Manaus, Round 2

This was our second visit to Manaus, the first was in 2010, and again it was out of neccessity. There isn't much to the city but it gets a lot of tourists because it's a jump off point for a lot of Amazon jungle tours.  Well, after being on a prison boat for three days :-) it felt good to be free in a city.  Free to eat what we want, as slow as we want to. Free to sleep in a bed more than two feet wide.  Despite all the small quirks, the boat trip down the Amazon was a good experience and we are both glad we had a chance to do it.

Now of all the places in Brazil, Manaus would not be the city to visit twice. Its biggest attraction is the Opera House and the plaza that surrounds it.  It's a good place to people-watch and enjoy some local cuisine from the many restaurants that surround it.  There are also a few street vendors selling food.  One of these was more like a booth and it sold a special soup, caled Tacaca,  made by indigenous people.  This was a tourist trap that Mareen fell for. She went up to the booth and they gave her a nice little brochure explaining the soup and then told her it costs 15 reais (about $7). She fell for it and came back with a bowl of soup and a "free" postcard. There were a lot of people buying this soup from that booth so Mareen wasn't the only one.  Later that night we saw a bunch of other places selling Tacaca for 8 reais, half the price.

 Manaus is also supposed to have a nice fish market at the docks but it was closed on Sunday.  The first time we were here, we didn't get a chance to explore much of the city. So this time we spent some time walking around the city and checking out a well maintained park near our hostel. We spent Saturday night at the plaza, watching the local Beyonce fan club practice dancing to her hits. Just when things were getting interesting, a lady came and parked her car just where they were dancing.  She got out and chased them away from her car and what appears to be her house.  I was really surprised that nobody scratched her car or vandalized her house.  I guess Beyonce fans are nice than I am :-)