Jay’s Internet Log

We will be remaining alongside out berth tonight and tomorrow, before getting underway tomorrow evening.

It took a total of 30 hours to travel from Hartford to Manaus, half of this time spent in the lovely Miami Dade International Airport. The flight to Manaus was chartered by Princess Cruises and was full of fellow passengers. The plane had about 50% more crew than was required, including 3 pilots. One of the pilots sat in the very back of the plane for the entire trip, playing Skyrim on a really nice laptop. I spent some time back there talking about the phenominal RPG with him. Flying over the region called Amazonas was interesting. Looking down, all that could be seen were clouds, lush greenery, and many winding rivers. The airport is what you would expect for an airport in the middle of the jungle. It looks like something that hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years, and the bathroom I visited had a smell that I couldn’t get out of my nose for about 45 minutes, if you can believe that. Seriously, I caught a whiff of it even after our bus arrived at the pier. I am accompanied by Mom, Dad, and Heather. This is my eleventh cruise with Princess, and my first time to Brazil. Manaus is a city of 2 million people and is situated in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest. It sits next to the River Negro and has a checkered history. It became very popular with the export of rubber, but quickly declined to near nothing when Malaysia could produce rubber for much less money. It now holds many favelas and markets. One of its most prized structures is the famous Opera House, which we will be visitng tomorrow. Pacific Princess is a sister ship to the ex-Royal Princess that we loved so much. It holds close to 700 passengers, and this sailing is completely full. When we boarded, our rooms were not ready yet, so we went up to the buffet, where other passengers were waiting. I had a waffle and by now was completely delirious after being awake for close to 40 hours. Heather and I decided to walk around, so we went out on deck and walked the length of the ship. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a place with more humidity. It is both hot and humid here, but after spending so much time in the freezing cold Miami airport, we were fine with it. We randomly ran into the head room steward who told us that we could head to our room. After a quick shower, Heather and I fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke and then took a walk outside on the pier.  I snapped a few photos and watched as local boats came and went. These boats are full of hammocks, and locals take them up river for either work or vacation. They are packed like cans of sardines. We then came back on board and had dinner. I planned on seeing a local folklore show after dinner, but can barely keep my eyes open, so we decided to come back to the room and sleep. That’s going to happen right…..now.