Provincial Palace

In March this year (2009), the renovations done on the Provincial Palace were finished and the museum was open. The building was originally constructed in the 19th century but had become completely dilapidated over the years. So it was amazing to see all the work they did on the structure, not to mention the exhibits inside.
There are five primary exhibits in this free museum: an art gallery, a museum of image and sound where you can borrow and view Brazilian film, an archeological exhibit, a numismatic (i.e. coins) museum and an exhibit on the history of the Amazonian military police.
The reason for the latter, the military police exhibit, is because the building was used by the M.P. and contains prison cells in the basement.
I didn't know about this place, but had just been wandering around town when I stumbled upon it. I went inside and was offered a free tour in English by a young Brazilian. After he told me about the renovations, he took me to the art gallery where another Brazilian explained the works of art to me.
She told me a number of amazing stories, elucidating the meaning behind some of the art. One was a sculpture that appeared as one body with three heads. This was a story of an obese Brazilian artist who went through three stages in life: one where he felt silenced by his obesity, one where he underwent surgery for weight loss, and the third when he had experienced heart failure. Another story was that from a painting showing a girl being eaten by a crocodile. The reason for this was told in a tale of two sisters. They were twins, as a matter of fact, but one of them was strong and dominant while the other was weak and sickly. When the weaker one was misled by her sister into dangerous Amazonian waters and killed, the lies the sister told to cover up her role in the death eventually led to justice: she was eaten by a crocodile herself.
After the art gallery, I went through the archeological exhibit and then, with a guide named Eduardo, the military police exhibit. Eduardo--who by far had the best English of anyone I'd met that day, although it sounded like he picked it up either directly from a fast-talking New Yorker or watching a lot of television--seemed to have a complete routine put together for the tours. He told lots of jokes, such as how the uniform from the '60s, which looked like it was covered in Good&Plenty, was judged too "fruity" for the military police and changed. However, that uniform was made with thick, brown fabric, to which Eduardo said, "What were they thinking? This is the Amazon! So now they changed it to what that guy over there is wearing," at which point he waved and gave a thumbs up to an actual military officer patrolling the exhibit.
The final exhibit on coins--some ranging back hundreds of years--was interesting from a historical point of view, and the guide told me how she had given a tour to a US Senator who had come a few weeks ago, although she couldn't remember the woman's name.
After that tour, I called it a day. The impromptu tour had taken about two hours, but I found myself feeling energized from friendliness I was shown by my guides, and the exhibits were truly interesting. I thanked all of them on my way out, and then headed through the park outside on my way back to the main road to catch my taxi. In the park, there were plenty of couples and families, many of them gathered around a gazebo where a small band was playing music.
It turned out to be a great day; maybe one of the best I spent in Manaus, so I went back the following weekend to pick up a pamphlet and have a coffee at the Palace coffee shop, Cafe do Pina.
I ordered an ice coffee, or at least tried to (instead, I received a cup of coffee and a glass of ice). As I headed back toward the exit. I ran into the first guide who told me all about the renovation during my first visit. He said he was glad to see me again, but he was disappointed that I wasn't out exploring more of Manaus. I told him the museum was great, I had been in the area and I wanted a pamphlet, which he went and got and gave to me, but again with encouragement to go into the rainforest and explore more. He said this with real concern and also with a smile, so I thanked him and told him I would certainly do my best.

Slaass Hotel

The hotel we are staying at, "Slaass Flat Hotel", seems to be pretty popular. Lately it seems there are more and more people staying here since most of the tables are full at breakfast. The breakfast buffet is pretty awesome though, and I would almost spend a night here just to eat the next morning. There is a conference room available here and even on the weekends there seem to be events, which means you have to get there a little early to get the good stuff.

The hotel actually has apartments--hence the word "flat" in the name--which range from small singles to "luxury" suites with kitchens and doubles with two rooms and a kitchen. It is reasonably priced and they keep it clean, with convenient services (like wi-fi) and a helpful staff.
The elevator is probably one of the most interesting features though. It is one of those old-style lifts where you open a regular door and step inside. From there, a sliding metal safety door closes, so it's not one of those ancient gated elevators, but the style is still a bit more classic than I've ever used before on a regular basis.
There is also a pool, although it is rather tiny and I don't think anyone really uses it. I haven't used it myself, but took a look at it last Sunday and it seemed that the deep end was no more than a few feet at best. I ended up laying back on one of the lounge chairs by the pool and reading my book though. An hour later, I realized that I had gotten a bit of a sunburn. Ouch! Well, coming back from Brazil a bit sunburned is probably better than coming back pale white.
We will be staying here next time we are in Brazil, as it seems to be the best deal in terms of space, convenience and cost. Now I just need to figure out what the heck "slaass" means.

