Manaus, Brazil March 2-3.2013 Part 1

Welcome to Manaus, gateway to the Amazon jungle. Beginning in the 1700's and continuing in the late 1800's Manaus was a cosmopolitan city surrounded by the jungle. It's claim to fame was rubber trees. At that time the trees only grew in the Amazon and business boomed. The city thrived with rubber barons bringing a European flair to the area. Manaus became known as the Paris of the Tropics. Then.....in 1876 British Henry Wickham smuggled 70,000 rubber trees seeds back to England. The British exported the seeds to their colonies and the monopoly was broken. Manaus fell on hard times. It has slowly recovered as tourism and population has increased in the Amazon.

Manaus is home to another Meeting of the Waters.  The Rio Solimoes and the Rio Negro meet and form the final character of the Amazon.  The Negro is the black and the Amazon is the brown

The rivers flow side by side for many miles.  The Amazon flows at 4+ knots (wet season) and the Negro flows at a much slower rate.  We are heading down river taking advantage of the Amazon current.  The river boat is heading up river and is staying in the area of the much slower Negro current.

Some views around Manaus.  You can see it is really very urban.

This is a parking garage.  Seems parking is a problem even in the Amazon.

Something gets lost in translation. 

First stop was a visit to a hotel with old friends.  Notice Noreen never has a shopping bag.  To save space in our small cabin most things she buys fit in her purse.

Street Markets.

Have to have the cell tower.

One of the key attractions in Manaus is the Opera House.  It took 15 years to build and was opened in 1896.  All the materials came from Europe.  I took pictures inside but forgot to take pictures of the outside.

The Brazilian president’s box is draped.

The ceiling is painted showing various activities around the Amazon.

Of Course we had to head out into the jungle. Giant lily pads, as famous Amazon fixture.  You saw them in the picture of Noreen with the warrior in the last blog.

You can see the high water marks on the trees.

Houses along tributaries of the Amazon.

Termite nest in trees.  These were all over.

A little blurry as monkey swung by in trees.

Can you find the monkey"?

Another boat came by with fellow passengers and Roger got a picture of me.  

This is getting kind of long and may be hard to post.  I'll stop here and continue our jungle journey in our next post.