Brazil! (Day 4)

Wow, it's amazing that leaving a place I've only spent four days in can be so heartbreaking!  We are pulling out of port as I write and I almost teared up thinking how wonderful my time here was, the awesome people I met, and how long it will be before I get to go back here.  I am mostly thinking about the people, especially the guides I really got to know.  I now wish that I had asked for their e-mail address or something so I could see how those English lessons one guide was giving his daughter turned out, or see pictures of the child another guide was planning to adopt.  I guess I'll just have to be content that for a few hours we knew each other and talked about our lives.  

Today didn't start out quite as pensive.  I could have slept in, but some noise woke me up early.  I spent my extra hours tidying up the room, getting ready for the day at the orphanage, and updating my blog.  For the first time, I decided to try doing this trip 100% incognito.  No wheelchair, no cooling vest, no explaining my possible need for extra assistance to the leading professor or guides.  It worked out fairly well with the exception of some carsickness from sitting in the back of the bus.  (I'm used to the front where the professors, guides, and disabled people (me) sit.)  The traffic was bad today since it is a friday so we got a slow start.  I had fun chatting with one of the guides who decided to sit in the back new to me and waving to people on the sidewalk.  I challenge any other city to have strangers be so warm in their responses.  I shared many more laughs with random pedestrians as we waved, made goofy faces, and I took pictures of them posing.  One street side vendor even made a motion to symbolize him giving us his heart.  It was a lot of fun and goes to show that connections can be made even if it's only in the seconds it takes to drive or walk by someone.  

The field program of the day was a service visit to one of the orphanages for the city.  I wasn't sure how much service we actually did, but I sure had fun!  The facility was very nice with large grounds complete with a playground, field for sports, and trampoline.  Another homey touch were the handful of dogs that roamed around begging for attention.  (Unfortunately I did not reciprocate due to the flea infatuation the dogs had.)  The kids were a lot of fun!  I'm pretty sure we had more fun visiting them than they had having us there.  I don't know how many tours come there, but I do know we were the second one this week.  Our large numbers would have probably seemed a bit frightening to them as well.  After a brief talk that described how the orphanage was founded about ten years ago to take in kids in at-risk home situations, we were given free time with the kids.  

To break the ice, we spread out some gifts of school supplies and small toys on a table and the kids picked out things that they liked.  The would dart between the table and somewhere inside and I heard later that they would hid their new prizes under their pillow for later.  Just like any group of kids, there were some that jumped right in, chatting to us in Portuguese or grabbing an SASer by the hand and leading them to their favorite places.  Other kids were more reserved or focused on playing with the new toys.  It took a while, but we all were finally getting comfortable with each other.  I pulled out my own back of toys and was happy that the kids really enjoyed them.  The boys went crazy over the hot wheels cars and saucer popper things.  I especially enjoyed giving out my jewelry and nail polish from when I was little.  I had though of how grown up I felt when I wore it and was happy to be able to pass it on for it to be enjoyed all over again.  The girls particularly liked the nail polish so we sat down and did each other's nails.  One of the more outgoing little ones painted my nails a sparkly yellow.   In between bouts of rain, I also joined in on kicking a soccer ball around.  I realized I need to brush up on my skills in that area!  I thought it was very special that one of the older girls wanted to make sure that the SASers didn't leave empty handed.  She gave some of us folded paper boxes and saved some of the jewelry that I brought to give back to us.  She made sure that I took home two bracelets which was very touching.  I've had those bracelets for probably ten years and they held no meaning, but now I will treasure them!  

  

  

Just as we were really starting to connect and have fun, it was already time to go.  It took quite a while for the poor professor to usher us back onto the bus.  We were so reluctant to go!  I hung back as long as I could taking last minute pictures and giving last minute hugs and high fives.   We waved goodbye from the bus until we couldn't even see the building anymore.  As we drove away, I felt extra glad that we would be able to communicate with the orphanages through e-mail after our visit.  There is still a lot of picture and story sharing to look forward to in the future.  

