Our second day in Manaus we awoke to rain. Stands to reason we would have some rain in the rain forest at some point. We spent the time in the faculty lounge Jack reading and I worked on yesterday’s photo. They have been uploaded to the webshots page http://community.webshots.com/user/pins4 Jack had a really good time on the caiman hunt and was certainly in his element as there was a young man about 14 who was very apprehensive about the whole thing so Jack sort of took him under his wing and explained what was going on and felt like he really helped the boy to have a good time. It appears the young man is traveling with his Mom and had no company on the tour. The photos are quite good for nighttime. Jack is becoming a good photographer with the digital camera.
Today after lunch we went into town and have some great photos of the buildings and prettier things of a very dirty and crowded city. Manaus is the wealthiest city in all of South America, but you sure cannot tell from the city streets. The markets are quite interesting so you will see some photos of them and we took a taxi to a very large hotel complex recommended by the ship people and had a nice walk through a mini zoo, a shopping arcade and a lovely jewelry store (one of my favorite places to shop). We stopped at the bar for a cold beer and had some wonderful fresh cashew nuts, locally grown.
Manaus has some very interesting features: Oil refineries, bank towers, and bustling traffic. Did you know, Nokia, Samsung, Sony and LG have plants here? Yep, right here in the heart of the rain forest. About the only distinction I could see between it and your average Western capital was that I never saw a single person on a cell phone. I know this will be hard to believe but Harley Davidson builds cycles here too.
Everything about the city is tied directly and inextricably to the mighty Amazon River. If you want to travel to anywhere else in Brazil from Manaus there are two ways...fly...or take the river. For the people who call Manaus home the Amazon River is their highway to the world. The pier is in downtown Manaus and even it is the most unique we have experienced. It is a floating pier, built in England and dragged across the Atlantic and up the river. Now, some may think that a floating pier is no big deal....but you don't find them big enough to tie up cargo or cruise ships. The floating pier completely changed the life of Manaus! The Amazon River level fluctuates twice a year. Check the photo of the high water marks. It is impossible to build a fixed pier that could function efficiently with water level changes so drastic.
Just to give you an idea of the local travel. It takes 5 days for them to go “down river” to Santarem. We are going to do it in 1 day and 9 hours on the ship. But it takes them 7 days to get back home to Manaus fighting the current. They buy a space on an open sided boat, much like the tour boat, to hang their hammock, which becomes their bed and chair for the duration. Some cook their own food others pay extra and have food provided. The trip costs about $100.00, which is 200.00 Brazilian.
From what I can see in just 2 days, it is not so great to be a middle or lower class citizen of Manaus but they all claim they are happy at least the ones we can talk to.
We leave Manaus tonight at 11pm and arrive next port Santarem around 8 am on 12/29.

I borrowed this photo from the Internet because it is such a pretty sunset on the Rio Negro.