Suysei Japanese Buffet

Some of the best food in Manaus, if you can believe it, is at a little Japanese restaurant called Suysei. The façade is rather unassuming, and you have to ring the doorbell for them to open the security gate, but once you are inside, it is a comfy atmosphere. Suysei is run by an elderly Japanese couple and they serve up a homestyle buffet for R$35 (about $18) which includes sashimi, octopus and cucumber tsukemono, a hot dish such as grilled fish or tempura, and a steamed dish such as gyoza (pot-stickers) or oden veggies in broth, not to mention miso soup and steamed white rice. And it's all-you-can eat!
I swear I ate the food sitting right-side-up so I have no idea why this picture uploads sideways.

Splash Pizzaria

When walking around the Amazon Theater, I saw they had a nice outdoor patio area near some restaurants at the back. One of them was Splash pizza; it was about 3pm on a Sunday and apparently nothing is really open in Manaus at that time.
After checking out some other sights, it got dark so I headed back over to Splash pizza. By then there were plenty of people there, so I sauntered in and had a gander at what they had on offer. I ordered two large slices; one topped with sun-dried tomatoes, and the other is cheese & olive with a cream sauce instead of tomato sauce under the cheese. Both tasted great with the Brahma Extra cerveja.

The Jewel of the Amazon

Teatros Amazonas in Manaus, Brasil

On Sunday I decided to take a taxi down to Teatros Amazonas, one of the star attractions of Manaus. After many years of start-and-stop construction, the theater was completed in 1896. Although it wasn't open to tour, they do have free philharmonic orchestras and operas one can attend:
The theater itself is indeed very beautiful, although I had a hard time finding a good vantage point to get a proper picture of it (not that anyone couldn't find some nicer shots online).
It really is an impressive structure, especially when you consider it was built in the 19th century in the middle of the Amazon jungle. In the 100+ years since then, Manaus has grown to a city of almost 2 million, and there are a few other buildings with the same elegance dotted around town. However, for the most part, Manaus is a city like most others. It remains small, all things considered, due to its remote location. However, this adds to the sense of adventure just being here.
Not to mention the annual film festival held every year since 2004 in Manaus which celebrates action films. The event is held at the Teatros Amazonas--as well as the Tropical hotel, considering almost all the famous people who attend stay there--and brings in plenty of big names from the film industry. Our projects' translator (one of the best in Brasil) has, in fact, translated for Steven Segal; not that grunts are difficult to render in any language, but still ;)

Lunch Buffet

There is a fairly good buffet available for lunch at our offices here in Manaus. Here is a picture of the cafeteria, as well as the selection I made the other day. Also, as you can see in the picture, beets seem to be extremely popular in Brazil; they are available every day as part of the large salad bar. There are also always 2 or 3 rice dishes, a large selection of meats, and 1 or 2 pasta dishes. This meal here cost me about R$9 (or $4.50), which seems pretty reasonable.Yes, I've become a fan of orange Fanta.
There is an interesting system in place to pay for lunch. Upon entering the cafeteria, a lady gives you a piece of paper on which a guy writes the cost of your plate based on weight, plus $R2 for a soda. After finishing your meal, you bring the paper back to the same guy, pay for your meal, and he stamps it "Pago". This is then handed back to the lady at the door as you exit.

Morning oddity

On the morning drive to work, while waiting at a stoplight, I looked ahead of us and noticed "a very tall person". Upon closer inspection, a clown on stilts juggling... at 8am... for no apparent audience other than people waiting in their cars at the red light.

Black River Day

Saturday morning we were picked up at 8:30 am by one of the guys we're working with here to head to the Rio Negro where he had a 20ft. cruiser. A friend of his met us at the dock to steer the boat, and as we waited for them to get the boat in the water, we stocked up on Bohemia and Skol, two of the beers widely available here. Below is a picture of me as we motored past the Tropical, Manaus' star hotel, on our way downstream.
Our first destination was the bridge they are constructing over the Rio Negro, which will greatly help in connecting Manaus--a city of 1.2 million--with the rest of Brazil. The bridge straddles an 8 1/2 kilometer wide section of the river. The project is well underway, as you can see from the picture, and is slotted for completion in June 2010.

