Carnival, Amazon and Salvador

Feb 3:
Breakfast and a very wet day hopefully it clears by tonight. Taking it easy today to conserve energy for tonight at the Sambodrome. Watched television and tried to sleep. Not much luck sleeping, but watching American programs with bad voice overs was humerous. Found a couple of shows in English to pass the time. Had dinner at Kilograma again, doesn’t feel like we left the ship yet regarding the food. Caught a shuttle to the Sambadrome and entered sector 5. We were expecting some sort of seating arrangement, however it was more crowded and chaotic than any stands at a game in NZ. They must sell far more tickets than space, and expect people to sort it out amongst themselves. Managed to squeeze ourselves next to an aisle in a position to see. The parade was amazing! Far more spectacular than anything seen before. There are 6 Samba schools competing on each of the two nights. Up to 5000 people can take part. They all seemed to follow a pattern in how people and floats proceeded down the street. Most schools had around 6 or 7 floats. Some were up to 3 storeys high with people dancing all over them. Each school chose a theme and told a story. If we could understand Portugese, the song they sing describes more of what we see. Our favourite school was Portella. The weather was not too bad, with only rain for about 30mins, and some drizzle at a couple of other times. None of us felt tired until after the final parade finished (Valadromo, which even had a ski slope!), where we all became quickly aware of how incredibaly sore our feet were from standing soo long on the concrete steps. We arrived back at our hotel for breakfast and then we all headed to bed.

4th
Slept all day until 4pm. Went and checked our email for something to do for an hour before dinner. Caught the 8pm bus again back to the sambadrome for our second night. We were hoping we could manage two nights in a row, however we are told the best teams are competing tonight, so are eager to see. We are in sector 7 this time, supposed to be better ‘seats’ as they are closer to the judges where the parade stops and performs for a little longer. There were even more people in this area than the previous night. After finding a spot to see, the parade began. About half way through, the people in front of Chris decided they were to sit down! Really not much room for that unless everyone sits. Oh well, they then proceeded to keep moving backwards and complaining he was standing in their seat. This was not the case, but when you have a large number of grumpy people around, it was reluctantly time to retreat. Chris missed about 20mins as there was no way to get another spot to see until a little later. After regaining a viewing place, the night went not too bad. We had to laugh at the people that were grumpy, as after the first parade, they were forced to sit on the edge of the steps like everyone else, and they had people walking past them also. Oh well, part of the experience. We would not recommend paying the extra money for sector 7, we preferred sector 5, and would seriously consider sector 3. The people perform to the crowd more in these earlier areas. The weather behaved all night, and there was no rain. Completely different to the forecast thankfully which was for a lot of rain. We had higher hopes I guess for this night, however we thought that all the schools were very impressive and there was no clear outstanding winner. We really enjoyed Portella the most, and the music from Manguera. Bajia Flora ended up winning, with Portella coming in a close second. (Found this out Wednesday) By the last school, we were all feeling rather sore, and standing was not fun. We grabbed some KFC (NZ better) on the way to our bus as we knew the ropes this time, and collapsed into our bus seats. The second sun rise in a row we are all up for, just in time for breakfast again at the hotel, followed, yes, straight to bed. We intended to wake up around lunch time so not to completely mess up our body clocks, however upon waking, we were greated by the watch saying 4pm again. Oh well, needed the sleep. We packed our bags and sorted out what we wanted to send home after our shopping. Found out that the post shop was closed so had to rely on it opening in time for Tanse and Craig to send it tomorrow. It is supposed to open around 12pm, and they leave at 2:30. Tight schedule, but turns out ok. a great 10kg was sent back, however our bags are still 18 and 20kg…. oh well, shoes are in there now, and another 50DVDs, only have 3 left from the first lot! We went to a different place for dinner, same theme, called Solario, got a 10% discount from the hotel for it. Was ok, better salads here, but smaller selection. Still full, and with less than half a kilo. We think the scales at the other place were not quite right. Said farewell to Tanse and Craig, this is the last time we will see them until December 2009 for Christmas. It was great travelling with them and we will miss them. Found to our dismay that indeed our body clocks are screwed, and no sleep before our alarm at 4:30am L

