Rio Negro - Amazon

 

Our mission took us past this river island to a floating lunch restaurant on the far side of the river, more of a barge that would be manuvered by a larger river boat.

 

 

 

It may have been an island next to the opposite shore, I am not sure at this point. I was told this, however, that when the river rises, what you see here is mostly submerged..

 

Apparently not enough to wash these trees away. Our guide told us a story. While this used to be a prime area for rubber plantations and brought vast wealth to the area, that industry ended up moving to Asia. However, during WW2, the US build an airbase here and probably had naval activity here as well. The reason was that the Japanese cut off the supply of rubber from Asia and the Americans came here and there was a resurgence of the rubber industry for the duration of the war. Hence, probably, the close and friendly relations between the US and Brazil. Below, rubber trees, some still showing the markings of when the sap was harvested from them back during the war years.

 

 

There is this water lily pond that, at the right time of the year, can look spectacular, but this clearly wasn't that time..

 

 

This little fellow suddenly was along the path we had entered the jungle and I quicky realized that he was a 'plant', when I saw another small group of tourists come this way.

 

We finally left, bellies full and getting a bit tired. Lunch, I thought, was ok, no more, but plentiful. We were going east on the Rio Negro to where it joins the Amazon River

 

So here we were, looking at the vastness of the Amazon River and you can already see what's going on here..

 

 

 

 

You see, there is not only a mineral content difference between the two rivers, which of course gave Rio Negro the name, Black River, but also a difference in velocity and because of that, temperature. Rio Negro is narrower but flows slower and is warmer. The much wider Amazon moves more rapidly and has less time to warm up and feel significantly cooler by comparison. Of course, downstream the mixing will be complete and the differences will not be noticeable anymore.

 

We dipped our hands into the water as the boat crossed the boundary and felt the stark temperature difference. Very educational and fun.

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