Day 48: Miami Dolphins v. River Dolphins

Day 48: Miami Dolphins v. River Dolphins

Well I have always seen dolphins, I am from Miami, and they are everywhere. If you are in the water for like 5 minutes dolphins start popping up. But, these dolphins were different; they were pink, and river dolphins.

The legend goes like this: there are many women who live along the river who had a ton of children but no husband. The reason is because the pink dolphins turn into handsome young men and seduce the women and impregnate them and then go back into the water.

Anyway, we swam with dolphins in the river. It’s a little scary when they start hitting you with their fins, they don’t do it on purpose, but it does creep you out. I thought it was a really neat experience to have.

Later that day we went to an Indian village to see the natives. My friend who served her mission in Manaus told me that when she was serving the members would say “I look Indian enough to go get money from tourists.” I believe her because the women had tan lines, and if they really walked around topless they wouldn’t. It was hilarious when the women picked up our guys to dance.

Some of the boys were really scared, and some of the boys were REALLY scared. It is funny to see the cultural difference in this aspect, especially because we are LDS and a lot more reserved when it comes to nudity. Either way, it was fantastically funny to watch the boys squirm as they danced with the half-naked Indian girls.

Later that day we went to rubber tapping museum. Our guide told us that the owner of the rubber tapping plantation would keep his men prisoner for their whole lives on that island, and would just give them liquor to keep them from thinking reasonably. It was a really sad story, but things like that happened all the time in Brazil, and throughout Brazilian history.

At this time I decided it would be cool to have a conversation with our guide, Washington. Well, Washington was not from Brazil but from British Guiana. He said he moved to Brazil for a new life, and got a Brazilian name, Washington, which I thought was funny because it is not a Brazilian name. Anyway he has had 5 wives, the first one when he was 15 and she was 14, she passed away. All his other wives are still alive, 2 are in Guiana, and 2 are in Manaus.

That would never fly with us, but to him it seemed rather normal, which I thought was hilarious.