South America

Photos of Manaus, Brazil

I decided to take some time to upload some photos from our July trip to Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon in Brazil.  Tonight, I uploaded photos of Manaus, Brazil, a city in the heart of the Amazon basin located at the confluence of the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes, which meet and form the Amazon River.  Manaus was forgettable.  It’s a gritty city in an otherwise wild and fairly unspoiled area of the Amazon.  We spent the day in Manaus to tour the city before jumping off to our Amazon adventure.  It wasn’t a very fun day.  Unless you want a taste of a typical Brazilian city, there’s no reason to spend more than a couple of hours there.  The highlight is the Theater of the Amazons, a beautiful opera house.  Other than that, Manaus leaves the impression that it has seen better days.  Indeed, it has.  During the heyday of Brazil’s rubber production, it was one of the country’s most affluent cities.  While it is now home to several electronics companies — thanks to the Brazilian government’s efforts to make Manaus a manufacturing hub — it is definitely not a high-tech city.  Enjoy the photos, shutterbugs.

Checking in Again

Dear Reader, I was away in July for awhile.  My family and I traveled to Rio de Janeiro and Manaus (in the Amazon Basin), Brazil for a little over a week.  Work has also been ridiculously busy.  I’ve been working something like 70 hours per week now.  I made a conscious effort to slow down this weekend and breathe a little bit.  One of my goals was to go through all the photos I took on our Brazil trip and post some here for your to view, but I didn’t have time (as usual).  I thought I would write a bit tonight and get to work tomorrow or as soon as possible.  More to come…

Paraguay-Brazil World Cup Qualifier

We spent the afternoon last Sunday watching the World Cup Qualifying soccer match between Paraguay and Brazil.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find a seat, and I held my son on my shoulders for 35 minutes through the first Paraguay goal and most of the first half until we decided the discomfort of being jostled around in the packed stadium wasn’t worth it (I had visions of stampeding, panicked soccer fans milling around in my head).  Instead, we went home and watched the rest of the game in front of the television.  It was cool seeing the game both live and on television.
 
Paraguay beat the Brazilians 2-0.  They were feisty and simply outplayed the Brazilians.  Actually, the Paraguayans frequently beat the Brazilians whenever they meet in head-to-head matches other than World Cup matches.  It’s a shame the Paraguayans can’t seem to beat Brazil in the World Cup, or Paraguay might have a few World Cup championships until its belt.  Bar none, they are one of the best soccer teams from a small country in the world.  It’s a shame they lost 4-2 just three days later to the cellar-dwelling Bolivians in La Paz, Bolivia.  Whether it was because of the high altitude or exhaustion from expending so much adrenaline against Brazil, it’s hard to say.  Paraguay is still number one in the Latin American rankings to qualify for the World Cup, and they will no doubt be present in the 2010 World Cup along with Argentina, Brazil, and perhaps Uruguay.  Next up:  The Argentines.  Bring them on!
 
For the Shutterbugs:  I posted some photos from the game, some of the first photos I’ve posted from Paraguay.  Enjoy!