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Published: March 9th 2023
“Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” Shore Excursion - Manaus, Brazil
Barges of All Shapes and Sizes Are River Traffic – Here GLP (Gas Liquified Petroleum)Our overnight port of call on Friday/Saturday, March 3/4, 2023 was Manaus, Brazil. At least one of the shore excursions was a quite pricy “spend a night in the jungle” affair. What a great topic of conversation for the nineteenth hole at the country club! Another shore excursion was a boat trip to see the alligators by night “when the jungle really comes to life.” I almost took that excursion, but life is about choices. Since the ship was leaving at 5 PM on Sunday, the alligator excursion was only available on Saturday evening; as was the “A Night at the Opera House” excursion. Since I had seen hundreds of alligators during my full-time RVing winters in Florida, I opted to spend the evening at the opera house event. That left me with an empty Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The “Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” shore excursion really piqued my interest. I selected the Saturday time slot in case I heard of something I wanted to explore free-lancing on Sunday. I didn’t hear of any good reason to tender to shore on Sunday, so I stayed on the ship relaxing, striking up a couple of conversations and doing
“Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” Shore Excursion - Manaus, Brazil
Our Tour Guide Is Explaining the “Meeting of the Waters” – Notice the Color Contrast in the Distance my travel blog thingy. A Saturday waterways excursion, it turned out, was a good decision as the folks on the Sunday morning excursions all got caught in a gully washer.
The “Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” shore excursion description from the Holland America web site: “Take a closer look at the Meeting of the Waters from a water-level perspective on board a local boat. This is where the Rio Negro and Solimoes run side by side for many miles clearly delineated by their respective colors. You’ll take an approximately one-hour riverboat ride down the dark waters of the mysterious Rio Negro and see the huts of the ribeirinhos (river people) clustered on the riverbanks. Your Amazon River cruise takes you to Lake January. At a landing platform, board a motorized, ten-seater canoe for a close-up view of the local vegetation and trees. With luck, and river conditions permitting, you may be able to admire the Victoria Regia water lilies, the leaves of which can measure up to three feet across. Back at the landing stage, you’ll have a little free time to purchase local Native arts and crafts before re-boarding the riverboat. Notes: The riverboat is equipped
with restroom facilities, although these may be basic. There are 10 wooden steps to negotiate should you wish to be seated on the upper level of the riverboat. The upper level is only half-covered. Wear lightweight clothing and comfortable walking shoes. Bring sunscreen and a hat. It takes approximately one hour (or more in certain water conditions) from the port to reach the Meeting of the Waters, another 60 minutes (approximately) to reach the canoe station, and then a further 60 minutes to return to the port. The river trip in the canoe will last approximately 60 - 75 minutes. Tour involves some effort during (dis)embarkation of the motorized canoes. Not advisable for guests using a wheelchair or for those with mobility limitations. Do not book 'The Meeting of the Waters' in addition to this tour, as the two tours are somewhat similar. The Meeting of the Waters can also be viewed from your cruise ship while approaching Manaus. The water level in the Amazon basin fluctuates seasonally. Occasionally, some tours that involve these waterways may be rescheduled or modified at very short notice. Minimum age is 5 years.”
Without question the Amazon River system originates in the Andes
mountains of Peru. Encyclopedia Britannica says, “In Peru the upper main stream (fed by numerous tributaries flowing from sources in the Andes) down to the confluence with the Ucayali River is called Marañón, and from there to the Brazilian border it is called Amazonas.” That is not really disputed either; however, once the river crosses the border into Brazil it becomes less clear-cut. Encyclopedia Britannica also says, “(The) Amazon River, Portuguese Rio Amazonas, Spanish Río Amazonas, also called Río Marañón and Rio Solimões, the greatest river of South America and the largest drainage system in the world in terms of the volume of its flow and the area of its basin. The total length of the river—as measured from the headwaters of the Ucayali-Apurímac river system in southern Peru—is at least 4,000 miles (6,400 km), which makes it slightly shorter than the Nile River but still the equivalent of the distance from New York City to Rome.” Several other sources essentially endorse the quotes cited above; however, I read several sources that claim the “Amazon” River is referred to as the Solimões River upstream from the confluence with the Rio Negro (Dark River) to the Peruvian border. Again, this is
a discussion for the academics and only becomes relevant to this writer when “The Meeting of Waters” is introduced.
“The Meeting of Waters,” according to all the sources I read, is the confluence of the dark Rio Negro (blackwater) and the pale sandy-colored (whitewater) Amazon/Solimões/Marañón. Some describe the Amazon/Solimões/Marañón as coffee-colored. I would agree but only if the coffee has cream! For 3.7 miles the two river's waters run side by side without much mixing and create one of the main tourist attractions of Manaus. This phenomenon is due to the differences in temperature, speed, and the amount of dissolved sediment in the waters of the two rivers. The Rio Negro flows at nearly 1.2 mph at a temperature of 82 °F, while the Amazon/Solimões/Marañón flows between 2.5 and 3.7 mph at a temperature of 72 °F. The light-colored water is rich with sediment from the Andes Mountains whereas the black water, running from the Colombian hills and interior jungles, is nearly sediment-free and is colored by decayed plant matter. A smaller-scale meeting of waters also occurs along the Amazon/Solimões/Marañón River in Santarém, Brazil (visited on March 2, 2023 and blogged “Our First Port of Call on the Amazon
River – Santarem, Brazil”) and in Iquitos, Peru. Oh yes, my readings agreed the Amazon/Solimões/Marañón is universally called the Amazon River downstream from its confluence with the Rio Negro. Whew, glad that’s over!