After that, we stopped at a little resort called Tiwa Amazonas Ecoresort, located near the far end of this bridge, where they had bungalows, a restaurant, a pool and other services for weekend stays at about R$650 per night. During our short tour, as we crossed a bridge over a small fish pond, we were greeted by "Big Head", the parrot(?) in the picture below. The guide passed bread around and I handed Big Head a piece, which he grabbed with his foot. He then proceeded to hang out on the railing with one foot around the bread, chewing it occastionally as if he was mingling at a picnic party.
Our next stop, as we headed back upriver, was lunch at Restaurante Da Doro, a floating restaurant.

Our host had called ahead to order the 12-kg char-grilled fish, which was ready for us when we got there. The thick, meaty white fish came with slices of lime and a mildly spicy orange sauce which tasted great. My colleagues and I stuffed ourselves until the fish was almost completely consumed, washing it down with our last bottles of Bohemia.

After lunch, since we'd been out for four hours by this point, we headed back to port. It was a fun day, with beautiful weather and sights to see.

Laundry Before Language

I successfully did a load of laundry at the laundromat located just down the street from our hotel. It actually was not a "coin laundry" per se since there was an operator who turned the machines on from behind a counter. The operator was a nice woman though who, although at first looked a little panicked when I told her I didn't speak Portuguese (in English), helped me out with gestures. I did manage to ask "Quando tempo?", which I think/hope means "how much time?" and she answered "Quatro minutos" or something like that.
I took a walk around town, heading over to a drug store first where I bought a toothbrush and shaving cream. I brought the items to the counter and the woman used a computer to ring up the items. She must have punched in about two dozen numbers (the UPC numbers?) and then proceeded to hit a series of keys which included the F2 and F4 keys, before she eventually told me the total. I handed her a R$50, which is what I found solves the problem of not understanding when they tell you the total. I made sure to say "Abrigado" before leaving at least.
I then strode back past the laundromat again, but still had a good 20 minutes, so took a right at the corner and found an ice cream shop. The tubs of ice cream weren't labeled and I wasn't really sure how to order, but eventually saw they had "Milk Shake" on the menu board, so I went up to the cashier and said that. She rang me up for R$6 and gave me the receipt. I walked over to the guy behind the ice cream cases and handed him my receipt, to which he responded by asking me something--probably "what flavor", so I pointed to vanilla. Five minutes later I was headed back to the laundromat sipping on one of the best vanilla milk shakes I've ever had.
When I got back to the laundromat, my clothes were ready for the dryer so I transferred them and motioned to the operator, but she waved me over, gave me a little token, which I then put in the dryer slot. The LED screen lit up with a 25 so I sat down and read my book.
Overall, it took about 2 hours, but it was a nice way to spend the late afternoon, and I got some reading done, not to mention some time to explore the neighborhood.

Brazilian Barbecue

Last night we went to Gauchos Churrascaria, a Brazilian steak house where they serve up fresh cuts of meat right off the spit. Waiters walk around with glistening meats and a knife and you either nod your head, liking your lips or... well, one look and there is no other option, really:Almost as soon as we were seated, they brought us tiny, stemmed shot glasses and filled them with caipirinha, a Brazilian liquor made from sugar cane. After a toast, we were offered a tour of the kitchen. We walked back through the kitchen doors and took a gander at the huge wood-burning oven where they had dozens of spits slow-cooking sirloin (picanha), sausage (lingüiça) prime rib (alcatra) and so much more. They passed me a spit of meat to pose with, and that's another consultant here giving me moral support: Churrascaria steak houses also always feature a buffet. It would be a disservice to call it a salad bar because it is filled not only with veggies and fruit of every kind, but they also have different rice dishes, pasta and sushi. Nevertheless, I only made it over there once to fill up my plate, which you can see below, since I was simply enjoying the meat and beer!We wobbled out of there a couple hours later feeling like we ate (and possibly did eat) a whole cow and all of the 3 little pigs. A good steak dinner is one thing, but it's entirely different to have fresh, juicy cuts of meat served continuously until you just can't take it anymore. I actually think there may have been some sort of time limit, but there was never a minute there are not 5 or 6 guys walking around the restaurant with spits of meat, and for however long we were there, I ate pretty much constantly.
At the end of the night, as a sort of denouement, we clamored into a Gauchos van--with pictures of meat emblazzoned on the side--to take advantage of their shuttle service back to our hotel.

