Across the Rio Negro: Day One

Back in September, Jing and I spent our last weekend exploring the Amazon with our project translator Ary and his wife Samara, as well as his wife's little sister Simara. The original purpose was to go see the river dolphins, boto, up close. Ary knew a floating restaurant on the other side of the Rio Negro that had been attracting the boto for years, and it would even be possible to jump in the water and go swimming with them. So early Saturday morning Ary, Samara and Simara picked us up at our hotel and we hit the road.
The first stop was the ferry crossing to reach the far shore of the Rio Negro. We arrived early enough that the line wasn't too bad, but it still took about 30 minutes before Ary could drive his car onto a ferry. The ride takes only 20 minutes or so and there are about 8 ferries which can hold between 50 to 100 cars each, but it is the only way to get across the river until the bridge that is now being built is ready next Spring.
We reached the "restaurant" just before noon, but found that it didn't serve food anymore so we dashed off to get lunch first nearby. Afterwards we headed back to see the boto and put on our swimming suits. Maybe it was too late in the day, but only one or two boto were coming near the dock where people were sitting waiting for them with fish. We managed to get a pretty close look at them, although they didn't stick their heads up long enough to get any good pictures. Ary tried to attract them by jumping off the dock into the river, but he neither scared them nor enticed them closer. The rest of us got in the water as well and swam around for a while.
After a while, we decided to head over to a better swimming spot that Ary knew. We arrived at the place and changed into our swimsuits again. There were a lot of local people there enjoying the water already, which was basically a winding river, about 3 meters across and 2 meters deep, filled with waist-deep water. On one end of the river was a knee-high dam, and a long 2x4 was stretched across the river. I looked over and saw Ary was already standing on the 2x4 along with about a half-dozen little kids. There was some slack in the plank but it was strong enough to hold everyone. The kids were jumping off into the water and laughing, and then Ary jumped in too. Without his weight, the plank wobbled up and down and the other kids jumped in before they lost their balance. Then the kids were clamoring back on and asking Ary to do it again. He used his arms to push the plank up and down, making an exciting ride for the kids.
I got in the water too and found it was pretty cold, but since it was sweltering hot outside, it felt good once you got used to it. Jing got in the water slowly, and by then Ary had headed over to where we were, bringing the kids with him. Since the best way to get used to the water temperature is to jump in, we told Jing to get in quickly and dunk herself. When she didn't we playfully gave her a few splashes, but then all the little kids started splashing her too. She had no choice but to get all the way in the water to escape their barrage.
The kids tried to speak to us in Portuguese and when we answered in English they all laughed. One little girl, maybe about 5 years old, knew a few words in English and she tried to talk to us. The other kids chimed in with a few words of English as well and tried to teach us some Portuguese. Jing was doing a pretty good job of it, but when communication faltered the splashing started up again...and I can't say I was completely innocent in the matter. We had a fun time playing with the kids, and even met their granddad, who was in a lounge chair on the riverside, and all took a picture together with their camera. But after a while we decided to go further down to the other side of the river to relax a bit.
After swimming, we went over to see the sunset on the Rio Amazonas and had a light dinner at a cafe there. The sunset was beautiful and we sat along the high-tide break wall--at that point, high above the water--and took pictures and just stared out at the breathtaking scene for a while. When it was dark, we headed to a nearby hotel where they rented rooms in a large cabin. There was also a cottage on the premises, and Jing and I rented the second floor room in it for the night. After a fun day of traveling and swimming, we showered and cleaned up from bed knowing we would sleep well.