Departing Manaus, Brazil

Well, we’ve set sail again. We left Manaus about two hours ago and our on our way back out the Amazon to the Atlantic before crossing over to Ghana. It will be kind of nice to get out of the humidity and bug dense air for a change. But, while I have some time to kill before classes start again tomorrow, I suppose I should update on the last two days in Brazil.

While the first three were pretty action packed and full of activities, the last two were spent a little more leisurely.  Because we pretty much exhausted all of Manaus’ “tourist attractions,” Taylor and I walked around for a bit and got some shopping done. While at this artesian shop we met a group of travelers from all over, two of whom were from the States; Kentucky and New York. The Kentucky guy has been teaching English in South America for the last 18 months and is on his way back to Rio for the next job.  After doing the corporate thing in Chicago for two years, he decided it wasn’t for him and took off. What a life right?

We said our goodbyes and were directed to the bus stop so we could get to the mall. Turns our we weren’t as adventurous as the guy thought we could be and ended up taking a Taxi. I know, I know, we went to the mall in Brazil….but it was actually pretty cool to see. The stores were so different, and they have HUGE shoe stores in almost every other window display. I guess it makes sense seeing as the women here walk around in tight jeans and stilettos all day even when it’s 95 degrees and humid out.  After trying on some Brazilian styles, both Taylor and I struck out and went back empty handed.

As the day was still young, we decided to stop at the pier bar for some drinks before dinner. We ended up getting another Beer tower as referenced in a previous post, and drawing over some Life Long Learners and eventually some other students. We all had a good time together and went back to the ship for dinner feeling pretty satisfied with our afternoon.

Later that night, we got together a group of girls and wanted to go to Samba. Since we didn’t make it Sunday night and heard just phenomenal things about it,  we knew we had to go. Too bad by the time we go there rehearsal was pretty much over and only got to experience about 15 minutes of the drumming and dancing. While I wish I would have been able to see more, I’m glad I got to hear a little bit of it. Because this was our last night in Brazil, we all decided to go out to this club, Crocadillios or something of the sort. There were a ton of SAS kids here and we all were going hard having a great time. We got back to the ship around 2am, but because it was so smoky in the club, I had to shower before I could even think about climbing into bed.

This morning we woke up early for breakfast and got a jump-start on the day. We walked around town looking for souvenirs, a soccer jersey for me and anything Ali wanted because she hadn’t bought anything yet. After searching all over, I finally found a jersey that fit and I’m super excited about it. Ali got a hammock and some earrings and MB got some beads and a calzone type thing. We had a pretty successful morning but still had some Reals to kill before getting back on the ship. So, MB and I did what we do best and went back to hang out at the pier bar. We did some work with the local sugar cane liquor and made it back to the ship well in time for Ship Time at 3pm. If anyone is coming to Brazil, make sure you try the drink called….Capricana? Capricora? Capri something or other. It’s made with Cachaca (the sugar cane stuff), limes and sugar and it’s amazing. Kind of like a margarita on ice times five. Needless to say, we had a pretty great last afternoon in Brazil.

Overall, our time in Manaus was short but we saw and accomplished a lot. While the language barrier was great, we met some nice people who were willing to give us foreigners pointers on how to stay safe and walk through town with our bags. We ate some amazing food (the best steak on a stick I’ve ever had, and probably will ever had from a street vendor last night), listened to some incredible music (samba rules for a reason here) and experienced life changing circumstances (riverside villages where Sloths are common pets and people don’t have treated water). Although it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, I’m already learning to disregard any preconceived notions I have prior to docking.

Thanks again Mom and Dad for making this all possible. You’re amazing and I appreciate this more than you’ll ever know.