Jet Lag

A flight originating in GMT+9 going backwards across something like 18 time zones to GMT-5 in about 12 hours is enough to confuse anyone, but then I flew another 12 hours to Sao Paulo (GMT-3), transferred to a domestic airline and flew 4 hours to Manaus (GMT-4), so it's no wonder my internal clock was baffled by the end.
The first day we went to work straightaway, which probably helped to get a sense of the local time. Afterwards I went out for dinner and tried to sleep at a regular time, although I woke up every few hours feeling like it must be morning.
The first full day, everyone felt drowsy and sluggish, although an afternoon Red Bull did help me make it until quitting time.
Now on day four, a national holiday, I'm feeling a little bit more aligned with GMT-4 and plan to play some tennis this afternoon to get the blood moving.

Shopping Mall

Don't laugh but I've been visiting the mall almost every day I've been here so far. Apparently the Amazonas Shopping Mall is the best place to exchange traveler's checks. The people at Cortez Cambio e Turismo are very nice, but I had to go back in the evening yesterday to remedy a mistake they made, which was mainly failing to give me a proper receipt. True, I should have noticed this before I left, when they simply gave me the adding-machine print out, which won't do for our records. But I was probably overly focused on counting everything and making sure I had the right amount. Upon return, they immediately recognized me and made the receipts quickly so it was no problem.
Nevertheless, I've enjoyed my little morning jaunts to the shopping mall. The first time, we arrived there just before 10 AM where everyone was lined up outside the big glass-door entrance. After going to the money exchange, I went to Carefour to pick up some shaving supplies (I forgot to bring extra razor blades). While waiting for check-out, I couldn't resist picking up a Red Bull too, since the jet lag was really weighing heavily on me. That first day everyone was feeling drowzy, but the Red Bull was a nice pick-me-up when I drank it later in the afternoon.
My second trip to the mall, after exchanging money, I went to a sports shop to pick up a new tennis racket. I didn't bring mine from Japan this time, and since I'll be here a few times this year, I figure I'll keep one here. We are playing later this afternoon since today is a holiday, so I'll get to try it out. I also got 3 free tennis balls and a black Addias sweatband. How cool am I gonna be!?
The guy who helped me at the sports shop was nice, and as he'd been studying English, seemed happy to practice on me (as I was equally happy to have an English-speaking shop assistant on hand). He seemed genuine and hoped that I would enjoy Manaus during my stay.
The shop also had some music on, and I noticed a few people sort of dancing as they shopped. Even the girl at the cash register was doing a little jig while ringing up my order. There is something about Brazil that makes you want to dance I guess. I remember a number of years ago talking to a well-travelled Japanese guy who moonlighted as a DJ saying that he felt Japanese people need to learn to incorporate dance more into their everyday life. He commented on how common dancing and singing was in other places he'd traveled, which included S. Asia and S. America, and how strange he felt coming back to Japan after that where everyone seemed so stiff. Back then I could appreciate what he was saying, but I think I can now finally understand it. That little moment in the sports shop, just about everyone within earshot perked up when the song came on and sort of did a little groove.

Upon Arrival

Upon our arrival in Manaus, I was struck by how cool it was in the airport, until I realized that it was air-conditioned. As soon as we stepped outside, I could feel the air was heavy with humidity, although, it was what one would expect looking at the sky where it was obvious that a storm was looming.
Our van was waiting for us at the curb and we put in our luggage and piled in. As we drove, I looked at the rainclouds and saw they weren't just gray, they were almost pitch-black; you can somewhat see this in the lower, left-hand section of the picture. The rain gradually began to pour down and I couldn't help but notice there were a number of motorcycle drivers on the road, seemingly unperturbed by the deluge.
After less than 30 minutes, we pulled up to our hotel. We quickly checked in, were shown our rooms, and then in about 3 minutes--in which I brushed my teeth, shaved and changed clothes--we were back in the van and heading to our office. It was already late afternoon so we didn't spend much time there, but I met a few of the people we'd be working with, found my desk and got set up on the wireless network.
At 5 o' clock we left and headed back to the hotel. A couple of my colleagues, who were here earlier this year, showed me where the grocery store was (practically across the street) and I bought some bottled water, a loaf of bread, some ham, cheese and mayo, as well as some soap and shampoo (it'd been ages since I've seen Pert Plus! on the shelves).
Around 7, I headed to a nearby restaurant with outdoor seating with one of my colleagues and we ordered a few Bohemia beers and a platter of grilled fish, plantains, potato salad and a garden salad. The meal came with some dishes of fresh salsa and large slices of tangy lime to dress the fish, along with the sweet, lightly-fried plantains. Below is a picture of me along with my new hat for the Amazon. :)

