FUN-travel: South America: Regent 7 Seas Cruise – 22 Days – Amazon River – Manaus, Brazil

March 13, 2012 by · Comments Off on FUN-travel: South America: Regent 7 Seas Cruise – 22 Days – Amazon River – Manaus, Brazil 

Day 32 – Tuesday, March 6 – Amazon River – Manaus, Brazil – Sunrise 6:08 – Sunset 6:15 – lots of thick clouds, low 80’s

Jungle Cruise

  • Bad News – early wake up 7 am

Pet Anaconda Snake

  • Good News – really, really hot cappuccino in room courtesy of my love
  • Excursion – 8:35 – Jungle Trek – 45 min boat ride to jungle
  • Bad News – boat breaks down half way
  • Good News – another boat brings fuel & we go
  • Bad News – we lost an hour
  • Bad News – rain starts when we get to start of trek
  • More Bad News – don’t see any animals & path is muddy & slippery
  • Good News – minimal bugs & no mosquito bites
  • 1:00 head back to ship – ominous clouds roll in – thunder, lightning & torrential downpour
  • Good News – boat docks next to ship so don’t get soaked (other tours were not as lucky)
  • Bad News – arrive 1:45 & lunch ends @ 2 pm
  • Good News – they keep it open until 3:15
  • 3:30 – nap
  • 6:30 – Happy Hour
  • 7:30 – Dinner – Good News – La Veranda has French Bistro night!

FF (FUN-fact) – The Amazon River has the largest watershed (area of land that flows into the river) and more tributaries (streams that flow into it) than any other river in the world. It has more than 200 tributaries.

Day 33 – Wednesday, March 7 – Amazon River – Manaus, Brazil – Sunrise 6:07 – Sunset 6:14 – ominous clouds, rain, humid, 80’s

Meeting of the Waters

  • Bad News – early wake up 7 am

Manaus Cathedral

  • Good News – really, really hot cappuccino in room courtesy of my love
  • Excursion – 8:20 – Meeting of the Waters cruise – 45 min boat ride to jungle
  • Bad News – torrential downpour
  • Good News – boat has plastic roll down
  • Bad News – can’t see anything for 45 min
  • Good News – it stops
  • Good News – big boat takes us to small boat & it doesn’t break down!
  • More Good News – this is like Disneyland except the boats aren’t on rails
  • See houses along river – locals & their pets canoe over – see caiman & Anaconda snake
  • On way back to ship go to see the meeting of the waters
  • Lunch – thank god for pizzeria!
  • 2:15 – walk into town to see Cathedral & Teatro Amazonas – opera house symbolizes opulence of the rubber boom – Italian marble, Murano glass chandeliers, & Scottish cast iron all imported
  • 4:30 – back to ship & Happy Hour
  • 7:30 – dinner in Compass Rose

FF – Meeting of the Waters is the confluence of the Rio Negro (black) and the Rio Solimões (sandy) near Manaus, Brazil. The separate shades of water run side by side for more than 4 miles without mixing. The difference in temperature, density and flow rate of each river causes the separation.

Teatro Amazonas

More FF – Manaus is called the “Paris of the Jungle.”