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We were trying to think of a clever title for our blog entry today…and since we’ve been missing our little poodle who we travel with most of the time, we decided to dedicate this post to him. Not even a well behaved little boy like our guy is allowed on a cruise ship! We are looking forward to reuniting when we finish exploring South America. We don’t think he would have liked it much anyway…the dogs we’ve see so far have been pretty skinny and he probably would have been afraid they’d steal his treats!.
By the way, I’ve been taking pictures of local dogs whenever I see one. As I said in my “Lost” post back on February 2nd, our puppy (actually 6 years old) likes to watch TV. So I am making a special photo slide show just for him with pictures of South American dogs!
This morning we arrived in Manaus, Brazil which is the furthest point west we will transit on the Amazon River. Manaus is the largest city in the Amazon Rainforest and the capital of the state of Amazonas. There are over 2 million people living here which makes it the 8th largest and one of the fastest growing cities in Brazil. Located six miles from the main Amazon (white water) on the Rio Negro (black water) it is a thriving and fast-growing city with a history of being the “Paris of the Tropics”. For a more complete overview of the history of Manaus click on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaus. See some of the highlights below.
We docked at the Porto Flutuante (Floating Dock) that was built in 1902 by the British. There is a huge graphic on the sea wall as you exit the dock area that has an indicator for the high water mark of the river. The water level here fluctuates by as much as 20 feet between the rainy (summer) and dry seasons. Clearly, the floating dock idea was a good one!
From the ship you can see some of the famous buildings including the Cathedral Nossa Senhora da Conceigao, built in 1695 and rebuilt in 1878, the Alfandega (Customhouse), built in 1902, and the Mercado Adolfo Lisboa, built in 1882 and a wrought-iron replica of the original Parisian Les Halles and designed by Gustave Eiffel. You can also see the colorful dome of the Teatro Amazonas which was built in 1896 at the height of the rubber boom. The opera house is a great example of the lengths they went to trying to bring Paris to the Amazon. It remains a beautiful building and actively produces operas to this day.
Speaking of rubber booms, it turns out that there have always been a large number of rubber trees in the Amazon. More accurately, they should be called “latex” trees because the sap in the tree is pure latex which is 35% hydrocarbons and, when exposed to air for 12-24 hours coagulates to form the polymer rubber.
While this is rubber, it can rot, mix with other materials and get sticky in hot and brittle in cold temperatures. Charles Goodyear invented the process of vulcanization when he heated a mixture of rubber and sulfur, whether by good scientific processes or simply by accident, he created and patented this process in 1844. As it turns out, approximately eight weeks earlier another scientist, Thomas Hancock patented the same process in the UK. Vulcanization dramatically increases the usability of rubber and spurred a huge demand for natural latex causing a rubber rush from 1879 to 1912.
To make a long story short, lots of people made a lot of money and they spent it building Manaus into a cultural and architecturally rich city. There are a huge number of factories and we were told that if someone comes to Manaus in search of work — that they can easily find a job here.
Today Margaret and I were planning to take a Flightseeing tour of the area. In the end, Margaret decided to finance her casino losses by turning in her Flightseeing ticket and sending me on a mission to take pictures.
The day started off with a low ceiling of clouds and a bit of rain. The temperature was in the high 80’s with humidity in the high 90s. At 9:50 am I departed the Mariner with 10 other brave souls and got into a medium sized bus for the ride to the airport. Turns out that Manaus has two airports, located side by side. One is for the international flights and the other a regional airport. The ride was about 30 minutes over roads marred with many potholes, a lot of graffiti and a bustling city throughout with many high-rise buildings with many more in various states of construction. This city is very much alive and growing.
After exiting the bus we stood on the sidewalk just under a metal covering and waited to find out the status of the flight. After about 20 minutes our tour guide told us that the flight wouldn’t be happening today, so she called the bus and we re-boarded for a trip back to the ship. Fortunately, there were a lot of fun people on the bus and it made our non-trip more enjoyable. On the way back “home” we stopped by the Teatro Amazonas opera house where we learned we would have to pay to enter and that the next tour was in 45 minutes. Fortunately, given that it was VERY hot and humid and we were all sweating, the Regent tour group happened to arrive shortly thereafter and we piggy backed onto their tour. The building was opulent with lots of marble, chandeliers and the inside of the opera house was classic elegance. The local opera orchestra was practicing inside and we were able to listen for a few minutes while taking pictures. So, no flight for me and no pictures from the airplane to share with my photo buddies. Sorry!
After listening to the orchestra for a while we moved upstairs the ritzy seats then went into a hall where we had to where strange slippers that caused you to slide rather than walk. The room had Sistine Chapel style paintings on the ceiling and large fresco-style paintings representing Amazonian scenes around the room. The floors were inlaid in Brazilian hardwoods and the overall effect of the room was magnificent. We looked around a bit more and went outside to wait for the bus. Fortunately, it had stopped raining. We boarded the bus and took a ride back to the dock, but not before getting stuck in a horrendous traffic jam on the road along the dock next to the produce market.
We eventually made it back to the ship where Margaret and I had lunch at Compass Rose and went back to the room. Being the consummate explorer, I decided to venture out to the marketplace area on my own. As I exited the dock area the guards told me to hang onto my camera and then the police inside the terminal area told me the same. Sounds pretty dangerous and, it turns out that another guest had his gold necklace ripped off his neck and others felt very unsafe. I hung onto my cameras tightly and went about taking pictures while walking through some very crowded marketplace areas.
And…it’s a vibrant and crazy city. Literally thousands of small, maybe 6 ft x 6 ft stands sitting next to each other lining both sides of the street on the sidewalks in front of retail stores. Some of the retail stores were like strip mall sized stores and others were hole-in-the-wall locations with barely room for the person manning the booth. Hundreds of cell phone, digital watch, calculators, inexpensive jewelry, T-shirts, etc. “outlets”. In every direction you could turn down a street and see hundreds more. Incredible!
After making my way through the crazy retail stall area I worked my way over to the produce and meat market area. This area was even more dirty, chaotic and, based on my limited experience, dangerous. There were different style retail “stores” under a large roof, a long row of meat sellers, produce sellers of all types under another large covered area and lots of outdoor patio-style restaurants. Everything was bustling with people and one crazy guy who seemed to be stalking me, trying to keep me from taking pictures and finally chasing after me! I figured it was time to go and walked back down the dock area to the ship. I would have taken a picture of the “crazy” stalker guy but that would have been a high risk picture of him possibly taking a swing at me!
Safely back on the ship we I went up to the pool deck, got a pina colada, a went for a swim. Not a bad way to end a crazy day in Manaus!
TIPS: Turns out that my friends who went on the other tours were quite happy with their trips. Although it poured rain for a bit the jungle ride was quite interesting and the meeting of the waters tour also included a bit of a jungle trip. I am trying to get some pictures that we can share on this blog. And, the other tip is don’t go out solo to Manaus. Go with a group and you will be much safer.
Manaus Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Manaus-Feb-5-2010/25178434_f9wfB4#!i=2065177612&k=S53LFxq