Manaus, Brazil - Day 2

We finally were given permission to dock at about 9:00 in the evening so by 10:00 we were docked at the floating pier.

We got up at about 6:00 as we had a jungle riverboat excursion booked; it left right on time and was very easy since we were docked and the riverboat was only a couple hundred feet down the pier. It was a very nice two level boat with wooden bench seats built in instead of the plastic chairs used on some of the others which also double as river transportation for the locals. The chairs need to be moveable so they can hang their hammocks from the rafters above - we saw many of these go by filled with people in their hammocks…. Not a bad way to do it.

This tour was pleasant, but not great. We traveled up the Rio Negro for about 30 minutes and then docked at a floating restaurant, gift shop and piers. There we boarded smaller 10 person canoe-type boats for a ride into the smaller tributaries. We saw a few birds and one dolphin (for a brief second) and some of the giant lily pads and then returned to the floating pier for a return to the ship. On the way back we went out to the Meeting of the Waters where the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the brown muddy waters of the Amazon. It is interesting in that they don’t finally completely blend together for many miles downstream.

If we hadn’t done the wonderful river trip at Boca da Valeria this probably would have seemed better, but it really goes to show to take more advantage of the possibilities offered at local stops.

Tomorrow the Boi Bumba show.