Brazil Day 1 and 2

While I was in Brazil I kept a journal nearly everyday to keep track of some of the things we did.

Day 1 Monday, July 13th 2009

We are currently en route to Manuas - we are missing one lady from Texas whose flight was late. [actually we found out when we landed she made it on our flight].
We've been flying from Atlanta for several hours now. The entire flight will be 6 or 7 hours. Just filling out forms, watching movies, eating, and talking.
Nothing too exciting has happened, everything is going smoothly. I can't wait to arrive in Manaus. We're on a fairly small aircraft that is about 2/3's full, so we have a little room. I'm still working on remembering every one's name and hoping to catch some sleep.

Day 2 Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

It's ten o'clock in the morning and we're on the boat. But I'm skipping about 12 hours. Our plane landed just before midnight and it took a long time to get out of the airport because of customs. Judy King met us there. We gathered our tremendous amount of luggage and rode the bus to Judy's house. There we met Cathie - she and Judy work together. She's from Scotland and has an incredible accent. I love it.
It is very hot and sticky here. So humid. We all made our way to our bedrooms - we were in pairs. I got the yellow room with Laurie. Nearly all of us slept in hammocks. There are hooks in the walls in all the rooms. It was about 2 a.m. by the time we got to bed and pretty soon I feel fast asleep - but most everyone else couldn't sleep because of the heat.
I woke in some confusion to banging pots and pans and so comfortable in my hammock I didn't want to get up. But it was after 6:00 and I had too. We had a great breakfast of hard boiled eggs, coffee, bread, and peanut butter. Everyone is in fairly good spirits although some people are overwhelmed with the heat.
Just after 8:00 our bus arrived and we loaded it to the gill. I sat in the back with 150 eggs on my lap. Water jugs and packs filled the isles. Alan Graham was holding a whole slew of bananas still on their branch. Jarad's wife, Jannie, had a pot of beans on her lap, etc. It was about 45 minutes down to the docks. Traffic is crazy in Manaus. Small, narrow streets. Motorcycle's squeezing in and out, curvy, bumpy roads and sharp unexpected turns.
The boat is quite lovely- we've been going about an hour. It has two open levels with benches on the upper portion along the sides. Tonight our hammocks will get attached to the ceiling.
All one can see is green vegetation and odd little houses hither and thither. So far, a dolphin has been spotted and that's it. The river is very high--recordly high, so Judy doubts we'll see much wildlife.

Later:

It's 4:30 now we're still chugging along. Lunch was delicious. We had white rice with chicken in a broth, beans and some grainy stuff that is a staple here. It's called fadenia. It doesn't smell so good, rather like chicken feed. But mixed in with the beans and rice it was very good.

Here's a list of our group before I forget.

#1 - Trip leader: Joe Fockler
#2 - Daniel Fockler (24)
#3 - Jared Fockler (22)
#4- Jannie Fockler, Jared's wife. (24)
#5 - Andrea Fockler (17)
#6 - Gene Babylon (67)
#7 - Alan Graham (50)
#8 - Pastor Eric Jorgensen
#9 - Grant Vitek (17)
#10 - Cama Voyack (24)
#11 - Laurie Aten, our physican
#12 - Me (19)
#13 - Judy King, Host.

This river trip is so cool. People live along the entire thing. I guess I thought people would only live on it by the main cities - not so.
Another thing that is a surprise is how wide the Amazon River is all along! Huge.