SAS F12 Colleen

(make sure you read the Dolphin entry and the Manaus the City entry first as they are referenced here--thanks all for reading)

Hey everybody guess what----I survived the Amazon :) Danielle and I went on the Jungle Survival Skills of the Indigenous Dessana overnight trip and it was the best SAS trip I have done all voyage. I have been super excited for this trip and could not wait until we finally got to go. Basically the group was almost 40 people and we all crammed into this itty bitty little river boat that took us about an hour up the Rio Negro to the shore by the village of the Dessana people. They are an indigenous tribe and were kind enough to allow us to come and learn about their culture and spend a night with them in the Amazon. From the beach where the boat dropped us off we hiked for about half an hour through the jungle on a trail that the Dessana had made. It was similar to the hike we took the day before on the dolphin trip and we were all sweaty and gross by the time we were 10 min. in but thankfully it was a bit cooler than it had been the day before, around 95 degrees or so and probably about 100% humidity as we were in the middle of the rainforest, though it's the dry season so maybe not.

After about half an hour we reached the clearing that would become our camp for the rest of the stay. They had built a giant lean-to out of palm branches with a bench and a table (again made of palm branches) underneath for us to but our stuff on and the table to eat off of. After taking pictures and unloading our backpacks they began to show us survival skills as in the jungle it gets dark at about 1800 and it was already almost 1600 when we got there. Oh by the way they were speaking their native language and our guide was translating for us. Anywho, the first thing they showed us was "how to make a phone call in the forest." As shouting or yelling doesn't carry very far and can alert potentially dangerous animals to your location quickly the way they communicate with each other is by banging a large stick against the roots of açai berry trees. If you bang two or three times it means that you are safe and that you know where you are (they usually use this form of communication while hunting where it can be easy to get lost if you are very focused on chasing prey). If you bang more than three times it means that you are lost or in danger. You can hear the banging for just over 2 miles around so if someone hears you they will come and try to find you and help you out. He also explained that if you need shelter overnight you can curl up between the tall roots of the tree and put palm branches over you—oh and use a natural ant-repellant (aka kill and ant and rub its guts on yourself because others will be able to smell the dead ant and not come near you—I believe that is what he said). Also, he mentioned, if you hear wild boars running by just stay hidden and they won't hurt you, on the other hand if you hear a jaguar roar, run for your life.

The guide, who happened to be the chief's son by the way, next explained how they climbed the trees to get fruit down from the top. He found a large palm leaf and started to twist it, creating a rope of sorts. He then measured it against the tree he desired to climb and tied the rope in a circle. He put one foot on either side of the circle of rope, put his machete between his teeth, grabbed the tree and lifted up his feet using the rope around them for tension to hold him up. (I realize that might not make sense but I don't know how else to describe it—I have pics and videos I can show you later if you are interested). He climbed up a good way then came back down and told us it was our turn. Some of the guys were able to climb up but most of us only got a couple of feet off the ground. It was very hard to position your feet so that the rope would have enough tension to hold your position on the tree trunk and I don't think having smaller feet was in my favor but it was really fun to do it anyway :)

Next was the hunting station, our guide showed us an area where they had frequently observed animals coming to as there were lots of fruits available. Therefore, the Dessana created a perch between two trees a little ways off. Clutching his three-foot long blow dart he climbed up into the perch and explained that while the darts were small they were dipped in a paralyzing poison before being shot and demonstrated by shooting at a tree across the small clearing. It was really cool to watch and the darts flew a lot faster than I expected them to.

He explained that were you lost in the jungle you would have to start a fire the old-fashioned way by rubbing two sticks together for hours, but they no longer do that unless they have no other option. He said that they frequently use lighters now because they are quick and easy but that they have other methods as well. He demonstrated how to use a certain hard rock and striking it against the machete to get a spark—he had steel wool and some dry leaves beneath and as the steel wool caught he added leaves and blew on the fire to get it to catch. Then, for some reason, he pulled out two D batteries, stuck them together end to end and rubbed the remaining steel wool on the top once or twice and it caught and went up in a huge blaze. So if you ever get lost in the jungle just pull out those D batteries that everyone always carries with them into the jungle, and rub some steel wool over them and you'll have a roaring fire in seconds. Fires are important for warmth, cooking and keeping animals and insects away and he told us that they use fires frequently and that they are not harmful to the jungle as the Dessana are careful about where they light them and make sure to always put them out.

