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Hello! Welcome to our blog! You can see all of the day under the month "October." You can see the Pre-Trip Expectations under the month "September!" Enjoy this marvelous blog!
-Claudia
-Georgia
-Anu 

Day 4- Geography : Soil, Land Use, Mineral, and Energy Resources

The Amazon is a very diverse place in which many scientists and researchers are investigating on. We believe that the area has much more than what scientists and researchers have found. If they explore the Amazon more, they may find different types of resources that can help seriously dangerous diseases. Also, we believe that people in the world should pay more attention to the deforeststation that is happening because it is affecting the Amazon in a terrible way. Some scientists and researchers can also find more animals that have not been discovered yet. The Amazon has so many resources and items that have not even been discovered yet!! The deforestation can one day have a horrid affect on the world, so that is why we should stop it now. Now, we will talk about some ideas to make the Amazon an even better place. An idea to make the Amazon a better place is to stop killing all the plants and trees. Those plants can be useful, and those trees are the homes for many animals like the jaguar. Another idea is to explore the Amazon more so that the world can extract all the natural resource from it, however, in a healthy, positive, and non- hurtful way. Let's talk about some resources found in the Amazon.
                          Medicine
                          Milk
                          Poisins
                          Wick's spray (Brand)
                          Brazil Wood
                          Rubber
                          Paint
                          Scent for perfumes (i.e. Chanel Number 5)
                          Fruits
A very interesting fact that suprised us when we went to the Amazon is the fact that the trees and plants have to ability to grown in the poor soil. This fact surprised us because we thought that plants and trees can only grow in rich soil, but obviously not. The Amazon is not a very good place to farm. It is not a good place to farm at because most of its layers do not let any sunlight to come through, therefore, not so many crops can grow. Maybe some ways that the region could be explored for more tourism would be for scientists and researchers to find something new to the world from the Amazon. Everyone would want to come and see it. The world could also talk more about the countries and say how it has so many marvelous resources, and that deforestation should stop. Oh, and by the way, scientists and researchers are not the only ones that can find something new, a tourist can too. A tourist could also change the way the Amazon is treated. Did you know that leaf cutter ants harvest a sixth of the areas leaves, and then takek them to their underground nest which helps the vegetation, helps new plants and items grow, and they break down the leaves to produce or renew soil. The main energy resource of the Amazon is the sun. It can help the plants the rays can reach to grow. Also, the main minerals that are found in insect repellent come from the Amazon. Many perfume and medicine brands use resources from the Amazon to create their products. The Amazon can provide many great resources for us but we must remember, the Amazon won't be there forever if we cut all their trees down, and take too many resources from the Amazon.

                       

