Strong swimmers

Like some fellow Bloggers I have been on a break during the Christmas holidays, but felt like it was time to come back. I have missed writing so I am just adding a quick entry before leaving to celebrate the New Year in Scotland. A far cry from the cold, windy, Scottish countryside I still have more stories to tell from my humid Amazonian travels.

Before going to the Amazon, and knowing little about what diverse and immense beauty the region contained, one of my incentives for going was to swim with dolphins in their natural habitat. On my last full day in the Amazon I entered the waters of the Rio (river) Negro, with more than 10 dolphins, and swam amongst them, feeling their bodies touch mine as they swam past.

The dolphins that occupy the river are called botos de cor rosa, pink dolphins. When they leapt out of the water, to catch the fish I was holding in my hand, they appeared to be grey in colour as it is the dark colour of the water that makes them appear pink. There are two methods of feeding them. Firstly I entered the water and standing on a platform, with the water at waist height and fish in hand, I waited for them to leap up and take it out of my hand. It felt like they were almost throwing themselves at me as the weight of their large bodies crashed into mine. All they wanted was the fish, they were not trying to harm me, in fact they are gentle giants with poor eyesight and for this reason their bodies met with mine.

It was then time to fully enter the water, I was first fitted with a buoyancy aid, before entering the dark waters again. The moment my body was submerged in the river I was surrounded by the dolphins, all looking for food. They swam between my legs, raised out of the water brushing past my arms, and with mouths open once again took the fish from my hands. After 10 more minutes of feeding the buoyancy aid was removed and I was free to swim the river and dive with the dolphins. Swimming under the water I could clearly see the size of these gentle creatures, and running my hands along their bodies their skin felt like a hard-boiled egg with its shell removed. What a truly beautiful creature.

A tribal evening

In April Educação Condutiva - Com Amor celebrated its first birthday with a play performed by the students. After much debate it was decided that the children would present a short play about the different origins of the Brazilian population. The population of Brazil is divided into four categories not actually of origin but of colour, skin colour. These four are negro (black), amarelo (yellow), vermelho (red) and branco (white). These four colours represent the different races within Brazil, and as at the time we had four children, each child represented a different race. During the play each child took its turn to present to the audience and so the history of Brazil and the arrival of each race to the country was told.

I learned a lot about the formation of the Brazilian population whilst preparing for the play, so here is a short summary. Brazil was first occupied by Indians (vermelho, red), native Indians living in tribes using nature's products to feed, clothe and house themselves. Next arrived the Europeans (branco, white), mostly wealthy Portuguese who created large coffee and sugar plantations, whilst turning small fishing villages into large cities. They used their money to buy African (negro, black) slaves, bought to work on the plantations. Finally people arrived from the Far East, mostly Japonese (amarelo, yellow), and so the Brazilian population was constructed.

During my first year in Brazil I had encountered many different Brazilians of differing skin colour, but I had never had the opportunity to observe the life of the native Indians that to this day still occupy the Amazonian rain forest. Upon my arrival in the Amazon I was informed that this would be possible and grasped at the chance to visit an Indian tribe. Before I set out on a dark Sunday night to watch their daily night ritual, I was concerned that perhaps I would not enjoy the experience, and would feel like it was not genuine, but a show put on for tourists. I almost did not go, but as I arrived into the small clearing deep in the forest I soon realised that this was not a show but their daily routine, and I was purely an observer.

A young boy was blowing on a horn, inviting us in as the tribe members prepared food for dinner, apparently unaware of our presence. We sat down a little distance away as it was explained that what we were about to see was not due to our presence, but a ritual they performed every night before eating, to give thanks for their food. As the food continued cooking over the fire, the members of the tribe gathered together and within seconds began dancing. Women, men and children danced whilst singing in a language that I did not recognise. The dancing was led by a boy who held one of his hands in the air for the duration of the dance, on his hand was a wicker glove that was crawling with biting bullet ants. As a boy turning into a young man it was his responsibility to lead the tribe, whilst enduring the pain of the biting ants. Young girls played instruments as they danced, never making a wrong step. The dancing lasted about five minutes and just as suddenly as it had started it stopped, the food was removed from the fire, and the tribe started to eat, us too.

