For friends, family and the random search engine visitor. This blog started as an experiment in mobile blogging from my Palm TREO 600, 700, Prē, HTC Evo, Samsung 5, Pixel 3, Pixel 6 Pro. Now it serves as a simple repository of favorite activities. Expect bad golf, good fishing, great sailing, eating, drinking, adventure travel, occasional politics and anything else I find interesting along the way including, but not limited to, any of the labels listed here...
MW BLOG LABEL CLOUD (click label for posts on that topic)
We are flying on the 26th. The 25th was primarily preparing for departure. This is the first day of the official itinerary:
"Overnight accommodation (sharing room) at the Juma Ópera Hotel in Manaus, the night before departure to the Kendjam, is included in the package. You will receive all the information regarding the next day’s plan for time of departure, typically around 5:30 AM weather depending. Arrive in Manaus. Our representatives will be waiting for you at the Manaus International Airport (MAO)." - Kendjam Itinerary for 25-July
From this point forward, things start to get a little sketchy for time and internet access as far as maintaining a daily journal. I am pre-posting the itinerary for each day, with the intent of back-filling with pictures and the events of the day. That's my intent. Road to Hell notwithstanding.
The "Meeting of the Waters" - Rio Amazon (L), Rio Negro (R)
"In the afternoon we finally entered the wonderful Amazon itself, the mighty river which contains one tenth of all the running water of the globe. It was miles across, where we entered it; and indeed we could not tell whether the farther bank, which we saw, was that of the mainland or an island. We went up it until about midnight, then steamed up the Rio Negro for a short distance, and at one in the morning of April 30 reached Manaos."- Teddy Roosevelt, "Through the Brazilian Wilderness"
Cousins Larry, Danny, and Jared arrived in Manaus early this morning. As noted earlier in this journal, they were the impetus (instigators?) for this journey. After a year of discussions, e-mails, travel plans, texts, bureaucratic documentation, on-line research, procuring fishing equipment, and long flights, we meet again at Juma Opera Hotel, a couple days before our plane flight to the Kendjam Fishing Lodge on the Iriri River in the Amazon rain forest.
Meeting of the Clans - MW, LH, DH, HW JH, the youngest among us, was still recovering from the journey.
Outside of the Meeting of the Clans, the main event of the day was a tour of the waterfront and boat excursion on the Amazon River. The Heller boys were in rest and recovery mode, so Harlan and I took the tour. First stop, the fish market:
The fish market is huge, with an amazing array of species on display. The market is indicative of both the productivity of the Amazon basin, and the appetite for seafood in Manaus. I asked our guide Felix if this market is where the restaurants in Manaus get their fish and he answered in the affirmative. The fried tambaqui fish ribs (costelas de tambaqui) I enjoyed so much on our first night in Manaus likely started at this market.
Costelas de Tambaqui
From the fish market it was a short walk to the riverside wharf and into a small overpowered boat to continue our tour of the rivers.
Heading for the Mother River
First stop, an opportunity to swim with the freshwater pink dolphins. I didn't realize swimming with dolphins in Rio Negro was an option and did not bring swim trunks, but they had inexpensive trunks for sale and I could not resist...
Very cool. These are wild dolphins that live free in the river and are not penned in or constrained in any way. Apparently there are about 20 of them that can be called in with few slaps of the oar and will tolerate our presence for a free and easy snack of fresh sardines.
Next, a speedy run through mangrove forests...
... to arrive at a fish farm for giant arapaima. These critters are penned up and tourists can experience a ~5 second fight with these monsters by dropping a hookless bait fish tied to a line at the end of sturdy pole. Not a fishing pole. A big thick pole.
The highlight was pulling up at the intersection of the "The Meeting of Waters". The very spot where the massive Rio Negro merges into the even more massive Rio Amazon. The image at the top of this post was taken at that precise location.
We covered a lot water for a fun four hour tour, thanks to tour guide Felix.
Back at the ranch, the clans gathered again for a drink and dinner. Even Jared.
Acclimating to the temperatures facing me in the days ahead.
Day 2 in Manaus and the process of acclimating to temperature, food, and culture continues apace. I think of Manaus much like climbers think of Base Camp before ascending Everest. It is a place to adjust to the atmosphere and prepare yourself mentally and physically for the adventure ahead. Like "base camp", our few days in Manaus at the Juna Opera Hotel gives us time to adjust before our flight to the wilderness fishing lodge a few days hence.
Disciplined training will ensure adequate preparation.
As a 40 year San Francisco resident I am accustomed to a temperate climate year round. The first order of business is to spend as much time in the heat as possible to get used to what I will experience at the jungle lodge. To that end I found the Juma Opera hotel rooftop pool to be the perfect training ground. My thinking was that spending as much time as possible outside at the pool would quickly accustom me to heat I will experience at the lodge, and so I acted accordingly.
