“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

Manaus is the most populous city in the Amazon basin and 1000 miles up the Amazon River from the Atlantic.

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Amazing Amazon, we didn’t think we’d actually see such a difference of color at the “Meeting of the Waters”. The water doesn’t mix for 4-5 miles down stream due to the different temperatures, PH balance and speed.

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Again 13 yr old photos. City market street side. Local fish mongers, dried fish rolls (like fish jerky), fruits and veggies plus much more.

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What do you call two monkeys that share an Amazon account?

Prime mates.

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The Teatro Amazonas,  Amazon Theater has a dome covered with 36,000 decorated ceramic tiles painted in the colors of the national flag of Brazil, and a bejeweled interior with gold, crystal and Italian marble and a beautiful facade.  It was chosen by Vogue magazine as one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world.  More than 120 years old, it represents the city’s heyday during the rubber boom. 

Along with the Palacio Rio Negro, built by an eccentric rubber baron, and a number of other European-style buildings, the city has earned the reputation as the “Paris of the Amazon”.

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Nautical Term ~ of the day ~ Touch and Go

This referred to the moment when a ship’s keel touched the bottom and deflected off again.

Again, these pictures were all taken in 2006. John went ashore without me this year and it was too difficult a walk for him, so only one or two new pictures. But we loved the beautiful and colorful city when we were there last.

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The lower city on the water was for the forts, docks and warehouses. Upper city for government and housing. For 3 centuries this was the busiest port in South America with sugar & gold. Picture on left is from 2006 and the same picture on the right is from 2019. Not much difference except in the quality of the camera!

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The above is the Barra Lighthouse at the San Antonio Fortress. Built to protect the Portuguese from Dutch attackers!

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“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown”

First let’s enjoy the jungle a bit. We didn’t go on tours this time except the city bus tour, but a jungle experience was offered. However, we so enjoyed the jungle tour we took 13 yrs ago when we were younger and able to do it that it is still one of our favorite trips if not the best. The photos of John’s piranha was put in the Santarem post, and I’ve added some more of our jungle experience here. The quote at the top was so true for us back then and also in Kenya.

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“Don’t listen to what they say, go see”  ~  Chinese Proverb

Paretins, Brazil is perhaps best known for its folk theatrical tradition known as Boi Bumba or “Bull Festival”. It’s performed by High School children, not professionals.

The kids make their own costumes and do so in a contest, as are the festive floats built by competing teams. Talented and artistic. During the play, which has continuous music being sung (in Portuguese), the many colored lights play a big role.

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“Not all who wander are lost!”

Founded in 1661, Santarem lies at the confluence of the Tapajos and Amazon Rivers. Both run along many miles in the front of the city, side by side, without mixing, called “the meeting of the waters”.   

The Amazon River has 1100 tributaries, 12 of which are over 930 miles long.  It is the World’s Second Longest River  ~  and if you don’t believe that, you are in “de-Nile”!!

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At the Casa de Farinha, an old cassava flour mill, we learned how latex is extracted and how the cassava root plant is peeled, shredded and squeezed dry, heated and somehow tapioca is extracted from that process somewhere. I really didn’t follow it all, but the farinha we all tasted was good as well as the treats they made from it and gave us to try.

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We visited a city museum, Centro Cultural João Fona, located in an 1853 building used before in its history as a City Hall, Municipal Courthouse and jail. The ceramic pieces were made by one of the most important indigenous tribes of the state of Para, the Tapajos Indians.

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An optional tour was offered to fish for Piranha! So here is our fishing trip photos  even though they were 13 yrs ago on the Rio Negro River by Manaus. Yes, it was cooked.

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“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.”  ~  Rudyard Kipling

While still in the Atlantic, we began seeing debris in the water of small branches, pieces of wood some of which were blackened and also a change of color of the water from blue to brown.  There was a noticeable odor of smoke.  We were told they practice a “slash and burn” procedure to convert forests to farmland, making a continual haze in the air.

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The river narrows in parts and the trees can be so tall they make a thick canopy (the top branches and leaves of the trees) leaving the Amazon floor in permanent darkness.  In fact, so thick that when it rains it takes around ten minutes for the water to reach the ground!

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Above, sunset on the river. Both taken of the same sunset.

Below, sunrise the next morning and river traffic later that day.

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The next three cities posted will be, Santarem, Parintins and Manaus, Brazil  which are on the Amazon River each showing more river pictures.

O-fish-ally on island time.

Part of French Guiana, the three Iles du Salut, or Islands of Salvation, were a much feared penal colony for the most notorious French criminals.  The movie “Papillon” tells of one such criminal. Too violent for me, I didn’t watch it.  

We went ashore but we didn’t walk to the prison. Too hot, humid, hilly and rocky.  I did try to get the monkeys to come out for a picture, but you’ll see they like the shade too!

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The easternmost of the Caribbean islands, Barbados is rich in British history and often called “Little England” for its lasting influence. Cricket matches and afternoon tea are common.  A bus tour took us past sugarcane fields and plantations.  

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Many of the islands are mostly Catholic, but Barbados is mostly  Anglican.  The below is the St James Parish Church originally built in the 1600’s. Originally wooden replaced by a stone structure after the hurricane of 1780.

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Since I told some friends I’d send photos of my birthday tea, I’ll take this time to add those along with a couple other misc. 

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Nautical Term ~ of the day ~ Pipe Down

This means “stop talking and be quiet”.  The “pipe down” was the last signal from the bosun’s pipe each day, which meant “lights out” and “silence”.

My mother used that term quite often for us girls at bedtime, and we knew what it meant!

Since we planned to not go ashore in San Juan, we thought you might like to see what the younger and more agile folks did in Old San Juan. The list below shows the options available to them.  

We did hike the city back in 1968 but because  we wanted black and white photos of the Fort and city, we were not thinking and took only black and white film photos.  While John was developing them himself, there was a goof somewhere and we lost ALL of them, never to have a photo of San Juan….   but we still have the memories, amazing!

Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

Its better to travel and get lost, than never to travel at all.

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2100 feet above sea level at the Mountain Top, home of the original banana daiquiri. It looks like they market the pirates who once lived on this island, like Blackbeard and Captain Kidd.