I spent the last couple of hours in Brazil getting cleaned up and catching up with friends who did other trips while in port.  It sounds like everyone has a lot of fun though we are happy to be back "home" at the same time.

Right now we are making  our way downriver and out to the ocean which we will cross over the next 11 days.  Africa here we come!

P.S.  I'm going to have to start posting less pictures because I've already used up a lot of my internet minutes.  After the free ones are gone, it becomes VERY expensive to buy more minutes.  :0(  Also, due to the limited internet access I can't respond to any comments from the ship.  I do get to see them via my mom forwarding them to me and I love hearing what everyone thinks!  :0)  Also you can always e-mail me at emily.block.s12@semesteratsea.org!  

Brazil! (Day 3)

Ok, I really flipping hated my alarm clock when it went off at 7:00 today!  Doesn't it know I like to sleep in until at least 10 or 11?!?  haha  Once again, I had a day that made waking up early more than worth while.  

I was pleased to find that some of my friends would be going on this file program with me.  The plan for the day was to go to an orphanage for kids and adults with neurological disabilities and then to take them on a field trip to the zoo.  I know that many of  the people on this trip got on the bus a little nervous that we would be interacting with people with disabilities.  (I, of course, was excited to be meeting people like me, but still a little nervous about communication barriers.)  

I spent the bus ride there goofing off with my friends 

and chatting with the tour guide.  He was one of those people who knows a great deal about many things.  By talking to him, I feel like I got a much better idea about what living in Brazil is like.  His view contrasted quite a bit from what our gives in the more rural areas described.  In the city, it is very difficult to get a good education.  Private schools are good but very expensive and the public schools are horrible.  A student can go through school and graduate without knowing how to read and write.  He said that a kid had to be very motivated to learn anything and that he had to work very hard to spend time outside of school to learn what he wanted to learn.  Drugs are also a huge problem for kids.  Drug dealers target kids starting around age 11 or 12 buy handing out free hot coco or juice with that is spiked with cocain (not sure who to spell that).  That way the kids get addicted and are drawn into buying and eventually selling drugs.  The guide said that is is rare to see kids live past 22 if they start out on that path.  I asked why the police didn't top this and he laughed and said that he would estimate that about 85% of police workers were corrupt.  All of this was shocking to me since I had only heard of Brazil's excellent economy and growing opportunity before I talked to him.  I asked why the good economy wasn't helping things like schools and he replied that there is corruption.  He added that all these things are getting better in the past few years though.  I asked about health care because that is something very important to me.  He said that there is private and public health care just like education.  Public health care is not so good when you need a check up (there are long lines to see doctors that take all day or more)  but excellent in an emergency (everything will be paid for and you will be taken care of).   By the end of our conversation, we were just arriving to the orphanage.

I must say that it was very overwhelming walking into the orphanage.  After hearing about all of these problems my guide has spoken about, I was worried what conditions I may find there.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was a really nice facility.  The kids and other residents were all wearing friendly blue uniforms and the staff were obviously very caring.  Though the kids didn't have parents, I could tell that they were very much loved.  The facility was clean and other than a lack of toys or playground, it seemed like a happy place.  I overheard some of my fellow SASers talking later about how sad it was, but I didn't really find it that sad.  It was true that the kids had very profound physical and mental disabilities, but for me that is not a sad thing.  They smile and laughed, and gave and received hugs and kisses just like any other happy kid.  The only sad thing was that their parents had abandoned them because of their disability.  

I had a great time playing with the kids and adults there!  My first thing I dis was help a smiling young woman up the stairs which felt really cool because I have needed help up stairs myself.  I used my expert physical therapy strategy I learned from my mom so it wasn't even difficult for me to manage.  I was thanked with a hug which is probably the best way to thank someone.

I spent most of my time showing the kids the flipping saucer things I had brought.  I was really glad that they seemed to be entertained by the thing jumping up off of the table.  The saucer things flew al over the place with random trajectory and the kids had fun running after them.  

