March 11 and 12 - Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

We’re anchored off the floating port of Manaus, the largest city of the north region of Brazil with a population of over 2.2 million people.  Once again I find it incredible that in the middle of the world’s largest rainforest such a metropolis would spring up, but I’ll explain the reason in a moment. The city actually lies on the Rio Negro near its confluence with the Amazon (the Brazilians call the upper part of the Amazon west of here the Solimões).  The Rio Negro is the world’s largest blackwater river. Because of the vegetation and tannins that leach into the water it resembles black tea. For nearly 4 miles the sandy colored Amazon and the Rio Negro run side by side at a place called the Meeting of the Waters, before they finally mix on their way down to the ocean.

I didn't take this, but I thought you'd like to see what it looks like.

Manaus was founded in 1669 with the building of a fort by the Portuguese. In the 1830’s it was deemed a city with the name Manaus which is an alternate spelling of the name of the local indigenous people. In the latter half of the 19th century rubber became an important commodity and the rainforest around here had the largest concentration of rubber trees in the world.  Wealthy entrepreneurs from Europe and America came here and built opulent homes in attempts to outdo one another. Manaus was a major port from which rubber was shipped.  The city was one of the first in the world to be electrified. In 1885 construction began on the Amazon Theatre, the magnificent opera house, which was inaugurated on December 31, 1896.

The boom came to a rather abrupt end though. An Englishman allegedly smuggled 70,000 seeds out of Brazil which was strictly controlling the plants at the time.  He brought them to England and the English proceeded to plant them in Sri Lanka and Malaysia and the Brazilian dominance came to an end. Manaus’ star faded and many of the entrepreneurs went bust. One of the most famous people to lose a great deal of money here was Henry Ford.  He invested $20 million  purchasing 2.5 million acres of rainforest to supply his company with rubber.  His project collapsed and in 1945 the land was sold back to the Brazilian government for a pittance.

On our first day here I took a tour entitled the “Best of Rio.”  I figured I’m probably not going to pass this way again.  It was an overcast day which was a blessing. Had the sun been out with the usual high humidity it would have been especially uncomfortable.  Our bus took us first to the Military Zoo. The zoo is part of the Brazilian military’s jungle war-fare training program.  Most of the animals are ones that have been rescued from smugglers; some were injured and can’t be returned to the wild.  I’m not crazy about zoos where you have to look at animals in cages, but I suppose some of these are better off here than their fate would otherwise have been.

Believe it or not, I saw an anaconda and a boa and didn’t freak out.  The anaconda was in the water and barely peaked his head out and the boa was wrapped around a tree so I could pretend he wasn’t there. There were large turtles, lots of tropical birds, jungle cats, including jaguars and pumas, plenty of monkeys including tamarins which are endangered.

That black squiggly thing in the water is a 15 to 18 foot anaconda

This fellow decided to moon me when I tried to take his photo

Two jaguar cubs

This guy was taking a nice nap belly up

An amazonian caiman

On the way out I had a close encounter with a jaguar

We next went to an institute that studies and works to preserve the freshwater manatees and river otters found in the waters around here.  They are evidently endangered species and this place works to study them and repopulate them.  It was Saturday so the laboratory was closed and we could just walk by the enclosures where some of the species were kept. The manatees were hard to see because they didn’t come up often but the otters were very active and curious.  They were also much bigger than the ones I’ve seen closer to home.

You can just make out the manatee in the pool

I really like otters

From the institute we went for lunch at a Brazilian churrascaria (steakhouse). The food was okay except for the dessert which was a delicious flan. After lunch we went to our last stop, the Theatre Amazon, the famous Manaus opera house which I mentioned earlier. To set the stage a little let me say that in the last few cities we’ve been in here in equatorial Brazil, many buildings are covered in black mold due to the constant humidity. And then there’s the Theatre Amazon.

The building sits on an elevated spot overlooking a plaza whose pavement resembles the wave pavement seen in Lisbon’s Rossio plaza, except here the black and white waves represent the two rivers meeting here.  The building is in the Renaissance Revival style and constructed with steel walls and columns covered in cement painted to look like marble or actual marble. The building is rose colored with all white trim, and not a speck of mold.  I asked our guide about this and he said there is continuous cleaning to keep it mold free. The building is topped by a large dome covered with 36,000 tiles painted in the colors of the Brazilian flag.

The plaza with the wave tiles in front of the opera house

The beautifully tiled dome

The inside is spectacular! The theater seats 700 people and is in rich red and gold in the style of Louis XV. There are nearly 200 chandeliers made of brass and  some with Murano glass.  The curtain at the stage was painted in France and represents the meeting of the waters. The ceiling of the theater is painted so that when you look up you think you’re looking at the base of the Eiffel Tower.  It’s a magnificent building and unexpected in this place.  This evening there was to be a jazz concert  and next month there is an annual opera festival when opera companies from all over the world come to perform.

Can you see the base of the Eiffel Tower up there?

The painted curtain

The ballroom of the theater

The beautifully painted ceiling in the ballroom

While we were in the opera house a huge thunderstorm rumbled through and the skies opened up.  We were lucky it didn’t happen sooner and we were able to wait out the storm in the building.  Then it was time to board the bus for our return tot the tender and ship.

Last night we had a local indigenous musical group who performed.  They were so good. Except for guitars, their instruments were mainly made of things found in the forest.  They had wooden boxes which when shaken sounded like frogs in the trees and leaves and seeds strung on lines that when moved sounded like rain falling in the jungle and crickets clicking.  I thoroughly enjoyed their performance.

Today, our last day here, has been  rainy  and so I haven’t done much of anything.  I saw a few friends who are leaving today and wished them safe travels. Tonight we’ll have a sailaway party on deck if the weather cooperates and then for a show they are airing the Academy Awards show.  There wasn’t a great deal of enthusiasm expressed for that when the cruise director announced it.  I suspect most of the passengers are like me and haven’t seen most or any of the movies nominated.  There’s dancing in the club and I think that will be crowded for a change.

That’s all for now.  I think I’ve probably written too much, but as I said it has been a rainy day.