Manaus
The Amazon River:
The Amazon River comes from up high in the Andes mountains, however the Andes mountains were formed when Pangaea split into the continents and when the South American plate collided into another plate creating what is now South America, also when the Amazon River once flowed east to west had completely reversed its direction flowing west to east. The Amazon’s flooding governs the lives of everyone and everything that lives in and around this great river. Many amazing and different creatures live in the Amazon River an example of this would be the “water monkey” which is a fish that skims the waters surface looking for insects to eat, able to see above and below the water surface.
The video discusses the life of people who live on the river, discussing how they fish, their way of life, including how most of these people don’t make more than one thousand U.S. dollars a year, and how they most of these people do not own the homes in which they live. However these people are able to survive off of the Amazon and off of the jungle. The video then goes to discuss the fish markets now compared to what they once were. For example the fish in the markets used to be much larger, compared to now the fish are being exploited and are being caught much younger which is a sign of over fishing. This is from the commercial fishing industry not from the native people.
Something interesting I saw in the video was the fishing of the giant fish Arapaima, and how when fishing they use a harpoon and can take up to an hour to catch. What I found interesting about this is that catching this monster fish not only feeds so many people but it affects your social status in the village in a positive way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyIyVsRo-qU
Deforestation:
The video starts off by saying things about illegal deforestation, and how it is very dangerous for people because the people doing the illegal logging of the trees will kill you. The so called “chainsaw mercenaries” go through the rainforest marking hardwood trees for loggers using machetes. One person interviewed for the article stating that “Killing a tree is like killing a person the sap is like the blood of the tree, they scream when they fall similar to a murdered person, and bleed when they are cut.” Showing how important the forest can be to people.
Brazil see’s its timber as a means of making profit because it is a Brazilian forest. The difference between illegal and legal logging is the process in which it happens. When a tree is legally logged trees are only cut down if it has a low impact on the ecosystem, also the way in which they harvest the tree, allowing it to fall slowly to take away chance of injury. Most importantly for every tree harvested, three trees are planted to replace it.
The video then goes to discuss how the people of the Amazon River harvest the arapaima and how they use every last piece of the fish leaving nothing to be wasted. They consider it the pig of the amazon. However people take and use all of the arapaima, similar to the timber, it is illegally taken and sold with no fear of the law. However people are able to fish this only on certain seasons even though the species is endangered.
The video then moves to the topic of gold mining in Brazil. It begins by discussing how many people throughout the amazon risk life and limb to get a nugget of gold they may or may not ever find. It also discusses how gold is made into an alloy in Brazil (the common way it is done) and made into jewelry. It also discusses Brazils relationship with gold and its history, dated back to when Brazil was a Portuguese colony, the talk of gold then links into the relationship between the waterways (where the water used for working with gold containing mercury end up) and the wild life and human life affected by the mercury and gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Gr_j23stg&list=PLyOVSbari5z-fvLI310_kdOmn_k5p-xEy&index=12
Climate Change:
The video opens talking about how people and animals living in the amazon have adapted to living in the water due to the overflow of water during the rainy season. The rainy season leads to flooding that comes and destroys everything in the villages these floods are side effects of climate change, many of the damages done by these floods are caused by El Niño, an occurrence of warm ocean water. The video then discusses how people of the Amazon cut down rainforest to grow jute, the problem with this is without the trees, the water erodes the soil and takes away the soil. Linking the rise in water levels to the deforestation since the nineteen sixties. This is because the deforestation creates something like a waterproofing of the ground. The silt in the water also greatly affected the life of the water. The fish began to disappear, leading to the birds and Arapaima to also disappear along with vegetation leaving the river lifeless. It then goes to discuss how when there are no fish to catch people go for smaller fish that are not usually caught because of necessity for money and food. A key role played by vegetation is that the plant life helps to reduce against flooding, so the people of the river have planted many of a specific plant that helps against flooding. They then show teaching about the plant and how it helps the ecosystem to kids at a school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGsUBF6o43k
Wildlife:
In this video the narrator discusses many different species of animal, bird, and insect throughout the video. Discussing species like the howler monkey and how they handle other groups infringing on their territory, as well as explaining why they have their name, as well as where the howler is on the body of the monkey. The film then cuts to a motion-activated camera showing many amazing rare animals such as a puma and a jaguar. Then jumps to an ox-bone lake, which is home to many rare species, most importantly the giant river otter, which is said to only be around one thousand left in the wild. The video then goes to show the path the otters then have to take with the choice of going upper river or down river, regardless of their choice they run into human pollution and destruction of the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXkW1OEVjGE&feature=youtu.be&list=PLyOVSbari5z-fvLI310_kdOmn_k5p-xEy
The Amazon River comes from up high in the Andes mountains, however the Andes mountains were formed when Pangaea split into the continents and when the South American plate collided into another plate creating what is now South America, also when the Amazon River once flowed east to west had completely reversed its direction flowing west to east. The Amazon’s flooding governs the lives of everyone and everything that lives in and around this great river. Many amazing and different creatures live in the Amazon River an example of this would be the “water monkey” which is a fish that skims the waters surface looking for insects to eat, able to see above and below the water surface.
