The DIRT (Dismantle, Immerse, Reflect, Transform) team is returning to the Amazon for the ninth time! 16 of us are returning to our SMC home away from home in the Brazilian Amazon for Jan Term 2020. This page helps us to tell our story and -- even more importantly -- helps us to tell the stories of our friends and hosts in the Amazon . . .
Day Twenty-two, Wednesday, January 28: Making the Most of
Manaus
Cancel the drone order.Our hotel is near a mall.It is practically an American mall, so we
went over and bought a few things to tide us over until we get home.Ahhhh.
We are capitalizing on our presence here and
aren’t as bothered as you might guess that we have not managed to make our way
home yet.American Airlines is putting
us up in a nice hotel with good food, all paid by the airline.Shawny has been here before so she knew that
we just had to make our way to the opera house in the center of the city while
we were waiting to hear how our flights were going to unfold.Connor also had a big endorsement of the
opera house from his dad so we were determined to get there.
We hopped into five cabs, having picked up
another stranded American who wanted to go but not by herself.We made our way into the city center and were
stunned by the beautiful site of the building itself.It’s even more stunning on the inside.
It turned out that an English language tour
was starting two minutes after our arrival so we were in luck.Our guide told us a bit about the history of
the building and then even more luck unfolded: an orchestra was rehearsing in
the opera house right at that moment!We
slipped into the back few rows and marveled at the beauty of the sounds the
instruments produced, especially in that acoustically magical space.
Our guide pulled us away and walked us
through the various spaces in the opera house, talking about the history and
socioeconomics of the region all the while.The grand ballroom was especially awesome and the art in there
demonstrates that kind of perspective where things change depending upon where
in the room you are standing.There is a
ring of carpet marked by velvet ropes that visitors walk on (to protect the
beautiful inlaid wood floor) and we all shuffled around in circles looking at
the various images in the art pieces and how they followed us with their eyes
or seemed to change position as we walked.We looked like big dorks and we loved it!
We expected an airline shuttle to pick us up
soon after we finished our tour, so we went right back out of the opera house
and hopped into five more cabs to make our way back to the hotel.We were running around trying to eat our
(excellent) lunch and gather up all of our things when, ten minutes before we
were scheduled to depart, we got the call that we had been moved to an even
later flight.We were instructed to
remain at the hotel to get instructions about when we would leave for the new
flight itinerary.
Shawny spread the word that we could stop
hurrying and we gathered to decide what to do next.Some chose to do project work in their rooms
while some went shopping for much-needed (and not-so-needed) clothes.We shopped, ate ice cream, bought more
Havaianas sandals and then wandered back to the hotel.In the meantime, we got the word that our
“new” flight was already delayed so we pushed back our plan even further.We will now arrive home about 30 hours later
than we expected.
We’re all fine, though, and some of us are
chilling by the pool at the moment while others are doing project work and
others are messing with the blog.Travel
plans toward home might get delayed, as we still need a day or two (maybe more)
of lab work to finish our final media projects.Again, we invite you to join us on Wednesday, February 18th
at 7:00pm in Galileo 201 on the SMC campus to see some of our projects.And we will still backfill the videos and photos
that are missing from this blog.Maybe
not today, though . . .
Be warned: our laundry STINKS!And most of us felt like sleeping in a bed is
actually kind of uncomfortable compared to our hammocks. And the city feels
really busy and really fast to us all of a sudden.You might find us thinking longingly of our
Amazon home, as we adjusted to a pace that is unlike the one we normally use in
our every day lives.Might have to
rethink that pace thing, though the laundry situation is going to be eradicated
as quickly as possible . . .
We really, really hope to be back in
California soon!
Cancel the drone order.Our hotel is near a mall.It is practically an American mall, so
we went over and bought a few things to tide us over until we get home.Ahhhh.
