Manaus

Manaus is a large city, roughly 2 million people, in the middle of nowhere. It was the heart of the rubber industry until that went international in 1920, where upon it crashed. Some very impressive buildings remain from the boom, led by the opera house. This is a Lego model of the building, and a much better view of the exterior than we could get from the ground. The inside is beautiful and ornate, and still in use for operas, plays, dance, and even movies.

I wonder how "Smoke" would play here?














Other than that, it's basically a city. The Mercado (merchant area) was interesting, and shared the honor with the Opera House of being completely fabricated in several different countries in Europe, and shipped here for erection. I can't imagine doing that now, much less 100 years ago!






This weekend is the start of Carnival. While a destination for many, we felt lucky to make it out of town with our hearing intact. LOTS of drinking, dancing and noise! The only parade we happened by was an AIDS awareness demonstration (we think), where Margie traded a handbag she'd crochetted for a 6 pack of Brazilian condoms. Phil's afraid to ask why.






Our last day there we went on a boat excursion to Lake Janauary (not a mis-spelling), one of the many side channels to the mighty river. There we got to play with another baby sloth, and met the big brother to the cayman we caught earlier.














We've been talking about the change in river levels, and still find it impossible to really comprehend the magnitude. This sign is adjacent to the floating dock, and shows the peak flood levels by year. The only scale available in the picture is the 2 metter tall windows in the background.