Let's go fishing

I had never fished for piranha before I went to the Amazon, but I did spend many days as a child fishing for trout with my dad. I was born in the Lake District, a beautiful rural area in the north of England, and I spent all of my childhood and adolescence growing up in its breathtaking landscape. To this day my parents still live there in a house on a hill overlooking the Eden Valley, with a view that money can not buy. Looking out of the living room through the floor to ceiling windows, the green valley lays spread out for miles below with fells in the distance on both sides. To the left lies the "sleeping elephants", fells that when the sun shines resemble a herd of elephants laid flat out, their lined, dry skin clearly visible. And to the right stands the many fells that surround Lake Ullswater and its neighbouring lakes. I really could not have been more fortunate as a child as the beauty of the area provided many activities to keep me occupied, one of these activities was fishing.

My dad has always had a great interest in fishing and it was one of the few activities in which me and my three siblings accompanied him. Our favorite place to fish was on the River Eden in a place called Bluebell Wood. I do not know to this day if this is the actual name of the wood, or in fact me and my siblings invented the name due to the number of bluebell flowers growing there. It was a well established wood with tall trees, closely packed together creating a large shady area underneath. At a certain time of year the ground of this shaded area was a carpet of blue and lilac as the bluebells hung delicately from their from their long thin stalks. The slightest breeze caused the bells of the flowers to shake, and so the carpet appeared to be moving. And it was here that we sat upon a broken tree on many a sunny afternoon, rod in hand, bait in the water, waiting not always so patiently for a bite. Sat in a boat on the River Negro, again rod in hand, waiting for the piranhas to bite, I remembered this happy childhood memory.

Wonderland

With so many pre-planned activities to fit into four short days, two of which included travelling, I had very little spare time whilst at the hotel. In fact I only had a couple of hours one afternoon when the guide said to me, do what you want. The only problem was, what could I do? There I was in a hotel in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest, with the nearest town being two hours boat ride away, I was literally surrounded by just trees and rivers. Luckily for me I have a great love of nature, and in particular photographing it, so it was decided, I would take a long walk along the miles of walkways that stood above the river.

With camera in hand I soon found myself snapping away, unable to stop as every turn I made, the view changed. Yes I was just photographing the trees and the river, and yes you might think how many pictures can one person take of the same trees and the same river, but each time I turned around it was like stepping into a new place, I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

With the river 10 metres higher than in the dry season there were some trees almost completely submerged in the water, only the top green branches appearing to float on the water. Other trees of 40 metres or more in height stood tall and proud, their wide trunks clearly visible and touchable, their branches out of reach, swaying in stark contrast to the blue sky.

It wasn't just the trees that changed but the river too. The river Negro's appearance is like its name suggests, it is very dark, almost black. However due to the reflection of the trees on the water its appearance changed regularly. At times it appeared green, the vivacity of the leaves clearly visible. When the trees stood high above the river, clustered together, the shady water below appeared red in colour, a scarlet red. And where there were no trees the water's surface only reflected the blue sky, not a cloud in sight.

Beauty is more than just skin deep

I have always believed it, beauty is not just what we see on the outside, but what is at the core. Proof of this could be seen at the small native village I visited whilst in the Amazon. The village was only reachable by boat, a long narrow boat that sails close to the water. As we reached the shore, and the small dock, I could see a row of small wooden houses perched on the shore, one in particular stood out. It was painted white with a burnt orange roof and was the school for all the children not only in the community where it stood, but also for the many children who lived in isolated houses along the river.

The school has one teacher who teaches 4 classes of different aged children. Each morning this teacher boards the school boat, donated by the hotel in which I stayed, and travels to the various houses located on the vast waters edge to collect the students. At the end of the day this process is repeated as she takes them home. It is not an easy life for her, she works long hours, determined to create an educated, sustainable life for both her children and the children of others in the community for many years to come.

