The 10 foot fish. It wouldn't go in the text where I wanted it.
A model of the Opera House made with Legos.Tuesday, January 13 and Wednesday January 14 Manaus, Brazil
In the middle of the rainforest, along the banks of the Rio Negro, lies Manaus, a city of approximately two million people. The original settlement was founded as supply port at the junction of the of the Rio Solimoes (the Amazon) and the Rio Negro. The population rise and early prosperity of the area was a result of the rubber industry.

Manaus from our ship
The industry was controlled by the German rubber barons who built enormous, extravagant homes. The rubber barons were so wealthy they had their laundry sent to Paris. It wasn't an overnight flight in those days so you can imagine how many changes of clothes they needed.
As the rubber industry grew, slaves were brought in to gather the "sap" from trees. Gathering the latex was extremely difficult. Slaves were brought in to climb 50 or more feet into the trees, cut a slash, place a catch cup under it the slash and then move on to the next tree; cutting hundreds in a day. The cutting was done at night and in the morning the tree would be re-climbed, the cup's contents collected, heated over a fire in the forest to form a ball and then stored until enough was gathered to be shipped down river.
The extremely wealthy of Manaus decided they would build an opera house both for their entertainment and to show off their wealth. Every material necessary for the construction was imported, including three kinds of marble from Italy and chandaliers of Marrano glass.
The elegant opera house or Teatro Amazonas took 17 years to build and earned Manaus the title Little Paris of the Jungle. The audience soon discovered that noise from the carriages as they arrived after the performance had started. was distracting. The solution was to dig up the road in front of the opera house, mix rubber and cement into bricks and relay the roadway.
They next discovered that it was incredibly hot and humid inside so they installed fans in the theatre. Another distraction ---the noise from the fans. Solution --pipes were installed in the floor between the rows of seats. Air from large fans located outside was then forced through the pipes. Unfortunately, the air being forced in was at least as hot if not hotter than the air inside. Solution --have the ships down river make blocks of ice, transport the ice up the river and placed it in front of the fans.
The opera house holds 701 people, has an very palatial foyer which was used by the governor for cocktail parties and receptions. There is a lavish room upstairs with very large mirrors, chandeliers and a painted ceiling. No matter where you stand in the room the gaze of one of the women in the ceiling painting follows you. The floors in parts of the building are alternating dark and light woods signifying the meeting of the waters. It has been refurbished twice, the last time in 1990.
A model of the Opera House built from millions of legos.
Rubber trees were only found in the Amazon until an Englishman named Wickham stole 7, 000 rubber tree seeds and took them to London. Eventually the small trees grown from the pilfered seeds were sent to Malaysia and the rubber industry in Manaus collapsed. And along with it, the wealth.
Back then Manaus was, and still is, a city surrounded by the rain forest and cut off from
the rest of Brazil. In spite of the thousands of cars, trucks and busses, there are no roads into the city and no roads out. Until airplanes, the only means of getting in or out was by boat. Today there are over 90 thousand boats plying the river between other cities and tiny villages.
We watched ferries of all sizes come and go loaded with people and their possessions. We could have spent our entire time in Manaus watching ferries being loaded with everything from truck loads of beer to toilets. And it was all done by hand with the exception of two or three two wheel dollies. Depending on the destination, the trip up or down the river can take days. People hang hammocks for sleeping, bring domestic and farm animals on board, eat, cook and do whatever else they have to. Nothing like our cruise ship with all its amenities.
Our first day in Manaus we walked portions of the city. And found sneakers! Our ship and many of the larger ferries dock at a floating dock which rises and falls with the level of the river. A large section of wall is painted with the water levels for various years.
Manaus reminded us of cities in Asia. Streets were lined with stalls selling everything from hair products to CDs to cobbler services to Brazil's version of fast food. Because of the climate wooden buildings decay rapidly while stucco or concrete buildings turn a moldy green. There are modern high rises and falling down shacks all in the same block.
Traffic is horrendous! On a tour it took us about 30 minutes to travel less than a mile.
After lunch we took a free shuttle provided by H. Sterns, a large jewelry company in South America. It gave us a chance to see the city and visit the Tropical Hotel about 40 minutes away. Just after we arrived at the hotel, the rains came down, and down, and down. Thunder and lightening and torrents of rain.
In the evening, the ship hosted a folkloric show----very energetic, colorful and loud.
For the second day we had booked a shore excursion with Cruise Specialists. Under umbrellas we boarded a comfortable bus and took off to see the Opera House. Then it was on to the Palacio Rio Negro, the private residence of a rubber baron and later government offices. One man
and his wife lived in the house and their 22 servants were housed next door.
In the still heavy rain and heavier traffic our bus crawled to the market. What a place! The first section was the wholesale fruit and vegetable market. We saw bananas 14-15” long, millions
of watermelons, and every fruit and vegetables imaginable and then some. Our great guide
explained the exotic fruits and vegetables and then took us across the street to the fish market. One interesting fish was the peacock fish. It has a large circle on its tail very much like a peacock feather. According to our guide, it swims backward toward a school of smaller fish who think the circle is an eye.
Another unusual fish had a name I can't remember but it grows up 10 feet. It has no bones but a few in the tail. Some of the meat is eaten fresh, some salted and dried and the scales made into nail files.

