Todaywe are at Manaus, a very large cityy, I believe our tour guide today said it is the 4th largest city in Brazil. We also learned that it has been proven that the Amazon River is the longest river
in the world. It is 6696 Klm in length; while the Nile is 6400 Klm. long. The Amazon River starts in the snow mountains of Peru. The Rio Negro and the Amazon Rivers flow along for miles together,seperately. The Rio Negro River is not changing as it is
a much older river, while the Amazon is constantly changing.
In the Amazon, new Islands are constantly appearing and then some Islands are disappearing.. It is because new sandbars are forming
and then debree that is carried down river collects and Islands form. Then when the floods come from the rainy season some Islands disappear altogether..
In the Rio Negro River there are about
500 different kind's of fish. while in the Amazon (which is running alongside) there are 2000 species of fish. In both rivers you can find places that are 100 meters deep and then places where it is very shallow. We do not see any animals along the river
as they are in hiding and only come out at night to drink.
Our tour today was on a large 2 tier boat, we sat on the top tier which had a roof. Just after we set out a shower came and poured down
on us for about 4 or 5 minutes. Just as we were able to get the side curtains down the rain stopped so some of the passengers helped the Guide roll the curtains back up. The rain did cool down the temperature a bit,; maybe a degree or two. After about
an hour and a half along the River we went into an inlet where we got off that boat and divided into 10 passengers and boarded motorized canoes. From here we went farther inland. Our guide Marco on the larger boat also went with us in the canoe.
We canoed around a National Ecological Park where we saw lot's and lot's of beautiful white Egrets ( I must have taken almost 100 pictures of them alone) which are so graceful looking both standing
and flying. We were able to see the very large Water Lily Pads. Their seaon is just starting so we did not get to see their flowers; but I was just happy to get to see what we did..
As soon as
we came around one corner a little boy jumped in his canoe and came paddeling after us as fast as he could, then we saw his mother jump into another canoe with a smaller son and each little boy had baby aligators to show us for , you guessed it, $1.00. So
we did take their pictures. The smaller little guy was so cute. I gave the dollar to his mother and he took it right from her and was so proud of the dollar he made; I thought he was going to lose it over the side. Another older boy from another family brought
along a Sloth, and the guide took it and held it up so we could all see it and of course snap pictures of it.
The houses were either built up in the air on poles like stilts or were floating houses
that were tied to trees and then when the rainy season comes they can float up with the water level. Even some of those on stilts had been flooded out by the raising waters, as we could see the water marks; some even up above their windows. One of these we
saw was also sitting on a hill.
Our tour today lasted a little over 4 hours and we reboarded the larger boat to get back to the ship. We were past our dining time so we went right to the Lido
for our dinner tonight along with Eric and Priscilla. Our other dining companions, Rein & Judy and Roger and Sandra decided to chance it and they did get to sit in the Dining Room, even at our table, as most people had just gone to the Lido since there
were so many on tours. Our particular tour had 5 or 6 large boats of 30 passengers to a boat.
Afterall that we are tired out and yet I could go on and on and bore you all to death; but I won't.
When we have faster internet I will post photos here ,but they take a while to download and the minutes are rather expensive., so come back to view my photos.
in the meantime have a good day.