Spiders and Wasps and Ants, Oh No!

Talk about saving the action for the last day! Or is it the first day? Turns out both teams had their share of adventure today.

First, Team Two was due into Manaus midday. Unfortunately they were delayed leaving Atlanta (now there is a real surprise!) and missed their connection in Brasilia. They will be in Manaus at midnight. Ah well... 12 hours in the Brasilia airport can't be that bad, right? It's actually enough time to learn the language. They got their unexpected adventure over with on day one as opposed to Team Two, that waited til river day 5, after their last clinic, for their excitement.

Here is the scoop, understandably no photos to back up the tale:

After our last clinic we took a very narrow passage, trying to find a shortcut. We were told the route was open. It got narrower and narrower, till we were scraping big branches on both sides of the boat. One busted out a kitchen window. Several combined to rip the satellite dish off the roof. A huge branch broke and fell into the roof, releasing a cloud of nasty little black wasps. John and Kim got stung. Not hurting too badly now. We fled like maniacs into closed spaces to avoid the wasps. Millions (billions?) of ants and spiders and other bugs fell onto the boat. Many spiders immediately started to build webs, everywhere. It was exciting to say the least!

Yikes and Yuk. Fortunately, the day held much more.

Starting the day beautifully heading down river to the next spot.

Pulling up curbside

Wow. A Huge Rope

 Setting up Clinic in a Floating House
















First stop on Friday

John and Deb

This beautiful 15 year old girl is 3 months pregnant.

15 Year Old Girl

Teaching how to brush teeth properly.

Kate just before she melted.

Do you suppose this photo was taken before or after the jungle came crashing into the boat?

3 gatos bronzeando no sol acima o barco. Look it up.

OK. So this is Flat Liz. There are other (hilarious) photos of her during the trip. To Team One:  I include this one tonight to thank you for being a blessing to me on this final river day. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Thank you each and all for the ways you have moved all of us over the past five days as we've watched your journey. I miss you and love you and am so glad to be part of your team. See you soon!


To Team Two - welcome to Brazil and we look forward to traveling with you over the next ten days.