It has been a few weeks since we returned from our trip to the Amazon and we still pinch ourselves that we got to spend time there. On our family scale, it ranks right up there with any trip we have done. On one hand, the Amazon basin is so huge in scale that is hard to fathom. On the other hand, every square meter of ground holds enough life to be fascinating for years. The back and forth that is part of switching scales from the immense to the minuscule means that everywhere you look could just possibly be the coolest thing you have seen on the trip.
One moment you are feeling like you are sailing on the ocean as it takes you seven miles just to cross from one side of the river to the other, and the next you find yourself mesmerized by a two inch wide line of leaf cutter ants on the jungle floor in the middle of the night.
That our family likes rivers is not exactly a hidden secret, so when our guide said that getting a houseboat would be the best way to see the Amazon, we were sold. Sara’s parents were even brave enough to join us on the adventure, which made things even better. It was a quirky, wooden, thirty year old boat that was by no means luxurious, but it had an amazing top deck with a covered patio and a walkway all the way around the boat, beds for everyone, and great Brazilians taking care of us. The Comte Shaloom was our home for six days, and it was river living at it’s Brazilian finest. Most mornings you were up before dawn to take a motorized canoe out to watch the jungle wake up. Amazing birds, monkeys, sloths, caiman, dolphins, and insects galore were all part of the daily agenda. Then it was typically back to the “big boat” for breakfast and then a few hours of motoring to the next spot. Lunch, another side trip to something else amazing, another round of motoring, and then the evening event of a sunset canoe tour or a nighttime jungle hike. Some of the days stretched to fifteen hours, but there was always time for a nap in a hammock and a good book.
Being on the boat also let you see life on the river as you cruised along. It was nice just to spend time passing by all the small villages and the floating restaurants. It was teacher interesting to see the school boat parked outside the regional boarding school. A normal moment on the river would be where one minute there’s a family motoring by in a dugout canoe, the next the whole boat is rocking in the wake of the giant ferry boat making it’s way upstream during a thirty hour journey to some far away town with the top floor full of hammocks. You pass by too many rivers to name or keep track of, and when you finally do go by something as small as the Deschutes, it probably isn’t even on the map. We went about 200 kilometers upstream and back during our six days, and on any map of Brazil that shows the whole Amazon basin, our route would look like we barely left Manaus. It was just a small taste, but one we will remember.
Once again, I end with a montage of moments from our trip. No explanation, just the best I could put together to convey the moment.
Cheers,
Adam
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