Manaus

We got up at 6:00 to watch us sail by the “Meeting of the Waters”. The Amazon is formed by the confluence of 2 rivers – the Rio Negro and the Solomonas. The two rivers flow at different rates, are different temperatures, and have different levels of acidity so they do not merge immediately, but flow side by side for a while. Due to their difference in colours you can see the amazing phenomenon of the 2 rivers flowing side by side.

The front of deck 5, which is usually reserved for the crew, was made available to passengers, and we headed there just before sunrise to see the rivers. Dada, the port presenter, gave a very informative commentary about the meeting of the waters, and the river in general, and a helicopter buzzed overhead taking Cunard publicity shots – probably now available on a Facebook page near you. It was well worth getting up early to see, as was watching sunrise over the river, and watching us sail into Manaus.

After a quick breakfast we headed off on our Rio Negro boat cruise. When we got down the gangway I was handed a bead necklace, and there was loud music playing and someone dancing. I do like it when we get a decent welcome when we come ashore.

The boat tour left right from the dock, so that was convenient. There were steep stairs up to the 2^nd level of the tour boat, which was where the seating was. This was quite a challenge for several passengers, but they all made it up to the upper deck eventually. We headed out on the dark waters of the Rio Negro. I was happy to learn that because the water is very acidic, mosquitoes and other insects don’t like it, so it is relatively bug free. That does not mean we didn’t encounter many insects, but they were at a manageable level. The guide pointed out hooks on the ceiling of the boat. The boat used to be a ferry, and the hooks were for the passengers to hang up their hammocks as they made the journey of several days along the river.

We disembarked at a floating restaurant in Lake January and transferred to motorized canoes for the next part of the tour. Our first stop was to see the giant Victoria water lilies. They certainly were impressive, but I thought they would be even bigger and unfortunately none were flowering. We then motored around the lake observing the birdlife. We couldn’t head deep into the jungle as the river is at a low level which was also disappointing, but it was still a very interesting trip. At one stage we were met by children in canoes. Two were selling candy, one was holding a small caiman (with it’s jaw tied together with twine), and another had a sloth. The sloth was the most odd looking creature, who looked totally bored by the fact he was on show.

We then headed back to the floating restaurant and had a few minutes to look at local souvenirs. We had been given very strict instructions before we left QV that stuffed fish, wooden objects, bows and arrows, and blow guns would not be allowed on board QV. Well. That was all they had. I felt sorry for the vendors, the workmanship in the souvenirs looked very good, but no one was prepared to risk having them confiscated, so we all left empty handed, and re-embarked on the river boat. I was happy that we had not encountered any piranhas or anacondas, but was sorry we had not seen any pink dolphins.

We went back to look at the meeting of the waters. It actually looked more spectacular with the late morning lighting, and being closer to the water. We then headed back to the dock. Manaus must have the most unattractive waterfront that I have ever seen, and there does not seem to be any attempt to make it look less industrial and untidy. We saw several floating petrol stations, and ferries heading out – you could already see the passengers’ hammocks hanging up. Then we were back at the ship.

I had written down the name of a restaurant recommended by the Cruise Critic port information page and we decided to head there for lunch. It turned out that we were docked at the cargo dock, and we had to take a shuttle to the cruise terminal. It was a very short ride, and there were shuttles running constantly so it was not a problem.

There is free wifi and an information desk in the cruise terminal, and a small shop selling T shirts and souvenirs as a fundraiser, but that’s all.

We picked up another map and headed into town. Brian’s foot is on the mend, and he felt up to walking around. We were unable to locate the restaurant we wanted to go to, nor access the cathedral, so we decided to find a bank with an ATM so we could do some shopping. All seemed to be going well with the ATM until it became evident that our card had been denied. We had given our bank a copy of our itinerary, so that the fraud department would not be alarmed by potential foreign transactions, so we were not expecting this kind of rejection. Also it was excessively hot and I would have liked a Coke, but that was not to be.