Next food. In general, when traveling to new environs, it is prudent to carefully watch what you eat to avoid the kind of trip ruining maladies that typically afflict travelers. That said, I still had a couple days to recover before our flight to the lodge on Saturday. And the breakfast spread at the hotel was too tempting to avoid interesting local Brazilian fare.
Among the breakfast firsts for me were the Brazil nut bread, Tucupi bread, Rice and Brazil nut porridge, and a beautiful selection of fresh fruits including some that I have never seen or tasted and could not name. The fruit was obviously the highest risk to consume, but I could not resist. So far so good.
Finally, the historical Teatras Amazonas is the cultural center of Manaus, the state of Amazonas, and arguably the country of Brazil. I couldn't find a Teddy Roosevelt reference for the theater, but the opening scene of Werner Herzog's 1982 epic Fitzcarraldo was filmed at the theater and captures the ambiance of the Belle Epoque era when the rubber trade was king:
Part of the attraction of staying at the Juma Opera Hotel is the Teatras Amazonas is directly across the street. No opera was scheduled while we were in town, but there were different performances every night. We didn't care who or what was on the stage. We just wanted to experience a performance in that venue. We were told the night's performance was sold out but Harlan finagled tickets at the box office and we were in.
Teatras Amazonas amid the square opposite the hotel.
We told we should get in line an hour early, as each section had open seating and we might get an obstructed view. So we dutifully got in line early. Soon a young women scouting the line found us and escorted us with other gray hairs to a shorter VIP line. I guess getting older does have some advantages.
We were in, in our box seats off to the side. The theater was spectacular. Our seats were great. The show was fun - an assortment of 4 men and 2 women alternating pop songs with indigenous native dancers interspersed throughout. We didn't understand the words but appreciated the music and energy.
It was great fun and we appreciated the opportunity to experience a performance at the theater. If we can get tickets we'll go back again.
"Manaos is a remarkable city. It is only three degrees south of the equator. Sixty years ago it was a nameless little collection of hovels, tenanted by a few Indians and a few of the poorest class of Brazilian peasants. Now it is a big, handsome modern city, with Opera house, tramways, good hotels, fine squares and public buildings, and attractive private houses. The brilliant coloring and odd architecture give the place a very foreign and attractive flavor in northern eyes. Its rapid growth to prosperity was due to the rubber trade." - Teddy Roosevelt - "Through the Brazilian Wilderness"
The reader may be wondering why I am quoting our 26th U.S. President as a guide to Manaus on our first full day in Brazil (If you'd like a more current description of this city of 2.3 million souls - click here).
This is the reason for the Roosevelt reference. While some embarking on a Brazilian Amazon wilderness adventure might prepare by consulting a guide like "Lonely Planet" or "Trip Advisor", I decided to use Teddy Roosevelt's memoir of his fraught 1913 - 1914 wilderness expedition exploring the unmapped River of Doubt (Later renamed the Roosevelt River / Rio Roosevelt by the Brazilian government). And, since Teddy was a politician, I also read Candice Millard's excellent and detailed recounting of the journey as a cross-check of Teddy's account.
Both books are highly recommended. It was an extraordinary expedition, launched after Roosevelt lost the Bull Moose campaign for President. A journey that would be unimaginable today, with an ex-President of the United States taking an ill-advised journey down an unexplored river in Brazil's Amazon wilderness. He almost loses his life as well as the life of his adult son Kermit. Some of the expedition are not so lucky. It is a story of disaster, murder, mayhem, conflict, injury, disease, bravery, incompetence, luck - good and bad - and survival.
I do not understand how this has not been made into a big budget major motion picture with Paul Giamatti playing Teddy [Noted without comment: My brother Harlan says Timothy Chalumet should play Teddy. Make of that what you will]. My intent is to find and insert relevant quotes from the Roosevelt - Rondon Expedition journal into this accounting of our own modest Amazon adventure. But I digress.
From L to R - Wallach, Roosevelt, Rondon
We landed at Manaus International Airport at 3:30 AM. The expected transport didn't show, so we took an Uber to the previously arranged, sight unseen, AirBnb around 4:30 AM. The picture at the top of this post was taken from that AirBnb room around 9:00 the same morning, just as we abandoned the AirBnb experiment for the Juma Opera Hotel. The less said about this the better. At this point the trip took a 180 degree turn for the better. Much, much better.
Our intent for this first day in Brazil was to rest and recover from the flights, while acclimating to the weather before flying to the fishing lodge in the jungle a few days hence. After some rest, we spent the afternoon and evening leisurely exploring the hotel, grounds, and neighborhood. Here, in no particular order, some pics from the remainder of the day as we implemented that plan...
