Manaus

As mentioned in the previous update, we had arrived in Porto Velho on a Saturday via a 52 hour bus ride and had bought our tickets for a boat that would be taking off on TUESDAY and would go up the Rio Madeiro to Manaus, deep in the Amazon.  This was not quite the case.  On Monday night we went to the boat and got ourselves "comfortable" in our cabin for the voyage the next day.  We were allowed to stay on the boat before it took off and though our tickets included meals, they had already made clear to us that they wouldn't feed us until the boat was enroute.  That was fine with us - at least we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel for Monday night.  Well, one night turned into two, which turned into three, and then even a fourth!  Every day they would say to us, we're leaving tomorrow at noon.  And then noon the following day would come with no results.  They were waiting for more cargo, as this boat was not exactly intended for passengers.  Though, they did manage to squeeze approximately 100, or more, people onto a single deck all on hammocks. Friday at 12pm came and we still didn't leave until about 3pm.  But we were off!  Finally!  The boat trip itself wasn't all that bad but there were some major annoyances.  First off, the bathroom.  Oh my god, you've never smelled such a thing.  All of these people sharing a mere four bathrooms for 8 days straight (I believe I mentioned this before, but yes, the boat trip itself took four days to get to Manaus).  The cabin was blisteringly hot, but once the boat was moving, the breeze on the deck was quite refreshing.  The scenery was gorgeous as we navigated down the river, the amazon rainforest swept slowly on by along the banks.  We met a couple people on the boat and finished a lot of reading.  To make a long story a bit shorter, we arrived in Manaus late in the night, slept one last night on the boat, and then the next morning settled into a cheap, but decent, hotel.

Since we've been here, we've navigated about the city viewing the various museums and galleries it has to offer.  We walked through one of the parks and got some spectacular shots of birds and other wild life.  We've seen monkeys, a lazy sloth, a few wild caimans (Caimans are an aligator-like reptile.  This was a bit unnerving considering they are not bound by any fence or anything at all), and beautiful macaws (the red, yellow and blue parot-like bird of Brasil).  We've also visited a couple of the Indian museums offered in the city, which display artifacts such as pottery, weaponry and other tools used by the native people of the Amazon.

It has been really difficult to navigate this city, however.  There are thousands and thousands of buses here, and none of them seem to be going where you need to be.  Ever!  And then we've found ourselves in remote parts of the city, having great difficulty finding a bus that can bring us back to the center, or even finding a bus at all some times!  The city is much, much larger than I would have expected, considering it is a rather peculiar settlement smack-dab in the middle of the rainforest.

So, being that we ARE very much in the forest (though currently surrounded by city), the obvious next step is to explore this wild forest!  Which we intend on doing.  No, no, no, don't fret.  We have no intention on walking into the forest like you may do in the woods of Massachusetts.  We will be guided.  By Indians, in fact.  We've arranged a five day guided tour through the forest with this small agency that we found, after considering the many, many agencies available here.  Most all of the agencies we'd checked out seemed so artificial and watered down.  Until of course we walked by the hole in the wall.  We walked in and immediately had a long conversation with this Indian man that ran the place, Soares.  He sold me when in mid-speech he picked up a blow dart gun and shot it at this wooden statue on the other side of the room.  The trip will consist of traversing the forest, sleeping on hammocks with bug nets deep in the forest, fishing for piranas, and many other activities.  The whole thing appears quite genuine and rustic and I'm very excited about it.  We actually leave tomorrow morning at 5am and will be gone for the following five days.  If no one hears from us after that... well...

Moving on - We had a cool night last night.  We went to this beautiful theater here in town and watched a live concert by the Manaus Philharmonic.  They performed for two hours, and played several pieces I was unfamiliar with, and also Beethoven.  It was excellent and best of all, FREE!  Tonight we plan on returning for yet another free show.  I don't know the name of the group, they are a jazz band.  I'll obviously try to get a name to the music and give my review later.

My birthday (two days ago) was spent at one of the city parks, later Lena and I duked it out in an arcade fighting game, and then later that night we went to "Praia da Lua" (Moon beach).  The sand was white and fine and the river water was calm, fresh, free of piranas, and so so beautifully warm!  There's much more to this story, but now is not the time... I'll explain later.  Overall, an eventful and exciting birthday.  Thank you all for the birthday wishes on facebook.

Last bit of news, Lena and I are coming home early.  The flight has been changed from November 30th to October 19th.  See y'all sooner!