Soon it was time to go to the zoo so we loaded up onto our busses and headed out.  I got some pictures of the city as we drove and got a good laugh when someone on the sidewalk saw me taking a picture and posed outrageously for me.  We were separated by the window and language, but we shared a good laugh in the few seconds it took the bus to drive by. 

When we first got to the zoo things were a bit chaotic.  It started pouring and our group had many people in wheelchairs (including me) and not so many people who knew how to push them correctly.  People kept getting suck in ruts and I would jump out of my wheelchair, show them how to told the front wheels back to get over the barrier and then get back in my chair and wheel myself a long.  My fellow SASers helped serve lunch to the kiddies and I looked on and took some pictures.  I was mostly unable to help because I was stuck in  a wheelchair traffic jam.  haha  

Once lunch was done and the rain had subsided, we ventured out to look at the animals.  I did ok wheeling myself for a while, but the zoo wasn't quite accessible so I had to steal one of my friends to help me up a cobblestoned hill.  I tried to get out of the chair because I didn't want to take up any pushers, but my legs started their shaking thing and I sat right back down.  

Too soon it started purring again and we rushed back to the tiny overhang. Luckily it was a warm rain and all of us seemed to enjoy it more than anything.  I have never heard laughing like the kids as they were getting soaked in the rain and watching the other kids form their wet hair into spikes and mow hawks.  I had a chance to play with the kids while they waited of their bus to come pick them up.  I was happy that my party blowers were a big hit.  Many of the kids couldn't actually use them, but they thought I was hilarious as I demonstrated.  Also as we were waiting my guide translated to me that some of my workers joked that they were going to take me back with them since I was in a wheelchair too.  I thought that was very funny.   :0)  Too soon we were waving goodbye as their bus pulled away.  I felt like the whole experience was amazing and yet quite hectic and rushed.  

Back on the boat, my friends invited me a long to explore the city.  I was ridiculously excited because I had kind of resigns myself to only doing filed programs since I wasn't sure how people would feel about pushing me around in my wheelchair.  They didn't mind at all so after a lunch on the boat, we set out on the town.  

We decided that there were most definitely weeping angels in there.  (Doctor Who reference to be ignored by non-Whovians)

One of my friends proved to be an expert tour guide and took us to the opera house and a museum.  The opera house was really fascinating because it was made in the style of French Neoclassical.  As I was touring it, I felt like I was back in Paris!  The museums were one room each and all in one building.  It was air-conditioned and we met a cute guy who worked there so we stayed much longer than the collection warranted.  Most of the time we spent talking to the guy we met about the U.S. because he was really interested.  

Yes, yes.  Quite, quite.  Being up here in the box seat sipping a good year of bottled water is far preferred to the tedium of sitting amongst the common masses.

From there, the three of us meandered the somewhat accessible streets until we got to the main market.  The ground there was relatively even so I was happy to be able to wheel myself around to look at all of the booths.  It was amazing how quickly I settled into communicating in broken Spanish, my two words I know in Portuguese, and hand gestures.  Later, when I got back to the ship, I was a little overwhelmed when everyone was speaking English again.  I was able to spend most of my remaining Brazil money (SAS makes you get $50 worth as a minimum) on some really cool things.  I achieved my goal in finding something in Brazil wood which is the beautiful red, smooth wood that instruments are made out of.  It was carved to be a fish, but one of the eyes was missing as well as the stand it was supposed to rest on.  They guy I bought it from kept trying to have me choose the one that wasn't broken, but then laughed when he saw I was set on the funny looking fish.  I also got some polished seed pods, a woven bracelets, and a ridiculous jungle hat.  It strangely  felt really good to be back in the chair and working out my arms.  I guess it would seem strange for someone missing using a wheelchair, but it is a similar experience to missing walking when I first went into the wheelchair.  

After we had made our purchases and chatted/gestured with some of the vendors, we headed back to the boat.  On the way I was really happy to stop in a CVS-like place to stock up on crackers and some sweets.  Right before we got back on the boat we finally found someone selling Brazilian flags to add to our collection.

