Day 6 - Saturday, May 23, 2009: Manaus to Vitoria, Brasil

by Whitney Nightingale

Our group spent nearly a week roughing it on a riverboat floating along the Amazon! Needless to say this was a great departure from out normal lives which are usually spent in the comfort of our homes watching television and spending hours on the internet. After only a day or so on the boat we had transformed entirely. We had become a new breed. Gone was the customarily well-groomed, hygenic group of law school students that had arrived in Manaus days earlier. We had adapted to our new environment. Most visibly this could be observed in our appearance and our smell. We had developed an outer-layer, a second skin of sorts, composed of SPF, DEET, sweat, and river water. This glistening layer served as our primary defense mechanism. It became essential to our survival (or maybe only our comfort). However, this smelly glistening sheen was not the only adaptation we had undergone. We took to bathing in the tea stained water of the river. We ceased all use of make-up and perfume. We stopped attempting to tame our untameable locks. We became masters at maneuvering around strategically placed hammocks in the dead of night. We learned to make plates from leaves and we all learned a thing or two about jungle first-aid (this skill was honed toward reviving weary jungle travelers struck down by heat exhaustion). We all learned a thing or two about environmental law, deforestation and environmental justice. In a short period of time we had truly adapted!!

And then, our jungle adventure concluded. On our final night in the rainforest the group took refuge at a Jungle Lodge. While this lodge would likely be described as rustic in normal circumstances, to us, it was more posh than the Plaza! We finally were able to take real showers with scalding hot/ ice cold water and sleep on matresses! When we awoke we indulged in a second shower, which felt necessary in order to fully rid ourselves of our semi-permanent DEET, sunscreen, sweat layer. Revitalized and refreshed we strode back out into the jungle air. We had transformed once more; we now had our usual clean smell back and had applied for the first time in nearly a week our usual war-paint (make-up). We felt like ourselves once more.

We said farewell to our home on the riverboat; we said goodbye to the people on the boat that we will forever think of fondly and journeyed to the second leg of our adventure. A final rainstorm, two short flights, and a gate-change later and we were reintroduced back into the modern world where new friends were anxiously awaiting our arrival. Our hosts greeted us with open arms into their homes that night and have done everything possible to make us feel at home in a strange place. These hosts will surely become life-long friends.

Aside from examining the differences in ourselves in these contrasting atmospheres, the most striking difference that we observed was probably in the people we encountered and their lives we observed. In the Amazon we saw people who were working incredibly hard day in and day out just to survive and feed their families. Their tireless spirit was amazing! They graciously allowed us to take a peek into their everyday lives and we gained an invaluable fresh perspective from them. Although none of us will likely be in their shoes, for an hour or two we were able to share in their struggle. These hard working warriors of the Amazon have lived their lives struggling with much much more than we got a chance to experience for the short week we spent on the river.

This daily struggle is in stark contrast to the lifestyles of those we encountered upon entering Vitoria. Arriving on a Saturday night in Vitoria, it became apparent that the city was absolutely buzzing with carefree people whose main objective was to have a good time. Instead of shoeless natives, we saw hundreds of carefree people dressed to the nines. It is hard to imagine two more opposite places and mindsets. . . however, both are uniquely Brazilian and we are greatful to have experienced them both.

Leaving downtown Manaus for the airport and Vitoria/Vila Velha