I did all the things the doctor told us not to do and so far I see no signs of sickness. Well, we did come across a small running stream of fresh water while hiking. Sid took a few good gulps using a leaf as a cup and offered us a drink. After three hours of trekking through the jungle and exhausting my water supply I was totally tempted; nothing sounds cooler than drinking fresh, clean water straight from nature, but water was the number one no-no... thinking back, I should have drank it, although I still think it would have made me sick.

Well, now I'm sick anyway because we are on an 8 day sail to Cape Town and every once in a while the rocking gets to me, but it hasn't really been too bad. Actually, I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but one of the major symptoms of sea sickness is extreme fatigue and many of us are feeling it. I'm one of those people who has trouble falling asleep and I rarely nap because it takes so long to fall asleep that when I finally do it's time to get up. Well, on this ship, I can fall asleep at the American average of 7 mins after laying down, for the first time in my life. It's amazing- I can't do anything on my bed because I fall asleep. I have to find the coldest place on the ship to sit and read. And it doesn't matter how much you sleep, you're still tired. It doesn't help that we loose one hour a night all the way to South Africa. I was complaining about it until last night… the seas were so calm yesterday that I didn't need a nap at all and come 3am I was still awake. It's a shame it can't just get rocky for my bedtime.


Oh here are some pictures of some of the kids in the village. They were a little shy and mostly just peered out at us from their windows.



Boy in a village in the Amazon


2 village boys and a dog in the amazon too


Girls at the abandoned building



They also took us to another village with a souvenir shop in it.




2 girls and a tucan... in the Amazon


Yes a souvenir shop in the Amazon, kinda sad I thought but we were coming back towards the city. Everything in there was handmade with natural stones, feathers, beads of dried seeds and things of that sort.

The last place we went to was an abandoned building made at the beginning of the 20th century. It was built with giant imported stones from somewhere in Europe. Originally it was designed as a school for the village but it was too far from the homes. Then for a while it was used as a prison, but given the low crime rate in the Amazon State they gave that up quickly. Eventually it became a home for people with leprosy. But it's been empty for most of the century and the jungle has completely overtaken it. It looks like something out of a Tomb Raider movie, so cool. Now it's being "maintained" for its historical importance, not only because it's a large old construction, but also because many of the plants that have grown in it, over it, and completely around and into it are plants of special value for their uniqueness. So I say maintained in quotes because they are keeping it in its present jungle conquered state, not restoring it to its original make. My digital pictures are super blurry because there was no light but at least they give you an idea. You can see the tile and the walls almost completely covered by the greens. Hopefully my film images will turn up better.