DAY 59 Mar 12 - Manaus, Amazon River, Brazil

Manaus is a major city on the Amazon with a population of about 1.75 million people and is the capital of the state of Amazonas. It is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers.

It is the most populous city of Amazonas and is a popular ecotourism destination. Manaus is located in northern Brazil, 1,200 miles from the federal capital, Brasília.

For the first time visitor to Manaus there is surprise that the place is not a sea of green jungle in the midst of the Amazon rainforest. Instead it is a modern city with high-rise buildings and a busy port. The City is over 900 miles inland from the Atlantic, as the crow flies, and the furthest up the Amazon we will travel on the Prinsendam. It’s the heart of Amazonia and thus the main hub for river tourism.

The City is a sprawling metropolis with a town centre where most of the hotels and attractions are located, an area that rises above the river on a slight hill. Because of its location and size, Manaus is a major commercial city with industries include brewing, shipbuilding, soap manufacturing, the production of chemicals, the manufacture of electronics equipment, and petroleum refining of oil brought in by barge. Tourism too of course must be added to the list.

The present day city was founded in 1669 as the Fort of São José do Rio Negro. It was elevated to the status of a town in 1832 with the name of "Manaus", which means "mother of the gods" in tribute to the indigenous nation of Manaós. Legally it was transformed into a city on October 24 of 1848 with the name of Cidade da Barra do Rio Negro, Portuguese for "The City of the Margins of Black River".

Only on September 4 of 1856 did it revert to its current name. It was known at the beginning of the century, as 'Heart of the Amazon' and 'City of the Forest'.

It is the second largest metro-politan area in Northern Brazil and the twelfth in all of Brazil, with over 2 million inhabitants in its conurbation. The City is the eighth most populous city of Brazil and it has gradually increased its participation in the GDP of Brazil in recent years, rising to account for 1.4% of the economy of the country.

Today we have booked a full day tour of the area with Rafael Tenorio of Amazon Raiders Tour Company.

We begin our two day/overnight stay here with a full day's excursion along the river and surrounding countryside that was all arranged a few months ago on the Internet. I believe that quite a few other passengers from the ship that we were in touch with via the website Cruise Critic will also be on the tour.

Our very good friends Uli and Inge are due to arrive at the port at the same time as us on the Royal Princess. They took a two-week Amazon cruise out of Fort Lauderdale that coincidentally terminated in Manaus the same day we arrive here.

It will be fun to see them as I booked them on our same Amazon tour. Hopefully their ship is not held up for any reason and docks on time.

Our friends live in Naples Florida for the winter, as we do, and then return to Germany for the summer.

I understand from my ever observant Canadian friend George, who I met at early breakfast this morning, that there is a cruise ship somewhere ahead of us which we believe to be the Royal Princess.

This morning first thing it was quite overcast and not too hot nor humid.

Activity on the river at 6 in the morning is sparse but the odd little motorised canoe and slightly bigger boats have been spotted going up and down.

A large load of freight was being taken down river by a specialised 'pusher', remin-iscent of what we have seen in our boating years on the Amsterdam-Rhine canal.This type of transportaion is quite common here on the Amazon.

As the morning progresses towards 8.30 there is much more activity on the river.

Boats of course are a main means of transport in these parts so we would expect to see vessels transporting people and freight here and there.

Indeed one small tourist boat appeared out of nowhere to come along side at speed to let its passengers have a good look at us.

Most mornings, I see my Canadian friend George in the Lido restaurant having his early breakfast. I usually join him for a coffee. Rosalyn, his wife, seems to be like my wife Maria and prefers not to appear until a slightly more civilised time in their eyes!

As the ship progresses on towards Manaus, it moves off the Amazon River on to the Rio Negro and from here is evidence of much industrial activity on the banks of the river.

Of course this regional centre is a major industrial area although 1000 miles from nowhere, so to speak.

As we move even closer to the regional capital the industrial activity seen on our starboard side is of an even greater magnitude and must represent major industry.

The ship now is moving quite slowly as we at last spot Manaus on the starboard bank in the distance. The city is quite sprawling with a few tall buildings prominently standing out on the skyline.

In the distance is visible a bridge being built across the river from Manaus. It is in its early stages of const-ruction and illustates how the city is growing and prospering.

Gradually and very slowly the ship moved forward and stoped a mile of so off the City.

Also here is the Royal Princess, it too was stopped and going nowhere.

At about 9.15 the Captain came on the PA system to inform us that because of seemingly major political problems involving the Harbour Master, Port Authority, Local Government and the Federal Government, our ship and the Royal Princess had been refused permission to dock pending the out come of these political negotiations!!

We understand that this infor-mation was being channeled through the on board pilot.

The captain had no idea when and if this chaotic situation affecting two cruise liners would be resolved. At regular intervals he informed us that no further news had been received from the authorities. Strangely, not only could we not dock but were told we could not drop our anchor either.

On deck we found a major bee hive of maybe a thousand bees that had placed itself round the queen bee underneath some steps.

This was on the Sports Deck right at the top of the ship. The whole area was cordoned off from passenger accessibility for obvious reasons.