Brazil and the Amazon

Monday 26th April

Well Sally my friend we survived to return to the ship, thank you for your concern! I have to confess I was a little anxious myself. I never imagined that at my ripe old age I would be part of such an adventure.

We spent our first day in Brazil doing a tour of the old city of San Salvador. There is a lower and upper part of the city and the oldest part is in the upper level. Poverty and wealth, as in so many of the countries we have visited, exist side by side which of course emphasises both. As in Zanzibar the very high humidity blackens the buildings and there were many grey and black church towers and mildewed walls of buldings. Others are maintained to a high level and are painted different colours and very attractive. Trees and small parks dot most areas and the narrow winding streets are cobbled with tiny shops along them selling brightly coloured clothes and crafts. I didn't see any of the large expensive stores we are used to seeing in most places these days but we may have missed them as we spent most of our time in the historic parts of the city. I should add that at least 5 students were mugged or had items stolen from their persons. It was dangerous to walk beteen the two city levels and an elevator, of all things, takes one from one level to the other. There is also the possibility of theft or mugging if one walks anywhere alone....male or female. George chose to do so on the morning before we leftfor the Amazon and when I told our steward Crispen where he was he shook his head and said 'I would not walk alone in San Salvador'. of course I then felt guilty for not going and was restless until he returned unscathed.

'I only carried enough money for beer' said George 'Why would you worry?'

'They wouldn't have known that' I replied....men!

Tuesday April 27th.

We left the ship by bus for the airport at 2.30 pm, our flight was due to leave at 4.30 pm. There were 21 of us, George, 19 students and me. A guide took us to the airport by air conditioned bus and accompanied us into the building, handed out our two boarding passes each, directed us to Security and left.

We went through security easily....none of the officials spoke English, but that was OK. We went next 'en masse' to stare at the departures board to find out which gate we should head towards. No sign of our flight to Sao Pauo (where we would change planes for the flight to Manaus) on it. Perhaps too early? We'd wait. No one to ask, we tried but no one spoke English. We waited longer and then decided to act....but everyone we spoke to spoke only Portuguese. Finally we found a small bearded friendly American...who spoke Portuguese! He spoke to an official who confidently told him 'No problem, they should go to Gate 6'. We did. No flight number but hey there was still half an hour. HALF AN HOUR?! George went one way and I another. I knocked on the glass door 'protecting' uniformed flight staff from wild women like me. 'Excuse me!' I shputed as I banged . Someone slid it open and in English aaid "Yes?'

I explained the situation as calmly as I could. 'That flight is cancelled' he told me cheerfully,

'WHAT!?'

'That flight is cancelled madam'.

I gulped "OK....right then....what would you suggest? There are 21 of us who have to get to Manaus tonight.'

'I will find you other flights'.....he was still quite calm. I thought to myself this will be a miracle two separate flight for 21 individuals?

During this time the students bunched together in a group a few feet away on the other side of the door had no idea what was happening and George had not returned. I handed the official my boarding pass so that he could see where we had to arrive and at what time. He started punching at the computer without a word. At no point did he disclose to me what he was discovering....or not. There was a very tense silence in our small space.

George came back and I gave him and the students the bad news.... we waited and waited. The official was still punching the computer and then quite suddenly he walked away and disappeared.....oh no you don't I thought and approached the glass doors again. Another official said, in English, 'he is just changing your boarding cards.....there are two of you right?' No, No, I said, No there are 21 of us! 'Ah' he replied. The Amazon was flowing away from us rapidly.

'He will be back' he said reassuringly....I was not convinced.

Finally my first friend reappeared 'Here are your boarding cards' he said handing me two. 'NO!' I almost shouted 'there are 21 of us!' No problem apparently. We collected the other boarding cards and he disappeared again reappearing in a few minutes with 38 more new boarding cards.

Now' he told us 'You will fly to Brazilia and then from there to Munaus'

''What is our ETA in Manaus?' asked George

'10.36 pm'....one full hour earlier than out cancelled flight! We flew TAM Airlines in great comfort on both flights and arrived early, after all that. 'My' official (I happily claimed him now) had performed the required miracle!

We were met in Manaus and driven soon after by air conditioned (I mention this each time because such luxuries were soon to cease) bus. We saw our 'boat' (not ship!) in the dark. Lights were strung all round two wrap around decks and blue red and white baloons festooned the boat. There was music and there were welcoming smiles as we climbed aboard....but it seemed awfully small. There were soon to be 30 of us on board as we were joining up with another small group....would we fit? I kept that thought to myself. We were met by Maria Louise (Lulu) who with her American husband Adam had organised the whole trip. She of course spoke English!

