Brazil

I'd never been to South America so getting the chance to go my senior year during spring break was one of the most exciting things happening for me. With just a day to pack in between coming back from my college-visit trip to leaving, I relied on hopes and prayers that I had packed everything I needed.

Our flight was from SFO to Manaus (the capital of Amazonas) but it required two layovers: Houston and Panama City; so after a gruelling 16 hour flight, we finally landed in Brazil on Thursday morning. It was practically midnight when we landed, so as soon as we reached the hotel room, we took a good long nap to get ready for the next day.

Exploring around the nearby town on Thursday, I realized how close our hotel was to the city square. We walked around the Amazonas Theatre and after exploring a bit of the downtown area, took an Uber to the Port of Manaus.

There was a huge building outside filled with restaurants and gift shops, and after buying a few souvenirs, we walked down the bridge to the deck. We came exactly during sunset, so as night slowly fell, we got a view of both Manaus and the Rio Negro.

We came back near the hotel for dinner in the night, and got our first chance at eating Brazilian food. Afterwards, we started to pack up as the next morning, we were taking a bus to the Amazon Rainforest.

Waking up early, our bus was waiting outside the hotel for us. Along with my family was an Australian women and three European boys traveling together. The bus ride was actually so much more complicated than I thought: first, we took a one hour bus ride to the port, then took a thirty minute boat ride to an island, where we took another bus ride (the roads were so unpaved the bus was just driving through barren land and streams) to another port, where we finally took a boat through the forest. On our first boat ride, we saw the meeting point of the Rio Negro (a dark blue color) and the Amazon River (a pale sandy color). I remember putting my hand out to touch the water on both sizes so I could say I touched both rivers at once.

On our last boat ride, I finally got to see what the Amazon looked like. Instead of going through a city or even farmland, it felt surreal to float between dense forests in the widest and largest river in the world.

Soon, we arrived at our hotel: the Turtle Lodge. Our guide parked the boat on the dock and we moved from the boat to a floating deck. Once my parents checked in, we walked up a flight of wooden stairs to our room. All of the rooms were eco-friendly which meant that we were staying in wooden lodges throughout a cleared section of the forest. Our first meal at the lodge was lunch: we walked past a small soccer field and a few trees to reach another room where lunch was served.

Every day, we almost had the same food, but it always tasted good so I didn't mind. Because we're vegetarian, our options were more limited but still good: we got rice, beans, noodles, vegetables, and farofa along with fruits and a new dessert every meal. In the afternoon, after taking a quick look around our lodge (which had an open backyard into the forest), and then got ready to go hiking. Because of the insane amount of mosquitos, we wore full length shirts and pants despite the hot humidity. We took a boat ride again through the river, and I am still in shock of how our driver would remember the path despite the number of forks there were in the rivers. We finally stopped at a random point in the river where he tied the boat to a tree on the side. Stepping off into what I thought was the absolute middle of nowhere, we began our trek in the jungle. Walking past different kinds of trees, our tour guide showed us all of the different wildlife unique to the Amazon and also the usefulness of the plants around us. He showed us the specific trees whose leaves are used to make the tops of houses for villagers living on the banks. He also showed us local practices used by the natives for centuries: my favorite was the ant hole. Used to protect themselves from mosquito bites, natives would stick their hands in ant holes to cover themselves with the insects and kill them to release the formic acid. As being someone that is too scared to go near any bug, I surprised myself by volunteering to participate in the demonstration and seeing the hundreds of ants crawling on my arms immediately made me regret my decision.

Before finishing our hike, both our tour guides stopped to pick up some of the thick palm fronds to make my mom, sister, and me little crowns to wear. I still have mine from the trip because I knew moments like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Once we got back to the lodge, my sister and I explored the pool out front. As we swam around in the water, it felt surreal to see how we were literally in a pool on the banks of the Amazon river. It started to rain soon so once we dried off afterwards, we went inside for dinner and then changed again for our night boat tour. Our tour guide slowly took us on the river (I still don't understand how he easily navigated when it was pitch-black outside) and stopped at different forest entrances to see if he could catch any animals. After waiting around for a little, he saw something move in the water and managed to grab a small cayman to show us. The thing was literally inches away from me and I don't understand how my mom wanted to hold it. He showed us its different body parts and how it protected itself from other creatures.

Before we wrapped up, we also saw many fish and a boa constrictor (that our guide picked up). Because of how far we were into the forest, we were able to see a fully clear sky and every single star which felt so new.