GOL Airlines

We navigated our way through Sao Paulo airport to the GOL Airlines counter to check in for our flight to Manaus. We (i.e. the company coffers) had to pay a bit more for excess luggage since the weight allowance for the flight from Japan was much more than the 23kg limit on GOL flights. I was surprised to see the counter attendant have to run off to another part of the airport to get change for the money I gave her. It took her nearly 10 minutes, during which the people behind me grew increasingly impatient, although I get the feeling that this is not entirely uncommon here.Well, eventually we made it to Gate 17, which was actually divided into 3 sections--A, B & C--and people were lined up to board shuttle buses to take them out to the tarmac and to their respective airplanes. As we gave the attendant our boarding tickets, which looked like a printed receipt you'd get from a grocery store, I realized that there was no ticket stub. This would cause big problems for recordkeeping/bookkeeping, so I stopped and tried to negotiate with the guy to get the receipts back. He was nice, but had to continue doing his job so he immediately called over a girl with a walkie-talkie to hear me out. After almost 5 minutes of speaking with her in broken English (yes, a very useful language to know when you're overseas!), she wrote me a note to give to the GOL counter in Manaus, where they would issue me another receipt.
On the flight to Manaus, we were served juice, crackers and a little chocolate muffin, which I scarfed down--realizing this would be lunch--and then immediately fell asleep. A few hours later we landed, I picked up my luggage and dashed out to the GOL counter.
While waiting in line, a guy, Armando, from our counterpart agency here in Manaus found us and waited with me. He was a nice guy and we chatted about the weather (hot and humid), sports (I'm American and know nothing about FIFA), work (yes, we'd like to stop at the office today), not to mention why we were waiting in line (needed a receipt). After about 10 minutes, it was our turn at the counter and the woman printed up a receipt for us immediately after a few words of explanation. Armando apologized for this unfortunate first experience in Manaus, but I told him, "Hey, it gave us an extra 10 minutes to chat, didn't it?" Below, on the way out of the airport, a picture of the line we had waited in.

New York to Sao Paulo

The flight to Sao Paulo was pleasant, even more so due to the fact that there weren't too many people on the flight so most passengers had some extra space, including myself. I had picked up a Sunday New York Times as I boarded the plane and went through it section by section, tossing those I'd read on the empty seat next to me. Having gotten used to reading the Times online, I forgot how nice it is to read a good paper front to back, inserts and all. I even read the real estate section, the marriage announcements and the obits.
Since it was nearly 10pm in NY when we departed, dinner was served once we were up in the air--I had a hearty Japanese meal that included both seafood and beef dishes, along with imo shochu, a vodka-like drink made from sweet potato--and then they dimmed the cabin lights. I started watching Pink Panther 2, but found I wasn't in the mood for it, so I put in my ear plugs, slipped an eye mask on and fell asleep almost immediately.
I must have slept for quite a while, waking only once to drink half the bottled water I had. When they turned the cabin lights back on, I sat up feeling refreshed, and realized I'd slept for at least 6 hours. I opened the window shade and saw a dawn sky with a full moon over blue clouds; it was absolutely breathtaking. We were just 90 minutes from Sao Paulo at that point and they were serving breakfast--a really excellent cheese and mushroom omelet, a plate of fruit, yogurt, croissant, juice and coffee.
We landed at Sao Paulo airport just before 7am local time. Immigration entailed giving an official my documents, watching her scan the front page of my passport, stamp a page near my Brazilian visa (I was able to get a 5 year business visa that allow stays up to 180 days) and pass them back to me with a smile; not a word was spoken. Going through customs was equally effortless; simply waiting in line and then giving my customs form to an attendant.
My first impressions of Brazil are only based on the airport thus far, but the people working seem engaged and friendly, the airport was crowded but clean and people have generally been polite. People have been speaking Portuguese to my colleagues and me, and I am still caught off guard by it. When I make it known that I speak English, every attendant I spoke to was able to communicate or made an effort to. There does seem to be something carefree about people in Brazil. Maybe this is just a stereotypical image of the country, but it's probably not the worst stereotype.

