Manaus

Five miles before arriving in Manaus we changed course and headed up the Rio Negro to dock about 7:00 AM yesterday. The area is surprisingly developed along the river, considering it is 900 miles from the Atlantic and virtually in the middle of the Amazon Basin.

The floating dock itself is made of steel with huge steel barrels supporting it. The dock sits perhap 150 yards offshore with a steel roadway connecting to the mainland. The dock is about 1000 feet long and is wide enough for tour buses and freight trucks to drive and turn around on it. We are tied up on the river side of the dock and on the town side there are about 17 two and three decker ferries that are tied up bow in to the dock loading up with freight headed out eventually to other communities up and down the rivers.

Near the roadway end of the pier local ferries come and go about every 20 or 30 minutes carrying locals back and forth across the Rio Negro to little communities scattered along it. Watching people disembark from these local one deck ferries they appear neat and well dressed. Most are carrying plastic bags and heading up into the town of Manaus apparently returning from a day of shopping somewhere. If I understood correctly the local ferries are free.

There is a farmers market about one mile downstream from our ship which both small and large vendors distribute and sell their wares. Many natives bring fresh fish and various fruits and vegetables they have gathered from the river and forest to sell in this market. The original market has very ornate iron work and is copied after a famous Paris market called Les Halles. Little by little this market is being replace with a larger more modern structure.

Manaus is the capital city of Amazonas State. Manaus was founded by the Portuguese in 1669 and was a rubber boom town from 1890 to 1920. The United States had its rail barons and oil barons and Manaus had its rubber barons. The rubber industry was developed by Europeans who became so wealthy they sent there laundry back to England to have it cared for properly. Unfortunately for them, an Englishman took seeds from the rubber trees and propagated them in an English greenhouse. They then took them to Southeast Asia where they could plant the trees in rows about 18 feet apart. This compared with the rubber trees that grew wild in the Amazon Basin and could be as far apart as 1 or kilometers. This ended their monopoly and the Brazilian rubber industry is far smaller today than in those days.

Manaus was no Western cowtown. In 1896 these rubber barons completed an Opera House that is still elegant and in constant use. They call it Teatro Amazonas. Marble, faux marble, beautiful wall and ceiling paintings that would equal Michelangelo are still decorating the opera house. It is said to have perfect acoustics and has hosted many famous opera stars and international symphonies. While we were visiting it yesterday we watched and listened to the local symphony practice for a performance they were to give later this week. Attendance to these concerts is free, although I imagine some of the box seats come with status and money. Originally the courtyard was paved with rubber so the sound of horse hoofs and carriages could not be heard in the Opera House. Today it is paved with granite blocks very similar to the granite paved streets in San Francisco. It is not air conditioned but seemed to be quite comfortable.

Today I took a tour that started on a ferry and continued in small boats that could navigate the shallow waters of tributaries of the Rio Negro . We went up very narrow channels to observe more typical native life. Many small houses dot the shoreline and other houses that have been built on balsa logs to float in the water along the shoreline. The logs will last 100 years as long as the logs remain submerged in water, yet are quite buoyant. Any house built on the logs is exempt from property taxes. Most of these natives live off the land and river with minimal requirements from the city. The government has school boats that pick up kids during the school year each morning.

And of course we met up with the dollar brigade. Snakes, monkeys and alligators were all I paid to photograph today. We left the xhip at 9:00 AM and returned about 1:30 PM. Ruth cancelled her ticket which was probably wise, although it was not too hot and humid today.

Currently we aare 7378 nautical miles from Vancouver, BC and 900 miles from the ocean. Tomorrow we make our last stop in Brazil at a little place called Parintins. Ruth plans to join me for a tricycle ride, pedalled by a native, through their little settlement before we continue our journey homeward.