Blue Palm

28 June 2018:

We have been staying in a housing complex in Manaus. Some of these houses are very fancy, as is the landscaping. This blue palm seen in the front yard of the house is absolutely magnificent. I am told that it is equal in value to a new car.

We were supposed to fly from Manaus to Sao Paulo this afternoon, but our flight was cancelled. We will try again tonight. In the meantime, I have been catching up with my blog posts.

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World Cup Celebrations

27 June 2018:

We toured this small street in Manaus about 4 hours ahead of Brazil's third world cup match. It was well decorated, as you can see. Lily is seen here with her cousin Tjin Liong and his wife Dilma, who are our hosts in Manaus. 

Lily has been corresponding for years with their daughter Cheyanne. Cheyanne lives with her husband Charles and their three children in the same house with Tjin Liong and Dilma, and you have seen glimpses of them in earlier photos. They have been great. Cheyanne's brother Fabricio also lives here, and he can be seen with me in the jungle waterfall picture.

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Gruta do Refugio do Maruaga

26 June 2018:

You get a lot of pictures with this post. It was quite an adventure. We drove about 100 km north from Manaus, and then walked with a guide in about 1 km from the road to these sandstone cliffs and caves. I just had to take a shower...  

Just look at the size of that tree next to Lily!

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Meeting of the Rivers

25 June 2018:

On our last morning on board the ship we stopped at the meeting of the Rio Negro and the Amazon, just outside of Manaus. Both are very large rivers at this point. The Rio Negro is a much darker color, has high acidity due to tannins in the water, is quite warm, and flows at a slow rate (1 mph). The Rio Amazonas (the local name is the Solemoise) is brown in color, low acidity, is relatively  cooler, and flows at a much faster rate (3 mph). Rio Negro is the older river. Manus is on the Rio Negro. When they meet, the two rivers take many kilometers to merge because of the large difference in density. The boundary between the two rivers is clearly seen in these two pictures.

The local fresh water dolphins have learned a neat trick to gather fish to eat. The fish species in each river are quite specific to each because of the large differences in characteristics. I think especially because of the acidity (Ph of 4.3 vs. 7.2, if I remember). So fish in one river cannot breathe in the other. The dolphins, being air breathing, are not bothered by this difference. The dolphin use the river boundary as a fence, and herd the fish up against the boundary. The fish have two not very nice choices - asphyxiate or be eaten. We did see dolphin in the area, and in many other places at well, but did not see this feeding behavior.

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Afternoon visit to the souvenir shop

24 June 2018:

We had a last scenic boat ride through the small waterways off the Amazon, and then visited a local souvenir store that featured a giant lily pad garden in their back yard.

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Sunrise

24 June 2018:

Sunrise, as viewed from one the small boats.

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Trees of the Amazon

23 June 2018:

The morning and evening small boat rides in the byways at the edges of the river were very scenic. I particularly enjoyed the tropical trees. Here are three examples. The middle image in black and white is a very grand tree called the sumauma. It is huge!!!

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Iberostar (the ship)

23 June 2018:

Here are two pictures of the vessel. The cabins are on three main decks, with a formal dining room just below the first deck. We were on the second deck near the bow.

On the top is a small swimming pool and jacuzzi, as well as a big covered lounge area. We watched a number of world cup games from there. 

In general the ride was very smooth. We could not tell when the ship started moving or stopped moving, and the river is dead flat. At one point I watched water slosh back and forth as the ship settled at anchor in the river, and the bow went sideways a bit rapidly. That was kind of fun.

We ventured out at least twice a day in flat-bottomed skiffs that each held about 25 or so passengers. It was from one of the skiffs that I took the top picture as we returned to the mother ship. The skiffs were powered by two 115 horsepower outboard engines, and they really moved along.

Note the brown color of the Amazon - very silty, current runs at a good clip of 3 mph, and it is wide!

Zero mosquitoes except for a few on a jungle hike. We were happy about that!

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Setting Sail

22 June 2018:

We boarded out Amazon river cruise vessel in the late afternoon, and the ship left the dock at about 6:00 pm. It has a capacity of 150 passengers, and we were 90 in number for this three-night trip.  It is in reality a floating hotel.

Watching the river port city of Manaus disappear in the distance as the sun set was great!

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Waku Sese

21 June 2018:

Towards the end of the afternoon we had an appetizer at Waku Sese. This establishment looks like a coffee shop, but they specialize in a local fruit-like drink made from açaí. It is deep purple, almost black in color. The açaí berries or seeds are unique to the Amazon region. I had bananas and tapioca in mine. It was good!

Top picture: I have no idea who the woman is, but I liked the shot. In the bottom picture you can see Lily and I and two of our family hosts whose names I will not attempt to spell here.

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Teatro Amazonas

20 June 2018:

What a treat. We toured the grand opera house in Manaus, completed in 1896 by the very rich citizens of Manaus. The city was the center of the rubber trade at a time when they had the monopoly. It is very well preserved, and still in use. Here are a few of shots from that visit.

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Muralha Restaurant

20 June 2018:

A picture of the family at the family restaurant in Manus.

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Friday Night, Pier Plaza

8 June 2018:

I walked down to the pier area in the evening, we had very nice weather. The place was jumping!

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Thursday Evening Group Hike

7 June 2018:

The Sierra Club holds group hikes year-round in the Palos Verdes area. They last for two hours, and I really like them. This was the view from the rear of tonight's hike. This was the 'slow-moderate' group, but it isn't all that slow! There were over 30 people in this group. 

It was a very nice evening.

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Afters Ice Cream Stand

1 June 2018:

Lily and I needed to go up to Pasadena to get our yellow fever vaccinations (long story). We came across this rather unique ice cream stand in Pasadena at 1265 E. Green Street.

So, all you ice cream lovers, you might want to check this out on your next trip to Southern California! Apparently they specialize in off-the-beaten-path flavors.

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