We enjoyed a dinner full of great stories and laughs before they set out on a nighttime field program and I gratefully showered and went to bed early.  What a day!

Brazil! (Day 2)

My second say in Brazil started just as early as the first.  I scrambled to get ready and arrived at the meeting spot just in time to sign in before we left the MV Explorer.  Similar to yesterday, we all boarded onto a large boat that would take us up the river.  Along the way, the guide explained some of the things we were seeing.  

I learned how important the rivers (the Amazon and Rio Negra) were to the people who lived here.  The river was a source of transportation similar to a highway complete with floating gas station

as well as a repair shop

and was also a major source of food.  

Most of the fruit I have been eating is actually imported because edible vegetation is rather rare.  Fish is the main staple food of the region.  It's a good thing there are 100s of different species of edible fish so there can still be lots of variety in the diet.  

The boat meandered along the meeting of the waters which is where the Amazon River and the Rio Negra meet.  Due to their differences in pH and sediments, the two rivers actually flow side by side for quite a while before they truly mix.  The guide told us a lot of interesting things about the rivers including where they got their color.  The Rio Negra looks black, but is actually a deep red from the same acid that causes an apple to brown once cut.  The Amazon on the other hand looks more like the brown of chocolate milk due to the high concentration of sediments that the snow melt in the Andes brings into it.  Some species of animals can live in both rivers, but for the most part, they are adapted to one or the other.  The river dolphins that we visited yesterday swim in between the two rivers to eat a wider variety of fish.  

After a leisurely cruse around Manaus, the boat pulled up to where we would be eating lunch.  My stomach was rumbling at that point, but I found out we would be going on another nature walk before it was time to eat.  I once again almost opted out of the walk due to the heat and humidity, but found the energy to do it anyway.  I was rewarded right away with a curios monkey climbing down from the treetops to get a better view of us strange creatures.  A walk along a rather dodgy bridge brought me to a second fantastic sight.  There was an offshoot of the Amazon that had gathered into a large, still pond where giant water lilies made their home.  I couldn't get over the size of these things!  They were bigger than the largest pizza I had ever seen.

On the way back, I stopped for a brief photo-op with one of the larger trees in the area.  

At this point in the day the heat was miserable and I saw it take it's tole on the people I passed by on the trail.  Oddly, I fully felt the intense heat, but seemed to be largely unaffected by it.  I was certainly no more uncomfortable than anyone else.  Another surprise I found out about what I am able to do.

Instead of going directly to lunch, I shopped a bit in the nearby indoor market.  I was expecting outrageous prices based on what the people from the embassy told us, but things were actually really good prices.  I bought some jewelry and magnets of some of the creatures I had seen on the trip including the pink river dolphin, the large fish I saw yesterday, and a piraña.  

Lunch was fantastic and I got to try many new foods.  By the time I was done, I was more than happy to board the canoe that would take us out on the Amazon.  The breeze from the moving boat was very welcome after a couple of hours in stagnant air.  The tour through the offshoots of the Amazon was everything one would expect it to be.  We saw tons of birds and a few of those huge blue butterflies I had only seen in a museum previously.  We got a treat part way through when an 84 year old indigenous man paddled up to us to chat with our guide.  He was selling some excellent candy that his wife had made from chocolate and Brazil nuts.  The guide taught me how to say a few things in Portuguese so I could properly purchase some candy and then tell him how good it was.  

We concluded the boat trip with some fishing for pirañas.    Even though the other boats were pulling them in like nobody's business, our boat had no such luck.  I am pretty sure it was because I bright us bad luck.  At home, my dad and I go fishing all of the time but we haven't caught anything in at least six years.  It was still fun watching the pirañas nibble at the bait.  

