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The Brazilian Amazon
April, 2008
The two days we spent in clinic at Anama went by very quickly. The facilities were excellent (air conditioned!), but there were some logistical issues. First, there is no real clinic infrastructure in place to allow for one to be set up. We basically just converted offices, closets and xray rooms to little rooms to see patients. Second, tons of people showed up and there was no real place to have them wait. They ended up lined up outside. The would get registered, move inside where there were some chairs to sit briefly, and then go be seen. We had both boats working together so there were plenty of people to keep the place moving, there just were not enough rooms or translators. We did end up seeing 243 people the first day and 213 in really just a long morning the second day. Third, we were very low on supplies. Most of our meds were near gone. We were able to set up two pharmacies, because usually pharmacies limit flow greatly, but we were becoming very limited in our treatment options. The first day I was in charge of flow/triage and it was a great time. We set up the clinic, organized the rooms early and then tried our best to keep things running smoothly. The second day I started out working with Dave as my preceptor. It was really busy though, so I ended up getting my own translator, my own room, and was sent off. Dr. Reigler was in charge of flow that day, so the few times I had questions or needed to discuss a patient she was there for assistance. The governer welcomed us, and took credit for our visit. He did help, but I wouldn't say he arranged it... Elections were of course right around the corner. (Photo Manya Gupta)
The Anama hospital, all twenty beds of it.
Ruth was once again doing some small lumps and bumps removals. She was thrilled to see she actually had some decent facilities compared to the clinic sites of the last week. (Picture by Mai Vu)
This guy claimed a Pirahna got him.
Did I mention how great the kids were?
Our dinner for that night.
Max and I set up shop in the "ER".
It ended up being a long first day.
We had an hour or so until we had to be back on the boat for dinner. Back in civilisation, we all took advantage of the opportunity. Some people went to check out the beauty pagent finals, mentioned earlier, although most of us jumped into an internet cafe to check emails. We still had twenty minutes or so before time to be back, so Nick and I found a payphone and called our lady friends. You might say Molly was suprised to hear from me. Here is Nick, loving the use of a phone.
Still with time to kill, we stopped in at a local pub to grab a very fast brew. It was ice cold skol and it had never tasted better...
We had grabbed a girl off the street to take our pictures. She operated my SLR camera without difficulty and quickly switched gears to the little point and shoots. Evidently she was familiar with a bit of technology.
As we pulled away to head to our secluded dinner spot on the river, the sky was lit very wonderfully.
The last day we really just crammed into a long morning. Things moved fast, it was over before the whole trip had even begun and we were done with our time upriver. The governer showed up and provided us with a meal and some ice cold Coke. He gave a "Warrior Woman - Amazon" certificate to Dr. Reigler, one of our fearless leaders and organizers. He then provided us all with certificates of thanks from the municipality of Anama. We loaded up once last time, and started the long (but quicker) trip back down river. Everyone caught up on some nap time. Ben was feeling a little home sick...
I hung out on the bow, catching some z's in the sun, shooting the shit, and enjoying the Rio Solimoes.
Dave hunt out with me for a while as we hoped the sky would put on a show on our last night.
And people tended to just play cards, goof off, and enjoy great company.
The sky wasn't as good as other nights, but had a personality of its own.
That morning we woke up on a serene lake, near Manaus were we would enjoy a tour of the Igapo, a little boardwalk hike, some souvenir shopping and a great breakfast. It was a little touristy but plenty of interesting things to enjoy, especially the wildlife. I had gotten up earlier than normal, awaken by the sounds of the jungle and birds all around. Two or three osprey were fishing around our boat, but I couldn't get any good pictures.
The back end of an Osprey.
We visited this place to finally see the great giant lily pads the Amazon is known for. They did not disappoint, especially when we saw this little spectacled caiman enjoying the sun.
Jacana were everywhere.
As well as other birds.
We had been fearful the boardwalk would break on the way in, and sure enough on the way out, Nick fell right through.
Max is always inquisitive.
We jumped into the boats for a quick ride. I saw my first anaconda, that this kid had "just" caught. Stupid tourist trap. We didn't even slow down on the way by.
The water birds are always present - Snowy Egret
Cattle Egrets
More Caciques
Great dragonfly.
Strangler Fig.
Dangerous trees... I guess the natives used to use these spikes for arrows and rubbed them in the poison from the backs of the dart frogs.
A hive found floating by.
And a pair of Amazon Kingfishers Chloroceryle amazona
And that was it... An end of an era. The boat had become home and we were all sad to say goodbye. The group had the rest of the day in Manaus, a full day to explore tomorrow and then left early in the AM on Wednesday. So we had a some more time together, but it was tough parting with our new Brazilian friends. A view of the meeting of the waters, heading back to port.
The group, everyone on the two boats, except for the photographer. Goodbye everyone, hope to see you again soon...
All images and text are property of Jason Folt unless otherwise noted. If you would like to use an image, please contact me and ask first.
© 2006 Last Updated: 2/11/07