As we were told the history of the school and how it began from nothing I began to think of my own experience here in Brazil, and my efforts to create a new conductive group, which will hopefully grow into a school one day. Although Educação Condutiva - Com Amor started with nothing, the one thing it did have was enough money to get it started. This small school did not have this luxury, and the teacher and creator of the school fought for everything that stands there today. Small donations have helped her school grow from a small wooden structure, barely big enough to house 6 children, to a painted school house that is now providing an education for over 20 children.

I am a teacher, a teacher of conductive education, a conductor, and standing outside that small school in the Amazon, full of emotion, I knew I could not leave that beautiful place without also leaving a small donation.

Amazonian sunrise

I was lucky to be awarded a penthouse room, at the top of one of the eight towers of the Amazonian hotel in which I stayed. The room was circular with a balcony running all the way around it, making it possible to see both the sunrise and sunset, each day. On the second day I woke early as the sun rose, and promptly left my bed to sit on the balcony and watch. The birds sung as the sky turned from a scarlet red to burnt orange. There was a strong breeze as the parrots greeted one another, and the small monkeys ran along the wooden walkways that connected the all the towers.

The actual rise of the sun from its first appearance of peeping over the horizon, to the full view of its beauty as it rose in the sky was very quick, a matter of minutes. A vibrant orange ball creeping higher and higher into the blue sky above. I could have sat there everyday watching the marvelous sight, without ever getting bored, as each day it is the same sun rising, but its appearance differs as do my thoughts.

I am back

When I first considered starting a Blog my initial concern was that I would not find the time to regularly update it due to other commitments. Unfortunately in the last two months this has been the case and I have not placed one single post. When I am not working I spend time preparing for lessons, writing reports, training the staff that work with me, alongside doing the chores of daily life. Any spare time I have I try to catch up with loved ones and friends in England and around the world, and I also enjoying following the blogs of a few people within conductive education. It turns out that I spend more time following the Blogs of others than updating my own, and I am not alone in this as I discovered whilst talking to another conductor last night. Through a chat on Skype I established that she was updating her own Blog, whilst reading others, at almost 1 o'clock in the morning! As a result of our short conversation I have now been prompted to again start updating my own Blog.

When I last wrote I began to tell of my adventures in the Amazon describing the first night I arrived, but in fact this was only the beginning of a very long, full packed 4 days and 4 nights. Over the next few weeks I plan to try and place a post a day to complete my Amazonian story, then I can begin on others I have. Just to give you a taster of what is to come, below is the itinerary of my days in the Amazon.

Day 1: Arrival, crocodile hunting.
Day 2: Sunrise, visit to native village, exploring the hotel, piranha fishing, Indian ritual.
Day 3: Jungle trek, swimming with pink dolphins, native house.
Day 4: Sunrise, going home.

Crocodile hunter

Arriving at the Amazonian hotel the first day, it was late as the boat pulled up to the dock and the sun was already falling in the sky. Having got the keys to the room I went straight to the shower to wash away the tiredness I felt from a day travelling. I was not prepared for the shock I got as I entered the bathroom. The bathroom itself was very simple with no windows, just a mosquito net separating myself from the trees that stood close by. As the cold water cascaded on me I watched the sun go down, the sky an explosion of orange and red. Definitely the best shower I have ever taken.

After a quick bite to eat I was back in a boat, a small long boat, and I set out on the river once again, this time in search of crocodiles. The boat was full with about 10 other guests, one man driving the boat, one at the front with torch in hand searching for the glowing eyes of the caymans, and another ready to jump in the water and catch the crocodile. As we went along small rivers with trees either side and the sound of frogs croaking, I looked up at the sky to see thousands of stars twinkling in the dark sky.

