After spending so much time away from the cyber world, I'm not sure that I can do the past month of my life justice. I will, however, attempt to go through my trip chronologically in hopes that I can remember as many anecdotes as possible to encapsulate the vibe of my time boating down the Amazon. I plan to update in stages so that this blog post doesn't turn into a novel....
I began my journey in Manaus, a major port city that rose to popularity during the rubber boom in the late 1800s. After going through a long period of economic depression, Manaus is now a touristy city that seems to me to be more used to seeing white people walking around than those in Belém. We found an amazing restaurant there that served vegetarian dishes (absolutely unheard of in Brazil) and became fast friends with our waiter there

He told us all about his life and thanked us for coming there to eat and it was so refreshing to finally be able to somewhat understand Portuguese.
While in Manaus, we traveled up to the north and visited a conservation forest there where there are many environmental studies going on. You're only allowed to visit it as a researcher or student, so the area is remarkably pristine and we were able to see monkeys and other wildlife wandering around. At 4:30 in the morning, 6 other students and I decided to hike 2 miles in the forest in the dark in order to reach a 70 meter high metal ecological tower that researchers use to measure UV rays, microclimate, temperature, etc. We climbed the ladders and watched the sun rise over the forest while hearing a group of howler monkeys nearby and watching all of the Amazonian birds flying by. After the sun rose, a rain storm swept towards us over the tree line and we decided it was probably time to hike back to the ecology lodge.

I will post more pictures of the sunrise when I am able to upload them, and I will continue to post more about my month on the river as I have time. I've never been in a place to beautiful in my entire life and this place has completely changed so many of my views on politics, environmental studies, and understanding interests groups.