6th
Cheked out and our guide was waiting for us in reception. Off to the airport. It is quite a distance from Copacobana and took 30 – 45mins in no traffic. Our guide travels in a separate car, and the two of us in a large minivan. Seems a bit silly, but oh well. At the airport he ensured we checked in and got to the right gate, then left. We really didn’t need him at all, only the transfer, but that’s the service Adventure World offer. 7 Hours on the plane including the stop in Brasilia. Sooo tired, Chris even slept through the people boarding in Brasilia, and only woke up as we were taking off! Niether of us got much sleep however as it was full and the seats were not very comfortable with a small amount of leg room. The weather was cloudy all the way over so could not see a thing out the window.
Picked up at Manaus airport by our new guide Rubem, and we were taken to Hotel Tropical. It is a nice hotel, with room internet, pool complex, mini zoo, conference areas, etc. Has around 600 rooms, and is only 3 storeys, so sprawls on a large area. It is on the edge of the Rio Negro in the Amazonas area. We had some lunch in the hotel, and found quickly that they really love salt! Neither of us could eat more than half a meat burger, despite being rather hungry.Wandered around and found the pool, just in time for it to POUR down with rain, and thunder/lightening. The showers here are short but very heavy! Both of us were still tired, so headed back to the room. We intended on staying awake as long as possible so as to sleep at night. After looking at only a few of the pictures we took recently, we both ended up going to sleep and amazingly slept for 16hrs till the next morning.

7th
Awoke and headed straight for a Brazilian breakfast of bread and heaps of fruit. Chris found giant coco pops which go really well with the cinnamon bananas. The scrambled eggs and other foreign breakfast food was not very good. Our boat tour begins later in the afternoon, so we thought we would go and find the zoo and have a general look around. The zoo has a Jaguar, absolutely beautiful male cat who is well looked after as his coat is very shiny. There were a couple of birds, lots of spider monkeys and a few parrots. All animals here are from the Amazon region. We watched some zoo keepers try and catch a monkey for 10mins – it needed an injection, very humerous and the monkey did well. The keepers look more and more like monkeys themselves as time passed. The heat had built up again so it was time for a swim. Around 1pm, the weather was changing again, so we went and got our bags to check out. Our guide Rubem was waiting with some other people on our tour so we joined them for lunch. Sandy wanted to try the banana and chocolate pizza. Turned out OK, but I think the chef had to go and climb a banana tree to get the fruit for the time it took to arrive. Still not used to such lazy, or perhaps rather relaxed, work ethics.
A short walk across the road and we were at the pier where our boat picked us up. It is approx 50 feet long, has 3 masts which are only for aesthetics, cabins, common area and eating area. We were off up the Rio Negro as soon as the last bag was on board and shortly after was sipping on a very strong Caiprinia. Our cabin turned out to be one of 6 downstairs rather than on deck, and because we were down below, we were given the use of a second room for our bags. The room is VERY small, and you cannot have anything on the floor as it blocks either the entrance to the room, or to the toilet.
We passed the narrowest point of the river after about a 2 hours (1km, vs widest of 29km) and continued inland. Dinner was at 7:30 just after we moored in a tributary. We were all rather hungry by now and really hoping for good food. We were NOT disappointed. The chef on board is amazing, as we continued to find out! Beef, fish, vegetables, pasta etc and freshly made ice cream made from local fruits. After dinner we got into the small canoes (each held 8 people + guide and boat driver) and headed out into the darkness up a narrow tributary. The aim was to see alligators and other night animals. The stars are amazing, like at home on a clear night. It was so quite… except for a group of Spanish, and the boat motor. Nonetheless, when people stopped talking, and they turned off the motor to quietly approach an alligator, it was excellent. We also saw a few night birds and an owl, a couple of alligators and a small fury animal similar to a skunk, but not much else. Arrived back to the boat at 10pm and went to bed.

