I was up early and although a few moths and bugs had landed overnight, once again it was a relatively poor turnout, although once again, a couple that I'd not seen before.
So Manaus is the capital of the state of Amazonia. It doesn't sit on the side of the Amazon River itself, (which is called the Solimoes by the Brazilians), but on Rio Negro, or Black River, one of the massive tributaries into the Amazon. The Rio Negro and the Solimoes are very different rivers, one black, one milky tea coloured, and they run side by side for several miles. I always find it fascinating the way the two waters can sort of sit on top and beside each other, not mixing, like oil and water, you can spend hours watching it. The ship sailed through the meeting of the two rivers as we approached the port, with all the passengers hanging over the sides taking photographs.
It's the biggest city and port Amazonia with a population of 1.7 million people. Like all big cities, there are high rise office buildings, department stores and it has it's own international airport. But it still very much a city of Amazonian Brazil, with hundreds of little boats and houses on stilts along the riverside. The crumbling pavements and streets are bustling with life and bursting with colour.
Sadly it has earned a reputation of being unsafe, we have been warning people not to take anything ashore that they can't afford to lose, and to watch for pick pockets. We were greeted by carnival music and dancers on the quay when the ship arrived at lunchtime. Peter and I were to escort the "Manaus, Capital of Amazonas" tour this afternoon so we were on the quayside after lunch, numbered lollipops in hand.
There are no photographs from my tour, because I realised almost straight away that I was missing my camera and that I must have left it in the cabin. We visited an indian museum, the craft market and the legendary Opera House. Legendary because of it's opulence and beauty, and always worth visiting if you are in the area. Luckily we had an excellent guide who managed to keep everyone interested during the museum, kept a fatherly eye on them in the craft market, and added exactly the right amount of humour in the Opera House. Everyone enjoyed the tour.
Back at the ship, I realised that I hadn't left the camera in the cabin. Oh oh! Maybe I had dropped it on the bus. I dashed back outside to catch the excursion organiser. He rang the bus driver to ask him to search the bus. As I waited to hear if the driver had found it, Peter's tour bus arrived back, so I kept an eye out for him, ready to explain that I had lost a £200 camera. As he walked over to me he lifted something out of his rucksack...... my camera! Phew! Obviously I'd put it in the wrong one when we getting ready.
It's an overnight stop in Manaus. We both needed a cold shower to cool off before dinner, and in the evening, we took advantage of the free wi-fi in the terminal building. Many of the passengers went to listen to a jazz band at the theatre, and the crew took advantage of the overnight shore leave and spent a lot of money in the bars. Everyone had to be careful of course, passengers used taxi's to get about, and the crew maintained safety in numbers, but there were no mishaps and the day ended well.
Tomorrow Peter and I are escorting the Amazonian experience. Awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment