MANAUS, BRAZIL

Finally we are here in Manaus. The Samba dancers were at the pier to meet us and dressed in their costumes, which are very colorful and lots of feathers. I did not get a picture, as my camera was in my back pack and we have to walk down about 30 steps to get off the ship and hang on tight. My nephew John has been taking pictures like crazy so hopefully I can get some from him. Yesterday he spent a lot of time outside on the deck with his camera and got a picture of a boat where the people were holding up the head of a cow and the blood was dripping out of it. I did not see any of this but everyone said that the guy in the boat was very excited and probably very proud of his catch. I think John will be posting some more pictures on the blog.

Phyllis and I went on a field trip today called Getting to know Manaus. 70 of us started out walking from the ship to the fish market. We had two guides - one in the front and one in the rear. It was very hot and humid. The fish market was very busy and crowded. The guide walked very quickly and it was hard to maneuver thru all of the people. We were following the Bender sisters who were behind one of our shipmates who is quite large. He stopped and turned around and said he did not know where the guide was, so now we were lost in the fish market. The fish smell was pretty strong with the heat and humidity. We got ourselves back outside and were standing in a group talking about what we were going to do next. A man from the Tour Guide company stopped and asked if we were lost and then escorted to where the buses were. Walking along the sidewalk we passed a man laying down sound asleep on the ground and that we had to step around. We also passed a man getting a haircut on a low stool and a group of people waiting for the next haircut. There are a lot of dogs running lose.

We got on the buses and the tour guide said we were going to two different parts of the city. One part where the wealthy people live and the other part where the poor people live. This field trip was a requirement for some of the students and the teacher wanted them to see those two areas. It appeared to me that the wealthy live mostly in high rise condominiums and they said that one apartment takes up the whole floor. Someone asked who are the wealthy and his response was that it is politicians, military and business people.

The bus stopped in what I assumed was a poorer section marketplace. People got off the bus and looked at some of the houses and shops. The streets are very narrow and there is lots of foot traffic. The people living there were looking at us as much as we were looking at them.

We made our way back into downtown and stopped at the Manaus Opera House. This Opera House was built starting in the late 1800’s and opened December 31, 1896. It is very ornate and a lot of the building materials were shipped in from Europe like marble and wood. In the main auditorium we were told how the ladies preferred to sit in the box seats, not to see the performance better, but to be seen. We were not allowed to use flash inside so most of my pictures are outside. One of the rooms upstairs had slippers for us all to wear as the floor in that room is all inlaid wood with no nails and no glue. He said they danced in that room so maybe it is called the ballroom. In 1896 they did not start performances until late evening as it was too hot and humid earlier in the day and they would open the doors and windows for a breeze. Our guide said that there is not much mosquitoes in Manaus because of the acidity of the water so they were able to open it up and not have to worry about getting bit. So far I have not seen any mosquitoes but there are big flies that like to bite our ankles.

We returned to the ship around 2:00 PM and the people that did not go on a tour with us said they were disappointed with the marketplace as it closed up so early they did not get to shop. So consequently I have not been able to shop either. I have Brazilian money so I definitely need to spend it.