I just finished 2 days 1 night boat trip Amazonas rio negro river for work. Well, it was amazing and not what I expected. What do I mean? It’s much more developed than I thought.
We arrived the main city of the amazonas state, Manaus, which has nearly 2 million population and very developed. It’s amazing to see such a city in the middle of the Amazonas. We stopped by the opera house and witness the glory of the city during the period that colonist came here for the rubber business.
We had lunch at a local restaurant and the main dish was the big fish, tambaqui:
You wonder any vegan option? well… let me say it’s on pause as it’s so difficult to find vegan options in Brazil so I won’t stress about it and eat what’s available, especially not to stress the organizing team.
Then we went to our boat. What a luxurious boat!
The rio negro is really black! You can’t see anything, due to water acidity. The good thing about that is that due to high water acidity, there is less mosquito.
We had team cocktails, getting to know the group (40+ people flying from different places), while we cruised and had dinner at a private beach. The view was great during sunset
Dinner at the beach
I went to sleep 11pm, exhausted. The next day we started 6:30 with breakfast and a walk through the jungle learning about preservation practice of the local community. We then visited 3 sights learning about the challenge of local communities. These communities are important for the amzonas because they protect the forest, but living conditions are difficult as they suffered drought in the last two years which meant no boat could access their house, and they couldn’t sell their products. The kids attend to school when they can and they basically watch a TV with teacher giving classes to a group of communities at the same time. They receive doctors’ visit once a month, and they don’t have sanitation. Really touch conditions to live.
We also saw turtles, which is part of their diet
Last activity was to “swim” with river dolphins. I didn’t go in as you really can’t see anything in this black river. I’d rather watch my colleagues’ reaction when the dolphins get to them
We cruised back to Manaus and were welcomed by a hot shower, so much missed 😉
ps. I know the world is in turbulence and it’s quite unsettling. Talking to others while this is happening has been helpful to process the news together. We have no solutions but hope.
Our New Journey 
What a cool adventure, Coco! It’s so interesting, the communities living along the river. The world is so interesting and varied.
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What a fascinating trip! Such an incredible way to experience the Amazonas! I was curious about the mention of the Rio Negro’s acidity—what makes the river acidic? Is that a natural phenomenon? It’s amazing how it impacts the ecosystem, like keeping mosquitoes away.
I was always wondering how it would be to travel in the Amazonas. Thank you for sharing both the beauty and challenges of life in the region!
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Yes the acidity is natural from the rio, not human made. I haven’t traveled very inside of the amazonas but I can imagine the conditions deteriorates as one goes deeper. Some communities are so remote that takes 6 days to get there.
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I was so curious how you’re handling the food situation. I can’t wait to hear how your numbers/energy levels might change (or not!) as you incorporate some non-vegan products again.
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wow how interesting all of that is!! Awww, the baby turtles!!!! The setting reminds me about a book I read years ago- state of wonder by Ann Patchett, I think it was set near or in Manaus.
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Yes that’s the book that I read and got fascinated by amazonas. It’s not like the book but Manaus’ description is quite nice.
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What a cool bonding experience for all of you! I know next to nothing about this region of the world so we’ll have to learn through your experiences. Phil did go to Brazil for a grad school two week study abroad experience. He had a great time there.
As an economist, I’d love to hear your take on the, well, batshit crazy policies that are being put into place. It’s total chaos here, and I vacillate between paying attention and putting my head in the sand.
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