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Published: January 28th 2010
Manaus - Harbour view
on the right you can see the old customs house or Alfândega.Arriving in Manaus from Brasilia is a shock. In contrast with the quiet capital, Manaus is very busy and has a mix of old colonial, new skyscrapers and derelict buildings. Buses fill the air with tick smoke, people and vendors are all over the city, in short you are back in a real city, a Brazilian city. It is even difficult to imagine that you are in the middle of the Amazon forest.
And then you have the river, the Rio Negro, huge, gigantic, omnipresent and... very busy. From bigger sea vessels to small barges, all kinds of ships are cruising in every directions.
We asked our hotel (Ana Cassia) to send us a taxi to pick us up at the airport. What an error!
Should you ever go to Manaus, never book at the Ana Cassia.
The lady driving the 'taxi' was a disguised travel agent. She started slowly asking questions about our plans in Manaus, as we were rather vague she became more insistent and when she understood we already had booked a stay in the Amazon forest she took her mobile phone and rang a colleague explaining it was not worth waiting as 'they' had already their
own reservations. She then focussed on things to do in Manaus, any trip she could do for us with her car, all at a discounted price. We wisely refused it all as it appeared later that a regular taxi was .. cheaper than her discounted prices.
On arrival at the hotel we realized that her travel agency was in the lobby of the hotel.
It was 2 o'clock and were hungry. The waiter in the rooftop restaurant of the hotel opened half an eye and kept doing nothing until we stood up, went to the bar and asked to be served. To be fair the heat (around 40 Celsius) was paralyzing. Any step or gesture was an effort and added more sweat to an already wet t-shirt.
Among the things we appreciated in Manaus are Alfândega , the Teatro Amazonas, the praça in front of it, the Museo do Indio and the excursion to the “Encontro das Aguas”.
The Alfândega is a customs house constructed at the height of the rubber boom in 1906 and prefabricated in England with stones from Scotland! It is a perfect illustration of the wealth of that city at that moment in history
and the madness that goes with it.
One of the jewels of the Amazon region, the Teatro Amazonas is another example of the that madness. Built during the Belle Epoque (1896) with the fortunes made from the extraction of rubber, it is a Renaissance style opera house. The building is beautiful with 36,000 colourful ceramic tiles imported from Alsace to make the cupola, the wooden floor is a masterpiece of craftsmanship with thousands of pieces of Amazon timber, the lobby furnished with Murano chandeliers from Venice and with French bronze work, the seats are made from English cast iron, the armchairs are made from local precious jacaranda wood and the outside balconies are built in finely cut Portuguese stone. This description is just to give you an idea of that strange thing in the middle of the Amazon. The good news is that the building is used very regularly for concerts and other cultural events. During our stay, preparations were going on for a film festival that was going to take place the following week. As a consequence guided visits were canceled. However we had the pleasure to watch for free a concert from the Teatro's chamber orchestra. It
was music from the film “The Hours” with scenes from the film projected in the background. It was a great experience and it gave us an opportunity to see this grand theatre.
The Praça São Sebastião in front of the Teatro Amazonas is a very nice public square with huge trees, some bars and terraces and quite often free open air concerts or even cinema. There are also some food stands where among others you can buy the local Tacaca, a soup with dried prawns.
It appeared that in and around the Teatro many cultural activities are taking place and financed by the local authorities.
The Museo do Indio is, in our opinion, the museum not to miss in Manaus. It was established by Salesian nuns and is based on their work in the Rio Negro region, The Tukano people are particularly well represented. A visit to this museum is an essential step to better understand the life and challenges of the indigenous peoples in the Amazon region. The craft shop is particularly attractive as it sells items made by the Indians.
A boat trip to the “Encontro das Aguas” is another thing not to miss while
in Manaus. As already said Manaus is situated on the Rio Negro. Just down the river, a few miles outside Manaus the Rio Negro meets the Rio Solimões (Amazon).It is from their junction that the river is really called Amazon.
With the help of a another tourist we met in the hotel lobby, we found a good and reliable barqueiro. He offered to take us to the 'meeting of the waters' and proposed a full day trip with some visits to the forest as well.
It was a small boat where we were joined by 3 people from Rio. On the way to the 'encontro' we could appreciate better the various activities on the river and the magic of it.
The Rio Negro comes from the northeastern Amazon region and is charged with decomposed plant life which gives it its black colour; its waters are warm. At the 'Encontro das Aguas' the Rio Negro meets the Rio Solimões which comes from the Andes, is light brown in colour and is charged with soil and silt; its waters are cold. When they meet it takes several kilometers for the waters to mix. It looks like two rivers flowing side by side.
It was great to be able to see this and to pass one's hand from one warm water to a much colder one.
Our barqueiro took us then into an arm of the Amazon where we could see some wild life, have lunch along the river and a first short hike in the forest. It certainly was a great day.
The next day we left Manaus for Silves, about 330Km from Manaus, in the middle of the forest.
Once back from Silves (please see next entry) we stayed another day in Manaus. This time we stayed at a much better and cheaper hotel, the hotel/hostel 10 de Julho, very close to the Teatro.
Unfortunately we could not visit the Mercado Municipal closed for transformations nor the Palácio Rio Negro closed for 'special events'.
As we had time we could visit the zoo which ended up being a good idea. It is the only place where you can still see Jaguars and other related felines. Boas and anacondas are also well represented as well as the protected araras.
At night we went to Ponta Negra, a modern developed area just outside Manaus, with a river front similar to
a developed beach area: high rise buildings with expensive apartments, a promenade along the shore, a multitude of restaurants and plenty of people walking around liking ice creams. It was a surprise, is this the future of the Amazon ? We reluctantly went for dinner to one of these restaurants offering dinners with a show. Although the show as such was better than expected it is frightening to imagine that the Amazon forest and the Indian cultures would one day be reduced to that. This kind of show pretending to be inspired by Indian dances and legends is a horrible reduction of what the Indians life and culture is (or was). We don't like this, but it seems to be part of a certain 'modernization' process. Is this not what happens everywhere?
The next day (9 November) we left for Belém and the Ilha de Marajo situated at the mouth of the Amazon river. We were looking forward to it and were not going to be disappointed.
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E.&Y. Deleu-Marrannes
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Vanuit Torhout
B.& R. Altijd blijverrast met het fotoverslag van de reis. We blijven er naar uitkijken, tot we jullie weer eens 'in corpore' in Torhout mogen ontvangen! Blijf het verder goed stellen! Groetjes van Yvette en mezelf.