Brazil - Manaus

With disembarkation from Tucano occurring at 0715 we effectively had two days to explore.

Inside the rubber baron's mansion.

Before going there we had not realised that the French, not the Portuguese, dominated Manaus during it's glory years.

Our first trip was another boat excursion, this time some 10 km
up the Amazon to the Museu do Seringal Villa Paraiso. This is a reconstruction of a "rubber baron's" mansion (made for a film) and includes an overview of the rubber production process and how the staff and indentured labourers mainly from the north of Brasil lived.

Trying on a rubber tapper's lantern

Richard tried on a helmet that would have been worn by the labourers as they went into the plantations at midnight when the rubber sap was rising.

The municipal market in Manaus built in 1902 is close to the port. It is a copy of the Halles market in Paris. A most impressive structure - constructed of iron from the UK.

We purchased the most wonderful tasting nuts - Brazils naturally.

The fish market

All sorts of products on sale. Perhaps not the same!

Market - ceilng

One of the highlights of Manaus is its opera house. Constructed in 1896 at the height of the town's prosperity it was based on La Scala and the Paris Opera and has apparently the second-best acoustics in South America.

We went to a modern dress performance of The Divine Comedy We may not have followed the expressive dialogue but it was evidently very funny.

The next day we did the excellent tour.
The ceiling panels were painted in Paris and shipped out. The centre represents a view from under the Eiffel Tower.
.

Model - 36000 pieces of Lego!

Interior of Igrejia Sao Sebastian.

The opulence of some of the churches also reflects the city's former wealth.

A bit OTT?

The Igrejia Sao Sebestian had tightly packed bunches of white flowers everywhere!

Street entertainment.

We worked out how this is done while filling the coffers of a juice vendor.

Manaus is an industralised port city that is trying to gentify itself and recover some of its former glory. Just over 1 million GBP is being spent to renovate the park outside the cathredral