The video discusses the life of people who live on the river, discussing how they fish, their way of life, including how most of these people don’t make more than one thousand U.S. dollars a year, and how they most of these people do not own the homes in which they live. However these people are able to survive off of the Amazon and off of the jungle. The video then goes to discuss the fish markets now compared to what they once were. For example the fish in the markets used to be much larger, compared to now the fish are being exploited and are being caught much younger which is a sign of over fishing. This is from the commercial fishing industry not from the native people.
Something interesting I saw in the video was the fishing of the giant fish Arapaima, and how when fishing they use a harpoon and can take up to an hour to catch. What I found interesting about this is that catching this monster fish not only feeds so many people but it affects your social status in the village in a positive way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyIyVsRo-qU
Deforestation:
The video starts off by saying things about illegal deforestation, and how it is very dangerous for people because the people doing the illegal logging of the trees will kill you. The so called “chainsaw mercenaries” go through the rainforest marking hardwood trees for loggers using machetes. One person interviewed for the article stating that “Killing a tree is like killing a person the sap is like the blood of the tree, they scream when they fall similar to a murdered person, and bleed when they are cut.” Showing how important the forest can be to people.
Brazil see’s its timber as a means of making profit because it is a Brazilian forest. The difference between illegal and legal logging is the process in which it happens. When a tree is legally logged trees are only cut down if it has a low impact on the ecosystem, also the way in which they harvest the tree, allowing it to fall slowly to take away chance of injury. Most importantly for every tree harvested, three trees are planted to replace it.
The video then goes to discuss how the people of the Amazon River harvest the arapaima and how they use every last piece of the fish leaving nothing to be wasted. They consider it the pig of the amazon. However people take and use all of the arapaima, similar to the timber, it is illegally taken and sold with no fear of the law. However people are able to fish this only on certain seasons even though the species is endangered.
The video then moves to the topic of gold mining in Brazil. It begins by discussing how many people throughout the amazon risk life and limb to get a nugget of gold they may or may not ever find. It also discusses how gold is made into an alloy in Brazil (the common way it is done) and made into jewelry. It also discusses Brazils relationship with gold and its history, dated back to when Brazil was a Portuguese colony, the talk of gold then links into the relationship between the waterways (where the water used for working with gold containing mercury end up) and the wild life and human life affected by the mercury and gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Gr_j23stg&list=PLyOVSbari5z-fvLI310_kdOmn_k5p-xEy&index=12
Climate Change:
The video opens talking about how people and animals living in the amazon have adapted to living in the water due to the overflow of water during the rainy season. The rainy season leads to flooding that comes and destroys everything in the villages these floods are side effects of climate change, many of the damages done by these floods are caused by El Niño, an occurrence of warm ocean water. The video then discusses how people of the Amazon cut down rainforest to grow jute, the problem with this is without the trees, the water erodes the soil and takes away the soil. Linking the rise in water levels to the deforestation since the nineteen sixties. This is because the deforestation creates something like a waterproofing of the ground. The silt in the water also greatly affected the life of the water. The fish began to disappear, leading to the birds and Arapaima to also disappear along with vegetation leaving the river lifeless. It then goes to discuss how when there are no fish to catch people go for smaller fish that are not usually caught because of necessity for money and food. A key role played by vegetation is that the plant life helps to reduce against flooding, so the people of the river have planted many of a specific plant that helps against flooding. They then show teaching about the plant and how it helps the ecosystem to kids at a school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGsUBF6o43k
Wildlife:
