Manaus

The trip to Manaus was long, but definitely worth it. It’s beautiful here despite the fact that the city has declined and decayed since it’s hayday in the rubber boom of the 1800’s. The city positioned itself as the Paris of the Amazon, and it certainly succeeded. The buildings here are incredible, with an amazing opera house, where we’re seeing a free performance of Brasilian music tonight, and the glass and iron-wrought markets on the dock were designed by the same guy that designed the Eiffel Tower.

A lot of the people here are of native indian descent and everyone has been really friendly, with none of the dodginess I found in other Brasilian cities. On Saturday night, looking for something to do, we chanced upon the last thing I would have expected to find in the middle of the Amazon, a gay and travestite club. We had a great time and relished the break from local music, forro. Being tired, as usually, I called it a night at 3am.

The main reason people come to Manaus though is to organise trips to the jungle. The group has been slowly thinning out as people head off on their own trips, and today I booked one with the Swiss guys and a couple of Dutch girls. We’re going for 5 days, spending 2 nights in a lodge, 1 in a native house and 1 sleeping in the jungle itself. We’ll be doing the standard jungle trip things during the days, piranha fishing, canoeing up little channels, looking for animals and taking obscene amounts of photos.

It slipped my mind that my Brasilian visa runs out soon, so I’ll have to leave for Venezuela as soon as we get back. It’s a little more rushed than I was hoping, but I think it’s time for me to leave Brasil, so not a bad thing.

Some of the gang in the Teatro de Amazonas