returning from africa i used united airlines points, and was able to route myself through istanbul and then sao paulo, brazil en route back to the united states!
layover in sao paulo
Category: brazil
the amazon! – manaus
everything is bigger in the amazon. the scale of the river is unbelievable – it is up to 50 km wide, has water level variations of 60 feet based on the season, and discharges more water volume than the next seven largest rivers in the world combined. manaus is the largest city in the amazon basin, with about two million people. it feels like an outpost fighting back the rainforest. huge plants break through the asphalt. i got the feeling that the fauna would take over in days if the people gave up and let it.
manaus is a working class, spread out city of concrete, famous for its rubber. the rubber wealth allowed the construction of its iconic opera house, ornately constructed with materials from all over the amazon. sadly, tours were shut down for a private event when i went to visit. i decided to take a public ferry across the amazon river, which crossed the “meeting of the waters” – after the black, more acidic rio negro and muddy, more basic amazon rivers meet, their respective waters continue to flow side by side for some kilometers before beginning to mix. the ferry passes over this meeting of the waters and it was definitely worth the three hour excursion! manaus also has the largest urban park in the world, measuring over 100 square kilometers. i went for a hike through the rainforest there, and climbed a wobbly viewtower which afforded spectacular views over the forest. even from the city, the amazon is awe-inspiring!
the amazon! – adventures in tres fronteras
my foray into the amazon took me to two fascinating locales: the tres fronteras region where the borders of colombia, peru and brazil meet, and then to manaus, brazil, the largest city in the amazon. i flew from bogota to leticia, colombia, in the far southeastern corner of the country. it is amazing how large colombia is; leticia is almost 2000 km from the caribbean coast, and deep in the rainforest – 700 km from the nearest colombian road. at the airport they seemed to have instituted a new $10 “tourist tax” – not much choice on that one. i walked the sweaty one kilometer or so into town, to the anaconda hotel. the town is famous for its central square, where thousands of chirping birds congregate nightly at sunset. i was able to climb the steeple of the town church to watch this, which was amazing, then eat an amazonian fish for dinner! leticia is an impressively bustling town for being so geographically isolated; half of the town lives on homes on stilts over the amazonian marsh.
the tres fronteras region is composed of the towns of leticia, tabatinga (brazil), and the island town of santa rosa (peru). one can travel freely between the towns, but must clear immigration before moving further into any of these countries. i arrived on a friday night, and when i told the staff at the anaconda hotel that i planned to fly out of the tabatinga airport the next afternoon, they had some stressful and unexpected news – apparently the immigration offices were all closed for the weekend. if i couldn’t stamp into brazil then i couldn’t catch my flight to manaus, and i couldn’t get back to work on time, and it was going to cost a ton to backtrack. i didn’t get much sleep, and before even eating breakfast in the morning i jumped on a motorcycle taxi across the border into brazil to try to figure it out for myself. sure enough, the brazilian immigration office was closed, with a sign in portuguese telling me to come back at 9am monday morning. i asked around and tried to google solutions to no avail, and was feeling quite despondent. then somehow, by the grace of God, i chanced upon a nearby police station, and amazingly, one of the officers was able to stamp me into brazil! next time don’t try to do this on a weekend, he told me.
after that scare, i had a few hours to breathe, so i went back to leticia and took a boat taxi across the amazon river to peru! the private motorized wood longboat ride cost $1, and took about 20 minutes. crossing the amazon was surreal; the widest, muddiest river imaginable. i walked around the sleepy one-road town of santa rosa, peru, before heading back on another ferry. from santa rosa, one could also take a ferry westward to iquitos, which takes about a day. i was a bit confused as to whether tabatinga was in the brazilian or colombian timezone, so playing it safe ended up arriving at the sleepy tabatinga airport way early. at least i had my stamp!