Of course, one of the highlights of the “Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” shore excursion was “The Meeting of Waters.” Unfortunately, when Bill Gates “updated” my photo/video editor, and added my name to the photographs, he also removed my ability to capture a still from a video. Also unfortunately, I failed to take many stills of the remarkable color contrast of the waters but do have two I’ll include. There are lots of photos at the end of a Google search for those who are interested. The riverboat ride included a narrative which was difficult to understand when of the motor noise, the poor PA system, the narrator’s accent and my hearing deficiency were amalgamated, but the visuals were interesting. We arrived at the motorized canoe platform and departed the riverboat for one of 6-8 10-person canoes. Embarking/disembarking the motorized canoe was not a major obstacle but was not a piece of cake either. I would advise those with canes (slight balance issues) are
“Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” Shore Excursion - Manaus, Brazil
Here, Near the Lilies, The Tour Guide Explains Some of the Biology of the Amazon probably good to go but those with walkers (more pronounced balance issues) would have difficulty. The operators of the motorized canoes didn’t speak English, but all the motorized canoes rendezvoused at the location of the Victoria Regia water lilies where the motors were silenced and one tour guide gave a presentation about the Amazon that was very informative. Back at the landing platform for the motorized canoes, there were bathrooms and shopping opportunities. All in all, a nice, informative shore excursion.
I had more than a few minutes between the end of the “Cruise the Amazon Waterways & Rain Forest” shore excursion and the beginning of the “A Night at the Opera House” shore excursion. My dilemma beforehand was whether to stay ashore or to take the tender back to the ship. During our return to the tender pier, we experienced a moderate rainfall that was slightly wind-driven, getting a few passengers wet. Rather than sitting around with rainfall in the area (and uncertain shelter), I decided to return to the ship. As I was re-entering the ship, the first group of “A Night at the Opera House” participants was waiting to board the tender. I went directly to
the ship’s shore excursion meeting point, got my colored and numbered sticker and waited my turn in a dry comfortable theater.
Holland America offered another shore excursion, “Manaus & The Teatro Amazonas Opera House,” which I considered, but it included a visit to the municipal market (another mercado!) and a couple of “watch for’s as you drive” by but did not include a performance in the opera house. That made for a pretty easy decision for Uncle Larry. From the Holland America web site: “Transfer to the world-famous pink-and-white Teatro Amazonas Opera House for an evening performance that is quite unique and fascinating. Its dazzling auditorium boasts perfect acoustics, and today, you will attend a public performance at the Teatro Amazonas. Built in 1896, this marvel of architecture features a dome of 36,000 vitrified ceramic tiles imported from Europe, set in a mosaic of the colors of the Brazilian flag. The Manaus Opera House remains an integral part of Brazil’s history. Unforgettable performances from the Italian opera, La Gioconda, by Amilcare Ponchielli are just a few of the big names that have left their mark on the Amazonian theatre, but nowadays, the Opera House presents a variety of performances
from opera to jazz. Notes: Tour operates subject to meeting a minimum number of participants. Actual performance is one hour. Performance is not exclusive to Holland America Line guests.”
The Teatro Amazonas Opera House or Amazonas Theatre (both are used interchangeably in the literature) was built during a time when fortunes were made in the rubber boom of the late 19
th Century. There was a time when rubber grew only in the Amazon, and Manaus had the monopoly of the world’s rubber production. Rubber turned Manaus into a city so wealthy that Manaus had electric lighting before many European capitals. Construction of the Amazon Theatre was first proposed in 1881. By 1884, construction was ready to begin under the watchful eyes of an Italian architect and a Portuguese engineer. Work proceeded slowly over the following fifteen years with some stops and restarts from 1885 to 1892. Costing $10 million to build, the opera house features an Arabic ceramic and glass tiled dome (originally meant for a Moroccan mosque), interior walls lined with Chinese silks and ceilings covered in canvases bearing Italian artwork. Russian wood was used in the floors for acoustics, and the staircases and balustrades are made from
Amazonian wood that was shipped to Europe for carving and then shipped back again. In the main auditorium, the ceiling has a painting of the Eiffel tower by an artist who had merely seen the tower on display at the Great Exhibition in London but which was completed before the tower was erected in Paris. Outside the main doors, rubber bricks were installed in the street so carriage wheels wouldn’t clatter on the stone pebbles and disturb the performance. Interestingly, half of the first opera troupe to perform at the theatre died from yellow fever. After rubber seeds were smuggled from the Amazon and planted in British Malay, the rubber industry in Brazil declined, and the Amazonas Theatre fell into a period of disuse and deterioration. It has since been resurrected and is quite the showpiece. Now more than 120 years old, it represents the city's heyday during the rubber boom and, in 2019, was chosen by Vogue magazine as one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world.
I knew going in that the performance would be jazz. I was expecting a 4 or 5-piece jazz band but got a jazz orchestra of about twenty. The woodwinds
were absent, but there was plenty of brass and percussion, as well as guitar and piano, to offer Brazilian renditions of easy-to-identify classics from almost anyone’s “favorite 1000 list” – Sérgio Mendes, Herb Alpert, and Al Hirt among them. I thoroughly enjoyed both seeing the venue and hearing the performance. Again, I failed to take any stills of the orchestra, but a still photograph of a Brazilian jazz band from afar! Really? Spare me! Although I saw a very limited sample of Manaus, I was not expecting this cruise to visit a city of 2-¼ million people smack dab in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Shazam, shazam! Golly gee, Sgt. Carter.
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