Today we arrived at the largest city in Amazonia- Manaus- which has over 2 million people! It is actually on the Rio Negro but very close to where it meets the Amazon River. It is also where we turn around and head back to the Atlantic Ocean after our overnight in port.
One fun thing in Manaus was the art on the tall buildings. The feature photo above shows examples.
Manaus is almost in the middle of the Amazon basin. It has manufacturing factories for many foreign companies and supplies come from all over the world. Manaus’ factories also process the natural gas from a pipeline that comes from further inland.
Jennifer went on the pink dolphin excursion. I went on the excursion to January Ecological Park hoping to see giant lily pads and the “Meeting of the Waters”. Jennifer got to touch a pink dolphin but the giant lily pads were not around. I did enjoy the boat ride and glimpse of communities along the river. It was cloudy so the meeting of the water where Rio Negro and the Amazon river meet wasn’t as spectacular as it can be in full sun. The river waters don’t merge for awhile because the temperature and acidity are different. The Rio Negro is blackish and the Amazon River is muddy brown.
Many houses along the river edges are built on logs so that the houses float as the river rises and falls. Eventually the logs rot and the house is moved to another set of logs.
Tonight we stayed up late enough (9:30pm!) to listen to a local folkloric group. We have missed all the other evening shows because we go to our room after dinner, sit on our beds and the next thing we know we are sleeping.
champagne
