Salvador. Brazil's first capital and a great city to visit. Known for it's catholic churches and Portuguese colonial architecture and we spent yesterday seeing both. The Pelourinho district houses some lovely 17th and 18th cent. Portuguese buildings in very good condition. The most famous church (Nosso Senhar Bonfim) was packed (this was Sunday of course)..........others not so busy. We spent some time in the town square which was surrounded by churches ( a...

Just got back here to Manaus after 7days sailing down Amazon. Great trip despite cold showers and some torrential rain. Spent our days behind binoculars looking out for the wildlife which is not as easily found as you might think esp. further up river. However managed to see monkeys (brown Capuchin and squirrel monkeys) and though we never saw them we could frequently hear howler monkeys in the distance...........sounded quite sinister. Boa constrictor and an...

So here we are in Manaus and the first leg of our trip.............2nd if you count stop over at Florida airport the night we arrived. Yesterday Javento our guide showed us the sites of Manaus, most memorable being the 19 th cent. buildings built late in the cent when Manaus had made its money from rubber. A big opera house which I suspect does more pop concerts than opera and the colonial style home of a rubber baron. Both worth the visit. Also visited museum...