She led us upstairs to the upper deck where 30 hammocks were slung, cheek by jowl like sardines. The one women's toilet was down a short, steep flight of wooden steps. I instinctively knew I would break my leg or neck the first time I managed to weave my way through neighbouring hammocks in the middle of the night on my way to the loo.

'Lulu' I explained 'I'll happily sleep on the benches down stairs as I'll never accomplish my nightly pee break (leg break? neck break? otherwise'

No problem she said, George, Gail (leader of the small group joining us) Lulu herself and myself would have hammocks slung for us on the lower deck. I said a prayer of thanks and made my way down to the lower deck, the toilet and food! No sooner said than done: four beautifully spaced hammocks were slung for us four there....looked very good. However I had of course forgotten the kitchen staff and crew who shortly thereafter slung up their hammocks beside ours and we were once again lost in a maze of hammocks! never mind they handed me a large flashlight and I felt secure. The ship sailed for about half an hour before docking beside one of the other SAS groups who had arrived on earlier flights and Gail and her small group joined us....with our medikit...important information that as you will see. It was both hot and humid.

Lulu showed me how to lie in a hammock. You must be horizontal and stretched out to start. The sides will fold nicely over you and you really do feel wrapped in a cocoon....it is wonderfully secure and comfortable. I'd take one home if only there were anywhere to hang it safely without bringing down the upstairs apartment. There was a lovely breeze as the night went on and we slept surprisingly well but woke early as the crew started to prepare the ship to sail further up the Rio Negro and eventually to lay out breakfast on two centre tables. It was about 5 am!

After breakfast the other boat (Group B, we were D and E) left us and we followed our schedule for the day. After breakfast we sailed away from the main boat in motorised long boats for about 40 minutes before landing to start a trek through the rain forest or jungle. We trekked in considerable heat and humidity for nearly two hours. We did not see snakes (although I found myself perpetually on the look out for them and tarantulas!). We learned a great deal from our guides about how to survive in the jungle, what to eat what not to eat ('Or you will die!' was a constant refrain). Also how to climb a tree hurriedly if attacked by a jaguar. Had this happened it would have been an all win situation for the jaguar as NONE of us could climb the trees! Some really physically fit and sporty students did try, unsuccessfully, and as my beloved friends know I am neither of those things! We returned to our boat after a fantastic hour swimming in the clear but dark brown river for lunch and a well earned rest in our hammocks.

Later in the afternoon we visited a village on the river banks. We met the children of the small school, the community craft shop, an expert long boat builder and our students (and George) played soccer with the local teams! The girls beat the unbeatable locaL women's team! needless to say there was great excitement all round. Others within our groups played volley ball. I must stress here that it was still very hot and humid. I remained a spectator as did some of the students and we had marvellous conversation covering all the isms....racism, ageism, homophobia, classism.....the whole shebang.

We left the village in the late afternoon and didn't rejoin our boat, which had moved, for some time...perhaps an hour and a half sailing up river in the dark. We finally landed on a beach on which 60 or so white plastic chairs were lined up opposite each other and a nearby table groaned with huge plate of colourful food. At that point I decided to stay on the beach and not climb the home made gang plank on to our boat which with one other was anchored just a little out in the water.

The message came down that someone was feeling very ill so I offered then to climb ob board to see her.

'You'll find it's not easy' said George, 'you'll have to take your shoes off'

'So?" I said offended. Hadn't I just trekked through the Amazon jungle and been swimming in the Rio Negro? What was he implying? 'Pshaw!' I spat at him....

Yes well...to cut a long story short it was hell getting up the ruddy 'gang plank'. It was set at a steep angle, it was slippery and consisted of a plank of wood with narrow strats for foot holds which really hurt your feet. And there was no one around to help. I thought 'Oh God I'm never going to make it to the top without falling off....injured so near the end of our voyage...what a shame, what a disaster!' I gingerly edged my way up putting my shoes a little ahead of me and often slipping backwards....I finally made it and there was no one to pull me on to the deck when I got there. A lone student appeared 'Grab my hand!' I shouted at him and, bless his cotton socks, he hauled me to safety.

