After about a 4 hour flight
we arrived in Manaus, Brazil and we collected our luggage and breezed through
customs and immigration. We exited to see crowds of people and we could hear
chanting in the distance. Our driver was waiting for us with our names on a
sign. He had us follow another guy while he waited for another person on our
flight to arrive. The chanting turned out to be the futbol team from Sao Paolo.
The lady we were waiting for was found and we got in the van for the short ride
to the hotel. The lady was an 87 year old Dutch woman who has been living in
Guatemala for 35 years. She was staying at the Tropical Manaus and we were
staying at the Park Suites Hotel. (on the same property) As it turned out she
was on our cruise.
fans of the Sao Paulo Futbol team
We checked in and were shown
to our room which turned out to have a river view. We unpacked a bit and then
went to bed. Next morning after breakfast we went to check out the Tropical
Hotel since that is where we were to meet the group the next morning. (In
hindsight it would have been more convenient to stay there, but our travel
agent steered us away from it. Though it was just a short walk to it)
our hotel room
We had a day on our own and
had a couple of things planned to do if the weather would have cooperated. We
got directions to walk to the Public Boat Dock at Marina Davi. In the parking
lot of the Tropical Hotel there were a lot of Yellow-rumped Caciques that were
nesting. On the walk to the marina we spotted a few different types of birds.
It was sprinkling and we hoped the rain would stay away.
Yellow-rumped Cacique
market area at Port Davi
Port Davi
speed boat
inside the speed boat
view our of the back window
Portuguese is spoken in
Brazil and no one at the marina spoke much or any English. I showed the guy
that approached us the paper I brought to show them where we wanted to go and
he showed us which boat and said to wait less than a half hour to board. We sat
down and it started to rain. We were partially covered, but it was blowing in
on us. A guy on another bench motioned for us to sit with him. We did and
thanked him in Portuguese (obrigado). He also let us know when our boat was
loading and motioned for us to go. There were only locals on the water taxi and
had it not been pouring rain, the scenery would have been beautiful! The boat
took about 40 minutes with a couple of stops to let people off. Then, we
arrived at Museu do Seringal Vila
Paraiso (Recreation of a Rubber
Plantation). It was a wet and muddy walk and we had started to head to a
different building when someone called and motioned us to the correct building.
sap used to make rubber
you can see the wet muddy mess.....
bathing room
The guide for the museum
greeted us and asked if we spoke Portuguese, we said no, do you speak English?
She said no. We asked if she spoke Spanish. She said she knew some Spanish and
we said that would work. She really was very pleasant and she truly wanted to
make sure we understood what she was showing us. Her Spanish was quite good and
the tour was interesting. It would have been more pleasant if it wasn’t
raining. After the tour they radioed for a water taxi and we were taken back to
the Marina. It was lunch time and we had hoped to find a restaurant or food
stand along the riverfront, but it was still raining pretty hard so we decided
to have lunch at the Tropical Hotel. It was a mediocre buffet and cost around
$60.
Greg had a bit of a cold and
we tried to find a mini mart or pharmacy, and walked along the river front
trying to find one. No luck. We also wanted to pick up some diet Coke to bring
on board since the boat said there would only be a limited selection and to
bring anything if you wanted it.
view of our hotel from the beach
Ponta Negra beach area
Rio Negro Bridge
Yellow-browed Sparrow
Orange-fronted Yellow-finch
Orange-fronted Yellow-finches (the 2 at the bottom seemed to be kissing
female Orange-fronted Finch
Blue-gray Tanager (Southern Amazonian form)
Blue Dacnis
Canary-winged Parakeets
The rain was slowing a bit
and by the time we got back to the Tropical Hotel it was barely dripping. They
have a small zoo there and we got tickets and walked around. The concierge
shorted us about $10 Real, but we didn't realize it until we had walked away.
After that we walked back to our hotel and killed a couple of hours in the room
until it was time to grab a cab to Churrascaria Bufalo for dinner.
