Yesterday was Sunday and we found ourselves in the capital of Amazonia, Manaus. I have been here before via Air Ambulance, picking a patient up from a cruise ship. I had no idea how big this city was. Manaus has over 1.5 million people, but on Sunday very few people were out and about. We toured the city, going to the richest and poorest sections of town and as usual the kids were the most interesting. We also walked thru the morning fish market loaded with all kinds of creatures that were completely foreign to me. There were fish still alive jumping off the tables, fish heads and guts flying all over the place and blood draining on the floor. It was such an interesting place...we will return in the morning. In the banana market a vendor with a huge grin greeted us with a stalk of fresh banana, happy to see all of the kids from the SAS ship. Later we visited the opera house built in the late 1800's during the rubber boom in Manaus when money flowed like the water in the mighty Amazon. One of the girls performed opera at her university. I spoke with her this morning just before she was heading out to a jungle lodge. She was hoping someone would have asked if anyone wanted to test the acoustics...she was dying to sing there. I asked her how she liked the voyage so far and she admitted she had never been out of the USA before and they would have to dynamite her off of the ship in San Diego. She was having the most incredible experience of her life.
Well, we are off to explore more of the city, we'll talk later.
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