Exploring the City

Trip Start Jan 15, 2012
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4
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Trip End May 03, 2012


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Flag of Brazil  , State of Amapa,
Saturday, January 28, 2012

We only had one day to explore the city of Manaus. It is a city of about 2 million people, and is the major gateway into the heart of the Amazon rain forest. Our first impression was of a bustling city that felt a little overwhelming. There are thousands of stalls lining the streets, all selling a bewildering array of goods- screwdrivers, watches, plastic dolls, bras, shampoo, all stacked up next to one another. Many stalls sold food too, and although all we were tempted by the aromas, a gelato shop won us over. After pointing and gesturing to indicate our choices we were able to sit down for a few minutes and consult the map before venturing out to further explore the city.

While Matthew and Caitlin were happily ensconced at an Internet café, Marc and I went to the beautiful Opera house with a domed roof that was built in the hey day of Manaus, in the late 1800s
Street vendors in Manaus
Street vendors in Manaus
. The broad, quiet streets surrounding the Opera house seem oddly out of character with the rest of the city.

The children and I also visited a local museum, and although the exhibitions were interesting we couldn't understand too much besides the dates as everything was in Portuguese.

Only Caitlin and I were brave enough to face the local supermarket, but since we both enjoy exploring what foreign food stores have to offer we didn’t mind the endless wait in a line that was probably a hundred people long. It was fun to watch the expressions of other Semester at Sea families as they entered the store and registered the length of the queues! We stocked up on the usual necessities (Iced tea, Diet coke, chocolate and chips……) and headed back to the ship. On the last day at each port there is a strictly adhered to "on board time", and for each 15 minutes you are late you get fined 2 hours at the next port. So, if you are 50 minutes late getting back, you’d miss the first 8 hours at the next port. Not only do you have to be back at the ship but you have to be ON the ship by the designated time- if you are waiting in line to swipe your card, you’re out of luck and you’ll not be allowed to disembark at the following port until you have waited out your “dock time”. So, the pressure is on, and with the uncertainty of how long the delay for getting on board will be (they search each student and their belongings VERY thorouhly), it is a relief to be back with plenty of time to spare.  And so by mid afternoon the whole family was back relaxing on the ship, keeping an eye out for students who missed the deadline. There were 3, by the way, 6 minutes late, which considering there are 700 people on board is not too bad!
Macapa hotels Slideshow

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