Amazon River Adventure – Pt. 1
The Brazilian Amazon 2024 – The City of Manaus
Arrival in Manaus
Rihanni our translator as well as our arrival greeter was outside customs waiting for us with an Anglers Inn sign and met me with a smile on her face. She is there at any hour of the day or night waiting just for you. Yes, even at 3AM!
She is very personable and prompt, a great person. One of the best, she is really good and extremely helpful with people.
Tamara was our driver from the airport to the hotel, while she cannot speak English, she was professional, courteous & can exchange US currency for you on the spot. Also, can give guests the 110/220v transformer plugs upon arrival, so you can charge up that night in your room, this is one item everyone forgets, so it can be a lifesaver.
The Hotel
Excellent place to stay. All of the people were professional, easy to have a good relationship with and immensely helpful.
The rooms were comfortable, clean, spacious and the views of the city skyline were beautiful at night.
The pool was genuinely nice & clean, no towels or service was in attendance which is fine, but some towels left on the counter would have been perfect, so remember to bring your towel from your room.
The meeting of the rivers is represented everywhere in Manaus with alternating dark & light colors, usually dark & light blue as seen in this pool.
The breakfast was incredible, the buffet bar and staff are on top of their game and show their hospitality, kindness, and love of life with a smile in everything they do.
This wood sculpture (right) caught my eye and became one of my favorite pieces of artwork, as the Native people believe in the human/animal spirits being one in the same, living in harmony with each other.
There were many distinct types of artworks in the hotel lobby and breakfast area, such as this scene of a fisherman landing a Pirarucu or Arapaima (left).
Restaurants/Mall
Great Location for visitors to the Anglers Inn operation in Brazil. One of the nicest malls to go to and remarkably close and safe to walk to from the hotel. Several genuinely nice restaurants are located on the main street level for easy access, every shop from Gucci to Burger King inside, plus an indoor/outdoor rain forest to enjoy an ice cream or cocktail on the wood deck. You can even get a tattoo here if you want to, but my favorite store in the mall was the tackle shop.
If you forget ANYTHING you can purchase it here, say you need something like more lures, like I did, or bandages & salt solution, as an example, just in case you kiss a Boto, more to tell about that later.
City & Nature Tour
Erivando – the tour guide I hired was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about every topic and place we visited. He went above & beyond explaining all of my questions. I was trying to cover a lot of ground quickly to get me up to speed on the history, local people, culture, food, and environment, however, it would have been best to give myself 1 day’s rest in-between to get acclimated
Every place we visited he was well versed on and kept it interesting digging deeper into the culture and history of Brazil, especially Manaus. This tour is broken into 2 separate tours, a “city tour” & a “nature” or semi-Eco-tour.
During the City Tour we visited places from the world-famous Opera House where Pavarotti has performed as well as Mikail Baryshnikov and many American Rock Bands, the Government Building, Free Mason Building, Local Artisans, City Parks, to the World-Famous Fish and Vegetable Market, The Nature Museum
I learned that the Indigenous people, when passed on to the next world, would be put into clay urns and then buried, several which were on display in their original resting places, or how the tile in the park was alternate, or what is known as the Staccato Effect shown in black & white marble waves to demonstrate the “ Meeting of the Rivers” & in fact when staring at them for a short time you see the waves moving like a river as an optical illusion
Fountain from Hungary (below), all things like this were imported from Europe to make the colonizers/Rubber Barons, feel more at home
Notice the 2 black discs in the ground to the right of the fountain, they mark burial sights which are still underground right there.
Below is a famous fish & vegetable market in Manaus, everything under the sun is found here
Fountain from Hungary (below), all things like this were imported from Europe to make the colonizers/Rubber Barons, feel more at home
Notice the 2 black discs in the ground to the right of the fountain, they mark burial sights which are still underground right there.