We continued walk around and explore Manaus in the heat of the midday sun. Manaus is a strange mixture of modern buildings of unfortunate architecture, and beautiful old ornate buildings. Many of the latter are in a poor state of repair and it reminded me of Gerald Durrell’s description of their family home on Corfu in his book “My Family and Other Animals” – decaying splendour. I read the book when I living with my parents in Malta, and immediately related to these words. We were renting a house which must have looked quite splendid in the 1600s, but in 1962 it was coming apart. Beautiful, but decayed. Since then I have been particularly attracted to decaying splendour, and now here I was totally surrounded by it.

There was nothing decayed about the opera house however. It has recently been renovated and is splendour all the way. A magnificent building with a golden dome shimmering in the sunshine. A sight to be seen.

Manaus downtown was very busy, but had a nice vibe to it. The stores had their front doors open, so you received a blast of cold air-conditioned air as you walked by. Very welcome. They were all blasting out loud music and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Off of the main street there was a street market where I was hoping to find a cover up dress to wear to the pool if they would take a Visa card. Most of the shoppers were families, older couples, and very smartly dressed office workers. I noticed 3 police officers on motor bikes, and the first one stopped me and said “What do you think you are doing?” before I could reply “shopping”, he told me that this was a very dangerous place and that we had to leave immediately and head straight to the main street. I was inclined to tell him to get a grip, and that we have lived on the South Side of Chicago and know about danger, but a) he was extremely good looking, b) he spoke very good English and c) he had a gun. I decided to thank him for his advice, and we retraced our steps back to the main street and wandered over to the market. The market is in another beautiful old building, and is not only a thriving food and plant market, but has lots of little souvenir stores, and we were on the look out for T-shirts once more.

In the market I bumped into my friendly police officer again, who told me he was very happy that I was now in a safer place. Safer maybe, but no decent T-shirts or pool cover up dresses.

We had tried a couple more ATMs, but none would accept our card, and although we had seen a couple of restaurants, none looked like they would accept a Visa card, so we decided to head back to the ship to rehydrate. When we got back to the Cruise Terminal we found out that the souvenir shop had great T-shirts, and they accepted Visa, so we happily made our purchases.

We have been struggling greatly with the Internet on board, so after having a drink on the ship we returned to make use of the free wifi.

Ever since I heard at school that Manaus had an opera house I have thought it would be super cool to go there one day, but never really thought this could happen. Well, here we were with tickets for a concert in the theatre! Cunard had organized for the passengers to have exclusive use of the theater for the evening, and had arranged the daunting logistics of getting us to and from the theater in an organized manner.

It was Burns night on board, and we had had to give the on board festivities a miss so that we could go to the concert. However, I did want to acknowledge my Scottish heritage, so I wore a tartan sash and Brian wore a tartan tie. The people on the bus to the theater were impressed with our effort.

The theater is totally magnificent inside. Lots of marble and hard woods. The chandeliers are stunning. It is actually smaller than I had imagined, but still very impressive. We were seated in a box on the second level, right next to the stage. This would not have worked well for a play or an opera, but was perfect for the orchestra. One thing Cunard failed miserably was getting a program printed up, or at least a sheet of paper with the name of the conductor and orchestra, and their chosen music. This would not have been too difficult bearing in mind the amount of paper they waste on a daily basis, and would have been immensely helpful, and a wonderful keepsake.

The conductor introduced himself and told us the name of the orchestra, but he was very difficult to understand, so I have no idea of their names. They opened Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The other 3 pieces were by Brazilian composers, who had links to Manaus. I didn’t catch their names, but the music was beautiful, and I would love to be able to track down recordings of it. I have written a letter to the tour office requesting that they find out this information for us, as I am sure I am not the only passenger who was frustrated by the lack of communication.

Due to the concert we had missed dinner. We got back to the ship after 10:00, but there was still dinner available in the Lido – and a very good one it was too. Yes, they had haggis!

We had a great day in Manaus, a city I had never really thought I would get to visit. It is still hard to believe how incredibly lucky we are.