Another early rising was complimented by a canoe cruise at dawn to spot wildlife. It is amazing how many animals and birds that are that you can only see at night. What looks like a deserted sky and riverbank during the day is teaming with birds, frogs, and critters at night. The morning cruise took us up yet another tributary of the Amazon well into the jungle. We ended a few hours later back at the boat for breakfast and a short briefing.
During breakfast we headed back down the Amazon toward Manaus. Around 10 Am we stopped at a dock and were told we would be taking a walk through the jungle-to wear closed toed shoes and be ready for some amazing sights. We landed and disembarked walking a long suspended walkway from the boat to the shore. Once on shore we passed a traditional meeting shed that was supplied with a small gift shop and quickly into the forest. It was raining steadily and the path was quite muddy. It did not take long to be in the depth of the jungle and we were warned to look where we placed our feet and stay in a uniform line behind Wayne. Was this part of the mystic he was building or was he serious? We would soon discover just how serious.
We past several small ponds before coming into sight of huge, REALLY HUGE, lily pads. These were at least five to six feet across and the blooms were both white and red. Truly beautiful and unspoiled we took several turns at venturing to the ponds edge to take photos under the watchful eye of our guide. Then it was further into the forest where Tom almost stepped on a vine crossing the path that was moving…yikes!
We were introduced to several species of plants and trees and discovered a huge tree whose name escapes me that was several hundred feet tall with buttressed roots that fanned out at the base. It was amazing. We had to bushwhack through some grown over parts of the trail. That was a bit unnerving however since the canopy was so dense there was not that much ground cover so we could at least see where we were walking! We ended our jungle walk once again wet and exhilarated, visiting the gift shop where many of us bought some native crafts and such, and then returned to the boat.
We continued to cruise back toward and past Manaus and had lunch during the process. Lunch was interrupted as we crossed over the meeting of the waters once again and left the table to take more photos and marvel at the phenomenon. This time we passed very close to the port of Manaus and were close enough to see the huge boat yards where dozens of barges the size of football fields were being built. It was easy to see why the main industry of this city is transport of goods.
Once past the city were again on the Rio Negro and its mysterious black water. A bit more up river and we pulled over and anchored on a beautiful white sand beach. There we were told we could swim and one by one we dove into the black water and enjoyed two hours of frolicking in the water and walking on the sand. Several of the ladies opted to shampoo their hair and we all had a great bath with lots of soap in the interestingly dark tea colored water. A few of us took turns driving from the decks of the boats and mysteriously a few swimsuits were lost in the effort and thus we added a short skinny-dipping element to our swim day…smile. Keep in mind that the average age of the group is 64 so none were too impressed one way or the other…laugh.
During our visit to the beach and our swim a local lady, quite elderly came up the beach yelling and screaming at the captain and crew. You see, this was “her” beach and she was very angry that were enjoying “her” river and moored to “her” beach. We were all amused at the spectacle as the crew and Wayne tried to reason, and even pay her, simply to set her on her way, but she would have nothing of bribes. Eventually Wayne “waive” her off with a familiar hand gesture and off we went further upstream.
The afternoon was filled with plenty of time to relax and enjoy the views as we ventured further up the Rio Negro and further away from any signs of civilization. We eventually entered another tributary about 100 miles east of Manaus and anchored. We enjoyed an early dinner this evening and then boarded our canoe once again for a night safari to look for SNAKES!
Well, we didn’t find any snakes but plenty of everything else including more Cayman. The night cruise was comfortable and the day’s heat was gone and so was the rain. We returned late to the boat and into bed for a great night’s sleep.
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