Near the camp there was a small creek that ran through the jungle and the Dessana had put in a little dam to help collect some of it. It was very clear (considering the Rio Negro is blacker than black) and they told us that they use it to wash and to drink and that we could wash our hands there but that if we drank it we would probably get sick as we are not used to it. If we did get lost though, we could start by drinking it in very small amounts and could probably survive on it if we needed. If we could not, though, or couldn't find water in the form of a stream there was another way. We located a water vine and he cut a small section off—here the nine-year old boy who was with us observed that if you wanted to survive in the jungle it was clearly important to have a big knife lol—and allowed us to drink from the vine. You literally just cut off a small portion and tip it and the water just flows out the end and into your mouth and it actually tastes really, really good—a lot better than the water on the ship! There was also a tree near-by that contained the milk-like sap I mentioned from the dolphin trip and we tried some of that too. It tasted kind of weird and was really sticky but not too bad all in all.

We made our way back to the camp and the others were finishing up putting out dinner for us on the palm-leaf table. They had watermelon, pineapple, makaba(?) a kind of yellowish grain, and piranha—yea that's right piranha, okay so it was a vegetarian piranha but still a piranha none the less. We all gathered around the table and just used our hands for everything. We spit out the watermelon seeds but the rinds and the bones got put into a bag so that we wouldn't be putting foreign things in the jungle. The piranha was SUPER GOOD—honestly one of the best fish I have ever eaten! We just picked it right off the bones and ate it plain or with a little lime and it was amazing! The Dessana eat it with the makaba but we did not do that as much favoring the limes which they found funny. IT was a really good meal and it was fun to just stand around and eat from the table talking about what was good and who tried what with what and so on. As we were eating the other people from the village were starting to set up our hammocks around the camp. Pretty soon you couldn't walk in a straight line for more than three steps without finding a hammock blocking your path. There were forty-some of them hanging between every available tree in our little clearing and it looked so cool we all immediately claimed one and started taking pictures of everything. Once we had all picked a place to sleep they handed out blankets and we wondered if we were really going to bed at 1815 because even though it was dark we were not all that tired yet.

A little after that the guide announced that we should gather around the only clear space left in our camp because the Dessana were going to perform some traditional dances for us. They did a few welcoming dances to thank us for coming and learning about their culture and did a dance that we could come join in at the end. They were all really cool and illuminated by fires that they lit at the base of some of the trees surrounding the small clearing. They played multiple instruments over the course of the performance and we were all just sitting or chilling in hammocks as we watched, filming and taking pictures. It was really cool to watch and we were honored that they performed for us! After that we all got into our hammocks and talked about how early it was and we were already getting ready for bed, about how fricken cool it was that we were sleeping in hammocks in the Amazon and how blessed we were to be there! Then one of the girls pulled out catch phrase and we literally were in a clearing in the middle of the Amazon tossing catch phrase between hammocks in the middle of the night—it must have looked hilarious. The nine and seven year old brothers who were with us wanted to play but they didn't really know the rules so we all quietly laughed as they usually ended up telling us most or all of the phrase we were supposed to be guessing but it was really fun to play and we were glad that they wanted to join in. After we finished catch phrase we decided that since we were getting up at sunrise we should try to get some sleep so we fell asleep to the sounds of the jungle and it was just the coolest thing ever.