On the way back to our ship, it started pouring quite torrentially which was very welcome and refreshing.  I gladly spent the rest of the day resting up for another early day tomorrow.  I did some reflecting on how lucky I am to be able to do all of this.  I am having a hard time reconciling all I can do now with the memory how sick I have been.  Not that I'm complaining one bit!  :0)

Brazil! (Day 1)

  As far as epicness goes, my first day in Brazil pretty much wins.  It started early with my alarm rudely waking me up at 7:00 followed by a quick breakfast.  I hurried to pack my bag, take my meddies, change into my swimsuit, and put the gel backs in my cooling vest.  By 7:45 I was meeting with my group for the swimming with dolphins field program.  

  As usual the crew was wonderful and carried my chair down for me so I could focus on getting down the 5 flights of stairs leading down from the boat.  I immediately noticed that I may have some trouble with the heat and humidity.  It's the kind of heat here where you almost feel like you can't get your breath because it is so muggy.  I was definitely glad that I had decided to bring my chair that day.  We all loaded up on a small boat that would take us on our day's adventure.   I had awesome help all the way, probably more than I needed in fact.

   The boat ride to the first stop of the day was really relaxing.  I had secured a window seat and enjoyed the refreshing spray of the Rio Negra (the other large river in Manaus) and the scenery.  Right near the port, there was a small hill of houses built on stilts to accommodate to the different river levels at different times of the year.  In 2009 and 2010 the difference between the highest and lowest level of the river was 53 ft!  We also passed under a huge bridge spanning across the whole river.  It was the first of it's kind in the Amazon.  

   We arrived at our first destination by navigating a smaller offshoot of the Rio Negra.  None of us were prepared for the impromptu "nature walk" that was announced once we were off of the boat.  We were not allowed to wear sunscreen or bug spray since we would be interacting with the dolphins later and hardly any of us had long sleeves or pants.  I guess all of those things are pretty much necessities for a track through the rainforest.  Our guide was uneasy with our lack of preparedness but he shrugged and told the people in shorts to stay in the middle in case we encountered any of the venomous snakes.  I got a further shock of my own when it was announced that this little nature walk was actually going to be an hour long hike!  I immediately stepped out of the line we were forming to venture into the forest and resigned myself to spending the time in the boat.  The professor in charge of this field program saw this and offered that he would stick with me and go back with me when I was tired so I wouldn't have to walk through the forest alone.  I felt bad, but agreed because I really wanted to see the forest.

   I started out on the walk huffing and puffing and thinking with each step that I should probably not be doing this.  I kept taking steps though and soon came to the realization that I could quite possibly do this.  Over the next hour this girl who has been in a wheelchair or in bed for the last four years went on a 50 minute hike!  In the rainforest.  With excruciating heat and humidity.  Climbing over logs and ducking through spiderwebs as I went.  

That is one of the guides cutting through the forest with a machette.  How cool is that!?!

   I can't even put into words how amazing I felt when we got back to the boat.  I kept thinking, "did that really just happen?"  I never thought I would be able to do something like that years in the future, let alone just months after my CCSVI surgery!  

   As excited as I was over this achievement, it was only the beginning of the day's adventures.  A short boat ride across the river allowed us to get somewhat cooled off before we once again clamored ashore.  This time it was to a small village where we would be having lunch.   The food was fantastic.  I usually am not too crazy about fish, but the fish on the menu was done fantastically!  I helped myself to a few other delicious things that I am still not really sure what they were.  As we were eating, the professor leading the field program told us about the river dolphins that we would be getting to swim with at the next stop.  The dolphins were the source of scandalous folklore where historically they were believed to disguise themselves as distinguished and sexy young men who would then seduce young women who ventured out on their own.  Any mysterious pregnancies were blamed on the seductive, shapeshifting dolphins.  The professor added with a chuckle that he wouldn't be surprised that this myth was started by the missionaries to explain the emergence of pink skinned babies.   In terms of the dolphins biology, an interesting fact is that they change their skin pigment and mellon (the bump on their head) shape as a means of communicating emotions.

  With full stomachs and brains, we boarded the boat to our final and most anticipated destination.  We were entertained a long the way by one of the kids in our group and a daughter of the boat driver playing games that didn't need any common language.  

