Boat Trippin'

We had a great time on our most recent outing on the Rio Negro with our friends. My girl Debora's family was visiting from out of town, so she planned a boat trip to give them a look at the good life in Manaus! We all shared the cost to rent a big, 2-story boat and set out on our river adventure early in the morning on Saturday. 

Our boat at the port- it's the one on the far left

One of the best ways to cruise the river is definitely laying in a hammock. Our hammock unfortunately was not cooperating very well and flipped over when I tried to sit in it! It happened so fast, but was traumatizing nonetheless. Not to mention painful landing on my head, shoulder, and knee. Since everyone put up their own hammocks on the boat, I used theirs and left Jay to use ours at his own risk! 

Relaxin

Our first destination was Encontro das Aguas, aka Meeting of the Waters, where our two rivers, Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes run side by side without mixing due to their differing densities. We've already been there several times, but this time was very special because we got to see dolphins jumpin through the water! I'm not sure why, but these fresh water dolphins hang around this area and though we've thought we'd seen them swimming before, this time it was unquestionable. They were too fast to catch in a picture, but there were several swimming and jumpin together. It was soooo cool!

You can see the 2 rivers behind us (black and brown)

The next stop was Vitoria Regia, another spot we've been to numerous times. Last time we went the river was very low, so the lily pads were basically non-existent. This time the river was very high and we got to see some huge ones. On our way back from seeing them and this very tranquil part of the river, I stopped for a bit to look up into the trees surrounding us. To my pleasant surprise, I spotted a monkey jumping through the branches overhead! We went on to spot 3 or 4 different little monkeys hopping between the trees. It was too hard to get a clear picture of them cause the trees were so dense, but I know I will always remember them and now I can check seeing monkeys in the wild off my to-do list :)

Very calming and peaceful

We also stopped along the river to see some huge 3 feet long fish in an enclosed tank. People paid $5R to feed them small fish on a pole. It was like fishing except that there was no hook on the pole, and the point was to see the huge fish struggling to get the bait. Actually it turned out being the people fishing who really struggled the most and was quite amusing to see Debora's 80 year old grandma fighting to keep her bait away from them. Jay and I stuck to taking pics and laughing at everyone until the fish got either too bored or full to care anymore...

Debora in action

We finished up the trip by cruising by the new bridge that is being constructed across the river. There are  a lot of new public works happening around town thanks to the fact that the World Cup is coming to Manaus in 2014, and they are very fast with their construction here. 

As we headed back to the port, it started to rain a bit and was quite windy, so we got to experience the very rare treat of being cold. Everyone had such a good time, and we vowed to make this a more usual occurrence now that the orchestra season is coming to an end. I'll keep you posted!