Jaguar
Coatimundi
Capybara
Blue & Yellow Macaws
Scarlet Macaws
Collared Peccary
Red Howler Monkey
Festive Parrot
Scarlet Macaws
Churrascaria Bufalo is a
traditional style Brazilian Churrascaria where the waiters are dressed as
Gauchos and there are discs on the table to signal them when you are ready to
eat. (red for no and green for yes, bring more meat!) There is a huge salad bar
and they also come around with appetizers and breads & cheeses. When you
are ready for the main courses you flip your disc over from red to green and
they start bringing these huge skewers of meats. If you want that kind they
will carve you off some. They had pork sausages, chicken sausages, chicken
hearts, pork loin, lamb and about every cut of beef you could imagine. They
also came around with platters of fish. The highlight was the grilled
pineapple. It was like caramelized and yummy. Our waiter Francisco cuts off
slices of pineapple feeding you the first bite and then he cuts it all up for
you and then feeds you the last bite before he leaves you to eat the rest.
There is a similar restaurant on I-Drive in Orlando called Texas de Brazil.
(Dad, you might remember we took you there on one of your visits) Honestly, I
thought their meats were better, but there were some things better at this one.
Our cab driver either waited or came back for us and drove us back to the
hotel, where we packed up and went to bed since we needed to be up at 5:00.
Francisco was our waitor
He cuts the grilled pineapple
and feed you the first bite
he cut me a really large piece
After haggling with the
front desk that we were charged for 6 large waters and we only had 4 small
bottles, we ate a quick breakfast and walked to the other hotel to meet the
fellow passengers and our guides for the cruise.
It was a nice group of
people and we all chatted while we waited. Then the guides introduced
themselves and gathered our luggage and we all walked to the boat dock. At
first glance of the boat (we had seen her float by at breakfast), I thought to
myself “What the hell did I get us into?” We boarded 2 wide bottomed motorized
canoes and were transferred to the M/Y Tucano. We went to the top deck and
waited for everyone to be transported and the luggage to get on board and then
they did an introduction and a briefing. We were taken one couple at a time to
our cabins after collecting our luggage. It started to rain and we were moved
to the dining room downstairs. It was discovered that one couple was missing a
backpack and the boat turned around to go get it.
our first look at M/Y Tucano
canoes waiting to transport us to the boat
luggage being transported
bananas for the week
Greg in the hats they gave us
introducing the crew
our hats (Cave et Aude means Watch & Listen or Be Careful & Dare)
lifeboat drill
The rooms make regular
cruise ship cabins seem huge. There are no closets and our things just sat on
shelves. After settling in we all met for another briefing in the dining room
which seemed to go on forever. It was broken up by a lifeboat drill, but we had
to go back and finish up. At one point it cleared up and we hoped we could
enjoy that, but by the time he was finished it was pouring again.
our cabin
the hall on our deck
steps to go to top deck and another set went to the lower deck
the bridge
One of the guides’ backpacks
with all needed paperwork, a large sum of money and camera etc. was missing and
he had gone back to see if he could get it and meet up with us at some point.
He traveled all day and returned the next day. His backpack was not found.
There were 13 passengers on
board. The 87 year old woman from Holland that has lived in Guatemala for many
years and she was joined by her son who still lives in Holland, but he lost his
wife to cancer about 6 months ago and is on a 7 month journey around the world
to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. There was a
wonderful couple from England, and everyone else was from the States.
(Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Boston) A single lady on sabbatical from where she
teaches art is on a journey that next takes her to the Arctic in search of
Narwhals. So, a good mix of well-traveled interesting people. We had kind of
assumed there would be more birders, but we were the only ones. Everyone else was
there for the adventure.
Here is a group photo taken by Betsy & Michael.
Bottom row: Klaske, Rob, Joyce, Pat, Joe and guide Souza
Back row: Betsy, Michael, Andrea, Greg, Annette, Patty, Fred, Pete, guide Edi and the boat captain
We had our first excursion
at 4:00 and the rain had stopped and it was perfect weather.
