Rio Negro

RIO NEGRO

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15: We quickly departed the ship and joined a group of 22 for a tour of the Rio Negro. We squeezed onto an elongated boat open on the sides but with an overhead sun cover. We passed under a 4 kilometre bridge which was very recently built at the narrowest point of the river.

We were told that we would be moving quickly upriver for about an hour. This was because we were to visit a site in the river where a few people each day were allowed to swim with the pink dolphins. We raced other boats upriver and everyone got wet from the spray. However, nobody minded as the temperature was approaching 95 degrees.

Only 7 of us chose to swim, perhaps because our guide told us just before arrival that he had spotted a 5-metre caiman (alligator) near there last week. When I stepped off the tiny platform I thought I was stepping onto the river bottom. Rather I was on a dolphin's back. The dolphins were being fed fish and whenever one got between the dophin and the man feeding them you were pushed aside and sometimes not too gently. Overall the experience was great and both Betty and I thought our 20-minute swim was a real highlight.

Heading back down river we stopped at an Indian village (one of the few that welcomes visitors). I had the feeling that I was in a Gaugin painting as we were met on shore by a young girl (perhaps 14) who was bare-breasted and wearing a grass skirt. Ushered to the lodge house we observed the smoking of piranhas and caiman and were treated to some "music" played on unrecognizable instruments. There were a few dances and then members of our group were invited to dance with the natives. First time I ever danced with a topless woman (at least in public).

Our next stop was at a rather primitive floating restaurant; so primitive in fact that the pots were being washed in the river. We were offered a buffet of many different kinds of mystery foods. Betty thought the food was not up to the ship's standards.

Following this we stopped at a fish farm where we were invited to "fish" for the protected species pirarucu. We "fished" with poles and 8 or 10 inch fish attached to our lines. However, there were no hooks so we simply fought the pirarucu for the bait. Naturally the pirarucu always won, as they were about 2 metres long, and weighed between 50 and 60 kilos.

Our final visit was to the confluence of the Rio Negro (black in color) and the Amazon (brown in color). We held our hands in the water and noticed the change in water temperature as we crossed the clear line marking the two waters, which don't mix for several miles. The water in the Negro was 28 or 29 degrees but only 24 or 25 in the Amazon.

On Friday night as we left Santarem on the Amazon we were asked to leave our balcony lights off and to not go outside. Our window was covered in insects. When we reached the Negro our guide told us there were no mosquitoes on this river. In the evening while docked at Manaus, which is 11 miles up the Rio Negro, we sat outside and had a pre-dinner glass of wine with nary a bug. Our guide told us that the absence of mosquitoes was because of the very high tannins in the black waters. Perhaps people should fill their swimming pools with Cabernet Sauvignon.

MANAUS: This city of two million was tremendously wealthy in the 1800's as it was the centre of the rubber boom. The rubber barons were so wealthy that they supposedly fed vintage wines to their horses and sent their laundry to Lisbon. The boom ended in 1910 when rubber trees were planted in groves in Indonesia (as opposed to individual trees spread through the Amazon). This allowed much more efficient gathering of the latex. After a long period of decline throughout the 1900's Manaus is now a major industrial and commercial centre for the entire Amazon area.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16: By the time we finished breakfast the temperature was 91 degrees; so we covered ourselves in sunscreen and walked into the city. I hoped to visit the opera house and within 20 minutes or so we had found it. In a city that gets very, very few English-speaking tourists we were surprised that there was a tour complete with an English-speaking guide. The opera house was completed in 1896 and built by the rubber barons who had unlimited wealth. Everything for construction was imported from Europe and it was the first theatre in the world to have electric lighting. The building is magnificent and although very different in style from the Sydney Opera House, it perhaps surpasses that site in beauty.

During the tour we were sitting on the main floor and the guide asked for a volunteer to sing something to demonstrate the acoustics. Betty volunteered me and I think I can rightfully claim to be the only person from Wedgewood Drive in Antigonish to have sung at the Manaus Opera House.

After the tour we did a little shopping as Betty had some very specific gifts to buy. When nobody speaks even a "Hello" in English, this can be a challenge, but in the end she was quite satisfied with her purchases.

DESTRUCTION OF THE RAIN FOREST: I mentioned in an earlier blog the extent of cutting in the Amazon. From the ship this can't be seen and the forest comes to the edge of the river everywhere. However, we can occasionally see plumes of smoke in the distance, presumably from the slash and burn techniques.