Day 48 - February 20, 2008 - Manaus, Brazil

Manaus day 1 photos
It is some kind of special HOT here. So, we sailed up past the wedding of the waters of the Solimoes River from Peru and the Rio Negro which flows past Manaus. Since the Rio Negro is a black water river, which means it is very acidic and full of tannins and basically kills plants, and the Amazon is a white water river, which means it is full of sediment and organic matter, that the Solimoes is the main part of the Amazon. But, who knows. The 2 kinds of water do not mix easily. They ran side by side slowly mixing for about 14 miles. We are docked at the new floating dock. We have to take shuttle buses to get to the Cruise Passenger Terminal. It doesn't really matter. There is not really any security that we can see. The local ferries and tour boats and local cruisers all seem to be at the next floating pier over which is where the Cruise Passenger Terminal is. We are docked on the starboard side, so our balcony just has a view across the river.
We were up fairly early after a pretty good night's sleep. Debbie still has no voice and is just trying not to speak to let it return. Clay is fighting getting sick and Margie is still recovering. Terry Breen was scheduled to speak in the Observation Lounge and the open decks at 7am. So, we went up there. Right on schedule at just after 7am you could see the 2 colors of water meeting. We did not see any botos or pink dolphins here this morning, though that is where and when they say you are mostly likely to find them. Tomorrow, we have scheduled to take an all day boat tour to the meeting of the waters. We booked this in the Amazon Explorers office in the Cruise Passengers Terminal building today. We just walked in and put our names on their list for this excursion. We will pay when we show back up here tomorrow. Description is pasted below:
FULL DAY RIVER CRUISE WICH LUNCH
(FROM 10:00AM TO 4:00PM)
US$53pp

After leaving from the floating dock, you will pass the wooden houses on stilts, the Main Market and Educandos creek. Then the boat will take you across the Rio Negro to the JANAUARY ECOLOGICAL PARK wich will offer you a wonderful opportunity to canoe amidst creeks and flooded forests with their exotic fauna and flora, including the famous VICTORIA REGIA water lilies. Next we will proceed to the “MEETING OF THE WATERS” where the muddy waters of the AMAZON RIVER run side by side with the dark waters of the RIO NEGRO without mixing; there you will see some rare species of dolphin frolicking in the water.
Today though we just set out on foot to visit the city of Manaus. It is a hilly, hot, noisy city full of bustle. The sidewalks are filled with vendors. The old Lisboa Market is under renovation, so you can only see some upper and outside parts of it. It was designed by Eiffel, so you can imagine the ironwork. We headed there first, because Clay loves fish markets and they are usually best seen in the mornings. We saw a lot of fish, meat and fruits being sold. We kept walking and also found the Moderno Banana Market. We did not buy anything. It seems no one felt like shopping this morning. Then we walked uphill to the Teatro Amazonas. There are no performances today. They stopped rehearsals at noon, just as we were arriving. We got there just in time to join the next English language tour which had 2 other couples from our ship who were wearing H. Stern lapel stickers. We enjoyed our tour and the Opera House is just amazing. It is hard to imagine it even being here, much less surviving and thriving. It is smaller than expected inside, but just beautiful. Tomorrow night, the NY Theater group that is on the sailing beginning tomorrow is having their performance in the Teatro Amazonas. We looked for a local restuarant that the local tourism person at the Travel Concierge Desk had recommended, but it was not at the intersection of streets that he marked on our map and we did not find it near by. So, we were back onboard and had lunch in LaVeranda before they closed at 2:30pm.
So, it looks like napping is the order of the afternoon. Tomorrow,all day on the boat tour. Then, on day 3 we sail at 6pm. The plan right now for day 3 is to take one of the jewelers' free shuttles out to the Tropical Hotel and visit the zoo on day 3. Tonight is Country Club Casual. The weather this afternoon turned rainy and was amazingly cool (maybe in the low 70's) after such a hot morning.
We went down to the Mariner Lounge around 6:45 to listen to the trio of local musicians, Inbauba, that are onboard. We ended up eating dinner in Compass Rose with a couple from Santa Fe who are also doing the full circle.
Manaus day 1 photos