Part four: The Amazon: "Show me on the doll where the bug landed on you…"

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Bugs! Bats! Hey – is that a slipper?

Right now we are cruising down the Amazon. The water is brown and murky but we can see the rainforest all around us. Last night I saw the most amazing moonrise of my life, it was so bright that I was easily able to photograph it. For the first time bugs are showing up on the ship. We found one on the top deck last night that was the size of my hand. The air is hot and muggy and I can't get over that I am in the Amazon. The current crime rates in Brazil are all anyone else is talking about. We were told to stay in groups of 4 or 5 and always have a male with us. We were told to keep our money in multiple places and carry a wallet with $50 to give up if needed. The boat's movement had ceased temporarily while we are on the river. Thank goodness. 2 days to Brazil!

Today was one of the best days of my life. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I was awake. We are cruising down the Amazon at about 15 miles an hour and we are close enough to one side of the forest to be able to see birds and when it opens up we can see little villages. All of the children from the villages run out to the edge of land and wave at us. Some people jumped into canoes and they rode our wake. The clouds are unlike anything I have ever seen. Its not just one kind of cloud, there are 5 or 6 different kinds all mixed together. I haven’t been able to take my eyes away from them. Some of the clouds are rain clouds and as we pass under them it will rain pretty heavily for a few minutes even though the sun is out all around us. The heat is stifling so the water feels good. People come out of the ship to slosh around on the wet decks. The sun is very strong and it dries the decks in a matter of minutes. The bugs are out of this world. They are EVERYWHERE, inside the ship, every few feet on deck, and we’re not talking little fruit flies. I totally take back all of those times in school when we were learning about all the poisonous things in the Amazon that I didn’t think twice about because they were far away in the jungle and I was safe in my little California suburb. We get to Brazil tomorrow and the people who have signed up to sleep in hammocks along the river are rethinking that choice. Alec from middle school and I lay out in the sun and the rain and discussed how surreal this all feels. It is like we went to bed one night, and woke up in he jungle. Actually – it is literally like that. It’s totally wild to wake up and have to look outs your window to see where you are, and it is drastically different every day. One day, flat, flat, flat blue seas, the next, an exotic country, the next, a different exotic country.

Last night I went to Shabbat dinner. There were a good number of people there and they gave us wine and challah. We also had an open mic night which was extremely well attended, and by that I mean packed all the way to the back of our theatre. My roommate sang, as did a few more of my friends but what was most impressive was a rendition of “Summer Nights” about Semester at Sea called “SAS Nights.” Other highlights were “My Heart will go on” and a show stopping “Bad Romance” in full costume.

The night life on the ship cracks me up. We are allowed to drink, they provide the alcohol, but most people go in to the dining hall late at night with games and sit around the tables and play Mafia and Clue and Uno. It is like walking into free time in a kindergarten classroom full of 20-year olds. Most people go to bed around midnight and get up around 7 or 8.

ship dance

talent show!

welcome to the jungle

This is Semester at Sea’s first trip down the Amazon. We are making history. That means that the captain, the crew, and everyone else on board are all seeing this for the first time. Apparently we barley cleared the entrance. We made it in with just a meter of space from the bottom. The river must be deep, out boat goes down into it 30 feet.