8th
Had a terrible sleep! The air conditioning unit in our room is pre-historic and sounds like a lawn mower next to your head! We turned it off after an hour, but then the small room got soo hot it was impossible to sleep. Oh well, only a couple of nights…
Breakfast was fresh fruit, breads, ham and cheese (available for every breakfast), bacon … certainly not going to be hungry! Our event’s today start with a walk through the jungle. Armed with long pants, covered shoes, plenty of Mosquito repellent and water, off we set. We did not see any animals, but the guides were very knowledgeable in plants and their medicinal properties. They say that 60% of the plants have medicinal properties, the natives know a lot, but he knowledge is being lost so only a handful of plants are known. One tree has some sap that is aromatic properties and can be lit on fire, which they showed of course. Very strange to see the bark of a tree on fire! We found an ant nest where the ants are HUGE, over 10mm long. We emerged from the jungle at a local house where people could go inside if they wanted. The people there grew pineapples and sugar cane which Chris finally got to try. Has been on the list of things to eat for some time now!
Back to the boat for lunch after which we set out again to cruise through the Archipelago consisting of approx 400 islands. We got to see pink dolphins, lots of parrots, yellow macaws, a nest of blue and yellow macaws, white herons, swallows, and even a Toucan J On the way back we were caught in our first downpour, and boy was it wet! Loads of thunder and lightening, with huge rain drops. Even the rain coats they gave us did not help much. Sandy took a great photo as we approached the boat as the sun was setting in behind a very large thunder cloud.
After another large dinner, we set out once again for another cruise through small waterways and dense forest. This was more like what we were expecting to see. It was quite amazing slowly moving through the forest without the motor, using an oar like a Gondola, and a flashlight to see things. Our guide spotted a very poisonous snake from over 100m away, which we had trouble seeing until only a couple of meters away! Some people on board were not keen on being close and were getting rather panicky, but we were in no harm. Apparently you have 7 hrs in which to get an antidote before you die, so heaps of time J We were hoping to find a Tarantula but did not, we did however see an owl, and a Moyanga which is a small skunk like animal. Back to the boat for another sleepless night and download the photos.

9th
This morning we took another canoe trip back through the same path we took last night. It was interesting to see the same area in the daylight. We saw tree orchids, weavers, egrets and jakarnas. We got back to the boat a little before the 2nd canoe returned, so Sandy, Chris and our guide all jumped in the river to a swim. The water is very warm and the swim was very refreshing. Did not feel any nibbles on our toes J We then cruised back down the Rio Negro while having lunch, past Manaus and up a brown river, which is only a small tributary from the much larger Rio Salamoes. The boat anchored in a lake. A boy came over to our boat and Sandy got to hold a 3 toed Sloth, an amazing creature! So different from any other I have seen before! We once again boarded the small canoes. This time we were off up a small stream, on our way to find a spot to fish for Piranah. Our path was blocked a short way up by a mass of fallen trees and grasses, and despite our best attempts, we were unable to pass. Even the second canoe, with a larger engine could not force a clear path. We all turned around and headed for another way. We made our way through onto the Rio Salamoes and up it for 15mins to where a smaller river entered it. Up here we continued for another 30mins, by now our bums were getting sore! As we approached our fishing spot, a few large hawks flew past. They are large birds! Chris caught 2 Piranahs, Sandy got one on the hook, but it came off before it go into the boat. After an hour or so fishing, it was getting dark and time to start heading back to the main boat. On the way, our guide spotted a number of Aligators, one very large one and a few smaller ones. One of which he even caught and showed us in the canoe! He showed us how to tell the sex of it, and then we let it go. While cruising back we saw loads of fire flies in amongst the wild rice. A lightening storm on the horizon was great to watch, and thankfully it did not come closer. Our way back was the same, but we learnt that it is dry for part of the year, and only recently has started flowing. The currents were quite strong and there were lots of local ferry boats using the same way. These boats are interesting, as people do not buy seats, rather hooks on which to hang their hammocks. It seemed a cool way to travel up and down the rivers. Dinner and bed as we have an early trip tomorrow.