Instead of a day by day
review of this trip I will split it into the 4 types of excursions. There was a
basic rhythm each day on this trip.
We are up at around 5:15 and
departed about 5:40 for a motor launch. (they knocked on your door for your
wake up call.) For morning motor launches we dressed in shorts and water shoes.
Often boarding in the dark and watching the sunrise and the rain forest to come
alive. There was coffee and tea available and porridge if anyone wanted it. We
returned around 8:00 and had a hearty breakfast. We always had scrambled eggs,
fresh fruits, a freshly baked cake that varied every day as well as other
things to go along with breakfast. Then, we had some free time until 10:00. Twice
during the trip the option to kayak could replace the motor launch.
Around 10:00 we got on the
motor launch to take us to land for a forest walk for a couple hours. They
provided gaiters (leather things to wrap around your lower legs) and we were to
wear long sleeved shirts and long pants. (the lightweight SPF stuff works well)
Pants were tucked into our socks and then the gaiters were put on. A nice touch
was the frozen towels they handed us after our hot walk in the jungle on the
boat ride back to the Tucano. We returned and left our shoes for the crew to
clean. Then, we’d take a much needed shower and then have lunch. There was only
hot water for a short time each day and it coincided with showering after a
forest walk to wash off any possible ticks etc. As a side note, there were 2
shower heads in the shower (both were river water) and one was room temperature
(cool/warm) that you could use any time of the day and the other is pressurized
and provided hot water for a short time. There often were times when neither
provided water (just randomly, perhaps when the boat tilted or something) and
it seemed just as you shampooed your hair and lathered your body it would stop.
So, I could be heard saying “Seriously???” It eventually came back and you
could finish. Because the water was river water, we used bottled water to brush
our teeth. Lunch was usually fish or chicken and always rice and different
types of beans. Then we had time off until the afternoon motor launch. A good
time to wash out any clothes to be hung upstairs on the lines and to backup
pictures and take some notes on what we had done so far.
Around 4:00 we went for an
afternoon motor launch and again we could dress in shorts and water shoes. Upon
our return appetizers were served on the top deck of the boat and then we had
dinner. Dinner was usually hearty as well.
After dinner we sometimes
had an evening motor launch. The evening motor launch required long sleeved
pants and shirts again with closed toed shoes. The guides used a spotlight
looking for night critters.
For all excursions we
carried a waterproof pack with a bottle of water and rain jackets if needed. We
did not need them since it was kind enough to rain while we are not on
excursions. We also visited a couple of local villages. What a treat! Most of
the trip was spent on the Rio Negro and only a short portion was on the actual
Amazon.
For the most part the
morning and afternoon motor launches had the most wildlife and the night
launches were equally interesting. We saw pink river dolphins, gray dolphins,
lots of birds (toucans, macaws, parakeets and parrots galore), three toed
sloths, Red Howler monkeys, Squirrel monkeys and White-fronted Capuchin monkeys
and tarantulas. While we saw a lot, it wasn’t easy getting photos of most of
them.
The meals were like
Brazilian home cooking. Breakfast always had scrambled eggs, and a different
type of cake, meats, cheeses, bread, and always something made of Manioc. For
me breakfast was my favorite meal of the day. Lunches were not as exciting to
me and the dinners were usually quite good. Desserts were often times an
interesting flavor of ice cream or pudding, candied figs or sliced watermelon.
We served ourselves from the buffet and were responsible for clearing our
plates. Teeny tiny ants often had to be brushed off the plates before we could
use them.
The beautiful reflections
seen in the inky black water were totally unexpected. Our guides Souza and Edi
were superb, and all crew members were as well. It was a wondrous and peaceful
trip on the river with no other tourists in sight and only the occasional local
boat. The part on the Amazon River was busier but was a nice contrast and not a
negative for us.
My next post will be a
compilation of the morning motor launches. All of the Picasa Web Albums are day
by day. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos
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