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.

Amazon & Carnival Explorer Cruise - Day 40: Manaus, Brazil Day 1

Friday, March 15

Today we are in Manaus, which is the furthest port on our trip up the Amazon.  We docked at 10:00 AM, and we are here for two days.  Manaus is in the heart of the Amazon rain forest and is located where the Rio Negro River meets the Amazon.  It has a population of just over two million and is the largest city on the Amazon.  Because it is surrounded by rain forest, the only way in and out of the city is boat or airplane.  The city was founded in 1639 and because of its isolation, Manaus has been able to preserve both its natural environment as well as its culture.

We arrive in Manaus.

 

As we were docking, we were entertained by dancers.

 

Buses and boats for the ship's tours.

Today was one of those days that just doesn’t go right.  Val had arranged a private photo tour with a guide and a boat and we had been looking forward to it, but I woke up in the night not feeling well and barely slept after that.  We got up around 8:30 to get ready for the tour, but I realized that I just wasn’t going to make it.

I called Tony and Evelyn, the couple we had invited to go with us, and told them of the situation and thankfully they still wanted to go.  Val decided that if I wasn’t going she wasn’t going, but she still had to get off the boat and meet with our guide, Roldolpho.  She met Tony and Evelyn at the bottom of the gangway once the ship was cleared and  she took the shuttle to the terminal where they met Rodolpho.

Val explained the situation to Rodolpho and even though we weren’t going, we paid him for the day as he had already made the arrangements and we thought it only fair.  He was very understanding and appreciative of being paid and Val really liked him.  Tony and Evelyn went off with Rodolpho and Val got back on the shuttle and returned to the ship.

We were both very disappointed to miss the tour today, Val had spent a lot of time and effort arranging it and going back and forth with Rodolpho on the itinerary.  Unfortunately, these things happen so hopefully I’ll feel better tomorrow.

I spent the morning resting and Val read and watch what was happening outside from the balcony.  Around 11:00 it got very dark and cloudy and started to rain, and I mean really rain.  It rained for over an hour and I have never seen such a torrential rain that lasted that long.  You could barely see the city through the rain, and to add to the fun, there was lots of lightning and thunder.  We couldn’t help but wonder how Tony and Evelyn were making out in the rain.

Val went up to the Lido and got me something for lunch and even though I wasn’t very hungry, I did have to eat something.  We spent the rest of the afternoon doing nothing.  Val didn’t even go to trivia as she thought nobody would be there.  I didn’t feel well enough for our normal dinner routine so we skipped trivia and the dining room and just went up to the Lido and brought something back to our room.  I called it a very early night as I had very little sleep last night.  I am hoping for better things for our second day in Manaus tomorrow.

Amazon & Carnival Explorer Cruise - Day 39: Boca da Valeria, Brazil

Thursday, March 14

Today our port is Boca da Valeria which is a very small village of indigenous people located where the Valeria River joins the Amazon.  There is no real tourist infrastructure here with no restaurants, hotels or anything else.  The population is only around 120 and has about a dozen structures including houses, a church and a school.  Boca da Valeria is representative of many of the small villages along the Amazon and its tributaries.

Today is a tender port so we wanted to get up early and beat the crowds, as well as the midday heat and humidity.  We caught the tender around 8:30 and were on shore 15 minutes later.  They had warned us that the tender dock was very rickety, but it looked like some work had been done as there was new planking and it appeared very solid.

As you leave the tender dock, you were immediately surrounded by children wanting you to take their picture (for a dollar) or lead you somewhere in the village. As we walked along the riverfront there were many villagers selling various crafts, and many of them were wood, though we were warned that bringing would back from the Amazon area might be a customs violation.  Rather than chance it, we passed on the craft work.

There were a few young people dressed in native costume wanting you to take their picture for a donation.  There were also children holding turtles and sloths wanting you to take their pictures.  We contributed to the economy a bit and then reached the end of the pathway through the village.  We started back towards the tender dock and saw numerous boats and boatmen offering a tour of the area for $5 a person.  That was a bargain we couldn’t pass up and spent the next hour motoring and gliding through the floodplain.  It was very beautiful and interesting, and again hard to believe that this would all be dry land in six months.

Our boatman's wife pushes us off at the start of our boat ride.

 

This green foliage is floating as we proved when our boat stated plowing right through it in the picture below.

 

The Veendam anchored out in the main channel.

 

Our tour of the area is over.

After the boat ride, there wasn’t much else to do and it was starting to get pretty crowded with people from the ship so we headed for the tender dock.
There were very few people waiting so we were soon back on the ship.  It was only 10:30 when we got back to our cabin, so we had time to rest a while before lunch time.

We headed off to the Lido for lunch and ran into Tony and Evelyn who will be joining us on a photo tour tomorrow.  We sat down to lunch together and had an enjoyable conversation.  After lunch, Val and I went out on the Lido deck to see what the view was from the other side of the ship and found it much better than the view from our balcony as it faced the village area and cliffs along the Amazon.  The cliffs were something we hadn’t seen before as it seems like we see mostly jungle coming right up to the shoreline.

We returned to the room and Val read, but I had two days of the blog to catch up on so I went to work on that.  Around 3:00 Val and I went out on our balcony and watched us sail away from Boca da Valeria.  I can’t tell you how amazing it is to be sailing up the Amazon; we keep looking at each other and say “we’re on the Amazon River”.  We were very much looking forward to this part of the trip and it has met and exceeded our expectations.  The Amazon is both beautiful and awe inspiring because of its sheer immensity.

Tenders are heading back and forth from the ship to Boca da Valeria

These cliffs were an unusual sight on the Amazon, usually the jungle comes right down to the waterline.

Later in the afternoon, Val was off to trivia and I finished up the blog and then downloaded our photos from the day.  Val returned from trivia today with the good news that her team had won with a perfect score today.  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the river go by from our balcony and relaxing.

We did our usual dinner routine of trivia, dinner and the casino and called it a night.  Val was back to her winning ways tonight and even I had a good night for a change.  After the casino we returned to our room and after reading for a while we called in a night.  Tomorrow we will be in Manaus, the furthest port we visit on the Amazon.