HOMESTAY - DAY 3/4
So I bet everyone has been wondering “where the hell is the rest of the blog about brazil?” well guess what.. HERE IT IS!!!
Around 8:00 am on Tuesday, January 25th, I met with my group so we could head out for our home stay during the next few days! There was 15 of us (one girl, Amanda, I had met the night before at supper so we stuck together) I had no idea where we were going, who I was staying with, how far from civilization it was – nothing. So our tour guide directed us to our mode of transportation – the same damn boat from the day before we rode in to the dolphins.. FOR THREE HOURS. All I could think was ‘here we go again’. We were going to the same little lake we were in the day before with the dolphins– the village was in the same ‘neighborhood’ haha. So lets just say I got my ipod out, curled up with my jacket and had a nice little nap! J After a few hours, sure enough there was the little tipsy topsy building with all the roaches to my left, and ‘my village’ up ahead. I got creeped out thinking of all those bugs and how I’m going to actually be sleeping here this time. So, I told my self, AGAIN, it’s a once in a lifetime experience and just suck it up. (Brazil put me in the frame of mind quite a bit – but I guess it build character!!)
Anyways – my village. Formally known as Acajatuba Village. (I often refer to it as my village because I STILL can’t pronounce the name). We got there around noon and was given a quick tour of the community while we waited for the group from the day before to leave. The main building we first met in consisted of a little snack shop and crafts for sale; from there we went to the old school and Catholic Church. After we made our way back to the main building, we finally got to meet our families. By random, Amanda and I were chosen to stay with the minister, Sebastian, and his family. When he heard that it was two girls he was glowing. He had gotten daughters. He couldn’t have stood over 4’8” but he stood taller and prouder than I don’t know what. Before we could even hear where everyone else was staying, he immediately took us to his home so we could eat lunch. At the home, which was located next to the church (and yes I did a few Hail Mary’s quick), we met his wife and two sons. Ill explain the home first. From what I could see, it was the largest home in the community. I wasn’t sure why but possibly because he was the minister? The home was square with 4 bedrooms in the middle. On one end was the kitchen, the opposite was the dining room table and TV/sitting area. The other two sides were sort of hallways. The bathroom and shower were located off the kitchen. A quick note about his wife- several years ago she suffered from a stroke so is now paralyzed on the left half of her body. She can no longer help and needs assistance 24 hours a day. One of the sons, Messias, was around 23 so pretty close to our ages. The other son, Sebastian Jr., was a little bit older. We all sat down to eat around 1:00 and I REALLY enjoyed the meal. I was kind of nervous at first because I’m a picky eater and didn’t want to offend anyone but the meal turned out to be fantastic. They made French fries – which I think they did as a kind gesture for us as Americans to make us feel at home -, some type of beef in a cheese sauce and rice. Everything was fantastic and we even all went for seconds! After lunch we had a few hours before we had to meet back up with the group. Amanda and I got settled in our room – comprised of two hammocks – then tried making small talk with Sebastian Sr. Now remember we speak NO Portuguese and they speak NO English. Ugh. So once again we resorted to sign language, ‘yes & no’, and a itty bitty bit of Spanish. After about two hours of trying to talk with the minister, Messias, the youngest son, just comes out of nowhere with some broken English. My jaw dropped. The past two hours he just sat and watched us try to talk to his dad and was probably laughing at us the entire time. Oh well.
Around 4:00 pm, we all met up at the main building to get ready for PIRANAH FISHING! We only rode about 20 minutes where we stopped in a quiet little place. Funny thing is, it was RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOLPHIN LAGOON!!!!!!!! I just shook my head. Anyways, fishing was pretty cool. The rods are just single bamboo shafts with a string and hook tied on the end. None of the fancy reels, lures and bobbers (Uncle Ronny would have a fit!!) We fished until dark and only caught 8 fish. Guess we weren’t eating much the next day. Haha. The tour guides caught caymen again so it was pretty similar from the few nights before. While we were riding back to the village, I could honestly smell the food from the village being cooked for supper. I couldn’t wait. Sadly, I cant remember exactly what we had but I know I didn’t turn a single dish away (I guess that’s why they say not to wait a week to blog!) After supper we all headed back to the main building to get ready for the dance. The locals began with a traditional Brazilian dance with all the kids participating – my brother at 23 was the oldest to a little girl who looked around 3 or 4. And every single one of them had the dance perfect. I was amazed. Then all of us tried learning it for hours – my brother tried over and over to teach me but I just couldn’t get the hang of it. I bet for at least 3 hours everyone danced, danced and danced. Around 10 or 11pm was bed time! Amanda and I went back to the home and got settled in our hammocks. I chuckle every time I think about getting tucked in my hammock, with a mosquito net. Literally don’t let the bed bugs bite – but now was not the time to think about bed bugs.
