Date: 14 – 16TH December
Transport: Riverboat Apurissaua – transfer to Pousada Chez Les Rois, Manaus
Location: ‘Coffee and Cream’ The mixing of the waters of the Amazon
Preparation for home
Morale: Tired otherwise excellent!
Narrative: Marc Shaw – Expedition Leader
Photographs: Clare Shaw
Kerris' footprint next to that of a large bird
The sounds of early morning laughter from an Expedition Crew still chortling about the caiman urinating on me lead me to a happy gathering a breakfast. There is nothing too much to say, really… Such is the silly energy that we all now have as we are starting to think more and more of home and Christmas.
Another breakfast of breads, fruit, eggs from Saba and Miguel (our cooks) in the kitchen announce the last day that we will be on Apurissaua. Today we transfer to the delightful Pousada in Manaus for our last couple of days here. Gosh, it is hard to imagine that 5 weeks has gone so quickly. So much travel and so much accomplished, both individually and as a group.
Cara, Clare and Kerris with our cook, Saba
But, I am jumping ahead a little for the day has only just begun. We had camped overnight near a lake down near Manaus– where the Rio Negro joins to the Rio Solimoes. A lovely location with its greens and blues and bird-songs and its quietness at night. A lot of people live here, in comparison to the northern reaches of the Rio Negro from whence we have come. Being near Manaus, there is evidence of a more affluent living standard. Nevertheless, it is all relative, because we saw a lot of poverty down in this region also. No doubt that where there are people, then the range of living standards varies according to personal means and application.
A local woman with her pet monkey
For all that, however, there is not the pollution that I would otherwise have expected from such a varied population. Oh yes, there were folk living on the edge of the river and there were communities living on boats in minor reference to the canals of Venice. Well, not really, but you get the idea. Folk living on houseboats and who have jobs, or not, on the nearby land bridges.
Local water houses
The thought of such living is very attractive, and Miguel gets out API 2 and we motor along the canals and look at how folk survive. Down here, in this part of theRio Negro and Rio Solimoes, there are more tourists than in our reaches of the rivers and so folk are a little less inclined to be so friendly to our voyeurism.
Stuffed Pirana sculpture
Houses on stilts, houses on floats, houses on a bit of both sorts of construction. A church, houses with aquatic gardens and a few bars still empty at the noon hour – but not by much. It is starting to get hot and soon the boys, and not a few girls, will be stopping for a ‘cleansing ale’ to ‘cool down the fettered and glistening brow’. Its nice to watch, but we don’t stare. That has not been part of our observation. The folk are friendly and always have a wave or a ‘hola’ to throw at us with a smile. This is one of the things that I like about this region. The people. Of course it is cliqued to say it. All travellers say this, but then isn’t that great that a great region also has people who are remembered for their friendliness in that region. Goes to make the region greater, in my view.
Cara taking photos of birds and caiman
Denise and Mark T. exploring in the kayak
Time to head on back to port in Manaus. It is late morning and we have just had our last meal on API1. We are all packed and travelling along the Rio Solimoes, a river 40 widths of the Waikato at this part of the waterway. Miguel comes to me and tells me that it is 10 minutes to the ‘mixing of the rivers’. This is rather a famous sight in this region of the Amazon, and already there are many riverboats wandering the water-flats with their loaded passenger cargo. It is where the black water of the Rio Negro meets the brown water of the Rio Solimoes to form the Rio Amazon. Different colours because they come from different alluvial deposits way over to the West of the continent.Venezuela and Colombia contribute the dark water of the Negro due to their aged rocks and land structure. Ecuador and Peruthe more recent colours of their younger geological strata. ‘Coffee and cream’ so the mixing is called.
Cara taking a photo of the 'mixing of the waters'
Now starting to get very hot during the early afternoon, and the reflection off the water makes for colours that emphasise the contrasts in this part of the river. Bosco, that wonderful man, drives API 1 around and over the junctional region a few times so that we can take photos. And take photos we did – snap snap snap. Unique sight. Tourist views. A must see in the region.
Another boat passing through the waters
Twenty minutes later, we head off again. This time in the direction of Manaus. Chug-chugging along and we see the bridge in the distance. It is clouded by a mist and haze, but the central shaft of it is quite apparent. New and opened within the last 6 months, it is the first bridge over the Amazon river-region. Cost about a billion, but apparently it is worth it to the locals who now are not so dependant upon transport by ferryboats and water-service. On the surface it does indeed seem a good idea but the Amazon story is littered with tales of transport monoliths constructed in this region… one by one they have all disappeared. This one seems very sturdy, but maybe it will last. Maybe.
Gradually we power up the river to Manaus and we see the hugeness that is this city on the waters of the Negro. Buildings that are aged and hang free on stilts to guard them from the rains. Slip ways for ship-building. High rise buildings that prod up into the sky. There is no apparent pattern of this city, though I have to say that it has changed somewhat since my last visit. More affluence. More buildings with more glass that carry reflections of the day into the central region of the town where business is apparently done. We pass the markets that are centrally based. Overhead there are carrion birds that float on high and feast on garbage. We pass the mooring rings where boats are held up. A final look at the river and we decamp into API 2 to come ashore. Matt and Janot grab the company’s bags and thrust them aboard and then head to shore. The rest of us follow 20 minutes later on the return of API 2.
Ashore and in a transport van, we are already missing Apurissaua. Manaus is roads and lights and clutter and noise – though strangely no car horns. Stop at ‘the red’, let the other way through. I am feeling stifled already. Manaus is humid and by the time we reach our Pousada, we are steaming and ready for a swim and a soothing ale by the poolside. Time to relax and just enjoy our final moments in a region most grand and most majestic.
Rod, Janot, Marc, Matt, Mark, Liz, Kerris, Cara & David enjoy a cool off in the clear pool water
A storm beckons. All eleven of us watch the skies. All of us want a final message from nature. To hear and experience an Amazon Storm would be the icing on the cake. A storm first night in Novo Airao when we got to dedicate a memorial to Peter Blake in Miguel’s village and a storm the last night of our visit to Amazonas – what could be better planned.
Well, we got our storm. It is a beauty with ‘cracks of thunder’ and ‘blinds’ of light. Such rain. I can think of no way better than this to be the final curtain call for our Worldwise Expeditions trip to Amazonas. It has been an amazing journey and I have achieved this with a most caring group of people. People like Daughter Clare and her Fiancé Matt – my loved Family. People like Kerris, who I have known and loved all her life. Like Rod and Liz, Dear Friends for 30 years, Janot, a close friend who I would trust with my life, Mark, a true friend who has supported me in doing this journey for 5 years (at least), Charmaine with all her soft personal charm and medical magic, Denise gentle in nature and sensitive to the cultures we observed, Cara ever smiling who worked so hard for the good of the trip, and finally David – last but not the least, delightfully charming and whose temperament was much needed on this journey.
