The Mighty Amazon

The Amazon lives up to its billing as the world's mightiest river....in shear water volume....the world's largest (not longest). Its water fluctuations are amazing ........dropping 5 centimeters a day in this dry winter season. The river has dropped over 30 feet since June and will be fully replentished in the wet summer season (November thru February). The temperatures were surprisingly pleasant, (especially when the boat and canoes were moving) considering that we were 30 miles south of the Equator. And we never got one mosquito bite during our three days in the Amazon! The winter season is definitely the time to visit this part of the world. The Amazon Clipper Premium (in service for 1 1/2 years) is a wonderful river boat 106 feet in length with a beam of 30 feet. It's spacious 16 outside cabins were very comfortable with private baths, airconditioning and wonderful windows for seeing extraordinary scenery and wildlife. The most awesome sight about 6 am on the last morning was seeing over 1000 egrets feeding in a creek.....unfortuantely the cabin airconditioning and outside humidity created such condensation on my camera lense that this picture is one that only lives in my mind (Clark was sleeping)! It was a scene from National Geographic! But the pictures below will give you the same sense of awe that we experienced on each of our excursions into the rivers and their tibutaries to see the jungle, animals, flood plains, birds, reptiles, fish, and the local human inhabitants. Every turn in river and jungle was an experience unto itself. On our list of top three things to see were monkeys, parana and snakes....and boy, did we get our wishes. The monkeys were plentiful swinging through the shoreline trees to our great delight. The parana were also plentiful and hungry! What fish wouldn't be if the guys on the other end of the line were using filet mignon for bait? Tito caught 10 and Carlos caught 5....and also got bit between the thumb and forefinger while trying to get the hook out of one's mouth - felt like a razor blade and bled like a stab wound! No thanks to swimming in the river for Carlos.....although Tito was jumping and swimming in the river only two hours before the fishing trip! We double checked to see that he still has all his parts! Parana typically don't bother humans in the water unless they are bleeding, but one of us decided not to prove that point! Seeing the river people was most heartening...going about their simple everyday lives with an innocence that comes from such a remote existence.....the lady washing her dishes in the river, the young boy bathing /swimming, the entreprenurial young men with the simple manioc production facility on the river's edge, the old fishermen in their simple canoes out for the early morning catch, the jungle guide with his machete clearing our new path and his clever ability to make things from palms and trees (see Mr. Liberty's picture below), and Maria, the medicine women who met us in the jungle to show us the multitude of jungle trees, fruits, and ants that provide medicinal relief and cures. She gave Clark a bite of angiroba (a hard fruit) that cures sore throats and his was gone that evening! Oh..... and the Amazon skies.......brillant anytime of day and providing wonderful reflections in the river. The Amazon Clipper was a delightful floating home with a terrific staff led by our hosts and guides Hugo and Cristobal. The food was DELICIOUS and several other guests (32 in total) became quick and delightful friends (over caipirenhas)......especially Michelle McCollin, a professor at Slippery Rock University and Sandro Senni and Patrizia Monaco, architects from Siena, Italy. We have a solid invitation to be their guests for Il Palio! The last morning of the cruise we saw the long awaited meeting of the waters of the Amazon and the Rio Negro.....the spot on earth with the greatest volume of water in one location! It is amazing to see the vast currents of the black Rio Negro and the muddy Amazon run side by side without mingling their differently colored waters! Our time in the Amazon concluded with a tour of Manaus, a city of 2 million that achieved its prominence during the rubber boom in the late 1800's/early 1900's. The famous and beautiful Teatro Amazonas (Manaus Opera House) lived up to its billing and provided the venue for our swan song to South America! We boarded the first of our three flights and 16 hours of travel back to Raleigh-Durham and arrived just before noon to temperatures in the 70s......a far cry from the heatwave of the high 90s and 100s experienced during our month of winter in the Southern Hemisphere! Mom and Casey were delighted to see us in one piece after such life changing adventures! Sleeping in our own beds again did have great appeal!