Manaus and Ariaú Amazon Towers

These photos were taken during our trip to the Ariaú Amazon Towers: a few in Manaus and the rest around the hotel, the Rio Negro and the Anavilhanas Islands. The hotel is a cross between a resort and camp, and I mean camp like the ones you went to as a child...The wooden structures don't allow for much privacy—either everyone goes to bed and gets up at the same time or nobody sleeps—and there's no hot water, but the food is superb, our guide Max ( who says that "no one should die without seeing the Amazon") was the most knowledgeable, intelligent and lovely person you can imagine and the whole experience is an absolute must for anyone who loves and wishes to preserve our Mother Earth for future generations.

There were numerous canoe trips, bird watching, a visit to a nearby village and a swim in the Rio Negro (one of the highlights of the trip for me), which is between 25 and 35 km wide at that point. The river is appropriately named, since the waters are very dark, so it's like swimming in iced tea, better yet, maté tea. You can tell the difference in the waters of the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões that meet near Manaus to form the mighty Amazon River (see last two photos below). The pink dolphins or botos proved too elusive for me, but I saw a sloth hanging from a tree and  befriended  a spider monkey (it was rather the other way around, actually); he's got his own page!

Ariau River ariauriver2.jpg (91560 bytes) Ariau Towers Ariau Towers Ariau Towers
ariautowers6.jpg (77456 bytes) ariautowers7.jpg (72598 bytes) ariautowers11.jpg (98392 bytes) ariautowers17.jpg (81552 bytes) ariautowers13.jpg (83158 bytes)
Fishing for Piranha Fishing for Piranha ariautowers14.jpg (142170 bytes) ariautowers18.jpg (71525 bytes) ariaumonkey6.jpg (107971 bytes)
ariautowers15.jpg (58793 bytes) ariautowers16.jpg (90651 bytes) Sloth (Bicho Preguica) Liana islandrionegro1.jpg (65871 bytes)
islandrionegro2.jpg (73823 bytes) islandrionegro3.jpg (70385 bytes) islandrionegro4.jpg (104278 bytes) islandrionegro5.jpg (71477 bytes) islandrionegro6.jpg (82366 bytes)
islandrionegro8.jpg (98910 bytes) Urucum Bush Urucum Hotel Tropical Manaus Hotel Tropical Manaus
Hotel Tropical Manaus Dock at Hotel Tropical Manaus Market Teatro Amazonas Teatro Amazonas
Artindia Store Manaus Artindia Store Manaus Artindia Store Manaus amazonriverboats.jpg (63074 bytes) amazonriverboat.jpg (55226 bytes)
fuelingstation1.jpg (47931 bytes) fuelingstation2.jpg (66149 bytes) The Meeting of the Waters The Meeting of the Waters  

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