The Legacy of the Rubber Barons

---

Saturday 23^rd May 2015



We like Manaus, despite its congested, hazardous streets and dilapidated architecture. There is grime, noise and obvious poverty; it is claustrophobically hot at times and they can´t make coffee, despite the fact that they grow it. As the song goes…”there´s an awful lot of coffee in Brazil!” but nobody seems to drink it. There are no coffee bars and nobody drinks it after meals here. Tea infusions seem to be more popular. The street dogs are skinny.



Manaus grew up due to the rubber trade, built by the European and North American “Rubber Barons” in the nineteenth century, then just left to gently decay. The Rubber Barons exploited the indigenous Indian peoples, devastated huge swathes of rainforest, built an elegant European city in the jungle and then went away, to plant rubber plantations in Asia instead, with easier access, thus destroying the Asian rainforests. So, their departure was a very good thing for the Amazon, but not so good for the city. There is massive unemployment but no begging and tourists are not hassled. Obviously one has to be vigilant, the crime rate is high, but in general we have found people to be friendly and hospitable. One could say that the best thing we have found about Manaus is the Brazilian people.



Excursions and tours are ridiculously over-priced, but that has been the case in all of South America in our experience; tours are cheaper in Asia, the USA and even Europe. Yesterday we thought we would like to visit the “Bosque da Ciencia” (Science Grove) on the outskirts of the city. This is a tract of natural rainforest, owned by the Ministry of Science, dedicated to the conservation, protection and study of indigenous flora and fauna. We hoped to learn something, but didn´t gain a huge amount of knowledge since nobody spoke either English or Spanish, and all of the literature was also in Portuguese only. The cost of the ‘Flora and Fauna’ tour, to the Bosque as well as a small zoo owned by the military (where they learn jungle survival techniques) is B$198, which is about 66 euros per person! We took ourselves to the Bosque and it cost B$46 for both of us, and we could have done it for just B$22. Our friendly hotel receptionist told us that we could get there by bus. In Manaus, all journeys cost B$3, about 1 euro, regardless of length. We walked to the bus stop and found out what number we needed and then when we saw it coming along, we hailed it down and got on. The buses are big, this one was a double bendy bus, and rammed, but we got a seat, no air con, but what do you expect for a half hour journey costing just one euro! Bus travel in Manaus is OK and we don´t know why more tourists fail to try it. We asked both the conductress and driver to let us know when we got there (using sign language and some garbled Spanglish) and the conductress told us when to get off. As we did so, the driver got off as well, to point us in the right direction to walk to the entrance. How lovely was that! Meanwhile, the other sixty odd passengers patiently waited whilst he did so. We were probably a bit of a novelty! The entrance fee was just B$5 each, so had we come back by bus as well, it would have cost B$22 altogether. Had we included the zoo it would have cost another B$12 for bus fares, but with free entrance, the whole trip would have been B$ 34, instead of B$390 for two on the tour, a saving of over 100 euros!!! We didn´t come back by bus, however, we took a taxi, costing B$30, so our morning out cost B$46, just under 14 euros and less than 10 pounds. Our advice to anyone visiting Manaus is ‘Take the bus!’



We enjoyed the Bosque da Ciencia, there is a raised forest walk, a lake full of Red-necked Turtles and Yellow-spotted Sideneck Turtles, some magnificent huge trees, like the Giant Sumauma Tree and palms. It is a pity that all of the names and descriptions of trees and plants are only in Portuguese.



In the afternoon we took a guided tour around the Opera House, just the two of us with an English-speaking guide. The “Teatro Amazonas” is opulent and well-used, for all sorts of entertainment, from opera to rock concerts. It was built between 1884 and 1896, with the first electric lighting in the whole of South America, in beautiful Murano crystal chandeliers from Italy. The iron columns were made in Glasgow, the architect was French, the marble staircase was made in Portugal, there are walls of Italian red and white marble, the dome is made of French ceramic tiles and all of this financed by the “Barons” to impress their visitors from Europe. It is a stunning building.



This morning we woke up to see an awful lot of blood on the pavement outside. Quite a shocking sight. One of the hotel staff was busy hosing down the pavement. Bloody footsteps made a winding pathway all the way down the street, and even this afternoon´s thunderstorm could not erase them. We have not been able to find out what happened, but obviously it wasn´t something good!



We walked down to the harbour and the municipal market place, which is a superb example of nineteenth century architecture. On the way we saw several elegant nineteenth century buildings, some in good condition but many almost past repair; this city was once the epitome of elegance! We also visited the “Palacete Provincial” which now houses a gallery of Amazonian art and a museum. This afternoon we are back at the hotel writing this blog and sorting out our photos (and avoiding the usual afternoon thunderstorms). Tomorrow morning we shall leave here early, at about 7.30 a.m. to journey to the Mamori region, about eighty kilometres south east of here, back into the jungle. We think that there will not be any network coverage or internet, so this is probably to be our last blog for a week. We shall write the blogs but publish them later, when we can.



We have now been in Brazil for one week and it has been a very good one. We are hoping the next one will be just as good, although we suspect it will be a lot more challenging; still, to quote the traveller Neil Donald Walsch…



“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone”

---

Photos

Inquisitive large Red-necked Turtle
Shell about 60cm diameter

Italian wrought iron balconies
Iron columns from Glasgow

The catch is a bit smelly already in the hot climate!
Some boats have ice but others do not!