10th
5:30am wake up for our last canoe trip to see the morning birds. We are with the second guide Francisco again, which is probably good as our guide is with the Spanish group who all love to talk J We saw monkys playing in the trees, birds in the wetlands and some very large Victoria Waterlillies. On the way back Chris was taking a picture of a bird, then we realized there was an Alligator there. By the time we realized, it was too late, however when Chris took the bird photo, the Alligator was in the same shot. Good luck more than good spotting! It was so hard to see even though it was in plain sight! There were lots of egrets and jacanas with a few herons moving around it which distracted attention from it being so still. Shortly after a sardine jumped into the boat! Was rather funny as one of the guys loved to fish, and he hadn’t caught anything. He got hasseled as we can catch them with bare hands.
Back to the boat for breakfast and to motor out to the “Meeting of the waters”. This is where the Rio Negro meets the Rio Salamoes. The Rio Negro is 28 degrees C, pH of around 3.5 and this is mixing with the Rio Salamoes which is 22 degrees C with a neutral pH and brown. The brown river flows much faster than the calm Rio Negro as it comes down from higher lands as far away as Peru.
Headed back to the Tropical Hotel, after dropping off the Spanish group, and then we ourselves headed to the airport with Rubem. After seeing the Spanish group in the airport as their flight was delayed, we were off to Brazilia. On the way over, we got to see great views of the Amazon and all the water ways with the forests. The flight was 4hrs. In Brazilia, our connecting flight was delayed by 2 hours, but at lest it was not cancelled like some other ones! We had a good talk with a lady from Brazil while trying to order some food and fill in some time. Our second flight was not very long, but it is now 14 hrs since leaving the boat! We were met at the airport by our guide, a nice women and a driver. A further 45mins drive awaited us before being able to relax in a comfy bed in a cool and QUIET room J

11th
Woke up just before breakfast ended and decided to try and find a post office to send back our photo DVD’s. Amazingly there was one next to the hotel, so next was to search for an ATM which we found down a road – which was on the side of town our guide told us not to go down – oh well been down worse roadsJ Finally got our DVD’s off to NZ – about 22 so far! Decided to sit by the pool, have a drink and check our internet – which was free J Our guide picked us up at 1pm for a historic city and Modelo market tour. Started along the beach side of Barra to the fort, Farol da Barra. A beautiful day and the sea water is very clear in the bay. On to the old part of the city, a suburb called Pelourinho, this area has a great African influence especially from Angola lots of colour and the Bahian women dress in a similar way. This is due to the slave trade that occurred between here and Angola. Wondered through Modelo market with all the arts and crafts, very similar to what we have seen elsewhere in Brazil but the artwork is really colourful and different. The market is situated next to the bay and yacht club. Took the elevator, Elevador Lacerda, which takes you 85m up from sea level to the main area of Pelourinho. The elevator takes you up to the old government house which has been converted into a museum. There is not much in the house but it is in the process of being restored. We then visited two church’s situated in the main square of the Pelourinho area. They both looked like nothing from the outside façade but the insides are full of colour and gold. The Sao Francisco Cathedral has pieces from Portugal, Italy and the paintings are influenced by the Chinese. The granite floors have been imported as well and appear to have sea animals embedded in it, don’t know if this is true or not but our guide seemed to think so but she seems a bit delusional at the best of times. We also went to the Cathedral of St Francis which does not allow photography but is nicknamed the Golden Cathedral and when you walk in past the courtyard you understand why – everything is gold within the cathedral. The courtyard is decorated with big murials depicting different parts of life all done on white tiles and painted blue – typical of the 17th Century. If they have gold/yellow paint then they are from the 16th Century there were some in the first Cathedral we visited. At the front entrance there is a painting on the ceiling which gives the appearance, if you walk around, it gives the appearance that the ceiling is curved.
Had lunch at a café in the village and then walked around the area before returning to the main square to be picked up and taken back to the hotel. We attempted to find a laundry but no such luck the one we found is only open on Fridays – didn’t quite understand this as there were machines doing nothing behind her ? We were picked up again at 7pm for dinner at a local restaurant, ‘O Coliseu’. The restaurant is buffet style and serves typical Bahian food – tried everything but didn’t like about 50% of it. After our meal they have a show which starts with stories in dance. It depicts their five gods and their different powers, then the fishing and fisherman, a stick dance brought from Africa, and they play the Berimbau Coloridos. This is an instrument that looks like a bow with a seed pod attached. The pod is placed against the body and used to create the sound. The main attraction though is the ‘Capoeira’ which is a dance that looks like martial arts but with no contact – very energetic and fast. It was initially banned when the slaves brought it to Brazil and was taken underground. Later, one of the prime ministers decided it should be one of the national dances and it was reintroduced. The last bit of the show was a Samba and then a quick snapshot of each dance shown. Back to the hotel to do our washing – what fun, not! Took a while as was almost a week’s stuff L

