Is Manaus a City?

Manuas - In my job as director of Swallows and Amazons Tours here in Manaus, I meet with lots of tourists each year who have come from all over the world to experience what Amazônia is all about. We all know what Amazônia is. We’ve read all about it since we were kids. And if we’re lucky enough to visit one day our enjoyment has everything to do with how close we get to the initial image we had of the place.

Amazônia aside, what do people think of Manaus? Answer: nothing. Or something pretty close to nothing. Travelers have a great picture of the Amazon and see a trip here like taking a role in their own adventure novel and turning it into a film. But first they have to get past Manaus. And many stumble right at the start. It really is surprising how little people know of Manaus before they get here and see it for themselves. What do I hear from folk?

In a nutshell they didn’t know it was a big city. They thought it was, or must be, some sleepy backwater village with a population numbering no more than a few hundred. Well the truth is Manaus is a metropolis of 2 million plus people, the 5th largest city in Brazil after...you can probably name 2, maybe 3 of the others, right?

The majority of visitors to the Brazilian Amazon use Manaus as nothing more than a jumping off point for a trip into the rainforest. Sadly enough, quite a lot go away claiming they enjoyed their unavoidable half-day in the city more than their packaged and sterile jungle tour. But that’s getting away from the point. Many travelers after all don’t even give Manaus a half-day. They’re whipping around Brazil on a Brazil Airpass and allot, say, 3 days only to the Amazon to do a cheap jungle tour and as little else as possible. Even the richest tourists with time and money to burn do little more than head straight out to their manicured lodge upon arrival then catch their departure plane from Manaus immediately upon return from the lodge.

Why spend any time in Manaus? It’s just a sleepy, backwater town. And we’re here to see the rainforest anyway, right?

Even though I call Manaus home, have done so for 10 years now, and should be required by law to have some civic loyalty, if you had asked me just a few years ago about Manaus I would have said, no, skip the city, it ain’t much, put your time and money into the best Amazon tour you can find. But people change, right? And I’ve changed over the last few years. I am hip on Manaus these days. Very hip.

Manaus is still not a big city. Not to me at least, someone who grew up in Toronto, Canada, and knows very well New York, Boston, London and Paris. Manaus is a growing city but it maintains, at least in the downtown historical area where I live and work, a small town feeling. And I know that feeling too having run a country inn on Cape Cod for 10 years before moving here. Sure there are buses by the dozens, and pedestrians by the thousands, but not a whole lot of city noise, not a lot of cops on patrol, just the odd siren (and that’s usually the fire department on Saturday night). And never an assault or crime that I’ve seen.

Manaus is a city made of rubber. Natural liquid latex, milk from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree to be exact. Or should I say the development of the modern city of Manaus owes everything to the collection and marketing of natural rubber from her surrounding rainforest during the second half of the 19th century. Politicians and Rubber Barons constructed a city like no other in the Southern Hemisphere. It had electric lighting, waterworks and an efficient transportation system (streetcars) before any other American city (south and north). Fine classical buildings such as the Palace of Justice, Rio Negro and Rio Branco Palaces, the Municipal Market and of course her Opera House still stand today.

During the second half of the 20th century a mish-mash of tasteless, utilitarian buildings were thrown up amidst this tranquil European inspired cityscape. The reasons are simple enough; business interests and lack of imagination. What was beautiful about Manaus fell into neglect alongside more practical interests. Today however I am proud to say that Manaus is enjoying a long overdue renaissance and period of renewed prosperity. Buildings have been restored and put to new uses, starting with those already named but including many others. Parks have been reclaimed and re-landscaped. Many residents have come to know something of the history and splendor of their city for the first time in their lives. State and local authorities should be commended for their newfound vision and continuing efforts. And no one deserves more credit than the Secretary of Culture and Tourism, Roberio Braga.

I no longer suggest tourists skip the city and head right out onto the rivers and into the rainforest. I heartily encourage a day or two spent in the city, walking about, visiting the sights, attending a show and having a meal. Manaus is finally a tourist destination in it’s own right. And for myself and a lot of others here, it’s about time.

See the website of Mark’s company Swallows and Amazon Tours.