Manaus - What To See And Do - Part II

Ponta Negra Beach, Manaus

 We took a cab to go to Praia Ponta Negra. It is completely different from downtown Manaus, I mean, there are lots of nice modern buildings and new sidewalks. The beach is still being remodeled as everything else in town. It is far and we spent paid a lot of money with the cab back and forth and I think it was not worth going there. Nowadays there is Uber so it might be better. 

Restaurante Banzeiro, Manaus

 At night we went to one of the famous restaurants, the Banzeiro. They are specialized in Amazon food. Their Chef is Felipe Schaedler. He has received many awards. The dish for two is huge.

Floating port, Manaus

 As I mentioned before, Manaus is all about the river so the floating port plays a very important role. There are only a few roads so people use boats to go from one place to another. Sometimes it takes days.

 We went in the low tide which is not pretty. This year they had the highest flood. Check the year on the board. 

Manaus

 These are the boats that work like buses for the people. If you enlarge the picture you will see lots of hammocks hanging inside them. People are supposed to take their own hammock for the journey.

 We took a one-day cruise with Amazon Explorers. It included the pick-up at the hotel.

Manaus, the meeting of the waters

 You can see the meeting of the waters of both rivers that form the Amazon River. The water of Rio Solimões is muddy, flows fast, and is cooler. The water of Rio Negro is really dark and incredibly warm. Because of the difference in density, temperature, and speed both rivers flow separately, side by side for about five or six kilometers.

 Then the boat stops and we can go for a walk in the rainforest. In the same place, there is a floating restaurant where you can taste the local fish(tucunaré, tambaqui, pirarucu) among other things. Lunch is included and it is good.

Amazon forest

 The guide, Aliomar, speaks English and explained the trees and other curiosities.

Vitória régia

 There is a floating handcraft market right by the restaurant.

Handcraft market, Manaus

 On the next day, we hired a smaller boat to go see the "botos", the Amazon River dolphins. In the middle of Rio Negro, there is this floating platform with a young guy who is responsible for the botos. It has been built to help children with Down Syndrome that live in the area. In the meantime, tourists are allowed to go there and swim with the "botos". There is no danger at all. You are not allowed to feed them but you can touch them. The guy who took us to Acajatuba is known as Cuandu. He has his own boat.

Rio Negro

 The botos live free there and the place is near the beautiful hotel Ariau Towers. It takes an hour to go there by boat. I think this was the best part of the trip.

My daughter swimming with botos in the Rio Negro