Manaus and the jungle adventure

18^th – 23^rd Feb  The next leg of our journey took us by plane from the heat of Rio to the humidity of Manaus, capital of the Amazonas State and base for our jungle adventure.  For once we had reserved our accommodation over the internet from Rio so we were picked up from the airport and went straight to the Hotel 10^th Julho near the opera house.

  One of the reasons for our trip is that Hannah read a book called ‘Journey to the river sea’ about a little girl who ventures off to meet her relatives who own a rubber plantation in Manaus in the early 20^th century.  She has many adventures and upon returning to school is asked to recount them.  Taking a deep breath she simply says ‘you had to be there’.  This story, combined with a number of other factors helped us make the decision to go out into the world and ‘be there’.  Although our trip was a pilgrimage to honour the story it turned out to be one of the highlights so far. 

Manaus is a mix of traditional red tiled roofs and 20 storey tower blocks.  Many of the larger, older buildings have clearly been deteriorating for decades, although a restoration programme was initiated in 2001 and there is evidence that some of the historic buildings are being given new leases of life.  The Opera House, or Teatro Amazonas is a magnificent building and has been restored 4 times since it was completed in 1896 during the great rubber boom.  We took one of the daily tours of the inside which showed it to be immaculately maintained and something the city is clearly proud of.   The Teatro Amazonas dominates one side of the Praca Sao Sebastiao, a pleasant square with several bars and cafes and a place to relax on balmy evenings.  At night the Teatro is lit up and even more impressive.  On another side of the Praca is the church, Igreja Sao Sebastiao with one impressive bell tower.  There should have been two but the boat that was transporting it sunk and a lack of money prevented it being re-ordered.  Inside is one of the most amazing series of ceiling paintings I’ve ever seen and an alter made of ivory depicting two hands holding a water lily made of Brazil wood.          I’ve quite a lot to write about our brief time in the jungle so I’ll put pen to paper, so to speak, in a separate entry. On an entirely different tack I just wanted to let all our friends and family know that we think and talk about you often and we love you.