From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Subject: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Manaus, Day I
Due to a swifter then expected current, we arrived an hour later then scheduled this morning. Why they didn’t just go faster, I don’t know. At one time last night I saw they were going less then four knots. The last ship I was on here, flew up the river. Rarely less then 25 knots except through towns. Perhaps that captain was more familiar with the river or maybe this one is overly cautious. He seems so on other subjects. We can no longer ride on the top level of the tenders even though they are made for it and we had been doing so until he came aboard and ordered otherwise.
We had expected to be here earlier and had ordered just toast, juice, and coffee in the room. We had an early river cruise to take.
The idiots never did announce what the new time for the tour would be. Bobbi called to find out and was told it was now. She told them they were stupid and should have announced it. Were we just supposed to guess? So stupids R them, then quickly announced it.
As we walked down the gang plank there was a two story river queen type boat. We boarded and found a seat on the second floor. After about a 45 minute ride down the river and then up a wide tributary, we came to a set of floating buildings set up as restaurants. Here we left the river queen for long narrow boats they called canoes. They had benches with backs on them running the width of the boat. Each had five of these benches wide enough for three but we sat just two per bench. These boats were propelled by 40 horsepower Yamaha out boards.
We then set out down a waterway that got narrower and narrower. Soon we were in the deepest jungle you could imagine. Absolutely gorgeous. There were quite a few large white birds that we have in both Florida and Illinois. We call them Snowy Egrets. They were calling them White Herons. Whatever, we have one crazy one in Florida that goes running across the top of our hedges quite often.
We made several stops where we could just hear all the jungle
sounds and a guide would tell several canoes at once about the area. A waterway we were traveling on was just a muddy path a couple of months ago. This year the water levels were much higher then usual. June is the lowest level and November the highest. You could see the water lines on the trees from the year before. The water would make the tree trunks black up to the high water mark. Even though we were already at medium level, the high mark was over 20 feet higher.
At some points the waterway got very narrow and overgrown. At spots the driver would have to tilt the engine out of the water to clear obstacles. At one point we could clearly see we were going over the hand rails of a bridge. We got up some speed, the driver tilted the engine out of the water and we banged across.
At several of these stops in the wider areas, locals in small boats would come up to us. They would have animals to show us. A Boa Constrictor, a Sloth, a Cayman, (alligator) and a baby local.
Naturally they wanted money for taking pictures of them.
There was a fat woman running one of the boats and she had three children and a baby in it along with the animals. People would hand the kids money which they quickly gave to the woman. Bobbi thought it was a good idea to give the kids the wrapped chocolate from the ship. The kids took it but had to quickly turn it over to the woman. All Bobbi got was a dirty look from the woman who shoved it into the pocket of jeans shorts. Yech. She just wanted the
money. The guide told us not to touch the animals. They usually have some kind of good stuff on them.
At this spot they also had giant water lilies. The world’s largest. Some over five feet across. We were told they would hold a Cayman who often sun themselves on them.
After riding thorough this very dense jungle for over an hour we had made a big circle and ended up back at the river queen boat. We had been very lucky. Most of the time we had sun with just some cloud cover. It had rained steady here for the last four days.
The river queen took us back down river to where the Rio Negro and the Amazon combine. They run in the same basin without mixing for 7 to 50 miles, depending upon who is telling the story. It is interesting whenever we see it.
From that point it took about an hour to get back to the ship. It rained lightly a few times on the way. As we were approaching the dock the sky was getting really black and storm clouds were rolling in. The engine on the boat was so loud you had to shout to talk to anyone. Even with the loud noise we could really hear the loud thunder. We barely made it up the gang plank when the skies really cut loose. We had a terrific time. This was another of those things you just have to do. The jungle did look a lot like many places I have been too in the past, and brought back memories of them, but still it was very different when you see the trees, vines, and many of the other things.
This evening I felt tired of the Compass Rose and Veranda Restaurants. I needed Oriental food. We went down to Latitudes and took a chance. You have to have a reservation there and at Signatures. My friend from the Voyager, Lei Lani is the manager there. I asked if there was any possible chance there was an open table. Sweet Lei Lani replied there was always room for me. The menu had changed and we were supposed to order a main course. There were about 10 choices but they all looked too good to decide so they brought us all of them. I think I hurt myself again. Whatever will I do when we get home. Bobbi already said she will not serve me like that. Maybe I should just stay aboard?
Then when desert came, it was some kind of sweet cheese cake with some kind of wild sweet sherbet. Sweet Lei Lani knows I can’t have too much sugar and brought me the desert menu from the Compass Rose. I just ordered some Boursin Pepper cheese and a few crackers. She brought me an entire cheese. Bobbi helped a little, but we really can’t move. There is a movie in the theater tonight, we were going to see. It’s with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. I hope we don’t pass out by then. Oh well. It’s just has a G rating. Probably not very good anyhow.
