Manaus, like all of Brazil, has a very mixed heritage: Europeans plus indigenous peoples (most of whom died after European contact) plus slaves imported from west Africa plus a large Japanese population (go figure).
The day we pulled in Bibb came down with the virus epizootic that tends to prevail in closed spaces (like cruise ships); he stayed in the cabin all day while I was out and about, visiting the zoo and shopping. The next day he felt well enough (though still below par) to go along on the outing we had planned, a riverboat "bus" ride to the Ecopark, up the Rio Negro a few miles, including as options lunch, a jungle trek, visit to island monkey sanctuary, and dip in the lovely set of pools separated by mini-waterfalls.
What a glorious day that was! Bibb opted to rest in a hammock after our introductory lecture, but I went on the walk, dip and monkey-visit with about 3o fellow tourists. Our riverbus guide, Paul, had commented extensively en route to the park and was very knowledgable; we had to divide into two groups for the forest walk, and I went with another guide, Marcelo, who speaks English and Portugese (and maybe other things too), and his Indian assistant, Jonelyn, who speaks Portugese, some Spanish and an indigenous language. We walked single-file on well-defined but not manicured trails; every five minutes or so, we'd stop and Marcelo, translating for Jonelyn, would point out a tree, vine or flower and describe its uses for life in the jungle.
Jonelyn showed us a tree with a high pitch content; the Indians use a chunk of a branch as torches, and it burns for a really long time. Also, when the pitch drips out of the flames, it becomes sticky when it cools, so you can use it as a glue. We looked a tree which, when tapped, yields a milky substance (tastes okay) and another whose smaller branches can be de-barked and then smoked -- not a high, just a pleasant taste. Palm branches can be worked into thatching for roofs or folded into many toy shapes, including caterpillars, bow & arrow, stars, and crowns. Another tree's bark can be scraped off, using a broad leaf to catch it, and dumped into water to make a malaria treatment and, so they say, natural Viagra. Much hilarity ensued. [Picture it: 14 middle-aged white tourists wearing crowns, asking for their own toys, sampling the jungle treats. It was FABULOUS.]