After searching many areas of the river I heard a loud thump as the young boy, who was our crocodile hunter for the night, jumped into the river and caught a small Cayman. With crocodile in hand our guide explained about the animal, before we each had a turn to hold it. I was one of the last to hold the small creature and as I felt its hard but also soft skin I could also feel a warm liquid trickling down my arm as it urinated in my hand! I guess it was trying to tell us something and two minutes later it was released back into the river.

Each time a crocodile is released back into the river two minutes of silence is held, and as I sat in the small boat looking at the stars reflecting on the dark waters surface, large fireflies flew by, their bodies a bright light. In our silence we could hear the noise of the forest and the many animals living within it. It was an emotional moment for me as I realised how far I had come in the last year since I had been in Brazil.

Ariaú

Ariaú was the name of the hotel in which I stayed on my visit to the Amazon, north Brazil. It is an isolated hotel, built in the tops of the trees, in the Amazon jungle. Constructed almost entirely of wood it has eight towers which house the reception, restaurant and many guest rooms. Each tower is connected to the next by long wooden walkways, which sway and creek as you walk over them, whilst underneath them the runs the dark river Negro. It is not a particularly handsome structure, but then again I did not expect luxury in the jungle.

I spent 4 days and 4 nights in Ariaú, each day packed full of activities, so much so it felt like the 4 days were doubled. At the end of my stay I had no desire to leave. Not only had I fallen in love with the Amazonian rivers, boarded by trees of the greenest green, which were inhabited by natives, but I also felt a strong connection to both the hotel and its staff.

My three days were spent with a guide and a boat driver, both of which were born and raised in the Amazon rain forest. My guide was a native Indian, born into a large family who lived of the land and because of this he had a great knowledge of his surroundings. Although he spoke English we often found ourselves slipping into Portuguese to talk about his culture and my work here in Brazil. He took great pleasure in telling those with whom he worked about my work with disabled children and adults, about Conductive Education. As a result the staff would often shout hello and ask how I was as they passed by me in the hotel.

I went to the Amazon with a desire to see its vastness and swim in its rivers with the dolphins swimming alongside me. What I did not realise before I arrived there was that I would leave not only with satisfaction and pleasure at having done these things, but also with sadness at having to leave behind the many Amazonian people I met. I have left Ariaú, but I am taking with me many special memories.

Only rivers and trees

It is almost five weeks since my holidays ended and six weeks since they began. I spent nine days dividing my time between two places, the Amazon and Bonito. The two places differed greatly in terms of terrain, the Amazon being masses of trees separated by huge rivers so wide it was at times impossible to see the other side, and Bonito with its dry earthy land, of soil an unimaginable bright red.

Leaving the small island on which I live I flew from one end of the country to another in order to reach the Amazon. High in the sky and looking down at the land as one manicured field met another, the fields formed a patchwork quilt stretching as far as the eye could see. Uninterrupted land for miles, with not one building in sight and very few tracks snaking between the fields. As the plane crept closer to the Amazonian region small rivers began to penetrate the land, creating an appearance of a tree in winter without it leaves. The larger of the rivers formed the trunk of the tree, and the numerous small streams leading from it the bare twisted branches. And then the fields stopped and the forest began, a sheer blanket of green.

The size of the Amazonian forest is truly unimaginable to those that have not visited it, as is the size of its rivers. One hour and thirty minutes past from first sight of the forest to landing in Manaus, in the middle of the Amazonian region. Leaving the plane the humidity hit me like a brick wall, and came as a welcome relief having come from a cold winters day in the south of Brazil. Within half an hour of landing I boarded a boat and begun the two hours boat ride to the hotel in which I was to stay for the next 4 days.

Fear

Yesterday was the beginning of the winter holidays here in Brazil, and for the next three weeks I will be busy working with five children as they participate in an intensive Conductive Education holiday course. To prepare my team for the hard work that is ahead of us I suggested that we participate in a group activity, and so it was decided that we would do arvorismo. Arvorismo is what in English we call a canopy tour, lots of wooden bridges and wires suspended from tree to tree, just like an obstacle course but in the air and not on the ground. We arrived at the place nestled in between mountains and surrounded by the beautiful Brazilian nature yesterday morning, and we could not have picked a better day and better activity. The sun was shining and the birds singing as we took a quick walk and stopped at a small waterfall to have a drink. We didn't take water with us, we didn't need it, instead we just cupped our hands and let them fill with the water cascading in front of us.

