Manaus

Our last overnight for the cruise and really, for the rest of the contract, was in Manaus. Manaus is the city in the heart of Amazonia and the largest city along the river. I was surprised at the infrastructure and at how modern(ish) the city was. It’s still the Amazon, however, and I was able to go on a tour with about 30 other crew members to see the alligators at night. Before the tour, we were taken "out" (well, out for the ship that is) for dinner at the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant onboard. The Pinnacle is our fine dining restaurant which serves the most delectable things. Our entire entertainment team: Cruise Director, Senior Asst. Cruise Director, Snr. Admin. Asst. Cruise Director, myself (the Hostess) and the four Asst. Cruise Directors stuffed ourselves with chocolate volcano cake among other things, and wine.

An hour later, with our bellies full, we took a paddlewheel boat to one of the tributaries where we met the guides for our river tour and took small, shallow boats to hunt for alligators. The guide stopped the boat near the grass and lilypads at the edge of the water, leaned over the side and wrestled around in the water for a few seconds. I was in the front seat and when he stood up and turned around there was an alligator in my face: a very small, sharp-toothed looking alligator. It was actually a Cayman and they are not big. Still, they are scary looking and I did not enjoy it being within biting distance.
The alligator tour ended at 10:00pm, so it allowed for plenty of time to go out on our last overnight. It was decided we’d go to a rock club that our Port Agent recommended. Somehow I ended up in a cab with the new cast and went to a bar about 2 blocks from our ship. Being it so near a port, you might guess what type of a place it was. Ok, I’ve given you enough time to guess. I will now tell those of you who have yet to figure it out. It was the type of place sailors go. The type of place men who have forgotten they are married and men who have been on board a ship for 11 months where the ratio of men to women is 9:1 might go to have some fun. So, I went back to the ship and had an early night.