We are capitalizing on our presence here and
aren’t as bothered as you might guess that we have not managed to make our way
home yet.American Airlines is
putting us up in a nice hotel with good food, all paid by the airline.Shawny has been here before so she knew
that we just had to make our way to the opera house in the center of the city
while we were waiting to hear how our flights were going to unfold.Connor also had a big endorsement of
the opera house from his dad so we were determined to get there.
We hopped into five cabs, having picked up
another stranded American who wanted to go but not by herself.We made our way into the city center
and were stunned by the beautiful site of the building itself.It’s even more stunning on the inside.
It turned out that an English language tour
was starting two minutes after our arrival so we were in luck.Our guide told us a bit about the
history of the building and then even more luck unfolded: an orchestra was
rehearsing in the opera house right at that moment!We slipped into the back few rows and marveled at the beauty
of the sounds the instruments produced, especially in that acoustically magical
space.
Our guide pulled us away and walked us
through the various spaces in the opera house, talking about the history and
socioeconomics of the region all the while.The grand ballroom was especially awesome and the art in
there demonstrates that kind of perspective where things change depending upon
where in the room you are standing.There is a ring of carpet marked by velvet ropes that visitors walk on
(to protect the beautiful inlaid wood floor) and we all shuffled around in
circles looking at the various images in the art pieces and how they followed
us with their eyes or seemed to change position as we walked.We looked like big dorks and we loved
it!
We expected an airline shuttle to pick us up
soon after we finished our tour, so we went right back out of the opera house
and hopped into five more cabs to make our way back to the hotel.We were running around trying to eat
our (excellent) lunch and gather up all of our things when, ten minutes before
we were scheduled to depart, we got the call that we had been moved to an even
later flight.We were instructed
to remain at the hotel to get instructions about when we would leave for the
new flight itinerary.
Shawny spread the word that we could stop
hurrying and we gathered to decide what to do next.Some chose to do project work in their rooms while some went
shopping for much-needed (and not-so-needed) clothes.We shopped, ate ice cream, bought more Havaianas sandals and
then wandered back to the hotel.In the meantime, we got the word that our “new” flight was already
delayed so we pushed back our plan even further.We will now arrive home about 30 hours later than we
expected.
We’re all fine, though, and some of us are
chilling by the pool at the moment while others are doing project work and
others are messing with the blog.Travel plans toward home might get delayed, as we still need a day or
two (maybe more) of lab work to finish our final media projects.Again, we invite you to join us on
Wednesday, February 18th at 7:00pm in Galileo 201 on the SMC campus
to see some of our projects.And
we will still backfill the videos and photos that are missing from this
blog.Maybe not today, though . .
.
Be warned: our laundry STINKS!And most of us felt like sleeping in a
bed is actually kind of uncomfortable compared to our hammocks. And the city
feels really busy and really fast to us all of a sudden.You might find us thinking longingly of
our Amazon home, as we adjusted to a pace that is unlike the one we normally
use in our every day lives.Might
have to rethink that pace thing, though the laundry situation is going to be
eradicated as quickly as possible . . .
We really, really hope to be back in California
soon! Daily Photos
We were lucky enough to get a chance to take a tour of the famous Teatro Amazonas, or the Manaus Opera House. (photo enhanced)
The court yard right outside of the Opera House had this beautiful statue in the middle, with ships pointing in the correct direction of Africa, Asia, Europe and North America, respectively. (photo enhanced)
The ceiling of the opera hall was painted with scenes to represent comedy, tragedy and dance. (photo enhanced)
We were all in awe of the beauty of the Opera House.
The Governor's box at the Opera House.
We were lucky enough to get to hear the musicians practicing for an upcoming performance.
Day Twenty-One, Tuesday, January 27: Surprise Layover
Our day started early, as we decided to pack our last day in
Brazil with as many great experiences as we could.First on the agenda was an early morning trip
to a local zoo/animal hospital that cares for injured wild animals and
trafficked animals that have been confiscated.We decided to get there as close to 8am as we could so we got up at
about 6:45 to make sure we had plenty of time.
