Manaus (Brazil)

Flying into Boa Vista ( which means Nice View) in Brazil - as one of the only two options available for flights from Guyana this is the one I chose then realised that neither my guide book or any English based web site had any practical information - though this is quite a big city (250,000 population) in the middle of the Amazon it isn´t a main destination for foriegn tourists. All made more interesting with my lack of Portugese (and i hadn´t been able to pick up a phrase book in Guyana!!).

But still the warm welcome from the locals was re-assuring even if they couldn´t understand me at least I made them laugh....

Addicina was on my flight to Boa Vista and he had a few hours to kill before his next flight so he came into town with me and we grabbed some food at a local cafe wehre Clecie was working and using the few Portugese phrases listed in my guide book we were able to order some food!!

Boa Vista is a planned city with a radial plan - this monument to the workers was in the heart of the centre of town.

´There was not too much to do here but it was quite a relaxed atmosphere so I enjoyed just wandering around and seeing the place - despite the population there weren´t too many people about probably because it was the weekend. At one point an older man started talking to me and waving me towards him I had no idea what he was up to then he gave me a bag of fruit from his garden.......

Some local birds.

Chom Poo Moo enjoys a walk over the River Branco.

Sunday afternoon and the local guys were out fishing.

Dragonfly.

This fisherman was proud of his catch Catfish - which he wanted me to photograph!!

Even the local dogs wanted to pose for the tourist!

Chom Poo Moo was a bit worried with her first encounter of Brazilian wildlife but this Anteater realised that she was a little bigger than his normal diet.

Igreja Matriz - didn´t take me too long to work out that Igreja was Portugese for church - there are plenty of them around.

This Iguana grabs some papaya left out by the locals.

I hopped on my overnight bus to Manaus just as the sun was setting on Boa Vista.

Manaus is the capital city of The Amazon with a population of over 2 million people - more than double the population of the whole of Guyana!! Though surprisingly enough it doesn´t actually sit on the Rio Amzon but on the Rio Negro about 6km from where the Amazon starts. This is mainly a gateway for trips into the rainforest but quite an interesting city to spend some time as lots going on.....

The local market was full of taditional art and crafts from the Amazon area - if I tell you I bought a couple of these paintings as gifts are you hoping they are for you???

This market worker is having his afternoon siesta.

Not all markets in fact cities here are pretty well developed with plenty of shops but I was a little surprised to find C & A in the middle of the Amazon - especially as they went out of business in the UK many years ago now!! (and they seem to have big branches in a lot of cities here!!).

Not being a coffee drinker I haven´t been upset at the lack of Starbucks so far but then the locals get their caffeine hit from these coffee sellers - it looks pretty strong stuff and they load it up with sugar!!

Some nice old colonial buildings - this was the Palais Negra now the cultural centre.

Amazon street art (AKA Grafitti!!)

The Museu do Indio run by nuns who had some of the earliest missions out in the rainforests - as in most indegineous tribes nothing goes to waste - the armidillo shell is used as a carrying vessel after the animal is eaten!

I found this cemetery when I went out for a walk one afternoon and it was huge - as you can see the graves range from really basic to elaborate shrines and temples. Most were family plots with photo´s of all the deceased attached to the gravestone.

Some more views of Manaus - as you can see there is a mixture of old very basic buildings and houses and more modern high rises.

This has to be one of the steepest drives I´ve ever seen.......bet there glad it doesn´t get icy here!!

I liked this - the house isn´t finished but the shops open for business!!

I spent a bit more time in Manaus than I was expecting (both before and after my trip into the Rainforest - below) as I hadn´t realised the boats out of here were only on Wed & Fridays and the flights were too expensive (no roads to any other major city). Then to top it off the power supply here isn´t strong enough to re-charge my batteries for my MP3 player - so I bought some from this very friendly street stall.....well I have a four day trip on a boat coming up might need those batteries!!

Full moon over Manaus.

Despite the number of ATM´s in each bank there always seems to be huge queue´s of people withdrawing money - I am sure this is partly due to the limited places that accept Visa etc and the low withdrawel limit - but it seems to be the same in most cities I have been to so far!!

Not sure if this was a protest or political rally as I couldn´t understand a word but the guy with the loud speaker certainly had lots to say!!

The cobblers.....

I saw quite a few shops selling these very colourful kids clothes though I haven´t seen any actually wearing them!!

The Provincial Palace - this was a derilict building until renovations started a couple of years ago it now houses an interesting museum though according to my guide a lot of the money spent went into the politicians pockets!! Corruption here does still seem to be pretty standard.

The Teatro Amazonas - Opera House - built in the 1890´s during the rubber boom in Manaus with materials brought from Europe - even had some Scottish steel! I particularly liked the fire extinguisher!

Not all together sure if Coca Cola is sponsoring Jesus or the other way around here!!

As the main route of transport for passangers and goods the docks in Manaus were a lively place to spend a few hours.

The rainy season was all but finished when I got to Brazil thankfully as this has been a bad year in the north of the country - since records began there is only one recorded year - 1953 - that the water level was as high as this year. The streets and market area all around the docks in Manaus were still flooded - but that didn´t stop business here.

Barrow Boys.

An interesting way to sell shoes!

I passed the Cathedral as a service was on - no idea what it was for but it was full and the girls in the feather outfits were part of it - was interesting to watch though.