I’d come back to Rio the first time I get the chance and I’d recommend to anyone coming to this part of the world that they make a stop in this magnificent city. There’s a local saying that once you come to Rio you always leave part of your heart there to come back to.

 

 A note on ship life ~ Last night they shut down everyone’s Internet usage and used all the bandwidth to watch the Super Bowl. It was a lot of fun because everyone was so into watching this major American event.