Equipo Williams

Amazon Gero Tours: Day One

Today was the first day of our Amazon tour. At 8:15, Luis picked us up from our hotel in Manaus and took us to the tour office. At the office, they had a cute little doggie and I loved her. Then we got in a van and drove to the port of the meeting of the waters. The meeting of the waters is where the Rio Negro meets the Amazon. Because of the rivers’ temperature and consistency, they have different colors, and don’t mix. This was a really cool phenomenon to watch and experience from our boat, and I never knew about it. After crossing this, we got on a bus headed for the lodge. Our bus driver was really old, so we were swerving all over the road when it started raining. Funny thing is, he only turned on the windshield wipers after the rain was over. We got off the bus to then get on another boat to the lodge. That boat ran aground about half a mile from the lodge, so we just walked the rest of the way. The Amazon was going through the worst drought they’ve had in about ten years, so what usually was a lake, was, in our case, a shallow stream and a bunch of mud. We ended up getting to the lodge COVERED in mud, which was disgusting. So far, our journey has been . . . exciting, and I can’t wait to experience the rest of it.

Amazon Gero Tours: Day Two

Today we went on a day trip out of the lodge. The first thing we did was, of course, eat a delicious breakfast, in which I tried dragon fruit for the first time. At about 8:30 we left the lodge. When we got to the main lake it looked pretty stormy, so we went to someone’s floating house where we fished for piranha. The fun thing about this was that you almost immediately got a bite and the piranha pulled pretty hard. I think I caught three or four, but they were too skinny to keep. We ate lunch at a house of one of Anselmo‘s friends. Anselmo was our tour guide. Then we took a relaxing siesta in some hammocks which lasted about an hour and a half. We started to head back at three and saw some interesting creatures on the way. We saw hoatzin, which are birds with mohawk like spikes on their heads. Apparently, these are similar to ancient birds, and belong to a different family than any other modern bird. We saw squirrel monkeys jumping through the trees. They were very small but had the capability to jump very far. We saw water buffalo neck deep in the water, which I assume would’ve been relaxing because it was a hot day. We also saw a huge caiman in the bush on the way back to the lodge. When Anselmo started poking it, it ran the 20 meters to the water in about four seconds flat. It would’ve been two, but it hit a log. It flailed over the log and disappeared into the water. I never believed National Geographic when they said how fast caimans run, but after seeing one do that in real life, I know not to get ANYWHERE near one. Anyways, day two was also great and I’m anxious for tomorrow.

Amazon Gero Tours: Day Three

Today it was hot! When Syd showed us more capuchin monkeys, I wasn’t too excited, since we’ve seen them every morning. Breakfast was not great. There were all kinds of exciting fruits, but because its not good for you, my parents didn’t let me eat only fruit. This meant I had to eat plain bread, which was not my favorite. After breakfast, we went to see some neighbors making manioc flour. Manioc is used to make tapioca, which I had no idea about. The trek there was hard and for all of the work to get there, all we really did was sit there and watch them press the manioc for half an hour. I think Baba found it way more interesting than the rest of us, because he was walking around with Anselmo and asking a million questions about manioc. Since the trek there was hard, the one back was twice as bad. It was very hilly, which was really bad for my knee. After lunch we went for a walk in the jungle and found some cool red and black seeds that I will try to turn into a necklace. After the walk my knee really started to hurt so I took a rest for the rest of the day. My tour has been fun so far and I’m excited to see what we do tomorrow. 

Amazon Gero Tours: Day Four

Today was rough. I’ve been confined to the lodge the entire day! Since my knee is bad, mama and baba decided I should rest today. I’m glad I didn’t hurt my knee more, but I am also sad that I missed out on a bunch of fun things. Other people went hiking and fishing, while I just sat there and played games the whole day. Baba and Syd went on a hike in the morning and brought me back some more colorful seeds, which I appreciated. I’d like to make a necklace and bracelet out of them. At about 3:30, Syd and mama left to go piranha fishing and pick me up some medicine. I got really worried when they didn’t come back until seven, because it got really dark. Anyways I’ve had a great Amazon tour excited and terrified to see what the next few days have in store.

Amazon Gero Tours: Day Five

Today was the last day of our Amazon tour. I really enjoyed it and I’m sad that it is over. I think my favorite part was seeing how different the animals and landscape are here. We left the lodge at about 8:30 and headed out on the boat ride home. We got lucky because we were the last ones able to use the boat and from now on people will walk 45 minutes from Macaco‘s house, which would’ve been . . . less fun. We had lunch with Tucano which was fun. We also swam in the river and some unknown thing (which I think was a dolphin) bit Baba, so we didn’t swim for very long. After that we got in the boat to go home. The bus ride back was very uneventful, although I did have some disgusting chips. I didn’t actually see the meeting of the waters on the way back but I’m not too bummed about it. All in all, the tour was amazing, and I really, really, really hope we go back. 

Amazon Gero Tours: Summary

Our amazon tour was SO fun and as much as I would love to tell you every single thing that happened to me, you know I’m too lazy for that, so I will solely share the highlights. I think my favorite day happened to also be the day I hurt my knee. This was the third day of our tour. We went on an amazing hike in the jungle that day, and I found some cool beads. We’ll, they’re actually seeds, but they are very colorful, and I want to make some jewelry out of them. Anyways, I think my favorite animal encounter was seeing a caiman run. The caiman was about as big as Baba and hiding in the bushes. The only reason we saw it was because it was night, and its eyes were reflecting light from Anselmo’s flashlight. Anselmo got out of the boat, and being a naturalist, started poking the caiman with a stick. Now, you need to keep in mind that Anselmo was only about a meter away from it. So, after Anselmo poked it for a few seconds, the caiman bolted towards the river. It was very funny to watch it run, especially when it jumped over a log. It did like, three backflips in midair. The last thing I will share is my time with Tucano. He works at the Tucano Bar (hence the name Tucano) and is awesome. He laughs at almost everything, especially my socks, and was a pleasure to hang out with. I really enjoyed meeting him and If I ever go back to the Amazon, I hope I see him. So, in conclusion, although our tour was definitely an adventure, I really enjoyed it.