The next morning, we took the boat again to visit locals that live by the banks, but there was such heavy rain that we had to stop at a random shack along the way. This type of weather is normal to the Amazon but I was so shocked at how heavy the rain poured and yet we were still traveling down the river in our small boat. The shack we stopped at was very nice and they had a few dogs running around the property. While we waited, we even began piranha fishing but didn't manage to get anything. Eventually, we reached the house in the afternoon and it was so interesting to see the little children running around while I was still shocked that they lived right there by the river. The house was on poles, and instead of AC, they just had open doors and windows even though it was pouring outside. Our guide then took us outside to the back to show us how the family used the plants growing around them to harvest and cook manioc flour to sell for a living.

Once we came back to the lodge, we changed again from our wet clothes to go out hiking and see some of the largest trees in the Careiro area.

My favorite part though was what we saw after: our guide slowly drifted the boat into the water in the back of the forests, and we saw so much different plant and animal life. It felt like a scene out of a jungle movie because we were just absolutely surrounded by so many different species.

As this was our last night, we did a sunset boat tour, and the sky really did feel endless since there was no infrastructure in the way.

The next morning once we packed up, we took our 2 bus rides and 2 boat rides back to our hotel to get lunch and walk around the town square one last time before our flight. We got tickets to the Theatre this time so we were actually able to go inside and see the stage where famous plays and operas had been performed.

Our flight from Manaus to Rio took about seven hours (with a layover), and by the time we landed in Rio, we checked into our hotel and soon fell asleep. The next morning, after showering, my sister and I immediately changed into our swimsuits to rush down to the beach right next to our hotel. The water wasn't even cold to swim in, and from our beach view, we could see Sugarloaf mountain. After tanning and walking around the beach for a few hours, we went back inside to change and get ready for our cable car ride to the top of the mountain. The ride itself wasn't long and from the top, you could see all aspects of the city. On one side was the sea port filled with boats and as I walked around the top, I could also walk through the natural rainforest covering the mountain.

The next morning, we took a drive to Santa Teresa to take a train up to see Christ the Redeemer. The lines were insane (as expected) but after scouting for a good spot at the top, I got to take so many pictures of the ginormous statue. We also saw a prayer going on inside the chapel inside the statue (which was so interesting to me because does the priest make that commute every day?)

While we were in the neighborhood anyway, we stopped along our drive to visit the famous Santa Teresa steps. The entire area was so colorful with murals and street vendors on every corner, and we of course ended up buying our fair share of merch.

That evening we walked along the beach more to get a view of the entire landscape during sunset, and I still remember how pretty the area was. All the hotel lights across the beach lit up the water and there were so many street performers playing hits everyone knew. After sunset, we walked beside more vendors where I got a dress and a swimsuit.

The next morning, we took a drive to a launchpad area where we got to go paragliding. We took a bus to the top of the mountain and my dad and I went first. Even though we suited up probably around 11am, it took forever for the wind to come back in our direction, and by the time we took off, it was at least 1pm. Flying over Rio was so cool–I could see all parts of the city from the forest below me to the beach ahead to the favelas and Christ the Redeemer in the far off distance. Once we landed though, it took another 3 hours for wind conditions to return and for my sister and mom to go, so even though it was so fun, it took up our entire day.

The next morning, we had a very early flight from Rio to Iguaçu, and to maximize our day, we headed directly to the aviary park instead of the hotel. I definitely could see how Jurassic Park took inspo from the park, as we walked through a small caged tunnel while the birds flew around us. Every time we entered a new part of the park, the gates between the tunnels would buzz and turn green like how they did in the movies. We saw so many different species and I got to get up close to so many birds (my favorite was the toucan).

After going around the park, our tour guide (the nicest guy ever btw) took us to Iguazu National Park. We got to walk all the way up close to the Brazilian side of the falls, and stood right next to it as we got sprayed by the water.

At that point, I wouldn't really consider myself wet, but that was soon changed when we took a boat tour through the waterfalls. I opted not to wear the trashbag rain coats (which I immediately regretted) and proceeded to get drenched as the tour guides would purposefully stop the boat right under the falls for a full minute to fully drench us.

Coming back to the hotel now fully drenched, I just took a shower and watched a few episodes of Jessie before going to bed.

The next morning, we woke up early to visit the same falls but from the Argentinian side. The drive took about 3 hours since we had to stop through immigration along the way. Once we reached the base, we had to take a mini train that would shuttle us up to where we should start the hike. It was kind of like going on one of those trams in San Francisco but in nature, and my dad, in his desperate attempts to video the entire journey, flung my mom's water bottle out the carriage on the way up. Once we got off, we began our hike (which only took around half an hour) to reach the top. From there, we got such a pretty view of the park as we were standing above the falls, not under it like on the Brazilian side.

On the way back, we took a longer hike to see a ton of the smaller falls along the way.

We only spent two days in Iguazu and took a flight to São Paulo that night. After reaching our hotel, we immediately fell asleep since it was midnight. Since we were anyway leaving Brazil that night, we just spent the day walking around a park in the city before heading back to the U.S. (on another 16 hour flight).