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Monkey Stole My Sun-Screen,
Amazon Stole My Heart

First time that my heart wasn’t stolen by a man

By Vladia Jurcova

While landing, I have never experienced anything like it before. It was the most breathtaking and busiest view I had ever seen. The city below us was huge, bigger than I had ever imagined. I checked my watch again, we had already flown for fourteen minutes and we still had not reached the center of the city. The houses were so close together, one house literally built on top of another. There was no room in between the houses, no yard, no space. There was an ocean of terracotta roofs as far as I could see. 

I was amazed and exited. I was looking at the second biggest city in the entire world from the little window of my plane and I could not wait to land. I was arriving in Sao Paulo, the largest Brazilian city. “If Sao Paulo made me feel this way, how am I going to react to seeing the Amazon?” I thought.

Although reaching the Amazon Rainforest was an exhausting experience, it was worth all the flight-hours on the way. I was fortunate because TAM Brazilian Airlines helped me arrange for my accommodations and activities, the only thing I had to do was to give them a list of my dream destinations. They negotiated discounts and found guides in every part of Brazil and made my dream come true.

The mighty Amazon Rainforest was my first destination in Brazil. I had to spend hours on different flights before reaching Manaus.  From there, I took a two hour boat ride on the Rio Negro and finally arrived at Ariau Amazon Towers Resort. This ecological resort was built on stilts in the waters of the Rio Negro, literally in the middle of nowhere. Located 35 miles from Manaus, it is easily accessible, but only by boat or helicopter. A fifteen minute helicopter ride from Manaus offers breathtaking views of the vast Amazon Rainforest and its wild life.

Upon arrival my fellow travelers and I were welcomed by a native Indian girl wearing only a bikini made out of bird’s feathers. Looking around I noticed that everyone was busy taking pictures. “Did they notice how beautiful and petite this girl was?” I wondered.  She was handing out necklaces made from fresh colorful fruit. I could hear cicadas and birds singing in the forest and a few tourists were resting in comfortable looking hammocks. I could not wait to grab my cold papaya drink and check out my room high atop the tree house.

I had only five days to observe and take in this diverse environment of the Amazon Rainforest, so my program was very busy. Ariau Towers is a very impressive project built in 1987. This rainforest resort gained its fame in early eighties after it was visited by Helmut Kohl, Jimmy Carter, the King and Queen of Spain, the royal Swedish family and other celebrities. My room with the balcony was very lovely but simple in accordance with the life around here; it smelled like a cedar wood.

As I learned from my guide, Mike, fifteen years ago there was only one tree house that offered accommodations and another building on stilts containing the restaurant and reception area. Now, the resort consists of six towers with a total of 288 units, including a honeymoon tree house, Tarzan’s house, two swimming pools and eight miles of scenery catwalks connecting all of this together. Room cost could be around $200 or more per night, but the prices vary and discounts may apply.

The only means of transportation around this part of the world is by boat and since my visit fell right in the middle of the rainy season, the boat rides were quite “wet”. Keep in mind that it rains a lot in the rainforest, but in any weather, the resort offers several fun activities such as piranha fishing, caiman spotting, visits to a local village, performances of traditional Indian dances and best of all, the jungle trek and helicopter ride. Mike and I found usage of umbrellas on the boats in the middle of rainforest quite humorous. “Poor western people,” I thought,” hiding from the poring rain under their colorful western umbrellas.”

Since I weathered such a long road to get there, I took part in every activity offered. One of the timeless experiences that will always be engraved in my memory was the breathtaking peaceful sunrise on the Rio Negro. This river that in some places can be 22 miles wide could be easily mistaken for a huge lake or sea. I was sitting quietly in a fragile wooden boat watching a symphony of colors develop in front of me.  I could not differentiate anymore where the river met the sky. The picture in front of me was enchanting; I stopped breathing and wanted to stop the sun from rising anymore.  I did not want to loose that picturesque moment.  On the way back, we were accompanied by a lovely family of Amazon dolphins.  “They probably came to watch the sunrise,” I dreamt to myself.

I did not have to go far in order to observe the wild life. Piranhas and alligators lived in the river below my tower and the ever-present cheeky monkeys conquered the resort. All day long, entire families of monkeys hung out on the catwalks in front of the restaurant in hopes of steeling something tasty like sun-screen lotion. I had to be careful about leaving my belongings unattended because the restless monkeys had a well known reputation of making things disappear.

Natives who work in Ariau Towers are very shy and hardworking people. The inhabitants of native Indian villages along the river offer a selection of cheap handicrafts for visitors who want to take home a little bit of jungle memories. Everything here is made from natural resources. Local people utilize nature to satisfy their modest needs. These people are beautiful and seem happy living in traditional simple ways without the advances of the modern world. There are tribes in the Amazon Rainforest which are so secluded from the rest of the world that their lives have not changed for hundreds of years.

The Amazon took my breath away and I learned very quickly how to enjoy the beauty of quaint life on the Rio Negro. I went piranha fishing with the locals and learned how to prepare their food from fruits, vegetables and fish. Mike showed me the plant that local Indians use to cure malaria. He told me the story of his life. He said, “I came here many years ago as an immigrant from Guyana, unfortunately during my escape I suffered from malaria.” I learned from Mike that the local Indians found him and cured him. “I fell in love with this place and never left,” he said.

When white people came to build the resort they offered Mike a job as a guide. He liked to say, “I am sharing my knowledge and love for the rainforest with travelers like you, Senorina.” I will never know if the stories that Mike told me were true, but I chose to believe him. Brazil for me will always be timeless and unforgettable destination. Thanks to my passionate teacher Mike and people I met during my trip, all my thoughts connected with the Amazon Rainforest are filled with respect and love.

Vladia Jurcova
1600 Long Grove Dr., Apt. 1614
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
VladiaJurcova@comcast.net
Tel. 843-345-3275

Images by Vladia Jurcova

1. http://www.ariau.tur.br

2. http://www.tamairlines.com

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