We then made our way to Jose Carlos and his family. They were the ones who were sealed in the temple that previous week. It was a 4 hour bus ride which wasn't too bad really. The buses were really nice. Anywho when we got there the missionaries were helping them to prepare lunch and we ate real good food.
Their bird Rafael. He didn't like us too much. He loved Nora Nay and would sing with her while she washed the dishes. His little home was on the kitchen sink spout. I tried feeding him marshmallows which he loves but that didn't work too much.
We brought candy down to the people who let us stay with them and they loved them. Our favorite was giving them war heads:)
Sunday after church the whole family took naps. Ty and I played yahtzee and rested in the hammocks. Here is the youngest girl sleeping.
We walked to Jose Carlos work and the walk way for pedestrians was down the middle of the street lined with trees, very pretty.
As we were walking some kiddos were playing at recess and I grabbed this picture. The guy is selling the students treats....or are they?:)
Here we are at the boat dock heading out to fish! we hopped onto one of the tin boats and took an hour+ ride to a little farm. This is the last town you can drive to. Anywhere beyond this town you have to travel by boat due to the dense forest.
Our way was similar to the middle boat without the covering.
To prove that we wore our life jackets and looked like 'american tourist'.
We watched people putting out their fishing nets and pulling them in
others fishing from land
Our host and Jose Carlos
We saw lots of these big boats going up and down the Amazon. Families will live on these and go where the fishing is the best. Quite the mobile home uh?
We got awesome views of the beautiful sunset.
Ty showing our host family his fishing gear. Their boy is 17-18 years old and had never seen anything like it before. He would laugh at some of the stuff. He got some pretty good chuckles when we were actually out on the water. He thought it was hilarious.
Since we arrived after dark I couldn't get any pictures of the home. Here it is the next morning. The whole house is up on stilts. During the months of April-July this whole region is flooded and the family has to go to another farm for those months, crazy!
The family was very proud of their 'buffalo'. These little beast like to bathe in the river at night and gave us quite the scare when we arrived the previous day. Anywho they use the 'buffalo' for the meat and also the milk they give. The family then makes cheese and sells it in the town where Jose Carlos lives. They make 3-4 trips into town with about 40lbs of cheese every time. These are quite the cheese producing devils.
The cows walking in the river
You can see by the tree line how high the river gets. Very beautiful scenery!
Jose Carlos caught the first fish by having his line simply in the water and not even casting it. Pretty lucky.
Ty caught a piranha.
The boy then put his nets out to hopefully catch some. When we went back for it there were a couple fish and that is when they decided that the fishing wasn't good. When the fishing is good the nets will be filled with fish and fill the whole boat within just a couple minutes of putting the nets out. We were informed that the water was unusually high for this time of year and that the fishing wouldn't be very good. Sad day:(
Seriously felt like the Swiss Family Robinsons. Here are some pics of their house.
This is a kitchen/work are behind the main house.
Inside the main house dining area looking down into the hall with rooms
They insisted a lot for us to rest in the hammocks. The view from mine.
The wife showing us the cheese they make with the 'buffalo's' milk. The cheese was very good and had a little bit of sweetness to it.
The cheese press.
We asked for pictures and they went hog wild with them:)
They insisted that we sit on the horse for a picture
Then they wanted just a picture of us with their 'buffalo' calves. If you look closely you can see him behind the walkway. He was scaring the calves to come into the picture.
Then the whole family except the boy. The man in front of me his the farmers adopted brother. His mother found him abandoned on the beach and was very sick. She nursed him back to health and he has been part of the family and farm ever since. This time they wanted the thumbs up.
Our way back to Jose Carlos house. The next day we would take off the other direction for another hour boat ride for more fishing.
Pictures of the other town we went to for fishing.
We just loved the beauty down there!
Our first sighting of an alligator.
This time we rode in a different boat with a covering. At first it seemed nice that the sun would be off of us but then we couldn't cast our fishing lines in.....bummer.
The storms move real fast down there. The previous day after coming back from the farm a huge storm moved in and lightning killed 2-3 people playing soccer. So I wasn't the biggest fan being out on the water in a tin boat with lightning and thunder. So we pulled up into a cove and waited for it to pass.
The next morning on another boat.
Heading back to Carlos house to then head back to Manaus for our flight home.
We had to drink only bottled water and here is the stash we had back in Manaus.
People use broken tile for side walks in front of their homes.
The homes on the river in Manaus. Very poorly constructed out of scrap wood and anything else they can find. These homes will fall down and the people will wonder why that happens. Very sad. The convenient thing about living on the river is the free water and the garbage is thrown right out your window.
Lots of graffiti everywhere.
So we would be walking and the buildings had graffiti on them and garbage on the streets. But when you walked by an LDS meeting house it looked beautiful. No garbage, the plants were beautiful and well maintained, and no graffiti.
A McDonalds in town
Also a Subway. When Ty was here last there were no Subway fast eating joints. So within three years they food chain joint has made it down.
Very very nice restaurant food served like Tucano's. So very good.
This is their phone booths. They call them 'the ear'.
One of Ty's old mission companions.
His companions family
We ate here numerous times, Glacial ice cream. So very good!
Back in the house at Manaus. Notice how close the boy is sitting to the TV playing video games. He learned it from his dad:)
