While you were at work

Amazonas

After a couple months of training and routine, my buddy Andrew and I decided it was time for a vacation (from our a vacation) so we decided to travel to Manaus, in the province Amazonas to visit our friend Erick. For those of you who are a little rusty on your Brazilian geography, here's a map. Curitiba, where I've been spending these past couple of months, is in the south east, and Manaus is in the north west- a metropolis incongruously located in the middle of the jungle.

Map of Brazil. Curitiba in the SE, Manaus in the NW

Seeing as how Andrew and I aren't that busy and we could save a couple hundred R$ we decided to take a bus so São Paulo (nominally 5.5 hrs) and then catch the midnight flight to Manaus. Of course, no trip to the Amazon should be easy. During the bus ride to São Paulo, the guy sitting in front of me started throwing up so the bus pulled over for like an hour until he recovered. During this time, some kid took the liberty to crap on the floor of the bathroom. However, Andrew and I persevered and we arrived in Manaus at around 3 am.

Erick and his cousin Glauber picked us up at the airport and after declining an offer to go out, we went to Glauber's house to snooze. Our sleeping arrangement was laughably simple. Glauber's room had a double bed and a desk and just enough space to move sideways between the two. Glauber graciously let Andrew and I share the bed and he slept in a hammock suspended in part over my side of the bed and in part over 'the space'. In return, I gave him a highlight-reel quality knee to his back in my sleep. Unfortunately, my unconscious self isn't very polite because apparently I just chuckled.

A view of the Ponta Negra and Rio Negro in Manaus

The River

The next morning we rented a car (that would be returned in an abominable condition) and took off for the Rio Negro for a boat ride. After some negotiating we took our seats and headed for the Encontro das Aguas, where the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões meet but do not mix. Check it out:

Encontro das Aguas

After a cursory verification that it was safe I jumped in and swam from one river to the next. Amazingly, the Rio Solimões (the white one) is way colder than the Rio Negro. Erick and Glauber jumped in for about a minute and then scrambled back in the boat. After a few more minutes alone in the middle of the river I started feeling a little vulnerable and got back in as well. Talking with the boys later, they blew of piranhas, saying they're not what I should have been worried about. But rather some 3-5 meter fish that has been known to drag people to the depths of the 100 m deep river as well as a couple species of insidious parasitic fish that eat you inside out. God damn! In retrospect, it was good not to have known these details before plunging in.

A lonely swim at the 'Econtro das Aguas'

JIU JITSU

After speaking with my mom the other day, it occurred to me that most people probably don't have the slightest idea of what jiu jitsu is. In short, you're trying to submit your opponent with either a choke or a joint manipulation. No strikes (i.e. punches, elbows, etc) are allowed. Here are a couple jiu jitsu moves to help you get a better idea: Triangle Choke, Armlock

A little on the dramatic side since no one actually waits to pass out or get there elbow broken.

Within Brazil, the cities that produce the most national and world champions are Rio and Manaus. Erick has been studying jiu jitsu for about 10 years now and is one of CM System's (our gym) strongest ground fighters. Despite the fact that he only has a brown belt (the belt just before black) it's not uncommon to see him submit a black belt with a considerable weight advantage.

Andrew and I wanted to check out Erick's gym so we went to watch a training session. The gym consisted of an area of mats and a couple of old punching bags under a corrugated iron roof. While we were there we had the rare opportunity to see Erick get dominated by his former instructor Fabio. Fabio, a third degree black belt, choked him out at least once a minute for about 10 minutes.

Fabio biding his time before the inevitable submission

Jungle

On Friday morning we collected what money remained after the federal police shook us down for about 200 R$ for 'improper paperwork' Thursday night. With a stiff upper lip, we filled up our gas tank and our cooler and set off for some waterfalls a couple of hours into the province. After nearly an hour with the engine redlined on the highway, we arrived at a dirt road where we could ditch our car to make our way through the forest on foot.

A dirt road leading to a waterfall that didn't do our car any favours

To get to these waterfalls I felt like a character in a Lord of the Rings video game or something.

Check it out:

No one ever did anything worthwhile obeying danger signs. Disregarding the warning, we began to make our way through the dense, dark jungle...

A little further on we came to the entrance of a cave. Though we could see bats flapping in the shadows we could only guess as to what unseen dangers awaited us...

As we ventured deeper into the cavern, even the least claustrophobic of us started to feel uneasy.

Finally, we saw a shred of light illuminating a path to an exit. On our hands and knees we crawled towards it through the jungle underbrush.

When we emerged we found our exit blocked by a wall of bird eating spiders.

Trying to ignore the fact that my health insurance has long since expired, I quickly made my way up the opposing rock face. Once we were safely away from the spider den we wearily gathered our bearings and trekked deeper into the forest.

After some time we reached a small bridge. Glauber, the first to step on the bridge, stopped to clean some dirt from his sandals when a creature leapt out of the river and dragged him under.

Panicked, the rest of us sprinted into the jungle on the other side. When we finally slowed down to catch our breath we had no idea where we were.

With heavy hearts we journeyed onward, certain the Glauber would have wanted us to reach the waterfalls. Suddenly, we saw a white Siamese tiger! What the hell it was doing out here we had not the slightest idea. Petrified, we stood motionless, awaiting our fate. Perhaps it was the Amazonian heat, but it looked as if the tiger wanted us to follow him. Cautiously, we obliged and after some time we could hear the roaring sound of a waterfall.

Upon reaching a clearing we at long last beheld what we had set out to find. When we looked back for the tiger, it had disappeared. Relieved, we made our way to the bottom of the falls.

The water was cool and refreshing and we soon forgot all about our misfortune. ha!

Fim

So I might have taken some poetic license here. The tiger, for instance, is in the Singapore Zoo. But everything else is true! RIP Glauber...