John: Our last day in Manaus was filled with last-minute sightseeing (I got to the see the Teatro myself, which was great in part because it is almost exactly the same size as an eighteenth-century British theater), shopping for snacks to have on the ship, and rest--we're beat.
Aidan has more to say (and a picture) about his encounter with the caiman the other night (you'll remember that he held one on a late-night boat excursion):
Aidan:
This is the caiman I held on my adventure into the rain forest. He felt scaly; well, what do you expect? He's a reptile. I miss that caiman; I think he liked me.
John:Manaus is a very interesting place; its situation alone--well up the Amazon River, far from the next nearest large place--is enough to make it unique. In the city are signs of its history--in the form of the classically-designed buildings that were constructed at the time of the rubber boom--and also signs of the nature that surround its. Here is a picture I took of some long-abandoned warehouses in the port area, built, by the date on one of them, around 1900, and now slowly being overtaken by vines:
The ship departed in the evening, reversing our course up the Amazon. We'll be traveling on it for a couple of days (making better speed now, since the current of the river is with us), then across the Atlantic to Ghana. We feel a little apprehensive about this; we'll be at sea for ten full days, by far our longest time without stopping at a port (and the longest stretch until we leave Japan for Hawaii in April). Among other things, this means ten consecutive days of teaching for Vic and of schooling for Aidan. Among the disorienting things about the Semester at Sea experience is that our schedule is set by the itinerary of the voyage rather than by conventional marks such as the days of the week; if we're not in port, classes are held on Saturdays and Sundays, for example. That and the frequent time changes enhance the sense of being in a very separate world.
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