Back in Manaus

After over 36 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Manaus around 12:00 AM Sunday. It’s really not that much flying, it’s the 10 hour layover in Sao Paulo that kills you. So what do you do when you’re sitting in an airport for 10 hours? Sit around, read and if you’re me, walk aimlessly around and take some pics.

Sunday I slept in until around noon.  Even though I slept very little over the 36 hours of travel, I still couldn’t go straight to sleep when I got to my friend Moises’ house.  I ended up falling alseep around 2 AM.  We headed out and had some lunch then went to the zoo here in Manaus.  The zoo is operated by the Brazilian Army and it only contains animals from Brazil.  There were some need things to see, here are a few shots.

Keep in mind that all of the shots so far were taken with my little dinky Sony RX100 Point n Shoot. For a walk around keep in your big pocket camera, it’s been very nice so far.  But I still like my Olympus OM-D E-M5 better for overall usability and picture quality.

Before dark we went into the older part of town to check out the different neighborhoods who were decorating their streets for World Cup.  From what I understand, during every World Cup these neighborhoods do this as a competition against other neighborhoods in Manaus.  I’m amazed at the amount of work that must go into these.  There are streamers hanging from wires above the streets which make patterns.  Then there are murals on painted on the streets so you surrounded by color.  Of course the houses on the street are decked out with banners and streamers as well. 

Well, that’s about all for now.  Today I’ve been resting, working on photos and this blog.  Tomorrow I head out on a 4 day 3 night boathouse trip on the Amazon and Black rivers.  So you won’t be hearing from me for a few days. 

World Cup Brazil, here I come

Sitting here in the United Club Lounge at PDX enjoying an Americano and waiting for my flight. BTW, I haven't been in the United Club lounge here in Portland before, it's small but very nice. The only reason I can even be here is because I used miles to fly First Class to Sao Paulo.  No way I would pay to be here.... :)

So, yes I'm on another adventure to my favorite country, Brasil. This time it's for World Cup, which should be a heck of a lot of fun!  I'm headed back to Manaus which is in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest. For those you don't know.  I have friends in Manaus that I made while helping startup a motherboard factory about 6 years ago.  Back then my buddies said, "You should come down for World Cup, there will be games here in Manaus.  You have a place to stay, just show up!".  So of course I've been keeping in contact with them ever since.  Have even headed down a couple times to visit since then.  But now, it's the big trip. 

Here's my agenda.  I'm arriving in Manaus around 11:30 PM Saturday. I'll be staying with my friend Moises and his family.

Wednesday: Going on a 4 day/3 night boathouse trip on the Amazon and Negro rivers.  I've never done one of these trips out of Manaus even though I've been there so many times for work and pleasure.  I figured I'd do it this time. Should be cool.  Going to see some rain forest, do some fishing for piranha and we'll see what else happens.

Starting Saturday, I have 4 World Cup group stage matches that I'm going to over a 2 week period.  Highlights of the matches are USA vs Portugal and England vs Italy.  Bare in mind that I bought my tickets in the very first round of sales.  I didn't know who I was going to get to see, I just knew that I was watching games in Manaus since I have friends there.  So I feel pretty lucky after the draw, even though USA are going to have a tough time I think against Portugal.

Early Friday morning, June 27th I'm flying to Fortaleza.  I have a round of 16 match there on the 29th.  Potential countries playing are Brazil, if they finish 2nd in their group and Spain, if they finish 1st in their group.  I doubt Brazil will finish 2nd, they have a fairly easy group.  But the chances of Spain finishing first are very good.  Either way, it's going to be awesome being in Fortaleza watching a round of 16 world cup match.

After the match in Fortaleza, I'm done with World Cup football and headed into a small fishing village called Jericoacoara which is about a 5.5 hour drive outside of Fortaleza.  There I'm going to relax on the beach and enjoy some quiet time for about 6 days before flying back to Oregon on July 6. 

I'll try to keep this blog updated with my adventures. I also will be posting photos here on my flickr website. Time to relax and wait for my flight.  Tchau!