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the port of Manaus
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as we leave the port area
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enlarge - you can see the brown of the Amazon and the black of the Rio Negro - side by side
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as we begin the trip into the waters that form the Amazon
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families work together to do business such as this on the river
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this is a resturant on the right and the home on the left - note the very brown water
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the family's buildings and 3 of the children out for a ride
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these homes rest on logs to rise and fall with the river
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usually these are extended families grouped together
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the banks tended to be grasses and then the "pond" plants extending into the river
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you saw lots of bird life including ducks
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families keep animals like these goats
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moving into the more flooded areas - the banks are floating
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we saw several of these birds - very skitish but fairly stupid - reminded us of tarmagon
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our canoe driver picked up water hyacinth so we could smell it
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the canopy begins to close in where the river narrows
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into the flooded forest
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canoes of kids with forest animals come to get their picture taken and beg - unfortunately
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the tree is around 200 years old
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some areas are more open in the flooded forest
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these giant lily pads grow in both the brown and negro parts of the river
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lots of these bromiliads - some large and some very small
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wide variety of trees but only a few types are really tall
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sorry not a great picture - but it is a sloth
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sloths are really alien creatures
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the water was so very still - like a mirror of glass in some areas of the flooded forest
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one of the fallen trees and some trees beneath the water
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some of the water was truly black
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you see the cycle of life in everything and the intertwining of each part in the environment
bank3.JPG
more floating banks