Brazil, Day 18: Canoeing
January 7th, 2009 at 8:16 pm (Uncategorized, traveling)

On Friday we made a second attempt to drive to the waterfall which we failed to reach the other day because of the bridge. Again we failed, again because of the bridge, which again had broken. So instead, we made reservations to go canoeing in the river for three hours that afternoon.
After we had lunch and poked around some shops (one of which had three crabs hanging outside on a string, with one still alive), we headed over to the river which was nearby. There were four canoes in the water, because some other people were doing the same as us, along with a (very high-strung) guide. There were two or three people to each boat, and in our boat were Zi, Iza, and me in the middle taking pictures instead of helping to paddle.
Within the first minute after we embarked, we crashed into some trees and didn’t know how to get out. It took us several minutes to get unstuck, and the guide had to yell instructions to us from another boat. But we didn’t feel foolish from this for long, after we watched Cintia and Cassio crash over and over again, then try to catch up to the rest of us by putting on extra speed, passing everybody and ending up in front, and then as soon as the next curve would come up… *thwack*.
I was surprised to see that all along the shore on both sides of the river were little red crabs. Most of them were just sitting in the mud, but some were several feet up in trees. No wonder everybody kept running into the banks… they wanted to see the crabs!
And whenever we stopped our paddling and listened, it was never quiet! There was a constant hum of tropical insects and animals, and in some places, the distant sound of live forró music being played.
Eventually we came into a big open area where there were lots of people swimming, and then to a sandy bank on the edge of the open sea. We landed here, and everybody got out to walk around on the sand for about half an hour. Iza and I went swimming, and I made some embarrassing attempts to walk on my hands in the surf before we all reentered our boats and paddled back up the river to where we had started.
After everyone had gotten out of their respective canoes, someone explained to me in labored English how banana trees work. They don’t produce seeds, so while the tree is producing bananas another stock grows up from the base, which eventually becomes the new tree. When the bananas are ripe, somebody comes and cuts off the whole bunch, then cuts down the old stock, which can no longer produce fruit. Now I understand why Iza’s uncle cut down the banana tree after harvesting the bananas…
















































