At 9:00am yesterday we arrived at Manaus, Brazil. Manaus lies a thousand miles upriver from the mouth of the Amazon, near the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes—the two major arteries that form the Amazon River. By 10:05am we were off the ship for our 14 hour excursion called the Elite Amazon Adventure. First a city tour around Manaus. See the photo of the Opera House built in the 19th century for the barons of the rubber trade.
Afterward we arrived at the ferry pier and boarded one of the river boats and headed East on the Amazon nearly 2 hours. En route we saw the Meeting of The Waters where the Rio Negro (black water) joins the Rio Solimoes (brown water). These waters don’t mix together for over 10 miles. Then, we turned off into a tributary and head upstream for another 45 minutes arriving at the Amazon Lodge. This lodge served as our headquarters for the day.
After a brief lunch we headed out on a jungle eco-walk. This was great except for the extreme heat and humidity. We got to see wildlife and learned a lot about the native plants and trees. The walk lasted about 1 ½ hours up through the jungle hills. Shown are a couple of photos from that walk.
Checkout the tarantula and yes, they did have to use machetes to cut through the jungle as we walked.
Following a cool down period we were off again, this time by canoe to a native village some 6 or 7 miles away.
The village only had about 5 houses and some out buildings. There we got to see the locals make manioc which is tapioca. Around the village were many birds called nest builders that make massive hanging nests. Shown here are some of the local children getting their late afternoon bath in the river.
On our trip back to the Amazon Lodge we diverted up many waterways through heavy jungle. Monkeys could be seen in the tree tops and several king fishers were spotted as we traveled in the canoe. Once back at the lodge we had dinner in the open thatched buildings by candle light. The lodge uses only torch light since they don’t have electricity. Just after dinner it started to rain and then a massive thunderstorm hit. We proceeded out to the canoes and headed off down the river to search for caimans. The further we went the heavier the rain and wind became. It continued to rain and blow for the next two hours and the lightning got closer all the time. Finally, the guides on the canoes cancelled the hunt for caimans and we made our way back to two riverboats in the river some 6 or more miles away. Everyone was totally drenched and cold by this time. As we boarded our riverboat, Cindy came face to face with a small four foot caiman.
This didn’t scare her at all because she was too cold and wet by now.
The riverboat crew had food, hot coffee and local juices for us. Everyone had brought a change of clothes, but the problem was where to change. Two small restrooms were about the only private areas available. Once everyone was onboard, we headed out for a 2 ½ hour riverboat trip back to the Royal Princess as the boat fought 6 knot current and heavy thunderstorms. But we were all now dry in our warm clothes and enjoying the trip back. The saga continues as we pulled up to the pier next to the Royal Princess. The rain intensified and we made a bad dash for the ship’s gangway. But of course, the ship’s security people held everyone up and most ended up wet all over again standing and waiting on the gangway outside the ship.
Now the logical question should be—would we do this excursion again? Yes…even though we got cold and wet, the day was a great adventure.