This is one of the ten foot fish hanging in the market.
Our excursion ended with us wet and weary back at the ship. And much more informed about Manaus and the rubber industry.
In the middle of the rainforest, along the banks of the Rio Negro, lies Manaus, a city of approximately two million people. The original settlement was founded as supply port at the junction of the of the Rio Solimoes (the Amazon) and the Rio Negro. The population rise and early prosperity of the area was a result of the rubber industry.

Manaus from our ship
The industry was controlled by the German rubber barons who built enormous, extravagant homes. The rubber barons were so wealthy they had their laundry sent to Paris. It wasn't an overnight flight in those days so you can imagine how many changes of clothes they needed.
As the rubber industry grew, slaves were brought in to gather the "sap" from trees. Gathering the latex was extremely difficult. Slaves were brought in to climb 50 or more feet into the trees, cut a slash, place a catch cup under it the slash and then move on to the next tree; cutting hundreds in a day. The cutting was done at night and in the morning the tree would be re-climbed, the cup's contents collected, heated over a fire in the forest to form a ball and then stored until enough was gathered to be shipped down river.
The extremely wealthy of Manaus decided they would build an opera house both for their entertainment and to show off their wealth. Every material necessary for the construction was imported, including three kinds of marble from Italy and chandaliers of Marrano glass.
The elegant opera house or Teatro Amazonas took 17 years to build and earned Manaus the title Little Paris of the Jungle. The audience soon discovered that noise from the carriages as they arrived after the performance had started. was distracting. The solution was to dig up the road in front of the opera house, mix rubber and cement into bricks and relay the roadway.
They next discovered that it was incredibly hot and humid inside so they installed fans in the theatre. Another distraction ---the noise from the fans. Solution --pipes were installed in the floor between the rows of seats. Air from large fans located outside was then forced through the pipes. Unfortunately, the air being forced in was at least as hot if not hotter than the air inside. Solution --have the ships down river make blocks of ice, transport the ice up the river and placed it in front of the fans.
The opera house holds 701 people, has an very palatial foyer which was used by the governor for cocktail parties and receptions. There is a lavish room upstairs with very large mirrors, chandeliers and a painted ceiling. No matter where you stand in the room the gaze of one of the women in the ceiling painting follows you. The floors in parts of the building are alternating dark and light woods signifying the meeting of the waters. It has been refurbished twice, the last time in 1990.
A model of the Opera House built from millions of legos.
Rubber trees were only found in the Amazon until an Englishman named Wickham stole 7, 000 rubber tree seeds and took them to London. Eventually the small trees grown from the pilfered seeds were sent to Malaysia and the rubber industry in Manaus collapsed. And along with it, the wealth.
Back then Manaus was, and still is, a city surrounded by the rain forest and cut off from
the rest of Brazil. In spite of the thousands of cars, trucks and busses, there are no roads into the city and no roads out. Until airplanes, the only means of getting in or out was by boat. Today there are over 90 thousand boats plying the river between other cities and tiny villages.
We watched ferries of all sizes come and go loaded with people and their possessions. We could have spent our entire time in Manaus watching ferries being loaded with everything from truck loads of beer to toilets. And it was all done by hand with the exception of two or three two wheel dollies. Depending on the destination, the trip up or down the river can take days. People hang hammocks for sleeping, bring domestic and farm animals on board, eat, cook and do whatever else they have to. Nothing like our cruise ship with all its amenities.
Our first day in Manaus we walked portions of the city. And found sneakers! Our ship and many of the larger ferries dock at a floating dock which rises and falls with the level of the river. A large section of wall is painted with the water levels for various years.
Manaus reminded us of cities in Asia. Streets were lined with stalls selling everything from hair products to CDs to cobbler services to Brazil's version of fast food. Because of the climate wooden buildings decay rapidly while stucco or concrete buildings turn a moldy green. There are modern high rises and falling down shacks all in the same block.
Traffic is horrendous! On a tour it took us about 30 minutes to travel less than a mile.
After lunch we took a free shuttle provided by H. Sterns, a large jewelry company in South America. It gave us a chance to see the city and visit the Tropical Hotel about 40 minutes away. Just after we arrived at the hotel, the rains came down, and down, and down. Thunder and lightening and torrents of rain.
In the evening, the ship hosted a folkloric show----very energetic, colorful and loud.
For the second day we had booked a shore excursion with Cruise Specialists. Under umbrellas we boarded a comfortable bus and took off to see the Opera House. Then it was on to the Palacio Rio Negro, the private residence of a rubber baron and later government offices. One man
and his wife lived in the house and their 22 servants were housed next door.
In the still heavy rain and heavier traffic our bus crawled to the market. What a place! The first section was the wholesale fruit and vegetable market. We saw bananas 14-15” long, millions
of watermelons, and every fruit and vegetables imaginable and then some. Our great guide
explained the exotic fruits and vegetables and then took us across the street to the fish market. One interesting fish was the peacock fish. It has a large circle on its tail very much like a peacock feather. According to our guide, it swims backward toward a school of smaller fish who think the circle is an eye.
Another unusual fish had a name I can't remember but it grows up 10 feet. It has no bones but a few in the tail. Some of the meat is eaten fresh, some salted and dried and the scales made into nail files.

This is one of the ten foot fish hanging in the market.
Our excursion ended with us wet and weary back at the ship. And much more informed about Manaus and the rubber industry.
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