Thursday July 8

July 8

Rose at 5 am to go onto a sunrise canoe trip. I was lucky enough to again get the canoe with all Portuguese speakers which meant I got to practice my listening skills. Am getting pretty good at guessing and people are asking whether I understand a lot. Not really.

The trip in the dark this time through the flooded archipelago was intense; one could hear the birds stir. Then we 'parked' the canoe and waited for Madame sun to appear. She took her time; quite a peaceful experience. And then there was light. On the way back we heard a parrot calling but we didn''t get to see the bird itself.

As a matter of fact since the waters are so high the food resources for birds is diminished. It's harder to find fish in more water (we are speaking a difference of about 7 - 15 m in height on average) and insects are missing as well. Since the trees are often somewhat submerged the water turns more acidic than at low heights which also discourages creatures to be present. Thus, there are not many birds in the archipelago at high water levels.

This is quite the opposite at lower water levels. It is hard to imagine that the flooded islands through which we canoed will actually turn into land--in one area actually turning a section of the river into a rather big lake complete with beaches. And a name: lago .........  The dock for the lodge's canoes is actually a floating dock and it will be moved much further out into the river. Mindboggling, really.

After breakfast and packing up we took a jungle tour. When we set out at 8:30 am it didn't seem so hot particularly since the forest provided cool cover. Nevertheless, the humidity is about 90percent so we did get our sweating in! High humidity compared to the open rivee because the plants transpire the water. Also, on the river the is a breeze. The tour focused primarily on plants and their use as well as some animals. Some jungle survival skills were taught to the kids' delight.

Here is a listing:

Seen:

Curare- liquid from a tree, used for paralyzing animals when the little needle hits the muscle. Stuns animals for about 1 hour.
Rosewood bark. -- several species (there are many)
Clove bark--really smells like cloves.
Lianas - store water for the tree from which they are growing. The trees' roots are wide for support and for uptake of whatever little nutrients the soils contain. The lianas, however, go dig deep into the soil and will provide the tree with water during the very dry times. A true symbiosis--one cannot really live without the other. This doesn't hinder the lianas to strangle the tree leading eventually to their own demise. If cut open for human water consumption, the bark will close up an opening after1 hour.
Bark of tree that looks like caimans skin.
Magnesium milk from tree.

animals:
Green tree boa--was on a trunk in the middle of our path.
Tarantula-- elusive but home. Walked a bit for us.
Bull ants (natives' glove test). -- these are tiny ants. The Indios used them  in their manhood ritual-- a glove was filled with these ants and the soon-to-be-man had to keep the hand inside the glove for an hour. This made him immune to many things in the forest; unfortunately some boys also died. Probably due to an allergy.

Big ants - I forgot the story.
Ants fabricating cellulose- really, they had these funny little bark-like homes usually at a tree. Natives use this cellulose and are thus protected from insects. Nobody seems to want to have anything to do with ants.p

Eaten:
One larvae of fire fly (did feel sorry for it). Was good.

This concluded my stay at the Anavahinis Jungle Lodge.

The 3-hour drive back to Manaus was uneventful and fast. Again, everybody around me talked animatedly for a while in Portuguese, and I didn't listen. Then, some fell asleep. At the ferry most of us got out and the Brasilian girl who lives in Australia told me the story of one of our guides (but not mine) which, of course, I missed. Turns out he is one of 25 children (not sure whether they were produced by the same woman). His father is from India, his mother a native Indian. So, he grew up speaking Hindi and a native Indian language and English, the latter he learned at the mission. Apparently the boys on the streets taunted him because he could not speak Portuguese; to this day his Portuguese is accented (not that I would know). Well, his great English skills got him the job at the lodge, he is also passionate about birds. Some teacher in Rio de Janeiro is writing up his story--apparently she thought that his experiences were amazing. 

My Portuguese companions assurred me that that was not a common story and they were as dumbfounded as I was. As a matter of fact they all agreed that the Amazon region is very much NOT like Brazil!