My encounter with the sick student led to my decision to phone the ship and get hold of our Doctor who was on call. Two factors made it important: the student was vomiting and had diarrhoea but she also had a vicious headache. Classic heat stroke? Or could be a bug of some sort....but top priotity she was fast becoming dehydrated and the headache concerned me. Phoebe the leader of our neighbouring boat has better eyesight than i do and helped me read our 'green sheet' (which has all the information you could possibly need about what to do in emergencies, phone numbers etc) in the dim light provided on the boat. The student was afraid and said repeatedly "I wish I was on the ship and could speak to Dr Mort" so that was what we did and she did. I was so grateful for his reassuring tones and the fact that he took the situation very seriously.....one always wonders, am I overreacting? He gave me explicit instructions on which drugs to use out of our Medikit, to keep her hydrated and obviously to keep an eye on her progress. He spoke to her and when she said "I won't die will I?" (such an understandable thought when you're miles from anyhere) he said firmly 'No you will not die...but make sure you take lots of sips of water even when you don't feeli like it and Maggie will give you the drugs four hourly'. He reiterated the doseage to me after speaking to her....increasing the initial dose.

We brought her hammock down on to the main floor beside mine where she had easy access to the toilet and I believe there was a better air flow. We were then told that there was another student being brought across to our boat from Phoebe's with the Brazilian nurse (who spoke no English) and he was to sleep on the floor beside her and Lulu. Yet another student, this time one of Gail's group, had her hammock brought downstairs so we eneded up with a veritable sick ward!

I had to get up during the night to give 'my' patient her 4 hourly medication. She was sleeping very heavily and paying fewer loo visits and I was pushing the water sips whenever I woke her.
(Thank you Dr Mort!!). However I noticed that the student transferred from the other boat was up and down alot and groaning . I asked him what he felt and he said simply 'terrible!' so I woke the Brazilian nurse who brought over a similar medication to one she had given previously. The student said 'That stuff is doing no good at all'. Lulu had woken up and interjected "I am going to get the small boat and take him to hospital...he needs medical treatment" and I thought 'Thank God for Lulu!'....and that she happened to be on our boat. So into the darkness they chugged to the Manaus hospital. I later discovered that an IV was put up and after 3 hours Lulu took him to a comfortable hotel room where he remained until an hour before his flight was due to leave the following night.

I chose the next day to stay on board with our two patients, both much better by this time, whilst the rest went off to another village and to do some piranha fishing. George caught a 4 pounder to everyone's delight. (See proud photo). I on the other hand swung gently in my hammock reading my book and sleeping on and off to catch up on the night. The students were almost recovered.

After the return of the adventurers we had a magnificent lunch prepared in a very small kitchen by our amazing cook. There was always so much fruit gorged myself on it....my body had missed it so much. We get watermelon and canned fruit for breakfast each day and occasionally a tangerine or apple but on our boat we ate mangoes, bananas and paw paw...scrumptious.

We rested until evening when we sailed for about an hour to the meeting of the two rivers, the Amazon proper and the Rio Negro, its tributary. Each river has different contents in the water: the former has high phosphates and looks a muddy brown whilst the Rio Negro (Black river) is clear and dark brown in colour and is full of tannin and minerals. It was quite artistic the way they flowed and swirled into and around each other.

As the evening drew to a close we played a game of giving a gift to someone who we had enjoyed or been significant on the trip. the guides had brought chocolates in packets to hand out, I was chosen by 'my' patient, Gail by her's and George for being a fun leader and catching the piranha!
When you received a gift you in turn had to choose someone and on and on until everyone had received their chocolate.

Our last sail was a two hour one down the river again towards Manaus where we disembarked and went to a show with all the other participants from the exp;lorer (there had been 4 boats) of Amazonian dancing in a huge, characterless arena. The costumes were brilliant but the show lasted too long and we were all anxious to get on our way on the airport and back to the ship. George and I to make sure our flight was on the departure board!!

Eventually our buses came (air conditioning at last!) and we arrived at the airport to check ourselves throughsecurity ad have a last coffee and snack. Our flight via Sao Paulo this time was on the board and we departed Manaus at about half past midnight. (We all wondered, were these red-eye flights designed to save money? If so it was a horrible idea and very hard on some groups who had to travel even later and had a four hour stop over in Brazilia!) George and I were surrounded by ill students from another boat who were rushing back and forth to the toilets,...poor, poor souls! Sickness in Brazil, especially on the Amazon, has exceded any other country we have visited. We are still not sure of the cause, only that it seemed to be contagious. heat stroke? Dehydration or a bacteria? Or all three! A later group was forced to leave 4 students behind in the Rio airport medical clinic to be hydrate with IVs. They were put on a later flight.

We arrived back at the Explorer in San Salvador at about 11.30 am, it had been a long night. We went out for a last lunch ashore before Fort Lauderdale in a restaurant and market overlooking the harbour. We both collapsed on the bed afterwards and slept until about 7 pm!

But we have sailed down the Amazon and we have been swimming in its waters and George caught the biggest Piranha of these trips....and we have survived!