Above, the Jungle Lodge, where we stayed for a weekend Amazon Adventure on the Urubu River

BRAZIL (Bachianos Brazil Samba) – Michael Kamen

Below views of the Urubu River from the Lodge tower.

The Urubu river gets its name from the Urubu (vulture).  The story is that when the European invaders killed scores of natives they dumped them in the river, and the many vultures descending on the floating corpses gave the river its name.

Yes, there are Piranha in the river.  But we were told it was safe to swim in the waters by the Lodge, as long we didn’t go in with an open wound…

Then we took a field trip – or rather a water trip – into the floating forests.

Midseason, August in this case, is the best time for taking a trip through the floating forest. When the waters are very low right before the rainy season or too high right after the rainy season, you can’t get the boat through as well either for lack of water or too much plant density.

And while we muse on this unique landscape, lets listen to a lovely aria by Brazil’s eminent composer of classical music Villa-Lobos:

Bachianas Brasilieras No 5 (Aria) – Heitor Villa-Lobos (Vocal: Heidi Grant Murphy)

Our guide Frank (Francisco) took us to a good spot to fish for Piranhas.  We used raw chicken as bait on hooks attached to wire attached to plastic bottles – that was our simple fishing rod.  Frank unsurprisingly was an adept hand at catching Piranha.

Ed caught two Piranhas.  I caught none.  The rest were caught by Frank.

What’s better than not being eaten by piranhas?

Eating them ourselves!

Piranhas are delicious, by the way, freshly caught, right off the grill.

Sunset over the Urubu.

Sunset on the River

Yes, I know this is my song, not a Brazilian tune, and yes, I know, the river in the song is the Mississippi, not the Amazon (this being from my Mark Twain musical), but hey, this is the song that comes to my mind at least at this point…

I promise there will be more Brazilian music in future posts (in addition to my more idiosyncratic choices)… now enjoy the sunset!

And since it’s so beautiful, let’s follow up with pictures of a sunrise, taken on the river the following day: