As we were running out of time (because of a date with a friend in Fortaleza) we decided to take a plane from Tabatinga to Manaus. There is only one Airline flying on this route so we didn't have a choice: Azul Linhas Aéreas it was! The Airport in Tabatinga is not more than a little house that opens twice a day when those two planes arrive and half an hour later leave again. I don't have to say that the plane fitted perfectly to the airport: a little propeller-driven plane where the baggage was somehow stored between the cockpit and the passenger cabin.
After two hours flying over the lush green of the rainforest and shortly before our scheduled arrival the pilot informed us that we had to wait a little bit for our landing as the runway lights in Manaus didn't work. After 15 min he told us, that they don't know when they can fix the problem with the lights and that we can't wait any longer otherwise we'd run out of petrol before we make it to the next airport. So we continued to Santarém (right trough a thunderstorm with a nice view of a thousand lightnings outside…).
One and a half hours later we arrived in Santarém, where they refueled the plane and without even getting off, we took off again and after another 2 hours we finally landed safe in Manaus.
In Manaus two things were especially impressive: the harbor with it's fish market and the famous Teatro Amazon, the opera house, but see for yourself...
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| Porto de Manaus |
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| Teatro Amazonas |
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| Statue on the square in front of the opera house |
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| Ceiling - the view you would have if you were under Paris' Eiffel Tower looking up |
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| This loge is reserved for the Govenor of the Amazonas and his family, no one else is allowed in there |
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| Those Masks were imported from Italy |
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| Painting of the first brazilian opera |
