Saturday night we got back from the best vacation any of us have ever had! We spent three days in the Amazon region of Brazil. We stayed the first night at the Hotel Tropical in Manaus and then spent two nights at the Ariaú Towers Hotel. (In retrospect, we should have just gone straight to the Ariaú Towers because the Hotel Tropical is nothing special – except the kids loved the wave pool.)
Ariaú Towers is about an hour and half boat ride up the Rio Negro from Manaus. The Rio Negro got its name from its black color. Its slow pace helps fallen leaves and organic matter decompose. It is like a huge cup of tea. The decomposing material also gives the river a low Ph that is not conducive to the mosquitoes that cause malaria. There were still a number of other bugs but no malaria, dengue or yellow fever.
A view of the river from the boat. The river kind of looked like root beer as it splashed on the boat.
Our time was filled with incredible once in a lifetime activities. Below is what we did along with some pictures.
The first activity we did was a walk on the Hotel’s many raised walk ways. The water was at its highest point in 56 years (over 30 feet higher than it is in the dry season) so the lower walk ways were flooded. This guaranteed us only the tree top views! Five minutes after we got there we saw a monkey carrying her baby on her back. We also were shown where an anaconda was known to live but missed seeing it.
A view of the walkway and the river.
We went by motorized canoe to visit a native’s house. Our guide explained that there is a difference between an indigenous person and a native. The native person has a mixture of Indigenous, African and European blood. We saw the tapioca cultivation and watched tradition preparation of the cassava root. The family that we visited prepared a typical food, tapioca pancake, for us to try.
The boat ride to the native's house.
Making of the tapioca pancake over a wood fire clay oven.
The tapioca pancakes with margarine.
Our next stop was piranha fishing. The canoe stopped in some calm waters and we used bamboo sticks with chunks of cow heart as bait. Piranha fishing is completely different than other fishing since the object is to make as much noise as possible so that the fish thinks there is food at the surface. TSP and BLP were both successful in catching a piranha. BLP made the luckiest of catches since the hook snagged the fish in the belly instead of the mouth.
The best shot I could get of AJP fishing. He proclaimed at one point, "I don't have time for photos. I am fishing!"
BLP fishing with our wonderful canoe handler, Roberto.
BLP with her catch complete with the hook in the belly of the fish.
Me holding my catch, a red bellied piranha, the most aggressive type.
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