More Fun in Manaus

After the Walker left we were on our own, and our spirits weren't feeling quite as adventurous. Our kids were all tuckered out so we did a quick trip to the souveneir market and then relaxed and watched movies in our hotel. We did find a fun restaurant at the market that had a toucan sink and delicious fish.

While the kids were settled and into watching their movie Jake and I did a walking tour to see some of the murals and an old church in town. We loved all the murals in Manaus.

Sunday we got to go to the same church ward again, so it was good to feel that we belonged there. We loved all the people we met there and the spirit of Christ was strong. In the afternoon we headed to the Amazon Museum in Manaus. Some of our favorite things there were the butterfly house, a cool bug we just found outside, a giant sloth skeleton (yes unfortunately they are extinct), the tower that overlooks the jungle and a butterfly we found out in the wild.

On Monday we decided to head back out on the river and check out the Seringal Museum, which is a rubber museum that talks about the history of rubber production in Manaus. It has some real historical artifacts and much from the movie set about that era. While there we also saw a Jesus lizard walk on water. That was a pretty cool sight. We caught a photo of it on the porch and it is beautiful colors.

After we got back in the boat and headed on. For lunch we ate on a floating self service restaurant and checked out a fun board walk with MANY monkeys. We also saw some big lilly pads.

Then we made a stop at a fish farm where we could pretend fish for the big pirarucu. This fish gets up to 3 meters long!!! We weren't really fishing for them, just playing tug of war with them. A small fish tied to the end of a rope.

Then we headed to the indiginous village and got our faces painted and saw some beautiful red Macaws in the trees near the village.

On our way back to town we paid one more visit to the meeting of the waters and got a chance to feel the temperature difference of the two rivers. It was easier to notice on this trip.

On Tuesday we went north to President Figeureido National Park to see and swim in some really beautiful waterfalls. Unfortunately I can't remember the names of the falls that we visited. But they were beautiful and we had a lot of fun swimming and splashing in them. The first one we were able to walk behind it, which was a pretty cool vantage point.

For lunch we had delicious fish again and we got to see the statue of the legend of the cupuacu. The legend is something about an archer who lost a competition to a god and got turned into the fruit.

We then hiked a loop waterfall hike with a few waterfalls and caves. One of the waterfalls had a diving board and Pace, Grant, Louis and I were brave enough to try it out. It was a lot of fun and then the little kids found the cutest beach to play at while their older brothers continued to jump.

On wednesday we had an evening flight out so we got to do one last adventure. We went to the science woods in hopes of catching a sight of some manatees and giant otters. It did not dissapoint. This science center was very well kept up with fun animals to see and the kids really loved the spider and scorpion exhibit as well.

The Amazon was amazing. I'm so glad we got the opportunity to see this natural wonder. It's sad that there has to be such a fight to preserve it, but it is a battle worth fighting. This place is truely unique and a treasure. Tchau for now and hope we can make it back again some day!