Manaus: Day 3

(Riverboat –Day 2)

I woke up long before our 6am wake-up call and was all ready to go when the rest of them were rolling out of their hammocks. Ten minutes after the wake-up call, we were in canoes and heading to go fishing for piranhas. I did not catch a single fish, but I watched others around me succeeding. We then headed back to the boat for breakfast and then to the other side of the river for a 3 hour rainforest hike.

On our hike we saw many different plant and tree species that can be used for many purposes. Our guides stressed jungle survival skills and taught us which trees were the best to use to start fires and which were good for medicinal purposes. Also, they taught us how to get water from vines if you could not find anything else and how to use certain branches of the palm trees in order to make a shelter.  We had the opportunity to try Brazilian nuts and also a sap from a tree used to treat ulcers and other gastrointestinal ailments.

Next, we went to a local village called Acajatuba Township where we saw the school and were able to walk around and see how the indigenous locals choose to live.

After the township, we headed back to our boat for lunch and started our way back down the river and back to the ship where we said our last goodbyes to Manaus and started our way back out the Amazon.