Amazon to present (not in that order)

Gregory and I are currently house sitting for a week in chelsea (thank you Jane) - on the west side of manhattan on 24th st. One block from the apartment is one huge section of New York City's art galleries. A few days ago, it took us about three hours to get through about two streets of galleries- and we were being selective. There are whole buildings in chelsea where every floor houses 4 or more galleries. I am happy to say that on our aforementioned gallery stint, we saw some memorable stuff (not a given), including at Bortolami gallery
In this show, the artist had thrown a rolling camera out of the window of an aeroplane and somehow managed to locate the camera and project its recordings.....



But wait.......I am getting ahead of myself. The remainder of our journey in Brasil and particularly, our time in the AMAZON is in dire need of description. I begin now.

Let me first draw your attention to a selection of photos taken in Arambepe, just days before our departure for the state of Amazonia. Our meeting with local fashionista and artiste, Manu, is well documented in this series of photos.

Needless to say, we each bought one or two unique Manu designs.

So. Our journey into the amazon jungle lasted 7 days and 6 nights. Our group consisted of two american lads from washington, one gentleman from Denmark, our dreadlocked, english -speaking guide RInaldo, Josue our cook and ROnaldo, general helper and aid, and of course, Gregory and myself (the only female intrepid). In all, we travelled 120km in our individual kayaks, down a tributary of the Amazon River called Rio Urubu (Vulture River). Thankfully for my arms, the fast flowing current carried us most of the way, with only minimal steering skills necessary to keep things moving along. If there were one, I would have won the prize for the most times caught headlong in an overhanging tree. At one point, poor Ronaldo had to swim out and literally untangle me so that I could get to camp.

Camping in the Amazon each night basically involved sleeping in hammocks, each individually surrounded by a mosquito net. In case of the very often rainfall, a tarpaulin was also an essential part of the set up. This sleeping set up was expertly arranged each night by our brasilian crew while we sat around pumping river water through virus filter water bottle (which took forever) and/or tried to find ways to feel dry. Putting on wet and slightly mouldy-feeling/smelling clothes each morning became the norm. I now have a new appreciation for the state of dry-ness.

Thankfully, there were almost no mosquitoes due to the acidity levels of the Urubu's 'black' water. I even stopped taking my malaria medication 2 days into the journey since it was messing with my mind, but also justified by the fact that there were simply, not many of the darstardly bloodsuckers around. Apparently one in a thousand mosquitoes in that area carry malaria. I figured these were good odds.

Gregory took obsessive amounts of pictures while cruising along the river each day. Two and a half weeks later, these are still in the process of being culled and sorted but will be posted asap. We saw a few different kinds of monkeys but they were always very quick to disappear once they saw us watching and were therefore difficult to capture on camera. Gregory was however able to record the amazing sound of a group of howler monkeys clearly announcing their presence in the jungle. We heard them on several different days, but one occasion in particular stands out.

One morning, we got up at 3.30 am and began kyaking in the dark so as to have a better chance of seeing certain animals who were more active at night (e.g. caymans- small crocodiles). I think in the end we were probably too loud and we really didn't see much life until the sound of the birds began, the night mists cleared and the sun rose. But the experience of simply being on the river at this time was truly memorable. It was a little scary in the dark, but an amazing opportunity to study the different stages of activity and atmosphere as it got lighter and lighter. The howler monkeys began their howling at just this twilight time. They sound like a very very strong wind, a gale blowing through the jungle. It is almost a mechanical roar, like an aeroplane turbine spinning though different settings....a very surreal experience and all the more mysterious because we could not see them and could only imagine what they must all look like, crouched together in their screaming ritual.


We managed to bathe somewhere each day, even if it was in the same area that Josuee and Rinaldo had just washed the dishes in the river. We swam in two waterfalls- always a refreshing experience, and a good place to gather the fast-moving and therefore less risky water for drinking. Gregory and I actually forgot to bring water purifying tablets with us, which was the reason for spending so much time pumping water (mentioned earlier). Before we left on our journey, our tour company rep who picked us up at the airport, gave us a small bottle of chlorine and yes, we mixed up a few drops of it with river water and drank that when the pump option just seemed too much of a bitch (2 litres took about three quarters of an hour). It really wasn't as bad as all the times I have accidently drunk public pool water.....

Nights were generally spent playing dominoes or cards, after eating a hearty meal - usually a fish stew, although one night we did have tuna pasta.
Caipirinhas and shots of cachasa were drunk enthusiastically (especially by our guide) over the first three nights of our trip, after which, our supplies ran out.....that is, until our final night.
But that is another story.....


Briony