This was into a spectacular black water lake. This clear water is a result of a certain type of tree leaf that falls into the water. The fallen leaves leach tannin into the water. I am not positive if the tannin causes the dirt to fall to the river bottom. Most of the rivers in this region are brown as a result of picking up dirt from the river banks. We spent some time in a back water pool. The clear water looked inviting but I decided not to push my luck and dive in. The highlight was seeing a few Common Squirrel Monkeys. These small green and brown primates are very active up in the trees but they can be difficult to see. They feed primarily on insects and fruit, such as figs and nectar.
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We arrived at the village of Boco do Cuxui Muni. Marine Expeditions had chosen this village to donate medicines and school supplies to the people of this town. We were able to look through the open windows at a school class that was in progress. We took a walk past the village homes and into the jungle for about + mile. We observed the fruit, Cacao, that contains the coca nuts. Our guide cut one open and we were able to taste the white creamy substance that surrounds the coca nut. Our guide said that the children like to eat this creamy substance because it is sweet. It was. I cut one of the nuts in half and found it to have a purple color. The roasting of the coca nut must change the color to brown. We also saw coca nuts drying in the sun. We also saw the Cannonball tree. This was an interesting tree because the fruit was as large as a watermelon and had the same appearance. Our guide told us that the fruit was not eatable.
Larry says that the river had fog on it during the early evening hours and the ship was blowing it's fog horn. I guess I fell asleep early as I do not remember hearing the fog horn.
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We arrived at the small tributary of Rio Badajos this morning, but since it was raining Larry and I decided to stay in bed and skipped the zodiac ride. I did take a zodiac boat ride in the rain during the afternoon This visit was to the small community of Lago Anori. We visited a place where people grind/cook manioc into flour, or farinha. Our guides, Gil and Cassio, interpreted as folks described the process, and many of us sampled the finished product. This was perhaps our most interactive visit. Some could not resist the temptation to 'help', so many Expeditioner's jumped in to husk corn, others contributed to the effort by eating Brazil nuts. After our impromptu call at Lago Anori we ventured once more out into the rain. It was a good thing I had plenty of clothes as it takes a few days for them to dry in our cabin.
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We arrived at the dock in Manaus, Brazil, at about 4 am. This is a huge city of about 2 million people. Our first stop was to see the huge market, where goods from all over the region are available in abundance. We walked through and saw the fresh fish and meat cut up and laying out for sale (no refrigeration). They had all kinds of products for the local people plus a couple of shops for tourist items. The only piranha I saw on this trip was a stuffed piranha mounted vertical on a board. I tasted a merchant's sample of hot coffee, it was loaded with sugar. I purchased 1/2 kilo of coffee beans, as I knew it would be fresh.
We were then taken on a bus to see the famous Manaus Opera House,. This opera house was built in the 1880's due to the wealth generated by the rubber plantation boom. The owners of the plantations wanted European culture. During the tour, one of our fellow tourists did a yodel to test the acoustics of the hall. He was originally from Switzerland and did a good Swiss yodel. Before rebounding the bus I purchased an ice cream from a local street vender. More on this opera house can be found at http://www.internext.com.br/demasi/index2.html
We then went to the Instituto Nacional De Pesouisas Da Amazonia (http://www.inpa.gov.br/), which oversees research on the Amazon ecosystem. This was a striking difference to the zoo in Leticia, as this 'zoo' contained only the animals that they were trying to help.
After visiting the INPA, we were taken to a restaurant called Churrascaria Buffalo. The waiters would offer to cut meat directly from a skewer onto your plate. There were plenty of other dishes on the table in a self serve system. They even brought wonderful garlic bread on these skewers. We were about 100 people at 2 long tables, about 88 tourists and 10 MEI staff having a great time.
