Amazon & Carnival Explorer Cruise - Day 41: Manaus, Brazil Day 2

Saturday, March 16

I slept very well last night and woke up feeling better, not perfect, but better.  After getting some breakfast in the Neptune Lounge, we decided to test just how well I felt and visit the central market in Manaus.  We got off the ship and caught the shuttle to the terminal.  From the terminal it was about a half mile walk to the market and even though it was quite warm, the walk wasn’t bad.  The streets and sidewalks were full of people with many vendors selling everything from food to trinkets along the way.

I would have liked to take some pictures along the way, but had been advised not to take my camera as large cameras are targets for being stolen.  We have been warned to be very careful of crime in all the Brazilian cities we have visited and Manaus is one of the most dangerous.  When we were leaving the ship, we met one couple coming back who said “don’t go, it’s terrible out there, we didn’t even want to leave the terminal”.  We thought “oh-oh”, but decided to press on and were glad we did.

As we walked to the market, it did look a little sketchy, but we never felt threatened, but I was glad I didn’t bring my camera.  Val brought her smaller camera in her bag so she was able to take some pictures in the market.  The market was huge; there were areas where you could by meat, herbs, fruits and vegetables, plants and the largest area where you could by everything else imaginable.



The back entrance to the market.

We start the walk back to the terminal.

We spent over an hour looking through the various stalls and Val found a few things she liked, but the only thing I bought was a hat.  I was beginning to feel the effects of the heat and walking, so we decided to return to the ship.  I’m sure Val would have like to have spent more time there, but I just wasn’t up to it today.

We made the walk back to the terminal through the throng of people and were soon on the shuttle heading to the ship.  Thankfully the shuttle had air conditioning as the temperature had gotten quite warm and of course there was the usual humidity.  That was one thing about the rain yesterday, after it stopped it wasn’t nearly so hot and was quite pleasant.

One of the shuttle buses returning to the ship form the terminal building.

Back on the ship I rested a while and then we went to the Lido for lunch.  I’m not quite back to normal, but feeling much better so hopefully I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.  After lunch it was more resting for me, but I grew bored and decided it was time to catch up on the blog so I spent a while doing that.

We departed Manaus at 5:00 and I decided to go up on deck to take some pictures of our sail away.  I ran into Tony and he told me that the tour yesterday was OK, but the rain made it difficult.  He said it rained very hard with a lot of wind and at one point there were some lightning strikes in the water around them.  The wind was making the waters pretty rough for a small boat so the guide thought it prudent to take shelter in the mangroves until the storm blew through.  The boat was covered and the rolled down plastic sheets on the sides, but Tony said they still got wet.  He said after that the tour was good, but it put a damper (so to speak) on the day.  Even with all of that, I still wish we could have gone as we were looking forward to the tour.

The bridge over the Rio Negro.

 

After talking to Tony and getting my pictures, it was time to get ready for dinner and the evening’s activities.  We went to trivia as usual in the Ocean Bar, but when we got there it was empty and one of the waiters told us they were having “mega trivia” in the showroom tonight.  Mega trivia has three times as many questions and utilizes the big screen in the showroom to show the questions both written and pictures.  No one else on our team was there and it was nearly time to start when they showed up; evidently we weren’t the only ones on our team who didn’t know about the change.  As I have said before, I am not a big fan of the team trivia, but I go to be with Val, but the mega trivia seemed to go on forever, I will draw the line at ever going to it again.

The trivia lasted so long we were late for dinner, but that doesn’t really matter and everything went as usual.  After dinner it was the casino, but I didn’t stay long as I was tired.  Val continued her winning ways, not winning a lot, but enough so her money lasts.  Tomorrow we will be in Parantins, Brazil.