Amazon and Manaus
Amazon river
Manaus
For the Capital of the Amazon Manaus has a surprising European feel about it. The stunning Opera House has been built with Italian marble, Scottish steel, French furniture and English China. In its hey day Caruso sang and Pavlova danced there. The city centre surrounding the Opera house has pavement cafes, elegant Colonial houses and cobbled streets. There is a rather sad zoo which is livened up by the spider monkeys and their antics. The enormous market is crowded with fruit and vegetables of every variety and a myriad of unusual fish beautifully displayed gazing at you with glassy eye.
An Amazon Adventure starts with the meeting of the waters where the black Rio Negro meets the coffee coloured Rio Solimoes. It is a bizarre sight because the rivers do not mingle but flow side by side due to the differences in temperature, velocity and density. Our days were spent canoeing down the massive Rio Negro in search of the many birds of the Amazon and the great Caimans while the pink and grey river dolphins darted, splashed and swam alongside us. We hiked through the Amazonian jungle in search of Puma, Jaguars and monkeys.
Our nights were spent listening to the howler monkeys overhead and the smooth waters of the river lapping the shore while the chattering parrots woke us up at sunrise with their non stop screeching.