As we prepared ourselves for the activity by putting on the equipment and going through the instructions of how to use it, some of the girls began to get nervous and were really fearful of the prospect of being high up in the trees with nothing but a rope on a wire cord. I on the other hand was excited and ready to get going. We went in two groups and as one of the girls was more nervous than the others we figured it would be best if me and her stuck together, so that my tranquility could hopefully ease her fear. On our way round the course I took every opportunity to take in the beautiful scenery and enjoy the experience that we were having. Although there were only seven of us participating, we were spread out over quite a distance and always calling out for each other to see how everyone was getting on. The further we got on in the course, the more everyone's fear eased and as we reached the end everybody was ready to start it again. One of the girls commented to the others that all the way round I was completely fearless, messing about, jumping up and down on the rope bridges, the complete opposite of what she had felt. The truth was I was not fearless, yes I was fearless of the activity, but in fact I too felt fear during the activity. I was not frightened of the height at which we were, or the fact that if we put a foot wrong we could slip, but of the spiders that I knew where also crawling about in the trees where we were climbing. We all have fears, just different fears.

Many people find my fears quite amusing because unlike many others I am not frightened by danger, actually I thrive it, instead I am frightened by some of the small things in life that rarely create any harm to us. The children that I work with experience fear everyday in their lives. Fear that due to their mobility difficulties they might fall, fear that they might not be accepted, fear of every new situation in which they are placed, fear of trying something new and failing to execute it like their peers. Some of these fears were the same as what the girls were feeling as we participated in our activity, and it gave us an insight into the world of the children with which we work. The only difference being that for children with disabilities the fear is magnified, as unlike us they are not always in control of their bodies and their actions.

Natural Beauty

In five weeks time my holidays will be here, and I am in the process of planning what travelling and activities I will be doing, actually what me and my brother will be doing. He is coming over in four weeks and together we are going to the Amazon and another place called Bonito (the Portuguese word for beautiful). From the little that I already know of these two places, both of these places are natural beauties and I literally can not wait to see and experience all that I can. I will be trekking through the jungle, swimming in the Amazon river with pink dolphins (and alligators and cobras!), visiting local Indian tribes, diving amongst bright and beautiful fish, abseiling into caves, swimming in blue lagoons, walking through the treetops and much more.

Whilst planning my holidays of this year I thought back to those of last year, and the many wonderful and splendid sights I shared with my mum and dad during their time here. One of the places we went to was the Iguaçu Falls, a place where numerous large waterfalls meet to create a sight that is truly magnificent and magical. Walking by the waterfalls, so close we could feel the spray, we watched as small birds dived in and out of the cascading water. The fresh smell of nature was truly overpowering, and was accompanied by the vibrant colours of the rainbow, that disappeared not once while we were there. I will never forget the crashing sound of the water as one waterfall met another, the vibrancy of the greenery surrounding them, and the numerous rainbows that could be seen arching over the waterfalls. The beauty of the nature that exists on this planet never ceases to amazes me.

Memories

It is almost approaching winter here in Brazil and the days are colder with less hours of sunlight. As a result it is getting dark by the time I arrive home from work, and is pitch black by the time me and my dog take our evening walk on the beach. Walking in the dark the other night I could see a flickering light, ahead in the distance, and I was drawn to it with curiosity. As I approached I could see a blue lit candle, with three white roses laid on the ground in front of it, and three heart-shaped lollipops stuck into the sand. My first thought was that the arrangement was in memory of loved ones, past or present, and I found myself thinking of those friends and family I have left behind in England. Although I do not think too much about the sadness I feel for those eagerly waiting for the day I say I am returning home, it is times like these when I do dearly miss them. I experience many feelings here; happiness, joy, excitement and at times loneliness and sadness. I can honestly say it does not happen too often, as I do not allow myself to have negative thoughts about my experiences here. After all, this time I will spend in Brazil will be a relatively short chapter in my life, and I have many objectives to achieve whilst I am here. There is no time to be sad, as when my experience here is over I am sure I will return to England and feel sadness at what I will leave behind here. Sadness is just a part of our lives as is happiness, and for every sad moment we experience it is outweighed by many other happy ones.