12th
Had to get up at 7:30 for breakfast and to be picked up at 8:30 to head north up the coast to see the Turtles at Praia da Forte. It is approximately an hour and a half drive to project Tamar which is an organization involved in the conservation effort of the Turtles. We got dropped off in the area and wandered through a street mall where no traffic is allowed. It is very colourful and quite nice really. More modern buildings with fewer items for sale, more like at home rather than the usual cramming in of as much stuff as possible that we have seen a lot of. Project Tamar was not what either of us had expected to be seeing. There were about 8 tanks where about 5 of them had Turtles, the others sharks and groupers. Unfortunately a lot of the turtles had algae growing on their shells which did not seem normal, and the tanks were quite small for the size and number of animals inside it. There was a “Touch Pond” with sting rays without their barbs. We don’t really think this is very fair on the animals to be poked and prodded all the time. However, since the program has started, the number of turtles hatching and making it to the sea has increased dramatically, and local fishing people are more aware and also doing their part. Maybe having a few animals in a captivity like this is for the great good. Our guide is driving us a little nuts with constant talking and we are feeling like we are being baby sat. We have realized that most of what we are told is wrote learnt, as many questions are not understood. After leaving the Tamar project, we headed back south to Guarabaja beach for lunch. We had freshly fried Red fish and a salad, followed by a nice swim in the water. It was very warm! After a quick shower we decided to cut our day short. Apparently the guide normally spends 3 hours there! Not really what we wanted to do, so asked to go back to the hotel to sort out a few things, and have some peace and quiet! Our washing is still not dry, it is so humid here! Even took a couple of heavier items down with us to the pool area to dry while we made use of the free WiFi available in the hotel. Had a quick chat with a couple we had met in Manaus who happened to also be staying here, before having dinner in the hotel bar. Chris had steak, Sandy had a cheese burger, then we ‘shared’ an ice-cream served in a halved pineapple with fruit salad. Very nice. After staying a little longer there than intended, we headed upstairs to pack our bags and get some sleep. Early wake up ahead!

13th
Alarm went off at 3:45 this morning. Not overly pleasant to be honest. We were picked up by our guide and driver, and taken out to the airport. Our flight left on time at 6:20, and landed back in Brazilia 2 and a half hours later. We were parked up away from the terminal building, so everyone was put on a bus. We however, along with only 6 others, were told to stay on the plane, as it was the one taking us to Campo Grande. It was great being 1 of only a few people left. Chris went and looked in the cockpit, then sat on the steps outside watching all the goings on. Quite peaceful in a strange way given we are in the middle of a busy airport. On our taxi back to the runway, we go over a bridge. It must be a great sight being a car on the road below seeing a 737 roll over the top of you!
Landed in Campo Grande at 10:40 on time. There was no one there to meet us for the first time. We looked at our documents, and noticed that the ETA was 11:40, so decided not to worry and go and have a drink. Sure enough, a little later a person turned up and looked like he was looking for someone. He didn’t know any thing more than a time to meet us which we thought was a little strange. Oh well, we got dropped off at our hotel and the guy was interesting to talk to as he was doing a masters in conservation.
Lazed around for the rest of the afternoon. Ate and played some pool, Sandy kicked Chris’s butt 3 games to zero. He thought he would retire at that point as a lightening storm was showing some amazing lights in the distance. A very strong caipriniah made it even more fun. Afterwards some TV, always interesting what movie you find with poor voice-overs in Portuguese, however we did find Grays Anatomy and a couple of other English programmes.

14th
A lazy morning of breakfast, catching up this diary (no chris, not dairy!!), packing our bags and waiting for our tour at 11am.