In this video the narrator discusses many different species of animal, bird, and insect throughout the video. Discussing species like the howler monkey and how they handle other groups infringing on their territory, as well as explaining why they have their name, as well as where the howler is on the body of the monkey. The film then cuts to a motion-activated camera showing many amazing rare animals such as a puma and a jaguar. Then jumps to an ox-bone lake, which is home to many rare species, most importantly the giant river otter, which is said to only be around one thousand left in the wild. The video then goes to show the path the otters then have to take with the choice of going upper river or down river, regardless of their choice they run into human pollution and destruction of the environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXkW1OEVjGE&feature=youtu.be&list=PLyOVSbari5z-fvLI310_kdOmn_k5p-xEy
Reflection
January 1-4:
The group arrived in Manaus at around 3 am, leaving us to rest and begin the next day somewhat later than planned. That morning we walked around Manaus getting the lay of the land. Later that day we went on a tour of Manaus. The first stop on the tour was an old theatre in the “world center” of Manaus. The theatre is 118 years old but has been somewhat renovated, however still maintains most of its originally designs and architecture. The square outside of the theatre is tiled black and white the design in the tiles represents the connection of the Rio Negro and the Amazon River and how they do not mix when joined. The black represents the Rio Negro, and the white representing the Amazon. The streets around the theatre were once made from rubber this was to muffle the sound from the road so the acts and audience inside would not be disturbed.
The next stop was the local market, getting to see the way that people bought food, supplies, and other necessities. Anything from medicinal herbs to fresh fish can be bought at markets like these.
The Next destination on the tour was the harbor of Manaus, seeing the port, and learned about the traveling on the Amazon River.
The next day we took a tour on the Amazon to see where the Rio Negro, and the Amazon River meet. When we were in route to our next destination you were able to see one of the floating villages of the Amazon, where the houses rise and fall with the tides of the river. We were also able to see the houses on stilts near the floating village. We then went to walk through the jungle for a short time, to go back to the boat where we went and got to see animals of the rainforest, we even saw the rare pink dolphins of the Amazon River. Then went to a village of indigenous people of the Amazon, where they preformed a welcoming ceremony for us. We then returned to the hotel after this.
The final day in Manaus we went to a beach on the Rio Negro. Before we left for Rio
Pictures:
1: Manaus old town center
2: Picture from the market in Manaus
3: The tribe of indigenous people
4: Where the Amazon and the Rio Negro meet
The group arrived in Manaus at around 3 am, leaving us to rest and begin the next day somewhat later than planned. That morning we walked around Manaus getting the lay of the land. Later that day we went on a tour of Manaus. The first stop on the tour was an old theatre in the “world center” of Manaus. The theatre is 118 years old but has been somewhat renovated, however still maintains most of its originally designs and architecture. The square outside of the theatre is tiled black and white the design in the tiles represents the connection of the Rio Negro and the Amazon River and how they do not mix when joined. The black represents the Rio Negro, and the white representing the Amazon. The streets around the theatre were once made from rubber this was to muffle the sound from the road so the acts and audience inside would not be disturbed.
The next stop was the local market, getting to see the way that people bought food, supplies, and other necessities. Anything from medicinal herbs to fresh fish can be bought at markets like these.
The Next destination on the tour was the harbor of Manaus, seeing the port, and learned about the traveling on the Amazon River.
The next day we took a tour on the Amazon to see where the Rio Negro, and the Amazon River meet. When we were in route to our next destination you were able to see one of the floating villages of the Amazon, where the houses rise and fall with the tides of the river. We were also able to see the houses on stilts near the floating village. We then went to walk through the jungle for a short time, to go back to the boat where we went and got to see animals of the rainforest, we even saw the rare pink dolphins of the Amazon River. Then went to a village of indigenous people of the Amazon, where they preformed a welcoming ceremony for us. We then returned to the hotel after this.
The final day in Manaus we went to a beach on the Rio Negro. Before we left for Rio
Pictures:
1: Manaus old town center
2: Picture from the market in Manaus
3: The tribe of indigenous people
4: Where the Amazon and the Rio Negro meet