Surprisingly I slept pretty well, until 5AM I had a wakeup knock on the door so everyone (SASers) could go out on the water to watch the sunrise. We rode about 15 or 20 minutes around the corner so we could see the full sunrise. I mean what do you really say about a sunrise? Other than it was one of the most peaceful, quiet, relaxing moments I have ever experienced. We saw a few of the dolphins out playing. The pictures I have serve it no justice – just one of those memories ill have to keep to myself!!
When we got back to the home we ate breakfast. mmmHmmm. It was SO good. Im going to have to send Wayne down to Brazil so he can learn to cook like that for me in the morning!!! It was fried bananas or platinos (not sure which – when I asked he said ‘yes’ to banana and ‘yes’ to platino – this happened often); there was this banana/plantino paste (bananas puréed, milk, and sugar) that was sipped from a cup; meat and crackers; and coffee/hot chocolate. Amanda, Messias and I all sat around the kitchen for at least an hour just munching on all these sweets. It definitely got me pumped for the two hour hike coming up!!
Midmorning, we all met up at the main building once again to head off into the Amazon Jungle! I didn’t know if I was excited, nervous, scared or what – all mixed feelings! It turned out being a combination of everything. The hike in total lasted about two hours. I think I lost about 15lbs at the end just because of me sweating. Inside the actual jungle is like NOTHING I’ve ever experienced. Even on the most humid days in Iowa stands no comparison. The minute I was standing with trees surrounding me, sweat just drenched my clothes. Now I can understand how the first killer of the Amazon is dehydration! Throughout the hike we learned tons of new things, saw a bunch of plants and some icky critters. It was pretty cool seeing all of these plants in raw form like the rubber trees and vick plants. The tour guide actually made rubber for us which is such a LONG process – burning, melting, twisting, turning etc. The vick plants were menthol smelling plants used for sickness as a rub which is how Vick’s Vapor Rub got its name!! The tour guide also found a pretty big spider. A tarantula. A bird EATING spider. HUGE. He taught us a little bit about the creature and even picked it up to show us its fangs. I think the scariest part of seeing the spider was knowing they are there – but not seeing the OTHER ones. His nest is actually on the ground in a hole of leaves right on the path we were walking. At least 5 or 6 people walked right over it before the 2nd tour guide saw it. The guide also gave us a little Amazon survival 101 on starting fires in such a humid environment. (I have it on video which I will post later) At the end of the hike, the guides made toys out of the palm fronds – like the ones we get at church. He made me a whistle that actually works.
Once we got back from the hike, we had lunch (pot roast, chicken and potatoes – amazing again) and had some pretty good conversations with the family. The easiest form of communicating we found was through pictures. The family was so interested in learning English so we translated words, drew pictures for words we didn’t know and laughed over and over again at ourselves. I learned that the son does not live in the village, but in Manaus (where we ported) He is going to school for culinary and wants to come to the USA!!! I told him he better come stay with me when he does want to come otherwise I would be very upset! I even tried getting ‘Dad’ to come… he said he would rather that I send him more Americans so he can learn English that way. It’s amazing how connected I felt to the family even though we couldn’t understand each other through words. I couldn’t have been placed with a better family. I was so sad when the guide came around to each home to tell us we had to get ready to leave. I really had a bond with this family and definitely got a few tears saying goodbye.
While we were riding away from the village, everyone in the community came to the shore and waved us off. These warm, loving people and village definitely won a special little place in my heart J
After my LONG awaited shower, it was out on the town for our last night in BRAZIL!!!
But for now, its bed time and I have class in the morning… To Be Continued… Soon…
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