Manaus

Trip Start Jul 21, 2009

102

147

Trip End Apr 28, 2010

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Where I stayed

Hotel Continental

Flag of Brazil Manaus, State of Amazonas, Brazil
Friday, January 15, 2010

Arriving in Manaus marked the official end of our tour, and a return to traveling (somewhat) on our own. Although Manaus is set smack in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, it is still a huge (2 million people) and fairly modern city. So after booking a hotel and jungle tour, we asked if they knew where we might find a McDonalds. (Yes, really). When they finished laughing at us (why do people laugh when you ask where McDonalds is? Don�t they know I�ve been living off rice, beans and mystery meat for five to six months and want something normal?) they told us that McDonalds was not within walking distance. And then they offered to drive us -- 9 of us in total -- to the restaurant, sit and wait while we ate, and drive us back. Now that�s service!!!

Lunch out of the way, we set out to explore the city for real. There�s an okay waterfront area, a very busy market and shopping district, and a nice plaza outside the famous (?) opera house. In the evening, the opera house was offering a free concert, so there we sat: in the middle of the rain forest, in a city of 2 million, in a fancy opera house, listening to an orchestra accompany a talented but very odd and high pitched male opera singer in a mesh see-through shirt. Bizzare.

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