There are LOTS of monkeys there, some hurt but more
abandoned by their former caretakers.They have big enclosures with trees growing in them so they really swing
around and act like the cartoon version of monkeys might act.You can walk right up to some of the
enclosures and the monkeys will reach through and hold your hand or even hug
you.We learned today that Marissa used
to be obsessed with monkeys as a young girl and the monkeys seemed to sense her
affection, as they all clustered around her and found her fascinating.We all got a huge kick out of hanging out
around the (friendly) monkey cages.
There were lots of non-monkey animals there too, including
some that we don’t really have words for in English.We saw a special kind of deer and a special
kind of pig and even a tapir.We saw
beautiful hawks and lots of parrots, macaws and parakeets.There were some lemur-like animals that were
called something different and there were even alligators and turtles.There was even a pair of adult pumas.
After walking the main path around the zoo, we visited the
quarantine area, where there are several tanks for injured fresh water
manatees, which are only in the Amazon basin.There are also some monkeys over there, including a howler monkey (the
first one we’ve seen up close) and the zogzogs that we have heard almost every
day near our hammock hut in Anã.
One monkey is very much on the mend and was clinging to one
of the caretakers like it was his bracelet or something.When we walked up, the monkey would transfer
over to one of us and then another, giving us plenty of time to get pictures
before it moved on.
We also got to see a jaguar from just a few feet away.There were sloths, too; this time not way,
way up in trees but just inches away from us.We were full of wonder and happiness being among the animals but we also
needed to hustle to make a few other things happen so we left the zoo to head
downtown again for our last minute shopping needs.We had urgent needs for more hammocks (we
love them now!) and machetes (ditto), along with Havaianas sandals for
ourselves and a few friends and family members.We made quick work of this stop so that we could head to our next
destination: Alter do Chão.
Alter do Chão is a beautiful Amazon beach that is basically
a very large sandbar just off the shore of the Tapajos.It has cabanas and palm trees and lots of people,
so we wanted to check out that part of Brazilian culture too before we left the
country.
We were joined there by our friends Josy (from Santarém) and
Monica and Diorlando (from Anã).We
played in the water a bit, sat at the edge of the waves, tasted some beach
foods and then called it a day, as we had to get back to our hostel and pack
out our baggage one last time. We made quick work of the move-out and got to
the airport with ease.
Our flight to Manaus was uneventful until we landed and learned
that we would not be making our connecting flight because it had been delayed
by about twelve hours.We further
learned that once we get out of Manaus and head for Miami, we will find
ourselves stranded there tomorrow night.
We are going to make the most of our unexpected stay (the
airline is putting us up in a NICE hotel and buying us food) by scheduling a
visit to the famous Manaus opera house in the center of the city.We will then make our way to the airport and
spend more time trying to figure out how we are eventually going to get
home.
We are confident it will work out; we just wish we had more
clean laundry to get us through these next couple of days.Can someone look into that underwear drone
again? Daily Photos
A family of Capuchin monkeys sit together at the zoo. These monkeys are known to be extremely smart and sneaky.
A baby monkey from the animal rehabilitation center sits in the hands of the zookeeper.
From a few feet away, the smell of this area is quite noticeable. These hogs roam around and cause trouble in more densely populated areas.
One of the birds in this cage, made it’s way up the cage by using its beak and claws along the cage. Not all of the birds here know how to fly, those that can’t may never be able to be released out into the wild.
The beach of Alter do Chão where we spent our last afternoon in Brasil.
A blue parrot sits on the windowsill at the rehabilitation center at the zoo.
Two parrots groom each other in the trees at the zoo. These parrots are known to have one partner and stay with them for their whole lives.
Caught
a tapir grinning for the camera at the zoo.
This was a spotted cougar that we saw at the zoo. Sadly, it has an injured hip so it will not be returned to the wild.
We went to Alter de Chão for our last day in Brazil. It was
a beautiful beach.
We arrived to this beautiful sign that reads, "Welcome to Alter do Chão," on our way to the beach.
This is a shot from the sand on the beach at Alter de Chão.
