I'm writing to you tonight from Manaus! My overnight flight was long and I am tired, but I have had a nice day in the city once dubbed the Paris of the Tropics.
Highlights of my last 24:
- Sat next to a member of Natalie Cole's band on the overnight flight. I kid you not, unless he and all of his alledged band mates were kidding.
- Saw on the plane to Manaus several members of U2's stage crew, if their t-shirts were truthful. (No, U2 is not coming to Manaus, which is sad because if I ever meet them, the first thing I'm going to do is ask The Edge if anybody calls him "The" for short.)
- Sat by a nice lady who is a native Manauara (person from Manaus). Ate one of her cookies (thanks!).
- Drank from a drinking foutain in São Paulo but not in Manaus. Very important.
- Saw the Manaus Temple from the plane. I was probably eight miles away but it looked like a temple and was in the right location.
- Already met several Brazilians who said "is it the Mormon Church?" when I mentioned that I lived in Manaus as a missionary. I rarely met anyone who had heard of us when I was here in 1996-1998. No wonder we're building a temple here!
- Had a supermarket employee not believe I was American. She thought I was from southern Brazil (I assume because of my accent and complexion). Thanks to this young lady for the unintentional best compliment of the day.
- Had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Meh. It was okay but was a lot of money. But I thought it would be awkward to find a place for dinner alone on a Friday night. Plus I got to eat farofa made by folks in Manaus who know what farofa's supposed to taste like. ("Why did you have dinner? Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Brazil!," you're thinking. "Because I was on a plane at lunchtime and was given a bag of chips for lunch," I reply.)
I spent the afternoon touring Manaus. Manaus is more than 300 years old, but it became significant in the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when the demand for rubber was very high. During the rubber boom, people making lots of money from rubber started making Manaus into a grandiose world-class city. Then synthetic rubber was invented, and the rubber boom was over, as were Manaus's glory days. Think Pittsburgh when the steel industry collapsed, and that will give you some idea of what Manaus has gone through.
Fortunately for the locals, the Brazilian government has instituted certain policies over the last few decades, such as the Zona Franca, that have helped Manaus survive and even grow. Most people don't care much for Manaus as a tourist destination, outside of being a launch point for rainforest tours. But it's a city and region where I spent a very significant portion of my life, when I was a missionary. Has Manaus changed? I don't know yet. I haven't been anywhere (other than the airport) where I went on my mission. On Sunday I'll go out to the neighborhoods where I served, and then I can see what change there has been in 13 years.
Photos from my super-lo-fi international loaner phone (maybe tomorrow I'll use my Droid, which doesn't work as a phone here but has a much better camera):
My first photo of the day. This was taken from the airport. As you can probably tell, Manaus doesn't do the dry California sunshine thing.
Interior of the famous Teatro Amazonas. The intricate curtain is half-raised. It raises straight up into the dome of the theater without folding or rolling.
That's me in the theater. The tour was available in English or Portuguese, and I opted for English since I will not likely visit there again and wanted to learn something. By the way, the young guys giving the tour spoke excellent English.
The box seats in the theater. Like many old theaters, box seats were designed not for the occupants to see (the show) but to be seen (by the commoners sitting on the main floor). When they have events here now, the floor seats are the most expensive.
The floor of the theater's ballroom, made of 12,000 pieces of wood. Initially no nails were used, but they hadn't planned for the humidity, and they ended up using nails after all. Every major component of the theater was built in Europe and shipped to Manaus for final assembly. The rubber barons were almost all Europeans.
The slippers we had to wear to go on the ballroom floor. It's no longer used for dancing because it's too fragile.
A view of the Teatro Amazonas dome from my hotel room.
A LEGO blocks model of the Teatro Amazonas, sponsored by Coca-Cola and donated by them to the Teatro. 
Appears to be a children's play area on the corner of one of the many parks and squares I encountered in the city today.
I was impressed by this giant staircase leading up to the door of a cathedral.
The busy Manaus port. On the right edge of the photo, you can see part of an Iberostar cruise liner.
Proof that grass can be grown in Manaus. I knew it!And finally, some good Engrish samples:
Shop Dope. Brazilians love all things American, including our words. I don't know if Dope as used here refers to the customers, the staff, the universe of recreational drugs, or all three. I also saw a graffiti that said "100% MACONHA" (maconha is marijuana). (UPDATE: apparently Shop Dope was the name of service bulletins sent out by Harley Davidson once upon a time. But Shop Dope in Manaus didn't look like it had anything to do with motorcycles.) 
Flesh brand orange soda. I don't remember that. There, that's one thing that's changed!
I had a great first day in Manaus. I don't know exactly what all I'm doing tomorrow, but I'm tired and can figure it out in the morning. This has been a good experience so far. Time for bed!
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