By JANET STOICA

Little did my cousin Mary (Nadolny) Wendell know that years after presenting an orchid floral gift to her future husband it would culminate with a trip to Brazil and the wilds of the Amazon Rainforest. A few years ago following Mary’s graduation from Anna Maria College, she received an invitation from her sister, Adria (Nadolny) Barton Olson, to visit her home in Hawaii.  A roundtrip plane ticket was dispatched to Mary and soon she was jetting her way across North America and the Pacific Ocean to Hawaiian paradise. As Mary’s visit ended but before flying back to New England, she saw a beautiful orchid arrangement at a local retailer and thought it would make a nice gift for her future husband, Mark. Mary and the orchid made it home safe and sound and she was able to make her presentation.

 

After receiving his orchid gift, Mark developed a keen interest in all things orchid. His interest grew into a relaxing hobby that included many types of orchids being grown in his own backyard greenhouse. From there came a membership with an orchid-interest group which then developed into travel to international orchid conventions around the world. Friends and contacts were made eventually leading to this year’s invitation for Mary and Mark to join associates on a trip to the Amazon Rainforest in search of wild orchids. The trip would include a riverboat cruise down the Amazon River and Rio Negro. The Rio Negro is the largest left tributary to the Amazon River in Central South America. Its name is derived from its deep color like that of strong tea. The coloring is due to the vegetation and other organic materials it wends its way through making it very high in humic acid. 

Their two-week excursion consisted of living/sleeping accommodations on a vessel where shore visits were made to experience the staff’s skills for outdoor barbecuing of tasty native fish and vegetable dinners along with treks into the rainforest to view natural orchid habitats. Canoe riding was also a big part of their tour. “We actually were floating along at tree-top level really,” said Mary, “this was the rainy season and some orchids do tend to grow near tree-canopy level. The Amazon Rainforest is such a vast area. There are hundreds of thousands of acres there of flora and fauna.” 

The Amazon Rainforest is 1.656 billion acres and as large as half of the USA. It’s the world’s largest rainforest. One in ten known species in the world live there including the black caiman (an alligator-like species that can grow to 20 feet long), electric eels, piranha, poison dart frogs, anaconda (a snake averaging 17 feet in length), cougars, and jaguars. It’s quite a range of wildness including 1,100 tree species. 

“On some of our group’s hikes down paths, a guide would yell out ANTS! and we would have to rush as quickly as possible to distance ourselves from the little creatures,” stated Mary “we never saw any other wildlife except for occasional monkeys up in the tree canopy. One of the biggest surprises for me was how quiet it was. No bird calls, no animal sounds. I began to reflect on some of the TV nature shows I’d seen and how this experience wasn’t really like that. The crews making those documentaries probably filmed for months at a time to capture the video and audio that we see and hear on TV.  It was also very hot and humid and we learned that the climate basically stays like that year round as we were only 10 degrees from the equator.”

Mary and her husband also experienced the sight of pink dolphins which are a native species. They are unlike the bottlenose dolphins seen in aquarium shows but have a long slender snout and their coloring is believed to be scar tissue from tussles with fellow dolphins. They are also considered the most intelligent of dolphin species. Mary’s husband Mark also engaged with the pink dolphins in the water as part of their tour. The pink sea mammals are quite friendly and playful.

 

Mary stated that after five days into their trip, they saw no other people on the shore or river. There are no roads to get into the area they travelled in, no cellphone service, and outside communication is done through the use of satellite phone. “The night sky, however, was ever so beautiful,” she said, “without light pollution to minimize the stars’ brightness, the views were spectacular. Millions of incredible shining formations the likes of which I’ve never seen but truly appreciated!”  Those clear heavens must’ve truly been the greatest visions of the universe’s artwork.  

Their boat captain, Gilberto, has been escorting tours for 17 years and very much enjoys sharing the Amazon experience with his travelers. “If you think too much about where you are though and the lack of civilization,” said Mary, “it can be a little unnerving. Before our trip we were advised that medivac insurance was required so that made me think more about where we were going. We did take malaria medication. The water that came out of our sink and faucets was the river water so it had the tannins in it and every day we experienced tropical showers that lasted for about a half hour but it was the end of the rainy season after all.” 

One of the good points about their trip was that the time zone was the same as New England. Their flights were direct to Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazonas and took about 5-1/2 hours of travel time. Manaus used to be an area of great wealth for the former rubber plantations. Hotel accommodations in the city were very nice and across the avenue from the opera house and a former U.S. Consulate building which has been converted to a hotel. “There appeared to be no middle class group of population,” Mary believed, “you could see the very well-dressed clientele in the restaurants and hotels. You could observe many large yachts moored in the area as well. You just didn’t get a sense of any middle class.”

When asked if she would take a similar trip to the Amazon again in search of wild orchids, Mary stated that she and her husband were glad that they were able to go on such an adventure and were glad to see orchids in the wild but they would most likely prefer orchid shows where many varieties would be on display for their viewing pleasure.