Manaus! It's so good to be back in my old city! It's really hot, too. So we spent the day visiting the Amazon Theater as well as the port of Manaus and the city center. I'd forgotten what a busy city this is! The theater is valued to be worth over R$1 billion. It was built during the rubber boom of the late 1800's. The opulence of the theater is amazing when you consider that it is in a city in the middle of the Amazon rain forest and is only accessible by boat or plane.
After the rubber plant was smuggled off to Indonesia, the rubber boom in Manaus ended, but the city continues to thrive because of the many manufacturing plants that are located here. There is also the zona franca, where people can buy goods tax free. By wandering around the city center, you can see how important commerce is to the city. There are stores everywhere! And on the sidewalks in from of the stores there are covered tables selling more items.
Not everything was able to recover after the rubber bust, and downtown Manaus is full of old abandoned buildings where you can see the jungle starting to grow back right in the middle of them. To me, Manaus is the most fascinating city in Brazil, where you have a crazy mixture of the cultured and uncouth.
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