In Transit

Last month I passed through Dubai on a transit to Africa and found that airport to be spacious--yet easy to navigate, friendly--yet professional, and comfortable--yet, well, still an airport. Today our flight from Tokyo landed at New York's JFK airport. Although we are only deplaning in order to connect to our flight to Sao Paulo, we had to go through immigration & customs, up a flight of stairs, and through security again, just to sit and wait for the next flight. For the life of me, I can't imagine the purpose of all that for what is probably a stop to refuel. Nevertheless, my impressions going through the process are as follows:

1. US Passport holders (and "green card" holders) had a separate line which I waited in, whereas my Japanese colleagues were in the foreigners' line. There was a nice attendant that made sure women with small infants were ushered to the front of the line and also made sure the zig-zagged ribboned path to the officials was always arranged so people didn't have to zig-zag needlessly.

2. The official that checked my passport and customs form was a big, friendly man in his 50s. When I told him I was heading on to Brazil he made small talk, which was nice, except that the only thing he could think to say was, "Why there?! Isn't that country dangerous?" and told me how he saw the movie City of God, which is an extremely violent film about drug lords in Rio ghettos.

3. Passing through customs, the official took my form, looked it over and set it down. Simultaneously, he called over a woman who was supposed to take over his shift. They had a short conversation before she sat down. Then he walked away, and I was still standing there. When I asked if I was done, the woman looked up as if to say, "Are you still here?"

4. Exiting the arrivals area with my transit card, I had to look closely for signs to show where to go. Food stand signs and other advertisements were more prominent. I finally found the stairs I was supposed to take to departures.

5. When I got to the security check I waited in a short line until I was called over by a woman in uniform. She took my boarding pass and passport, then opened her mouth and yawned, "Oh, excuse me," she said. She spoke with a woman behind her, looked over my ticket and asked me if I'd just come from Japan. When I answered yes, she asked if it was "like, an overnight layover" and I said no, I'd just arrived 30 minutes ago. "Oh, so you came from Japan and now you're connecting to Brazil?" she asked. "Uh-huh" I said, starting to wonder if someone told these people to try and be friendly, even though they didn't have much to say. Or were they just passing the time? Clueless, I continued on.

Now, sitting on the "iniside" of security, there is nothing left to do but wait for my flight. Despite what sounds like a list of complaints above, there is something refreshing about America. Things are not as clean and shiny as Dubai or Tokyo airports, but there is something exceedingly real world about everything here. Waiting in the line for US citizens and residents, there were as many races and languages being spoken as in the foreginers line. And although it always takes me by surprise how relaxed people seem at their jobs here, I know this is in contrast to Japan where people seem to take their jobs almost too seriously. You'd never get that kind of chit-chat in Japan or other places I've been. You almost wouldn't be surprised if the person went on break and said, "Hey, you wanna grab a hot dog before your flight?" Also, compared to last time I was here, in 2007, the atmosphere is drastically different. At that time, I was grilled on my "purposes for being in Japan", even as a US Passport holder returning home. This time I really felt there was an effort to make people feel welcome, and they asked the usual questions without giving the third degree.

Well, I will probably write more observations upon arrival in Brazil. It will be interesting to see how things compare as we arrive in Sao Paulo and then transfer to a domestic flight up to Manaus.

Packing for weather in the rainforest

I'm getting my luggage sent to the airport ahead of me so I don't have to take it on the train. They are picking up my bag in about 3 hours and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly one should wear in the rain forest.
Apparently, June is the best month to go to Manaus since it is considered the start of the "winter" season in the Southern Hemisphere, so considerably less rain. Of course, we're still talking about the Amazon here, so that means the difference between average rainfall of 260mm in March and about 80mm in June. TripAdvisor.com describes Manaus' weather as "hot and wet" or "hot and humid", and I'll be there during the later, which BBC says is "highly" uncomfortable. Regardless, the Amazon River is supposed to look amazing this time of year, and Manaus is located where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes meet. This is a famous spot to see the two rivers meet, which is obtusely visible due to the different temperatures of the waters where they meet, hence:
This should be fairly impressive to see in person and I'm looking forward to it. Still, I'm clueless on what to pack, but I'd better get to it!