Day 3-Fauna, People, Culture, and Religion

Today was a relaxing day we just got back from our exhausting night in the jungle. We didn’t do much, except having fun in the hotel. One activity we did was going to see and Indian tribe. They preformed a dance for us and we got to buy many handcrafted products. Because of the rain, we couldn’t ask the Indians questions. Instead, we asked our guide because we he was a former Indian. Here are some answers to those questions and other facts about the area.
What age level groups may engage in the activities? Many interesting animals live in the Amazon. For example, macaws, alligators, fish, snakes, jaguars, monkeys, ants, piranhas, pink dolphins, manatees, and GIANT rodents. Some animals unique to this region are pink dolphins, piranhas, and macaws. Some endangered animals are sloths, tamarins, jaguars, and macaws. Animals in the Amazon effect this region by helping the Earth and its environment grow. For example, the fish keep the water level high for the people who use the river as a resource. The Amazon's fauna has a variety of animals. These animals should be treated nicely, so they do not become endangered. People should not cut down so many trees because those trees are the houses for some of the people. The Amazon's population is about 30 million people. There are many different types of tribes. For example, one of the very large tribes is the Yanomami tribe. It consists of 20,00 indigenous people who live in some 200-250 tribes. We also found out that the indians do not have a main religion. They respect the nature around them. The indians in this region also do many different tribal dances in pairs. They play many different flutes and whistle while dances. The music that they play are rhythmic and in sync. The indians bathe in springs with men on one side and woman on the other. The boys from the Amazon start training when they are 6 to hunt and gather materials for their tribe. The most common animals eaten in the Amazon are pigs and monkeys. Now, I will talk about some of the most famous animals from the animals. First, the Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis). This otter is the rarest animal in the Amazon. It is also a very endangered species. They are mostly hunted for the beautiful fur. It is over six feet long. Giant otters also hunt together. Next, I will talk about the Piranha (Serrasalmus sp.). Since about 20 species of the fish in the Amazon are vegetarians, the piranha is able to co-exist with other fish species. They have very sharp, razor teeth!! Don't get near them!! The next animal I will talk about is called the Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis). The tucuxi is a one of the two river dolphins in the Amazon. Some scientists think that this river dolphin ended up in the Amazon river when the river finally reached the Atlantic Ocean. The tucuxi dolphins live in groups of about 9 dolphins. They are great hunters, and VERY smart!! They are between three and five feet long. The next animal I will talk about is the Turtle. They can weigh as much as 110 pounds. They have a very interesting egg-laying ritual, which happens at the time when the Amazon river is low. They have their offsprings on the sandy beaches. The mother first digs a hole, and then puts her eggs there. She arranges her eggs carefully there. Another animal is the Piraracu (Arapaima gigas). It is a freshwater fish. It weighs about two men and is eight feet long. When they are born they have gills, but then as they get older they have a lung system more or less like ours. The next animal I will talk about is the Manatee (Trichechus inunguis). Its other name is the water ox. It is also the Amazon's largest marine mammal, and it weighs over 100 pounds!! WOAH! The manatee eats about over 110 pounds per day!! The manatee can fast for up to 6 months. The second to last animal I will talk about is the Boto Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis). It is a cousin of the tucuxi. It is about seven feet long, and weighs over 300 pounds. It eats catfish, crabs, and turtles with its very sharp teeth. The last animal that I am going to talk about is the Electric Eel (Electrophorus electricus). Its lives in the murkiest waters of the Amazon. It is five feet long, and it is almost blinde. However, instead of using sight to see its surroundings, it makes an electric field around its body to sense a prey. When it senses its prey, it can shock it very hard, or even kill it. It uses its gills for breathing. There are so many great animals in the Amazon so do not hurt them!!

Day 5- Location, Climate and Vegetation

The Amazon is located in the northern part of South America. The following map shows where it is. It is located in the green section of the map. The Amazon is located in the state called Amazonas. The most important cities located in this region are Manaus (where we were), and Belem.

As you can see, the Amazon is not only located in Brazil. It is also located in some other countries in South America, like Peru. The size of the Amazon basin is 2.5 million square miles. The length of the Amazon river is 6,500 miles long. The Amazon basin in actually nine times the size of Texas!! That's huge!! The only river longer than the Amazon river is the Nile river, in Egypt. The Amazon is a huge natural resource for the world. However, people in the world negatively affect the Amazon. They cut down trees and use huge amounts of limited items from the Amazon. Another bad thing is the concern of the indigenous people. About 500 years ago, 10 million Indians were living in the Amazon. However, today, less than 200,000 Indians are living in the Amazon. More than 90 tribes have been wrecked since the 1900's. But, people in the world also affect the Amazon positively by using its resources in a good way. Did you know that sixteen percent of the world's river water goes throught the Amazon delta?? Also, when it is the season of flooding, the Amazon rises an average of 30 feet. Woah!! The Amazon river begins in the Peruvian Andes, and goes all the way east over the northern half of South America. You know what is cool? The Amazon river meets the Atlantic Ocean at Belem, Brazil!! The drainage basin covers 2,722,000 million square miles. It lies in the countries of Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and three Guyanas. The Amazon gets about 9 feet of rain per year. Did you know that 50 percent of this returns to the atmosphere through the foliage of trees? Most of the Amazon river's water comes from the snowmelt from the Peruvian Andes. Between the months of June and October, the water level rises by thirty to fourty five feet. About 15 million years ago, the river flowed westward into the Pacific Ocean. The Amazon rainforest covers more than 50 percent of Brazil. A cool fact is that at some times the river is one mile wide, and at other times it can be thirty five miles wide!!