Date: Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Subject: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Manaus, Day I
Due to a swifter then expected current, we arrived an hour later then scheduled this morning. Why they didn’t just go faster, I don’t know. At one time last night I saw they were going less then four knots. The last ship I was on here, flew up the river. Rarely less then 25 knots except through towns. Perhaps that captain was more familiar with the river or maybe this one is overly cautious. He seems so on other subjects. We can no longer ride on the top level of the tenders even though they are made for it and we had been doing so until he came aboard and ordered otherwise.We had expected to be here earlier and had ordered just toast, juice, and coffee in the room. We had an early river cruise to take.The idiots never did announce what the new time for the tour would be. Bobbi called to find out and was told it was now. She told them they were stupid and should have announced it. Were we just supposed to guess? So stupids R them, then quickly announced it.
As we walked down the gang plank there was a two story river queen type boat. We boarded and found a seat on the second floor. After about a 45 minute ride down the river and then up a wide tributary, we came to a set of floating buildings set up as restaurants. Here we left the river queen for long narrow boats they called canoes. They had benches with backs on them running the width of the boat. Each had five of these benches wide enough for three but we sat just two per bench. These boats were propelled by 40 horsepower Yamaha out boards.We then set out down a waterway that got narrower and narrower. Soon we were in the deepest jungle you could imagine. Absolutely gorgeous. There were quite a few large white birds that we have in both Florida and Illinois. We call them Snowy Egrets. They were calling them White Herons. Whatever, we have one crazy one in Florida that goes running across the top of our hedges quite often.We made several stops where we could just hear all the jungle
sounds and a guide would tell several canoes at once about the area. A waterway we were traveling on was just a muddy path a couple of months ago. This year the water levels were much higher then usual. June is the lowest level and November the highest. You could see the water lines on the trees from the year before. The water would make the tree trunks black up to the high water mark. Even though we were already at medium level, the high mark was over 20 feet higher.At some points the waterway got very narrow and overgrown. At spots the driver would have to tilt the engine out of the water to clear obstacles. At one point we could clearly see we were going over the hand rails of a bridge. We got up some speed, the driver tilted the engine out of the water and we banged across.At several of these stops in the wider areas, locals in small boats would come up to us. They would have animals to show us. A Boa Constrictor, a Sloth, a Cayman, (alligator) and a baby local.
Naturally they wanted money for taking pictures of them.There was a fat woman running one of the boats and she had three children and a baby in it along with the animals. People would hand the kids money which they quickly gave to the woman. Bobbi thought it was a good idea to give the kids the wrapped chocolate from the ship. The kids took it but had to quickly turn it over to the woman. All Bobbi got was a dirty look from the woman who shoved it into the pocket of jeans shorts. Yech. She just wanted the
money. The guide told us not to touch the animals. They usually have some kind of good stuff on them.At this spot they also had giant water lilies. The world’s largest. Some over five feet across. We were told they would hold a Cayman who often sun themselves on them.
After riding thorough this very dense jungle for over an hour we had made a big circle and ended up back at the river queen boat. We had been very lucky. Most of the time we had sun with just some cloud cover. It had rained steady here for the last four days.
The river queen took us back down river to where the Rio Negro and the Amazon combine. They run in the same basin without mixing for 7 to 50 miles, depending upon who is telling the story. It is interesting whenever we see it.
From that point it took about an hour to get back to the ship. It rained lightly a few times on the way. As we were approaching the dock the sky was getting really black and storm clouds were rolling in. The engine on the boat was so loud you had to shout to talk to anyone. Even with the loud noise we could really hear the loud thunder. We barely made it up the gang plank when the skies really cut loose. We had a terrific time. This was another of those things you just have to do. The jungle did look a lot like many places I have been too in the past, and brought back memories of them, but still it was very different when you see the trees, vines, and many of the other things.
This evening I felt tired of the Compass Rose and Veranda Restaurants. I needed Oriental food. We went down to Latitudes and took a chance. You have to have a reservation there and at Signatures. My friend from the Voyager, Lei Lani is the manager there. I asked if there was any possible chance there was an open table. Sweet Lei Lani replied there was always room for me. The menu had changed and we were supposed to order a main course. There were about 10 choices but they all looked too good to decide so they brought us all of them. I think I hurt myself again. Whatever will I do when we get home. Bobbi already said she will not serve me like that. Maybe I should just stay aboard?
Then when desert came, it was some kind of sweet cheese cake with some kind of wild sweet sherbet. Sweet Lei Lani knows I can’t have too much sugar and brought me the desert menu from the Compass Rose. I just ordered some Boursin Pepper cheese and a few crackers. She brought me an entire cheese. Bobbi helped a little, but we really can’t move. There is a movie in the theater tonight, we were going to see. It’s with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. I hope we don’t pass out by then. Oh well. It’s just has a G rating. Probably not very good anyhow.
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