Vietnam (Day 4) Part 1

Note:  Viewer Discretion Advised due to graphic meat pictures at the market.  

 Today was Mekong Delta day!  I was really lucky to get on the trip since I hadn't bought at ticket.  I had originally reserved the day for some market shopping, but I decided shopping shouldn't really be my priority when there was so much else to do.

   After about an hour bus ride through beautiful rice fields, we arrived at our first stop, a busy market.  We walked through it so fast I didn't really have any time to get any of the dodgy looking food, but I was able to quickly buy these strange things.  I had no clue what they were, but they ended up being quite good.  I unwrapped the leaf and found sticky rice, red beans, coconut, and dragon fruit pressed together in an interesting kind of snack bar.  I have to say I prefer it to powerbars.  I almost didn't pay enough for the snack because I couldn't understand the lady I bought it from.  I am still confused actually.  I gave her a dollar and she tried to give me change and I said not to worry about it and got back on the bus.  Then my guide comes up to me and says the lady wants another dollar.  Oops!  So I gave him the dollar to give to her of course.  I felt really bad that I almost underpaid for the snack!

There was SO much to see at the market!  I wish I had eyes on the back and sides of my head too.  (While I'm wishing for extra body parts, an extra arm would be nice when I am braiding my hair.)  

Honeycomb!  I was very excited to see this because I had taken a beekeeping class in college and had learned about these tiny kind of bees.  

Many houses in Vietnam have these dog statues outside of their house to chase off bad spirits from their property.

A dog so ugly it is cute.

Neptune Day!

I woke up today a mere pollywog, and now am going to bed as a...well they never really specified, but now I'm not a pollywog anymore! Today was Neptune Day!

There are traditions going back an unspecified amount of time where sailors who have never crossed the equator (on a ship) before must pay tribute to Neptune and gain is approval to proceed.  We have been hovering near the equator for a while now, but today was our day to ask the mighty Neptune if we may pass.

The ceremony started way too flipping early for a no class day.  At 7:30 a booming voice woke us up over the ship speakers inviting us to be judged by Neptune.  If I had any intention of rolling over and going back to sleep (which believe me, I did) that prospect was dashed by a parade of drums that walked the halls of the ship.  Grumbling good naturedly, my roomie and I ventured to deck six to eat a quick breakfast before heading up to deck 7 for the ceremony.  

(BTW, my roomie is the one on the left.  :0)  They are all going to kill me for posting this muahahaha!)

The ceremony included things like this:

and this:

And in 90's Nickelodeon fashion, this:

Basically we stood in a little pool and had (freezing cold) green slime poured over us then jumped in the pool.  After a short dog-paddle to get the slime off, we got back out of the pool on the other side, kissed a piraña on the lips...er teeth, kissed Neptune's ring, greeted his wife, and then was knighted by his minion.  Those truly of a brave heart were also invited to shave their heads.  I was not quite that brave, but I did everything else and am now....not a pollywog.  Most importantly I am cleared to pass into the Southern hemisphere!  Yay!  (This is especially important considering there was no alternate ship to board if we did not pass the test.)

After a bit of cleaning up and resting up after all that I joined some people to tan on the top deck.  I actually haven't done this yes (I have no idea why) and it was pretty fun and relaxing.  That is until Neptune thought we looked way to comfortable (and a little bit sunburned) and called upon the clouds to drop copious amounts of water on us.  It was quite comical to be part of a crowd who suddenly leap off the lounge chairs to run under cover.  Most people went to watch a movie, but I decided I hadn't had enough of outside for the day.

I changed into more sporty shoes and hit up the very empty and very wet basketball courts.  There I found myself shooting hoops in a storm as I was crossing the equator.  (And the crew stopped to watch my insanity for a bit.)  Pretty awesome.  The wind was crazy, making it very difficult to successfully make  basket, but that also made it much more exciting.  The rain was the usual tropical kind that can have you soaked to the bone in under 15 seconds.  One of my friends came to join me and we had fun chatting and missing more than making some baskets.  When the wind started to turn the rain into wee little bullets, we decided enough with that and went in to dry off.  

But wait there's more!  After some more rest time (and reading.  Seriously you all need to go out and get The Farseer Trilogy because it is awesome!) and a meeting with a group about a paper it was time to celebrate Hannah's birthday!!!!  A bunch of us all met for dinner and there was much rejoicing.  And cake!

And what would an awesome day be without concluding it with a mini-Doctor Who marathon with friends.  

Happy Birthday Hannah (Banana not Montana)!!!!!!

P.S.  I'm feeling much better.  A bit weak and queasy, but obviously it's not holding me back very much.  As long as I rest for an hour every few hours, I'm recharged and ready for (almost) anything.     :0)  

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!