I’ve give myself with this incredibly daunting task of trying to sum up a three-week summer vacation in a couple of paragraphs. And this was a trip in Brazil, which is a huge country with a lot of stuff to do. And each part is very different.
We started in Manaus, in the state of Amazonas. This part I felt like I had a bit of a point of reference. It is sort of like the Everglades, but without the Army Corps of Engineers. Oh and it is huge.
It was a river system that used to run to the Pacific until the Andes rose up, making it the world’s biggest ditch. It now slowly flowing to the Atlantic. The river only drops 180 feet over the 1,262 miles from Iquitos to Manaus. So it is pretty flat territory.
We spent about a week in the forest near Manaus which was great. We saw a bunch of sloths, monkeys an otter, and slept in the jungle. Fished for piranhas, and saw pink dolphins. This was near where the Rio Negro and Amazon meet in a swirly black and white pattern that you see recreated as metaphor all over Brazil.
Then we went to the dunes at Sao Luis, and the beach and Olinda for Carnaval. Oh and I got to surf some little tiny waves in Porto de Galinhas in Pernambuco.
Well, let’s say it was a great trip and an experience of a lifetime and we have lots of photos if you ever want a slide show.
I kept some notes while we were traveling, if there is anything legible maybe I’ll copy it.