Topic 2: Climate and Vegetation
                                                         1 map=CLIMATE MAP 2 map=VEGETATION MAP

The Amazon's climate is very hot, humid, rainy, and dry. The Amazon has a very varied climate! Look at the map above to see the climate. The vegetation in the Amazon is very interesting. Before we talk about the vegetation, look at the green map to see what the vegetation is like. The vegetation in the Amazon includes four layers (or communities). Each layer has different ecosystems, animals, and plants. The emergent layer is the tallest layer. The main layer of the rainforest in the canopy. Most trees in the canopy have smooth, circle or oval leaves to have a point, that is called a drip tip. The drip tip allows water to drip of the leaf quickly. The leaves are very dense, and block 80% of the sunlight. Varioius fruits and flowers grown in this layer. The floorest floor is the lowest layer, and hardly any plants grow there. Only about 2% of the sunlight gets through. Many nutrients are in this layer. The next layer is the understory. It only gets about two to five percent of the sunlight showing. The plants in this layer find a differentw ay to adapt to this shadowy layer. Sadly, the Amazon's trees grow in the poorest soil. The temperatures and the amount of rain stays the same throughout the year. The average temperature is about 79 degrees farenheit.  More than 20% of the rainforest has been wrecked and is GONE FOREVER! :( Scientists have predicted that at the rate of descruction now, the rest of the forest could be gone in 40 years. People have adapted to the climate and vegetation by finiding medicine and cures from plants for their survival and health. Believe it or not, some of those medicines can be the cure for terrible diseases. Although many medicines come for the Amazon, scientists have only tried one percent of the fruits. Maybe the fruits will be helpful in the future. The Amazon rainforest is a great place, so treat the way you would like to be treated!!

Day 1- Welcome to the Amazon!!

Our group of friends waiting for the plane.

Our boat to the hotel.

We saw this caiman on our night boat tour.

Today, we took a GOL airplane to Manaus. From Manaus, we took a bus to the dock. From the dock, we took a boat to the hotel. What are our impressions of the Amazon? Read ahead to find out! To start off, our first impressions were interesting. We could smell the huge Amazon river. We could smell the wood of the trees, the fresh oxygen in the air, and the mosquito repellent on everybody's bodies. We could feel the humidity in the air. We could feel the sun rays beaming on us, and we could feel the scales of alligators. We could see all the huge trees, and the big rain forest. We could see the crossing of the rivers from the air plane. We could see a toad in our toilet. We could hear the splashes of the river. We could hear the rustling in the forest. We could taste the yummy meat from the Churrascaria, and the special Bare from the Amazon. We could taste the coconut cookies too. The transportation in the Amazon is much different than in Brasilia. We had to take a boat to the hotel!! Have you ever done that before? The boat was a great opportunity to have because a lot of children don't get to take a boat to the hotel in the AMAZON. In Brasilia, to get to a hotel, you would usually take a taxi. The accomodations at the hotel were very different. First of all, the hotel was in the jungle. When we travel with our families, the hotel is usually never in a jungle. We had different types of animals in our room, which was really cool. At night time, we could hear the snakes slithering, and the jaguars pouncing around in the jungle. It was a fabulous experience to SLEEP in the jungle!! Our hotel room was surrounded by leaves, and plants. We had toads, frogs, ants, and cockroaches in our room. We had to walk a fair amount to get the the lobby and the breakfast room. There weren't many lights on the path that we were walking on, so we had to bring our flash lights. The hotel was like a hut. The breakfast room was a big area with different types of nautral materials on top. I think there are many similiarities between our life style, and the life style of people that live in this region. We both of family structures, like they have mothers, fathers, siblings, and sometimes pets. We both celebrate holidays, and we both have traditions dating back. They eat the same type of food as us, like meat and water.We both have toys to play with. We both wear clothing; bottoms and tops. Our Day 1 was a blast!!

Day 2-Activities and Exploration

Special nuts used for medicine.

Our guide making string for a bracelet.

One of the monkeys in the monkey exhibit.

One of the monkeys in the monkey exhibit.

Anu feeding the monkey.

How the bug nets were set up.

One of the strange fruits we got to try.

Georgia in a bug net.

Today we did many different activities on our first whole day in the Amazon

Resource Exploration
We started our day with a nice one and a half hour hike through the jungle. We got to see where different resources that we use every day come from. There was lots of different medicines and perfume scents that came from the trees of the amazon. We think the age level for this group was probably 10 and up because of the dangerous atmosphere. During this exploration, you shouldn't to the trees because you may not know what may be hiding in there. You also should beware of strange bugs and ants they can sting and bight you. you should also watch where you step so you don't trip and fall or step on any animal. There happens to be no food served during the activity but it only takes about one and a half hours. It is a hot and humid hike but you aren't going to get sun burnt because the canopy of the trees protects you. The hike is only 45min. long but the other 45min. are explanations about the area and the plants. To accomplish this adventure you will need a tour guide to keep the pathway clear. The hike was taking place at our hotel( Amazon Eco Hotel). There were no bathroom facilities at the trail. So, make sure you go in your room before. The activity helped us and the rest of the group see how the world is affected by all the "necessary" items we "need" every day. it helped enrich the trip by helping us learn about different plants so when we went on other hikes we new what the plants were.

