Brazilian Amazon Day 5

Today we also went to the zoo, but this one was just a few yards from our room in the hotel. We had learned that Hotel Tropical Manaus had a zoo even before arriving here but had no idea how cool it was. I think I even liked it better than the city zoo because you can get a lot closer to the animals and even play with them. There were different types of monkeys, including a group of Spider Monkeys that were great. When you offered them something, they would immediately take it and you felt you were communicating with them. Some had cool looking hairdos. I liked playing with the monkeys and stayed there for a long time.




























With about 100 native species of Amazonian fauna, the grounds were green all around. I even saw a cacau tree!



The Zoo is free and it has signs next to every animal explaining about it both in Portuguese and in English.

Tomorrow we leave on a big expedition with a boat from Katerre, organized by Mundus Travel in São Paulo. So in the afternoon we went back to our room to prepare for the trip.

In the evening, we walked to Ponta Negra, right next to the hotel. A stretch of bars and restaurants with a view of the Rio Negro makes Ponta Negra a nice place to see the sunset and dine. We had grilled fish that tasted delicious, listened to cars playing loud local music, and watched a street performer that dressed and danced exactly like Michael Jackson. I think his name was Michael Jackson of the Amazon.
















Cool Manaus:
During the Rubber Boom, Manaus was one of the richest cities on earth. The city had electricity before London, telephones before Rio de Janeiro, electric trams while New Yorkers were still pulled by horses.