Arriving the day before the actual tour started I had the 'excitement' of trying to get my charger fixed which fortunately I did and got to see some of the back streets of Manaus hunting a suitable electrical store in the process. The official tour of the city included the botanical gardens where they were keen to show us the rubber tree which was the basis of the initial wealth of the area until the seeds were stolen and taken to south east asia
alongside a tree which grows the most enormous leaves, this 5ft version preserved
brazil nuts of course
not to mention a rather pretty tarantula......
and some calming flowers for those of nervous disposition
Just outside the town is a lovely beach and here the river is the Negro (black) and the water is dark because of the rock not so much the mud.
A small area of the original city houses the magnificent opera house designed by the same architect as La Scala in Milan quite a gem.
Bustling market sidestreet
Interesting use of window space on upper windows of Town Hall to display works of local artist
There is a lot of European influence in both design and sourcing hence this Liverpool produced ironwork in the victorian style market building.
Back just in time for the sun to peak through at sunset.
Our next stop was an Ecoresort on the river but right in the jungle.
Our accommodation was in small chalet around the grounds, this is the view from mine, in the rain of course!
The river is very wide and the banks very varied in plants
Visited the monkey reserve where they breed to re-introduce into the wild since many have been trafficked in the past.
A very useful third tail/hand
This one is a rescue monkey
Then to a 'village' where we saw them producing rubber in the old fashioned way, all synthetic now of course
and then learnt about the cassava root much of which is poisonous. However they grate and squeeze it to get rid of much of the milk which they collect and then heat the drier gratings to burn off any remaining poison before using it for eating. The milk is also heated until only the dry sediment is left at the end which is used as starch and tapioca which they use to make pancakes, popular because it has no calories!
Then it was off to try are hand at fishing for piranha and somewhat to my surprise one was caught! Also a couple of other fish too, no luck for me unfortunately.
In the evening we went back on the river cayman (alligator) spotting, saw some eyes glinting but they are fairly wiley however our guide did manage to unearth a small baby one so not a total letdown.
Following day we sailed down the river past Manaus which has a huge container port
and a number of floating gas stations as so many people live on the river and use ferry boats too.
It is very wide as this picture of the only bridge taking traffic to 3 towns south of the river shows, north you can drive to Venezuela!
Eventually making it to the meeting of the rivers. The other river is the Solimoes which is muddy brown and the two run alongside each other for some miles and these two rivers are the Amazon.
We stopped for lunch at a floating restaurant where there were some enormous water lilies, strangely it rains quite a lot in the rain forest (!) and now started falling heavily as we made our way back to the resort for dinner.
A morning walk though the forest, the Negro river is quite acidic so not too many mosquitoes but also means flora and fauna is not so abundant though this plant is familiar as a house plant at home not quite as big.....
We did manage some ant and termite nests.
Our guide being brave to show how quickly they cover a hand
We also saw how the jungle very gradually (about a foot every 5 years) grows to take it back. On the way back we passed the lovely but cold water pools .
Leaving Manaus my window seat meant I got another opportunity to see the two rivers and the local area.
Rio de Janiero is the start of the main tour so had a leisurely morning walking from the hotel to Ipanema beach
and then met up with everyone else (36 for this part of the tour) before going off to Sugar Loaf mountain, with some great grafitti
some spectacular views including the domestic airport we landed in the night before
and the fort which guards this inland water area much of which has been reclaimed
and the statue of Christ on the hill both before and after dark. Then drinks, caipirinhas of course on the smaller hill on the way down.
Much cloudier the next morning for our visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue with intermittent rain some very heavy but we managed to miss it and by the time we reached the top by train, lift and escalator (!) the cloud had broken up so managed some photos.
I was here! (Bingo wings oh dear)
Once back down we stopped at the modern cathedral with some stunning stained glass and statuary.
Fabulous Christ taken on phone and haven't yet worked out how to transfer via picassa hence v dark but you get the gist....
Went for a walk on the local beach in the afternoon
after some domestic chores, rooms with an iron fairly rare and hadn't unpacked before here...... We had a group visit to a Churrascaria which is a restaurant that specializes in grilled meats so plenty of salad sides then they just keep bringing everything from spicy sausage through chicken, pork ribs, 3 cuts of beef and lamb and no I didn't manage all of them! Free flowing wine though so that was a help!!
The view from my 23rd floor room is of one of the many favelas, quite how they don't slide down the hill with the amount of rain they have is amazing, clearly some good engineers amongst them. These days there is no space for newcomers and in the more favourable positions they are relatively expensive for those on mnimum wage but they do get bought and sold.
Today is a free day hence I'm writing this could have done an optional full day tour but am pacing myself as long way to go. It is unfortunately pouring with rain so can't lounge by the pool but as leaving at silly o'clock tomorrow morning probably as well as have packing to do too. Anyway don't know when the next installment will arrive but Iguazu Falls and Buenos Airies next.
