Manaus is the last of the large cities as you travel west up the Amazon. It’s history is a story of boom and bust. During it’s heyday 1890-1920 Manaus was one of Brazil’s major hubs/sources of rubber and was home to huge numbers of entrepreneurs (rubber barons). They made Manaus into “one of the gaudiest cities of the world”. Two of the sites we visited today, Teatro Amazonas and the Municipal Market, were built during that period.

The rubber barons built great houses (one even had a private zoo) but they were lost them when the rubber bust occurred. During the bust hundreds of rubber barons went broke. The baron that built this house eventually died penniless in Paris.

Also Manaus was the first city in Brazil to have electric lights. However when the rubber boom was over, the city could not afford to keep the generators operating and the lights in Manaus when out for decades and the city fell into decay.

Manaus experienced a brief boom between 1942 and 1945 when the Indonesian rubber fields were under Japanese control.

Our first stop today was the “Teatro Amazonas”, a grand opera house, with vast domes and gilded balconies, and using marble, glass, and crystal, from around Europe. The opera house cost ten million (public-funded) dollars. As with everything else when the bust occurred the opera house went dark. It was re-opened during the 20th century. We were privileged to attend a concert there during our visit.

Our final stop (you guessed it) was at the Municipal Marketplace.

The market was constructed between 1880 and 1883 and was based on the Les Halles marketplace of Paris, France. The building’s metal structure was built in Paris and sent to Manaus by ship. The market is one of the largest open markets in the city and offers fresh fruits, spices, fish, and souvenirs, as well as homemade traditional indigenous medications (in plastic bottles).

Today was a rather different port of call than any other we have encountered on this cruise. Boca da Valeria is a small and simple village along the Amazon river. There are no cruise ship excursions here, no big hotels, bars or even cars.

We tendered in to the village dock and were immediately greeted by children and men with signs, “River Tour $5, 30 min”. If you allow them, the children will take your hand and lead you on a tour of their village including their school, church, and probably their family home.

We (Ron, Jane from our dinner group, and I) opted for a river tour in a small covered fishing boat. The boatman spoke no English so there was no conversation, but the scenery spoke for itself. It was only 8:30 in the morning, so the air was still fairly cool and the breeze as we moved made the environment very comfortable. I was watching for the insects that were predicted, but like our other port, we saw very few. Besides the idyllic greenery along the tributary of the Amazon that we traveled, I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the trip. We passed other boats giving tours, but we also passed families (even a dog) who obviously used the river routinely for transportation between villages. Two highlights of the trip for me were a stop in a pond with giant water lilies that measured about three feet in diameter.

Another great stop was when we traveled up a backwater area and stopped where it was totally silent except for the call of birds and peaceful silence. This stop made me realize how much used I am to constant background noise in my normal life.

When we returned to the village, we explored on our own. Several of the buildings were on stilts since the seasonal water level changes are significant. There were some simple handicrafts available, but we were more interested in taking pictures with some of the “pets” of the locals including a capbara, a toucan, a live caiman, a sloth, and a snake!

During the cruise, people were able to donate school supplies or money to purchase school supplies to support the one-room school in this village. The dollar we gave villagers for taking their picture and the dollar given to the children for giving a tour of the village was a good way to support a hospitable group of people. All in all, it was a lovely visit where the villagers shared a little about their village and we went away with great pictures and nice memories.

Our first port on the Amazon was the city of Santarém. A smaller city but fairly modern none the less. Santarém is bordered by the Amazon and the Tapajós rivers. Both run along many kilometers in the front of the city, side by side, without mixing. The Amazon’s milky colored water carries sediment from the Andes in the East, while the Tapajós’s water is somewhat warmer and has a deep-blue tone. This two-toned water is called “The meeting of the waters” by the locals.

From Santarém most of the cities further up the Amazon can only be reached by boat or air, e.g. the city of Manaus. A common form of transportation for the locals is a three-deck ship that travels from city to city. You pay for a tiny air conditioned room, but many people opt to rent an open space with a hammock on the 2nd deck of the ship. The city to city trips often take 48 hours.

Our excursion today was to Maica Lake and piranha fishing. The lake is a wildlife Sanctuary and we saw many different species of birds and several sloths on the way to our fishing spot.

Once we reached our spot we were provided with rudimentary fishing gear: a spool of fishing line, hook, and bait (raw beef). We unrolled our line into the water and waited…and waited…and…success! Someone on our boat caught a piranha! Our boat caught (and then released) five piranha in all. The fish were about the size of your palm and, as advertised, they did have a set of very sharp teeth and were warned not to put our fingers into their mouth (as if someone had to tell me). Sadly neither Paul nor I caught anything, but we did get nibbles!

Today was our 1st outdoor trip since we reached the Amazon. It lies almost directly on the equator so we’ve crossed the equator several times over the last couple of days to get to Santarém (we’ve even got a certificate to prove it). As expected it was hot and humid. Surprisingly the slight breeze we had from the movement of our tour boat made it very bearable.

As a side note, our cruise ship turns off all of its outside lights at night to prevent attracting swarms of insects.

For three days, we have been traveling. The first day was officially a “sea day” which means were were simply traveling. The second day was entitled “Crossing the Equator” which actually occurred during the night. In earlier cruises, there was a special ceremony at the pool with a “god of the sea” that somehow involved first-timers kissing a fish. Unfortunately (or fortunately) this ceremony did not occur on this cruise. The third day involved entering the actual Amazon River, stopping at a city where we had some official duties to perform (inspections, etc.) and where we took on pilots for the Amazon.

Of course, over the three days, we had some great, informative lectures, interesting entertainment, and watercolor classes. I worked on a picture involving Pat, one of our dinner table group, with some success. She has an elusive smile.

Waking to look out the cabin window to see the brown Amazon River and the dense green foliage along each side is pretty amazing. To think that a few weeks ago, we were looking out the window at icebergs!

Fortaleza is a typical large South American city with two main areas: beach and historic. Our city bus tours usually have three parts: a drive by of the beaches, a visit to one or more historic sites/churches, and, a shopping location. Today’s tour was just a little different in that we started with the shopping.

We drove to the “Mercado Central” which is a huge 4-story shopping arcade. Each floor has about 25 vendor stalls. After a few minutes it’s pretty apparent that there’s only about 5 different types of stalls: cashew salesmen (its a big export here), household wares (tablecloths, runners, etc), women’s blouses & bikinis, shoes & handbags, and, souvenirs. In this case it pays to walk around before you buy as you often see the same item cheaper in another stall. We spent an hour here before we moved on.

Our next stop was the “Metropolitan Cathedral Of St. Joseph” (in Portuguese São José). While the exterior appears Gothic, the interior is not what you would expect. It is a very simple and clean interior with terrific stained glass windows. It was started in 1938 on the site of the old church, inaugurated in 1978, and can seat up to 5,000 people.

Our final stop was at “Theatro José de Alencar”. The front facade of the theater gives you no hint of what awaits you. You walk through the doorway and there it is: a beautiful gem of a theater in the art nouveau style! The theater can seat up to 840 people. Cast iron details of the theater were made and imported from Scotland. The theater was opened in June, 1910. The theater is named after José Alencar considered to be one of the most famous and influential Brazilian Romantic novelists of the 19th century.

After 1/2 hour, we returned to the ship.

As a final thought, this is the third region of Brazil that we’ve visited and the people are ethnically very different in descent from those in Rio which are primarily Portuguese and those in Bahia which are primarily a mixture of Portuguese and African. Here we see the mix of Portuguese and the indigenous peoples of Brazil and the people are usually shorter and have more slant to their eyes.