Manaus

Manaus is a crazy concept– a major city, partly European-style in a large jungle clearing. It was all about the rubber industry, which barely exists in Brazil anymore. It went into decline when an Englishman stole some seeds and took them to Malaysia to set up more economically successful plantations. The newly restored Teatro Amazonas is impressive and just like you would expect to find in any European capital city. In fact, the marble is Italian, the ironwork French and the pillars engineered in the UK. The square outside has a marble pavement, just like you might find in Italy or Spain. But there are still areas which they describe as ‘part of the culture of the area’, which look like slums to Europeans. And the floors in the opera house, the palace and the marble square are striped to symbolise the meeting of the waters.

There was also a visit to the central market, which had a variety of stalls, with many selling herbs, oils, spices and local remedies. Tourist police were much in evidence. To protect locals from tourists or tourists from locals? Some Silver Whisper guests have been mugged but TSH and Diva are being very careful.

Another boat tour to another ecological park provided sightings of some more unusual birds including hoatzin and a whole colony of egrets, with many of them sitting right at the top of the trees. Two small children in a canoe held up a caiman and a monkey. Monkeys were also seen at the village where TSH and Diva boarded the canoe – attracted by food put out by people in the village. The promised area of water-lilies – vast in the advertising literature - consists of a few square feet and a sad story about flooding, climate change and it being the wrong season. This was the main reason for Diva venturing onto a ten person canoe which (for her) was incredibly difficult to get in and out of.  There was also another visit to the ‘Meeting of the Waters’, which really is impressive. It was this tour that made TSH and Diva understand properly that the Amazon is a region with a number of large rivers, and which one is ‘the Amazon’ at any particular point is not always clear. One of the guides on this tour was the same guide who took David Beckham into the Amazon to film his recent TV documentary.

Because all themorning tours were late back and it was too rainy for lunch on deck, everyone descended on La Terrazza at once, so that TSH and Diva queued for food for the first time on this voyage. When the rain happens, it is extremely heavy but mostly of short duration and warm. One afternoon, a bedraggled small black and white bird with a long forked tail sheltered on the deck of the Silver Whisper for a while. One night, TSH and Diva went on deck after dinner and saw a distant storm, with plenty of lightning.

The Seven Seas Navigator was also docked in Manaus but Silver Whisper had a better berth closer to the city. Other features of the riverside include large numbers of vultures and a range of local ferries, which are heavily laden with people and goods. These ferries can be seen to contain large numbers of hammocks on open-sided decks. This is where people sleep on journeys which can take many days. The free wifi in the cruise terminal does not appear to work, or at least it is not compatible with any device owned by anyone from the Silver Whisper.

TSH turned barista and worked out how to make himself a coffee at the DIY station in the Observation Lounge – a lot of effort for a drink that would fit in a thimble.