Above fresh Surubi (Catfish) & Tambaqui (Pacu) The Tambaqui is one of my & the local favorites, they cook the ribs fried or grilled and they taste better than any pork or beef ribs, since Pacu’s are vegetarians, they only eat fruits & nuts fallen off the tree limbs which hang over the water, you can eat them without any meat guilt, lol
Arowana’s on the dinner plate? Not for me, as I had them in my fish tanks growing up and they are one of the most beautiful and favorite pet fish for me
A variety of fresh and tasty fishes at the World-Famous Manaus fish market
Pirarucu aka: Arapaima cured with salt and then rolled up for preservation, one of finest eating fish in the Amazon region
Every type of fresh vegetables, fruit & nuts known to man is found here many herbs and plants which I have never even heard of, one even tingle and numbs your tongue when chewed
Below are the marble “waves” I discussed earlier on – see how they create the feeling of movement, once again reflecting the “Meeting of the Waters” where the Amazon and the Rio Negro merge
A close up of the circular grave marking found in this particular park by, The Nature Museum, each urn was left where it was found to respect the Indigenous tribe buried there, they even made larger or smaller discs to ID babies from children or adults
Here is an underground urn, picture is taken from above thru a plexiglass floor, which is still intact, they were small people, so they fit easily into these clay urns which they hand made The city of Manaus came from their tribal name Manau, as they settled close to the city decades ago
Burial rituals were indeed important to them sending off their family members with everything they needed for the after life
The indigenous nature museum, the diverse flora & fauna were amazing to see all in one place. The largest leaves to the smallest nuts you have ever seen, think Jurassic Park but for real
All sorts of nut branches, medicinal plants, and fruits were on display at The Nature Museum, the displays demonstrated the ingenious ideas the local tribes produced in order to survive
Dugout canoe which was made by a slow burning of the tree trunk over months, step by step, layer by layer until it was completed
An incredible sized leaf representing the Fibonacci Code, shown by the veins in a circular pattern in this leaf spiraling outward from the center
Our nature walks into the Ju nary Ecological area to see the highly touted “GIANT” lily pads did not disappoint as they are the largest pads and most beautiful Lotus flower you have ever seen, they turn from white to pink from day to night, massive trees, monkeys, and birdlife all of which was viewed via a beautiful deck which ran over the jungle floor `
Then we had a quick native lunch, Pirarucu again for me, a visit to the village which was highly informative and a great spiritual experience as I noticed how they live in such harmony with nature. Even when surrounded by several million people a few miles away.
The roadways are water highways which are the main way of getting around all with most recent edition to the Lord Fleet of yachts. Oh, did I say, she IS the MOTHERSHIP of Mothership’s! You will see her a little later on…..
Giant Lily Pads in the Ju nary Ecological area, this particular Lotus flower changes colors to attract distinct types of insects for pollination
Yup, I am short, the dark line above my head is the high-water mark during the wet season
What a giant ancient magnificent tree, this tree has been standing here for centuries
Indigenous “restaurant” in the jungle, everything is fresh here, fish, pasta, fruit, nuts, and all sorts of vegetables
Buffet table, help yourself to all you can eat organically grown, never processed, and eaten fresh daily
Hot plates with a variety of delicious dishes, fish, rice, beans, pasta, soup on the river in the jungle
They go berserk fighting over the fish, while it does not last exceedingly long, when a big one engulfs the fish the direct weight, no bend in the tree limb “rod,” and unwillingness to let it go demonstrates their tenacity and well-deserved status as one of the top freshwater gamefish in the world, St. Croix should make this one!
Who’s got Whom? The mighty Arapaima always wins here, since we use no hooks, just a full baitfish tied mid bodied to rope on a heavy thick stick
Incredible rainforest in the middle of mall where you can have lunch or an ice-cream on the platform deck
Beautiful ground cover in every shade of green imaginable
Greenery from the ground covering ferns & mosses right up to the canopy of the rubber trees
