Off to Salvador.

 Early this morning we got up with the alarm, finished packing, had our last Amazonian breakfast and loaded up in a van. It is awesome, we have the whole van to ourselves with a very nice driver who doesn't speak English, but does understand our broken Spanish. I guess Spanish is close enough to Portugese for us to get by. I liked our stay in the Amazon even with the Mosquitos, snakes, spiders, crappy pillows and sketchy Internet. It was still way beyond my wildest dreams as far as the beauty of the Lodge and the jungle. It far exceeded my expectations. As I sit here in the van heading for a boat tour today before we catch our flight this afternoon, I feel a bit travel weary. I miss my bed, my kids and my friends. The predictable structured mornings at home seem also foreign to me right now! I think a good run in Salvador, Brazil may cure this..we met a man from San Paulo, Brazil at the Lodge that scared the crap out of H!! He told of the crime in Salvador and Rio, violent crimes!! Great-that is where we are going! These are the times I talk to my mom and sister (both dead). I ask for them to protect us. Also my dad and Bea..i figure the more angels you have watching over you the better! :)

We arrived in Manaus, the gateway to the Brazilian jungle. It is pretty large-2 million people living there. Our guide for the tour was there waiting for us after the 3 hour van ride. Off we went in another van, with this our own private guide..we loaded into a speedboat, who took us out to the "Meeting of the Waters". I could not imagine what this would look like. When I heard it was where the "Negro River" (very dark in color) and the "Amazon River" (brown in color) meet just beyond the ports of Manaus, well I did not know what to expect. After a half hour boat ride with our guide speaking impeccable English, we arrived to the place where the where the two rivers meet. It reminded me of a "black and white cookie". You know the round ones that are made on bakeries? There was a definite line down the middle of the huge river, one side dark, the other a light brown color. This, the black/white contrast which the guide told us, goes on for 16k up the river and finally ends up in the ocean? These weird things in nature baffle me. There was of course, scientific explanations for the color difference but it was still strange to see the meeting of the two rivers:

Meeting of the Waters

Coast of Manaus

 

 

 Back we went to the van, which took us to the airport with plenty of time to check in for our flight to Salvador, with a stop in Brasilia, Brazil. 

I am sitting here on the "GOL" Airlines flight, it reminds me a bit of Southwest Airlines, I may have said this before! We had a much different experience checking in this time compared with our flight from Iguazu to Manaus. No luggage hassles, the woman spoke English who checked us in. Delightful airport! We ate our bag lunch we managed to smuggle away from AnaVilhanas, without being charged..:)

I am somewhat anxious for these last days of our trip. 4 nights in Salvador, BR, 5 nights in Rio and 4 nights in Buzios, a beautiful beach area north of Rio. The unknown, coupled with all the danger warnings about potential mugging makes it a bit scary in anticipation. But we know not to carry any money, jewelry or anything that looks like it costs money. We have ugly simple flip-flops to wear around Rio and although I know in Brazil I probably will not be able to disguise my American-ness, hopefully I can appear to be a poor American with nothing to steal! This was, in fact the reason I did not bring my good camera. I brought my little PHD Canon and it is taking surprisingly fantastic little pictures!

I can't believe we only have 13 days left in South America. I remember all the planning that went into this trip (by H mostly)..that seems another lifetime back at this point! 

Our driver picked us up at the Salvador airport and drove us to our hotel. We went through some extremely poverty stricken dangerous looking streets and turned onto a quaint cobblestone street to our new abode. It is just beyond the danger zone..

12:30 AM- we are safely tucked away in our beautiful Hotel Villa Bahia-it occupies two old entirely restored colonial houses, furnished and decorated with rustic objects and antiques. 

Pics to follow...