The City of Manaus

The City of Manaus in the state of Amazonia, Brazil
We arrived at our furtherest destination around 11 am 12/26/08. As we step outside onto the deck our first impression is Busy and hot. We stood on the deck watching Manaus, (man/ouse-stress on the last syllable, rhymes with "mouse"), is a most interesting city. It appears from a distance to be very old European in style and design, but, at the same time very Brazilian and colorful. I am looking forward to exploring it on our own tomorrow.
We are off on a tour this afternoon to the “Meeting of the Waters” where 2 distinct rivers meet and yet do not merge.
Manaus, in fact, is not on the Amazon River, but rather the Rio Negro River. The two rivers join together about 9 miles east, (down stream) from Manaus. Now, here is the cool part, .the Rio Negro is, as one might guess, black in color, and is much cooler in temperature than the Amazon River. Rio Negro is black because it drains a different part of Brazil picking up a lot of vegetation and travels over different rock and soil than the Amazon, so its silt is a different composition. The Amazon on the other hand is the color of milk chocolate. It is shallower than the Rio Negro so it is warmer, and it moves more slowly picking up vegetation matter that rots along with reddish soil that gives the water its color as it travels from the Andes Mountains. This is a aerial photo of the meeting of the waters that was provided for us on the ships computers. Down stream, as we approached Manaus, we could see the colors being broken up but still not mixing until much further down as the temperatures began to match.

Our tour consisted of a trip in a very narrow canoe into a part of the jungle that is a preserve to see many familiar and not so familiar birds, but no creatures other than some children who approached us in their canoes to have us hold their “pets”… a sloth, an anaconda and a couple monkeys. We were already warned to not be tempted so we were all good little children and obeyed. Next was a short trek through a jungle path raised on stilts to view some very large water lilies. These lily pads would put our South Carolina lilies to shame. The leaves are 3-6 feet in diameter and very strong. The flowers start out white with the male stamen being prominent, but by day three the flower is pink and all feminine. It then dies and reproduces another flower. We have some lovely photos I will upload tomorrow as Jack has the camera and he is off on an alligator (caiman) hunt this evening. So that is the new and different for today. Good night and more tomorrow.