Breakfast buffet at the Juma Opera Hotel with very welcomed & very needed truly great coffee.
Manaus has serious mural game.
Teatro Amazonas as seen from the Juma Opera Hotel Rooftop pool.
We explored the bars, restaurants, monuments and Opera House on the grounds of Largo de São Sebastião across from the Hotel.
We capped off the day with a wonderful dinner and drinks at the Juno Opera Hotel Restaurant (NOTE: At some unspecified point in the future I will go back, look up the menu, and identify these drinks and dishes. For now know that it was all great).
Everything was better now. We've got our journey off on the right foot.
This blog lie moribund for several years. Yet I keep referencing and linking to the life adventures journaled here while reveling in those memories. I'm embarking on another travel adventure. Time to dust it off and write a new chapter.
It started a little over a year ago at the shiva for my 102 year old father. Much of the extended clan founded by our immigrant grandparents were there. My dad loved to fish as do many in the family. Fish stories abounded in the memories shared that night.
My brother Harlan and I were conversing with cousins Danny and Larry. They were recounting their experiences at the Kendjam Lodge, a remote fishing lodge on the Iriri River deep in the Amazon rain forest. They enjoyed it so much they decided to do it again in another year. Danny had a suggestion - "You guys should come with us. It will be great."
"I'll have to think about it." I said.
As Danny extended the invitation, this Kurt Vonnegut quote - "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God." - immediately popped into my mind.
I thought about it. "Yeah. I'm in."
Harlan chimed in. "If you're in, I'm in."
As I write this, we are enroute on a 15 hour transit from Chicago to Manaus, Brazil via connections in Houston and Bogota, Columbia. In prior adventures on this blog I referred to the "5 Airport Day" as often resulting in a very bad day. This day we will only hit four airports. So, no problem.
Brother Harlan is fond of paraphrasing the late UP author Jim Harrison quoting Jack Nicholson:
"... something Jack Nicholson had said to me more than a decade ago after I had overfed a group in his home: 'Only in the Midwest is overeating still considered an act of heroism.'”
The quote is from Harrison's book "The Raw and the Cooked", which family can find conveniently located among the cookbooks on top of the kitchen cabinet kitchen. The concept is not new to us at the Lake House. Heroic eating is pretty much de rigueur as evidenced by the Spring Trip repasts. But we managed to take it to another level this trip.
In no particular order, herein a partial compilation of the "Heroic Eating" we indulged in over the almost 3 weeks at the Lake House this fall trip...
Chicken Noodle Soup
Meal: Lunch Chef: Harlan
Notes: Homemade chicken stock with big Italian noodles
Pikenagi Donburi Bowl
Meal: Lunch Dinner Chef: Mike
Notes: Pike backstrap fillets grilled with unagi sauce served on a bowl of sushi rice.
Yooper Spaghetti Bolognese
Meal: Dinner Chef: Harlan
Notes: Bolognese sauce made with cudighi meat and ground beef.
Matzo Eggs
Meal: Breakfast Chef: Papa
Notes: On Demand Morning Fry Chef - Egg Specialist
Notes: It was delicious. Wendy refused to try it. For reasons I cannot explain, no pictures were found of this multi-meal treat. Substituting a found internet image:
Grilled Rack of Lamb with Zucchini and Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Meal: Supper Chefs: Roy and Roxie Grillmaster: Roy
Notes: Last & only Escanaba River trout caught & kept on the last day of the trout season.
Grilled Ribs and Baked Potatoes
Meal: Supper Grillmaster: Mike
Notes: Roy left these ribs behind in the freezer. I was happy to have them.
Leftover Cassoulet
Meal: Lunch Chef: Harlan Microwave Operator: Mike
Notes: Harlan left this behind in the freezer. I was happy to find it.
Yooper Cioppino
Meal: Supper Chef: Harlan
Notes: Harlan's Yooper Cioppino, featuring Shag Lake bluegill and fresh caught pike was the piece de resistance of this heroic eating marathon that would have made Jim Harrison proud. It's featured in the top image of this post, and worthy of repeating a video clip featured elsewhere in this blog.
Notes: Wendy sent and brought several of her baked goods specialties to be enjoyed throughout the day by those who should and those who should not be enjoying these treats. I count myself among the latter. But they were really really good. And somehow I didn't get pictures. Probably because I was consumed with guilt every time I snuck another piece.
I'm sure more was missed. Sandwiches, snacks, grilled chicken, pasties, cudighi sandwiches on the road, Papa's chili, dining at the Up North Lodge, the list goes on. When you set out to eat heroically, it's not easy to document it all.
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