Thursday, June 17th

Thursday we had the opportunity to take a boat trip down the Amazon River. The whole trip was very relaxing and very fun! We set up our hammocks and chairs, stretched out on the boat to chat and take in the scenery.  Some of the ladies even had the opportunity to get manicures and pedicures. 


First we went to the point where the Rio Negra and the Rio Solomon, which are both large tributaries to the Amazon, merge.  Because of the large volume of water coming from both rivers there is a distinct line where the two rivers are different colors and are coming together. 

(The meeting of the waters) 

From there we cruised to a floating restaurant where we had a large buffet lunch of many different Brazilian foods. After the meal, there was a major downpour (man can it rain here!!).  Because of the rain we had a brief opportunity to do a little shopping, and then we went on a short nature walk through the jungle. We saw lots of cool plants and a few birds. From there we loaded onto three small boats and went on a boat tour through a part of the jungle. 

(Our fearless leader, Jon, shows us the way :) )

We saw many cool birds and plants...luckily no snakes!!

(Lily pads in the Amazon rain forest grow very large!)

When we got back to the big boat we cruised back towards the city, on the way we stopped so we could all have the opportunity to swim in the Amazon if we wanted to. Pastors Josh, Todd, and Jon baptized Eric and one of interpreters, Nick.  When it came time to submerge, all 5 of them jumped off the very top of the second story of our boat into the river. Most of us soon followed them into the river.


When we got back we had a little downtime and then dinner....they brought us pizza and burgers!!! We were super excited to have some American food!


After dinner the group piled on the bus and went into downtown Manaus where we went to a new garden where Pastor Francisco used to do open air services on Friday nights. After walking around the garden we went to the Opera house and a very large catholic church across the street just to take in the sites. From there we proceeded to Point Negra, which is basically a large boardwalk along the river.  They have soccer fields, volleyball courts, a skate park, a small amusement park, and many different vendors. We were able to walk around and get some ice cream. Part of the group went to the amusement park where they had one of those giant slides with all the bumps.  We had some really good laughs as we watched each other slide down. After that we headed back to the church for bed .  Another full day!