In the morning we woke up around 0430-0500 when the sun rose and the Dessana people were already up and had breakfast started. After rousing ourselves and making our way over to the lean-to we ate watermelon, pineapple, palm fruit, an açai berry-macaba juice type drink and some pineapple porridge which was really good. Then we packed up all of our stuff, said good-bye to our little camp and hiked about twenty-thirty minutes to the village of the Dessana people where we were treated to an amazing view of the Rio Negro river basin before heading down to the shore to meet our boat and head back to the ship. Once there we all ran to breakfast to get some cereal or a pastry as most of us were still hungry and then promptly went to go and shower and wash our clothes as we were all dirty and smelled just fantastic I'm sure after our day and night in the jungle but it was seriously an amazingly awesome experience!

Later that day we went back to the craft market and the grocery store and walked around the port area a little before going for a swim on deck 7.

A summary of my Amazon experience:

· Ate a guava-type fruit off of a machete

· Learned some crucial survival skills should I ever get lost in the Amazon

· Drank from a water vine

· Ate some tree sap

· Climbed (or at least attempted to climb) a palm-like tree

· Ate piranha (sooooo good)

· Got bit by a dolphin

· Ate red-fish which was apparently on the TV show "River Monsters"

· Slept in a hammock

· DIDN'T get any bug bites (yay!)

· Had the time of my life

Hey peoples I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving the other day, I know I did. After swimming with the pink river dolphins we raced back to the ship to shower and change before dinner. One of the professors on the ship, Sergio, is from Brazil so both here and in Rio (I didn’t go to that one) he organized a dinner at a Brazilian Steak House for anyone who was interested. Danielle and I went along with all of the families who have children on board as well as some of the RD’s and Life Long Learners and we had a really fun group. Danielle and I mostly hung out with Jenna and Dakota—the only other students who went and one of the fourteen-year olds on ship who we hang out with a lot who is basically just another student. Sergio got us all into taxi’s and we drove to the restaurant where we got to sit in the special little side room which was awesome. The reason we went there was because on Monday-Thursday nights they have half off so you pay about 20 US Dollars for all you can eat buffet and meat and then you pay for drinks and dessert which was a really, really good deal. Now, I know what you are thinking—Colleen doesn’t eat steak so what is she doing at a Brazilian Steak House for Thanksgiving. Well, I tried steak in Spain and ended up actually liking it so I figured I would try again and if I didn’t like it I would eat the salad and bread and chicken, etc that they had.

We were invited to go through the buffet first which had lots of sushi, salad, veggies, bread, cheese, and some fish and vegetarian dishes including ravioli which was really good. Then we headed back to our little room and started to eat. From then on the servers came in with dozens of different kinds of meat on skewers and asked us what we wanted to try. It was really funny to see everything they brought and while we tried a lot there were some we opted out on—chicken heart for example. Thankfully for us Dakota had lived in Brazil for a year and was able to tell us (or translate for us) what the servers brought. I tried a few different kinds of steak but wasn’t too too adventurous and I did like most of it which was interesting to me as I can’t even swallow steak in the US---oh well. We joked that we had probably eaten every kind of meat except for turkey which was funny and toasted to a happy Thanksgiving. At the end, even though we had eaten about as much as we would have at T-giving dinner at home, we split some desserts that were fantastic. Danielle and I had a chocolate mousse thing and Jenna and Elena had a chocolate and coconut cake thing. All in all a pretty great Thanksgiving dinner with some pretty great people. I still missed Thanksgiving with my family though :( And football---I really miss football!

The next morning we hung out with the Paul-Rios family and my RD Isaiah. We walked around the port area and this gi-normous craft market nearby, unfortunately after we accidentally walked through the meat market which made us all want to throw up because of the smell but let’s just forget about that part. The craft market was really cool and we got some sweet stuff. Danielle and I got hammocks in commemoration to our trip later (read the next blog post) which we were excited about and we found lots of other great crafts to buy and to look at.

That’s all for now. Love you all and happy Black Friday (even though I think it’s Sunday now---oh well it was Friday when we went to the market so it counts)

~Colleen

SAS F12 Colleen

Friday, December 7, 2012

Updates

Sunday, November 25, 2012

I’m a Survivor

Manaus the City

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Last minute additions to the last post