After lunch Larry and I decided to walk back to the ship through the city streets and try to find the cyber cafe. One of the guides had put a mark on our city map at about where he thought it was located. We walked to this spot and looked and looked. We started asking people by saying 'internet', 'cyber cafe', and moving our fingers like we were playing a computer keyboard. Finally Larry asked someone who was just paying his bill at a local restaurant and he said 'follow me'. Well he took us several blocks and then into the Hotel Amazonas and then up several flight of stairs. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to be shanghaied. We arrived at his brother's law office. He had us wait in the office lobby and he went in to see his brother. We think his brother did not know where the cyber cafe was located either, but finally they said 'you can use our computer'. One of them got down on the floor and plugged in the telephone line, brought up Netscape and their e-mail program and offered it to us. I quickly typed out a note to my wife telling her that we were healthy, and having fun. I asked my wife to forward the note to Larry's wife. As I typed the words 'we are healthy' I kind of had this feeling that I should not be pushing my luck. I may have even stopped typing and knocked on wood. I sent the note off on the internet and then thanked the brothers, and tried to give them $10 but they would not take our money. I think the lawyer enjoyed talking to Larry in English. It turned out that he had visited a friend who was in college in Texas. After leaving the lawyer's office we hurried on back to the ship so we could consume plenty of water. Later that afternoon we went out to see if we could find any interesting T-shirts to buy. I did buy a few but they were not that interesting. We stopped at a cafe and purchased a beer and a bottle of bottled water. I hoped that the glass the waiter poured my beer into had been washed well.
We enjoyed an impromptu Happy Hour out on the back deck of the ship while we watched the sunset and some of the small ferries prepare to leave for their voyages. We enjoyed seeing the activity on the dock and watch the ship leave the harbor and city skyline.
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I am not feeling that great today. They launch the zodiac into the Furo do Moara and I took my Pepto-Bismol tablets and a small bottle of Imodium on the outing, am I brave or what?. As the day progresses I find that my Imodium is not doing the job. I talk to our fellow tourist, Doctor Charles, and he gave me 2 Cipro 500 mg tablets (he gave me 2 more the next day) and I started to feel much better. We spent a lot of time just sitting on chairs, out on the deck, watching the jungle go by. The afternoon zodiac ride was to Lago Carauacu, but I did not go.
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As I start to feel much better Larry is getting 'the problem'. He starts taking the Cipro that he brought along. We are not alone, it seems like we hear the ship's doctor being paged on the intercom system about every 1/2 hour. The Russian doctor makes 'house calls' to the passenger's cabin. Very few went on the zodiac ride to Boca do Boto.
During the afternoon I went on the zodiac cruise on Rio Balaio. Some of the people saw river dolphins. During the evening we had another BBQ on the back deck of the ship.
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During the morning we start to see very nice homes along the hills above along the shore. We arrive at the beachside resort community of Alter do Chao. I think these are vacation homes for the wealthy people of Belem, Brazil. We are given a choice of taking a little longer walk through the outskirts of town so that we can have a local resident make an opening into a rubber tree and show us how the white latex flows from the cut. After a short walk we arrive at the Center for the Preservation of Indigenous Arts, a museum that actually depicts how the Indians of South America were exploited. The museum gift shop is not open so I opt to walking down to the town center to buy a coke. Wow, is it hot and humid. As Larry says in his write-up we are getting closer to the Atlantic Ocean and the humidity is picking up. After the drink and rest, we walk back to the museum and I picked out several T-shirts but I had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to pay for them. It was so hot in the gift shop that I had to take off my vest as I thought I was going to pass out.
It was fun to see some of the Russian crew getting time off in this resort town. Some of them really had some fun swimming at the beach and one even rented a water scooter and drove it out to the ship. The ship would be going to Yugoslavia for a dry dock visit and I think the crew wanted to enjoy the nice sunshine and warm climate to the maximum that day.
Later in the afternoon some of the MEI staff started jumping off of the top of the stairs that are used when we load into the zodiacs. This was about a 20 foot drop and we saw some belly flops. Then a few of the tourists started jumping as well. After one of our passengers almost hit the back of her head, as she dropped from the platform, one of the ships officers really yelled out some angry words at the young Russian crew members who were in charge of that area.
That evening after dinner we are informed that due to a miscalculation in navigation we would not have time to make our Monday morning stop, but had to sail all night and all day in order to make our passage through an area called the 'Breves Narrows'. |
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