  We were greeted at the floating dolphin place by the family who ran the place and some very cute dogs who were only too happy to have us ogle over them.  I could tell that many of us were missing our pets at home.  After a brief introduction, it was time to jump in the water.  Swimming with the dolphins was quite an experience!  They are wild, so this isn't anything like my previous dolphin experience where the dolphin was trained to do tricks and sit calmly as we pet it.   Basically we would be floating in the murky water and all of the sudden our foot would touch something or we would get a gentle head but from a dolphin.  There were many yelps of excitement and surprise as the dolphins would brush against us or suddenly appear bobbing in the water next to us.  The people running the place enticed the dolphins to come to the surface so we could get a better look (and touch them) with fish.  These dolphins were certainly not flipper.  They were almost frightening looking with their slightly angular proportions and very sharp teeth.  They were very friendly though and seemed to be as curious about us as we were about them.  The place we were at didn't' get many tourists, so this was somewhat of a novelty to the dolphins as well.  

  Too soon it was time to get out of the water and shower to get rid of the slime that coated us from the river.  We were each given a necklace from the family with a scale form a fish that lived in the river.  After we got dried off, we were able to see this fish firsthand as the family showed us how to fish for them.  It actually wasn't' true fishing with a hook.  We used a fish tied into a string as bait which caused the fish to latch onto the string just long enough for it to be pulled out of the water for a quick glimpse of the full size of the thing.   Just as the huge scale suggested these fish were huge!  It was a little scary that we were just swimming in the same water as them!  I got to try my hand at fishing and managed to "hook" quite a few.

   Then it was back on the boat for a relaxing journey back to our boat.  

Normally this would have been more than enough for me for one day, but I still had another field program to go!  I hurriedly took a shower to get off the last bits of slime and got dressed in my evening gear.  This consisted of lots of bug spray, long pants and long sleeves.  I ate a quick dinner on the boat, rested for a few minutes back in my room and then was off to meet my group.  I was excited that two of my new good friends were doing the field program as well!  As we were talking, one of them mentioned that she had had brian surgery when she was younger and started describing it.  It started to sound extremely familiar so I asked, "Was it for chiari malformation?"  Her eyes got huge and she replied, "Yes!  How did you know about it?  No one knows about it!"  I told her that many people with Ehlers Danlos have chiari so I have tons of friends who have had the same surgery.  I was even tested for it several times before I found out my real problem was CCSVI.  As if we weren't already good friends for both loving biology and Doctor Who, that pretty much cemented it! 

We soon were back on another boat that would take us to our caiman spotting adventure.  This boat was pretty big and I wondered how we were going to see any wildlife until I realized that we would be transferring into smaller boats later.  The ride was pleasant as all boat trips seem to be.  We were all very tired, but didn't' sleep because we didn't want to miss the view of the city at night.  

I somehow managed to get prime seating in the front spot when we transferred into the canoes.  Our fearless guide hoped onto the boat and we were off.  It was very exciting cruising around at night!   The guide scanned the shoreline  with a flashlight hoping to spot the reflection of caiman eyes.  (Caiman are an alligator like reptile.)  After some meandering I thought I spotted an eye glowing from the water grass and sure enough we made a beeline to it.  The guide got down on his stomach and expertly scooped up the caiman out of the water.  We all cheered and then got the surprise that we could hold it ourselves!  The little caiman was very calm throughout the whole experience, letting us pose of pictures and inspect it's scales and feet.  It felt different than I expected.  It looks really rough, but it feels more like a snake with smooth scales.  I was particularly fascinated by the feet which were fragile looking yet very strong.  The guide let the caiman go after a belly rub that is seemed to enjoy.  We cruised around for a while after that spotting many more caiman and successfully catching another tiny one.  This one was a bit feisty and I confess I squealed a little when it began to thrash about while I was holding it.

I was completely exhausted by the time we got back, but it was completely worth it!  Holding a caiman was the perfect way to end such an awesome day!