Monkey Exhibit
Right after the first hike we walked over to the monkey exhibit. The guy that fed the monkeys made a really loud noise. After a few minutes all of the monkeys appeared. The monkeys there are free animals but come into the exhibit to be fed. Some students got to feed the monkeys. They would stand there being very still and the monkeys would swing down and grab the food from the persons hand. There were two types of monkeys a bunch of gray/black ones with thick fur and another monkey that had orange long fur that kind of looked like a orangutan but was smaller. This activity helped enrich the trip by letting us hear the monkey sounds so when we were in the jungle later on in the trip, we knew what monkeys were making that noise. I think all ages could enjoy this activity only if they are quiet. Some safety precautions are that don't look straight into the monkeys eyes or look like you want to have a fight .This activity usually takes about 45min. or however long you want to look at the monkeys. There is barely any sun exposure there but the hike there was all in the sun. We are not sure if there was a bathroom facility or not. You may just have to go in the forest.

Jaguar Night
From the name of this activity you may be scared, but don't worry. The "Jaguars" were the leaders of the whole activity. If we needed help, they were supposed to help us. They also led our three hour hike from the hotel to the hammocks. The purpose of this activity was to learn how to survive in the jungle. We think to be able to do this activity, you need to be at least twelve years old. We think the main safety precautions of this activity is to be aware of insects, and to be focused on what we are doing, and to be aware of your surroundings. Food was served during this activity, in fact, the chicken was superb. Our plates were made out of banana leaves. We got to try all the exotic fruits from the Amazon. The activity lasted a whole night. There was some sun exposure as we were walking to the actual camp site. There was a lot of walking during this activity. It took about four hours to get to the camp site, and to get back to the hotel all together. The bathroom that was at the camp site was a pit for the girls. For the boys, they 360 degree area to go to the bathroom. There were no shops to buy anything in this activity. However, we got to keep the bowls that were made out of coconut. This activity enriched the trip by letting us see the Amazon jungle, and also to sleep in it. It was a great experience to sleep in the Amazon jungle because we could really feel how life is in the Amazon. This activity enriched our personal experience because we got to sleep in the Amazon jungle, and most people in 7th grade don't get to do that. This was an absolutely fabulous experience!! :)

Our Favorite Activity
Our Favorite Activity was the Jaguar Survival Course. It was our favorite activity because we got to actually sleep in the jungle, and hear all the indigenous animals. We also got to learn so many valuable survival tips. We have never participated in an activity like this before. The activity reflects upon the culture of Brazil because this is how the indigenous people live everyday. Also, a major site of Brazil is the Amazon rainforest, so it was a great experience to learn about it. This was an absolutely superb opportunity!! :)

Amazon 2011- Pre Expectations

         We choose to go on this voyage because we believe it is important to learn about one of the most major attractions in Brazil. We want to learn more about the rainforest, its animals, and daily life in the rainforest. We would really love to learn more about how the rain forest's animals life, like how monkeys swing from tree to tree. Our fears are the mosquitoes, snakes, poisonous animals, cockroaches, and more. Our anxieties are to have the opportunity to sleep in the actual, real life rain forest, with all of its animals and creatures staring at us! We are also looking forward to learn how the indigenous live, and how they accomplish daily tasks. We think this trip will provide an opportunity to learn more about our friends and our teachers. Also, this will help us use team work with each other to accomplish the different tasks and activities we are given throughout the week. With this wonderful, exciting experience, we can really learn more about Brazil itself, especially being foreigners of this amazing country. A majority of tourists come to Brazil to visit the Amazon, and to have the opportunity to learn about it in one week, is well, a great one! We think we can really visualize the Amazon because we are staying in the actual Amazon. We can see how its role on the world kicks in. We can really understand the beauty of the Amazon by spending a extravagant week in it! WE ARE EXTREMELY EXCITED!