One of my Favorite Ports-Manaus!

11.27.12

Hey everyone!

It's time to talk about one of my favorite ports-Manaus! I think this
port was another really underestimated port, like Lisbon...funny,
because Portugal was another one of my favorite ports! I think that you
generally have more fun per port if you don't have set plans, but know
somewhat of what you may want to do!

The first day in Manaus I had a field lab...I wasn't too thrilled about
this because it was also Thanksgiving-and my brother's birthday. But I
had so much fun, it was by far the best field lab I've had this voyage!
I expected to be sat down somewhere and lectured...like every other trip
I've had with Dr. Slaughter. Which at some points, we were sitting down
and being lectured...but it was while we were on a riverboat and the
scenery was much nicer! I honestly didn't know what else to expect on
this field lab because it had gotten changed about 4 or 5 times. That
being said, I assumed we were going to a rubber factory. It was no
factory at all! We took our riverboat to the meeting of two rivers, one
was the Rio Negro, and I think the other was Solimões River (according
to Wikipedia). It was really amazing to see the "black tea" waters of
the Rio Negro not mix at all with the muddy waters of the Solimões.
Apparently, fish don't cross the waters either! After that, we headed
to an island in the middle of the Amazon River. Once there, we walked
through a village, and all the houses we saw were on stilts because of
how high the waters are when they flood! Then we came to a little hut,
where one woman was sitting. Our guide, Fabio, showed us the cuts in
the tree, which are made so that milk from the trees can be extracted.
After the milk is collected, it is placed over a fire, which turns it
into rubber! It was extremely interesting, and I can't wait to show
pictures! Fabio said that an average person can make 50-60 kilograms of
rubber per week, and that it was very important during WWII. When we
were walking back to the boat, there was a little girl holding a sloth
(I forgot his name) but we got to pet him and he was so soft! Then she
came back with another one, and I HELD THAT ONE!!! His name was Paulo!
:)) It was only for like 30 seconds because we were walking towards our
boat to leave, but long enough for a picture! :D Afterwards, Fabio made
the mistake of taking 30 hungry college students on a hike before
feeding us. (It was past 1pm [normally lunch on the ship ends at 1:30]
at this point, and we hadn't eaten since 8am.) The hike was pretty
interesting, but it would have been more interesting if we had had
something to eat, most everyone was only talking about how hungry we all
were. Overall, the day was really fun, and I had a great time on this
field lab!

The second day in Manaus, I went with the Freeman family to Iracema
Falls. Me and Mr. Freeman went to the Manaus Opera House to see if we
could get tickets for the show that night, but they weren't open
yet...which ended up being a good thing since we didn't get back in
time. >.< Our guide, Jimmy, took us on the public bus systems. It took
us a couple hours to get there. Then we stopped and had a slight lunch,
but we should have had more. I think we assumed we would grab more
before we got to the falls, but thanks to Jimmy, we didn't. He got a
cab for pretty cheap...but we had to fit 8 people (not including the
driver) into a car that held 4 passengers. It was quite amusing because
everyone either had to have someone on their lap, or be sitting on
someone! Well we finally get there, and the falls are gorgeous! We
actually got to climb up the falls and we walked along the creek for a
little bit before heading back. The water was an amber color, and we
all went swimming. There are some pretty humorous pictures of us
jumping in! We saw some flying fish, and even some lizards! There were
also lots of caves around too. One cave had a cathedral in it, and one
was named "Gruta da Onca" Well we were ready to head back, but Jimmy
said our cab driver wasn't coming back, another tour guide told
him...and this isn't a place where cab drivers just naturally come to
find work. So we're all wondering what to do, and the other tour guide
said that Jimmy could come back with him to find a cab to come pick us
up. Well this wasn't a great idea, but that's what happened...but it
wouldn't be until 4:30, at least. This means that we would have to
catch the 7pm bus, so we wouldn't be back to the ship until 9pm...I felt
awful because I told my friend Ben that I would go out with him and his
buddies, and that I'd be back by 6pm...because that's what Jimmy told
Mrs. Freeman so that we could be back in time to see the show at the
opera house. Well Mrs. Freeman and I go for a little walk because we
don't want to get back into the water (we're pretty much dry at this
point) and we ran into another falls. She takes her shoes off and goes
walking around and convinced me to do the same. Well, everything is
going well until I took a step on the top of the falls where I thought
was a rock. Really, it was just a reflection, and I went down into the
water up to my neck! So much for not getting wet, right? Mrs. Freeman
got the best pictures of this too hahaha. So then we're walking back
and we see another guide and he asked us "You didn't see any jaguars,
did you?" We laugh and shook our heads no, but he responded, "No,
really, you didn't see any did you?" Again we shook our heads no, and
asked why. He responded, "There's a reason why there's a cave named
'the cave of jaguars' and why people aren't allowed out here past
5pm/5:30pm." Awesome. So "Gruta da Onca" really means 'cave of
jaguars.' How wonderful, because it was getting to be about that time.
He also told us that we were with the guide who changes his name every
week...again, awesome. Well we decided to start walking back to where
the taxis enter the park, because we wanted to be as far away from that
cave as possible! Jimmy does come back for us, luckily, and we got 2
cabs back since it was only a couple dollars more, and we expected to be
back around 6:30pm. Not too bad, right? Of course, there was so much
traffic though. We literally did not get back to the ship until after
8pm! I felt so bad, and I was glad that Ben and his friends didn't wait
around, considering I was two hours late haha. It was quite an
interesting day!

The third day was pretty similar to the first day. I went with my
friend Megan Drew and the Orris family on the river again. This time,
we took a speed boat to the junction of the two rivers. We got to feel
the difference of the two rivers! The Rio Negro was much warmer than
the Solimões! We stuck our hands in, and the change in temperature was
instantaneous! The Solimões River also is much faster than the Rio
Negro. Then we got to hold another sloth! His name was FooFoo, and I
also held a Camien (like a little crocodile!). We went on another hike,
but this time we saw giant trees and lily pads! One species of tree
people use sticks to hit if they get lost because you can hear it up to
3 miles away! Our guide called it the "AT&Tree" hahahaha! I also held
another sloth, this one was only 6 months old! And I gave it a piggy
back ride! :) After our tour, Megan Drew and I tried to go to a
research center, but it closed earlier on weekends. No worries, I'll
have to come back for that and going to the Opera House, if not for more!

I had such a great time in Manaus, it was definitely one of my favorite
ports, and I will definitely go back there sometime!!! :D

SH