Today I asked the girls, with whom I work, the meaning of the arrangement. It is in fact not in memory of others but a type of ritual, that can be both positive and negative. When the arrangement is of light neutral colours, as the one I saw, it is positive. However when the candle is dark and the roses red it is negative. As they talked about the ritual in quite a negative manner I was almost disappointed, as what I saw on the beach that night to me was beautiful, and had a completely different representation.

Sol

Today was the first morning in months I did not get to see the beautiful sunrise that I have become accustomed too. It was not that I did not wake up in time, but that it was obstructed by thick clouds. Each morning my personal alarm clock, my dog, wakes me without fail between six and seven and we go to the beach to sit and watch the sunrise. It really amazes me how even in the darkness of the flat, with the curtains closed, he is always able to perceive the rise of the sun, before it actually happens. In the last three months we have not missed one single sunrise and now with winter approaching, and more cloudy days predicted I will miss our morning ritual.

When it rains, it pours!

After a relatively long period of sun and dry, the rain fell heavily as I slept last night. The tropical storm lasted almost the whole night, with lightening illuminating my room and thunder rumbling above the sea that separates the island of Florianopolis from the mainland. It brought back memories of the tornado that I watched, over the same sea, less than three months ago. To give it it's correct name it was in fact a Tromba da Agua, a tornado that does not hit the land, but stays over water. All was calm before it appeared, and looking out over the sea I could not quite believe what I was seeing. It truly was an amazing sight that I will never forget. Between the rocking sea and darkness of the sky was a tunnel of water, and as it got ever closer to the shore I could see the water moving up the tunnel. My how the wind blew at that time, and then it was gone and all was quiet again. The extreme weather in Brazil is always an excitement and never a fright.

Nature

This week I am talking to the children about nature, in particular trees and plants, and it has made me think of the difference in nature between Brazil and England. The plants we have in England and consider to be house plants, grow here in the gardens and forests and are much bigger and brighter. I have always liked to be in green surroundings, but never really taken too much interest in nature, however here I find myself regularly taking photos of the wonderful nature to be seen here in Brazil. The brightness of the plants, reflects the attitude and personality of the people, who are incredibly warm and always have a smile on their faces, no matter what their situation. It always amazes me to see people living in houses with no windows, doors, paint or beds, but they all have a smile.

I guess it must be the sunshine.

Although it is spring going on to summer in England, for me it is autumn going on to winter and the wind is starting to blow. Not always a good thing if it is a cold wind, but I do enjoy falling asleep to the sound of the huge bamboos bashing against one another outside my window. With that and the noise of the sea breaking on the shore it is a wonder I ever get to sleep, but actually these noises are a real comfort and lull me into sleep. I can not really imagine the day when I will return to England and not fall asleep and wake up to the sound of the sea.

Inspiration

After much thought as to whether I actually had the time to create and regularly update a Blog, I have finally joined in on the action. I first considered creating one over a year ago, but at the time was submerged in books, in order to finish my degree. I am now a qualified conductor and working in Brazil, which has prompted me to write about my experiences. I have a life here very different to the one I had in England, and for those I left behind I know it is difficult to imagine what I am experiencing here. It is often difficult to relay to everyone what I am seeing and doing, so I figured by creating a Blog those who were interested would always be able to keep up with my activities.

My Brazilian adventure began 10 months ago in July 2007, so first I guess I have to update you on what has happened! So much to tell, so maybe another post.