Days 65 & 66
NOVEMBER 3-4, 2019
MANAUS, BRAZIL
Here we are in the fourth most dangerous city for solo tourists in the world. Oh, really?
https://www.theactivetimes.com/adventure/dangerous-cities-you-should-never-tour-alone
Nothing to fear if you are traveling in a crowd, apparently. My only question is, "Why is there a city of 2 million people in the jungle 1,500 km from the Atlantic Ocean?" These must be resilient folks as the rubber industry that spawned this city disappeared a century ago.
Driving around Manaus, the first things one notices are plenty, and I mean plenty, of abandoned and decrepit buildings, large and small, often covered in a black substance that could be mold; those buildings appear to have been that way for a very long time (why haven't they been demolished and replaced?). Other notable and ubiquitous features are chipped paint, damaged and cracked plaster, iron-barred windows, grafitti (and not the artistic kind), razor wire and a total absence of refinement. It did not feel inviting. In a word, Manaus is one podunk town.
On Sunday our group toured the small zoo - which happens to be owned by the military - what's with that? It seems there are many types of police or military in Brazil, and frankly I don't really want to go into that.
On Monday morning we strolled over to the indoor market. One building was strictly for meat vendors, another for fish, and a third for local knick-knacks and tee shirts. Not attractive.
That afternoon we were invited with ten other passengers to tour the Viking Sun's bridge. We learned a lot. Who woulda thought you could control a ship's direction with just a tiny joystick (hard to see, it's on the left side of the photo, beneath the red dot). The Captain (the one with the yellow shirt) was very instructive.
As the Viking Sun pulled out of Manaus at 6:00 PM, it was already dark. The city lights were, as always, a pretty sight. So, Karen and I spent a long time on our balcony enjoying the scenery. Meandering eastward on the Rio Negro the lights continued for several miles and, to our surprise, even grew more intense. It seemed as though we were passing an oil refinery, and then what looked like a nuclear power plant. The ambient light in the sky indicated that it likely was a city, possibly an extension of Manaus, the suburbs. That helps explain its 2.4 million population. What we had seen of the crumbling old downtown certainly didn't account for such a high number. It occurred to us that we had not really seen Manaus, we had merely visited a sliver, and a poor sliver at that, of a vibrant and growing city on the edge of the Amazon Rain Forest. I revoke my earlier assessment.
Several years ago at the Saturday market on Salt Spring Island I saw Brad Prevodoros playing beautiful music on his guitar so bought a couple of his albums. Since then he has written and recorded many other albums. The last time I saw Brad he was playing at Evedar's Bistro in Langford on a Friday evening. "Cafe Dezine" is one of my favourite pieces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONEuZd5g4Kw
MANAUS, BRAZIL
Here we are in the fourth most dangerous city for solo tourists in the world. Oh, really?
https://www.theactivetimes.com/adventure/dangerous-cities-you-should-never-tour-alone
Nothing to fear if you are traveling in a crowd, apparently. My only question is, "Why is there a city of 2 million people in the jungle 1,500 km from the Atlantic Ocean?" These must be resilient folks as the rubber industry that spawned this city disappeared a century ago.
Driving around Manaus, the first things one notices are plenty, and I mean plenty, of abandoned and decrepit buildings, large and small, often covered in a black substance that could be mold; those buildings appear to have been that way for a very long time (why haven't they been demolished and replaced?). Other notable and ubiquitous features are chipped paint, damaged and cracked plaster, iron-barred windows, grafitti (and not the artistic kind), razor wire and a total absence of refinement. It did not feel inviting. In a word, Manaus is one podunk town.
On Sunday our group toured the small zoo - which happens to be owned by the military - what's with that? It seems there are many types of police or military in Brazil, and frankly I don't really want to go into that.
On Monday morning we strolled over to the indoor market. One building was strictly for meat vendors, another for fish, and a third for local knick-knacks and tee shirts. Not attractive.
That afternoon we were invited with ten other passengers to tour the Viking Sun's bridge. We learned a lot. Who woulda thought you could control a ship's direction with just a tiny joystick (hard to see, it's on the left side of the photo, beneath the red dot). The Captain (the one with the yellow shirt) was very instructive.
As the Viking Sun pulled out of Manaus at 6:00 PM, it was already dark. The city lights were, as always, a pretty sight. So, Karen and I spent a long time on our balcony enjoying the scenery. Meandering eastward on the Rio Negro the lights continued for several miles and, to our surprise, even grew more intense. It seemed as though we were passing an oil refinery, and then what looked like a nuclear power plant. The ambient light in the sky indicated that it likely was a city, possibly an extension of Manaus, the suburbs. That helps explain its 2.4 million population. What we had seen of the crumbling old downtown certainly didn't account for such a high number. It occurred to us that we had not really seen Manaus, we had merely visited a sliver, and a poor sliver at that, of a vibrant and growing city on the edge of the Amazon Rain Forest. I revoke my earlier assessment.
Several years ago at the Saturday market on Salt Spring Island I saw Brad Prevodoros playing beautiful music on his guitar so bought a couple of his albums. Since then he has written and recorded many other albums. The last time I saw Brad he was playing at Evedar's Bistro in Langford on a Friday evening. "Cafe Dezine" is one of my favourite pieces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONEuZd5g4Kw
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