Letter from Mildred W. Y. Mah (D20)

Hi! Dear Shik Lung:

Thanks for mailing the directory to me. It was very nice of you to do that.My telephone number should be 405-364-9574.

My husband and I just came home from Brazil. It was summer there and we visited the Iguazu Falls, the Amazons, and Rio. Spent New Year's Eve in Rio. He wrote an article about the trip and there are some pictures in my web-site too. Please feel free to send them to the Lighters' web--I do not know how to.

The following is a brief account of our trip to Brazil. Please see our pictures at http://www.geocities.com/wyfung2002/home.html.

Our first stop was the Iguazu Falls. Our hotel was the only one inside the National Park, with a panoramic view of the falls, which are magnificent. While the Niagara Fall goes down with the river, the Iguazu Falls (275 total) form along one side of the river bank, making them much more spectacular. We also traveled to the Argentina side, where we could see the Falls at much closer distances, both above and below. While there, we took a boat ride to get very close to several of the falls (and got quite wet 
even wearing ponchos); later on we bought a video tape of the boat trip from the operator, and the tape is fantastic. We also took a helicopter ride, so that we saw the Iguazu Falls from the water, the ground, and the air! Their majestic views will be in our minds forever. The Iguazu Falls are the number one natural wonder we have seen; Bing thinks that there is nowhere else that can match them.

Then we flew north to Manaus. After staying in a hotel overnight, we were picked up by a guide and went to the Amazon Jungle Lodge by boat (although it could hold more than 50, we were the only passengers). We saw the meeting of the yellow Amazon River with the black Negro River, and they do not mix. The boat went down the Negro River for almost three hours, gradually turning to smaller and smaller branches of the river. Finally we 
transferred to an engine-powered large canoe, which took a few minutes to reach the lodge. It is in the jungle, but has modern facilities except hot shower and electrical outlets (the lights are powered by batteries and therefore not very bright). Because of the high acidity of the Negro river, there are no mosquitoes in that part of the jungle. After nightfall, we went on a similar canoe for "alligator sighting." The boat went to different places for a while and the guide used a searchlight trying to find an alligator. Then, he suddenly jumped into the water, and caught a small alligator about 18 inches long. He took it up to the boat and let us 
and a couple from Austria inspect it closely, then threw it back into the river. The next morning we went into the jungle with our guide plus another local guide. He showed us various things in the jungle: coaxing a huge spider out from her nest in a tree to pose with the carcass of her mate she consumed, seeing large ant nests (oblong) and termite nests (round) on some trees, burning the resin of a special kind of tree to repel insects and scare animals away, and hollowing out another kind of tree branches to make blow-out darts. (The same night a group of Europeans went to the Jungle to spend the night, but came back before midnight after being scared by the sounds of some wild animals). In the afternoon we went fishing. Bing caught one and the guide caught three (all quite small, including two piranhas). Then he took us to the floating house of a native by the river and pan-fried the fishes. They were delicious! The next day we went to a "reconnaissance" trip to see some rather shallow and extremely tranquil parts of the river, then a village of the natives. In the afternoon we stayed in the lodge because it was raining and Bing had a slight stomach upset. On the way back to Manaus the next morning, we saw a number of fresh-water dolphins jumping from the river.

Our third and last stop was Rio de Janeiro. The guide who picked us up at the airport informed us that we had been upgraded to a five-star hotel. It turned out that the hotel was the tallest one on the famous Copacabana beach, and our room was on the 27th floor with a partial view of the beach. The next morning Bing went to try hang gliding (tandem; the instructor did all the steering and control). He felt like a bird and was very happy to see the shadow of the glider cast on the trees, beach, and sea. In the afternoon we went on a tour by cable car to the Sugar Loaf, a hill with a good view of Rio. Rio is an extremely beautiful city, having many beaches along curving coastlines, some lagoons, and an urban forest. The next day we went on another tour to see the famous statue of Jesus Christ on Corcovado and had more breath-taking views of Rio. In the evening we stepped outside our hotel to the beach to participate in the largest New Year Eve party (estimated 2 million people; almost all wearing white), with spectacular fireworks.

We were very lucky because even though it was the rainy season in Brazil, there were only intermittent showers during our stay. Coming back to cloudy and cold Norman was somewhat a letdown, but we are happy to be home.

Have a good year in 2003!

Bing and Mildred