January 23, 2011 Arrival in Manaus, Brazil at 0800

It has been a while since the last update but this one will cover everything that has been going on, starting with the first full day in Manaus on January 23, 2011. 
Arrival in Manaus was not exactly what you would picture.  Not the greatest looking city but it holds just so much to do.  The first day we disembarked the ship I had nothing planned and decided to walk around all the local shops in the area.  As usual they were all selling useless shit but what perplexes me is that there are no tourists in this town.  It is the local people who are buying this stuff over and over and I just did not get it.  Hundreds of tents set up selling similar souvenirs and jewelry, and it is packed with locals.  My first day in Manaus was the first time I have ever truly been presented with a language barrier.  In Spanish speaking countries I can always make my way around knowing at least some of the language but Portuguese is a different story.  And NOBODY in the city speaks English.  Not the storeowners, not the cops, and very limited English from even the people in the tourist center.  They say that if you speak Spanish you can communicate with someone who speaks Portuguese… false.  The locals had no idea what I was saying. 
5 minutes after stepping off the boat we were standing at a corner when a motorcycle pulled up to the red light.  I am the only one who noticed it but a police officer pulled up next to the motorcycle and clenched his gun as the motorcyclist lifted his shirt showing he had no weapons on him.  It does not sound at all significant but when you see something like that happen in the middle of a city it is quite shocking.  I saw this 3 other times throughout the day, one of which I happened to be capturing a video when it happened.  I want to post these videos and some photos I got but I have not had the opportunity to do so yet because we get into every country on Sunday when nothing is open, then I leave for my trip the next morning so I don’t have time.  Hopefully in 9 days when I reach Ghana I can find somewhere there, but I do not know how many internet cafes they will have there. We then ate lunch at this little restaurant called Choupana.  It was recommended to us by Luiz, who is our inter port student from Manaus (the inter port students board the ship in the port previous to where they live and then have some time to spend with students and talk with us before arriving in their home town).  The entrees are meant for 2-3 people so my friend Kim and I split a skirt steak, rice and some potatoes.  It was absolutely excellent with their local beer “Skol.”  Although the meal was a bit pricy it was worth it to experience the authentic Brazilian food.  After lunch my friend Aaron and I went to a little party outside where a bunch of local Brazilians were hanging out.  We sat out and sat for about 2 hours just watching the local people dance.  2 local women came up and pointed to my eyes because they are not used to seeing such dazzling beauties.  I took a picture with them and made their day.  Right after this is when I captured the video of the cops jumping out of the car and patting down 2 local men.  Aaron and I decided to leave after we saw that.
That night I attended one of the best parties I have ever been to.  It is a local party in Brazil that takes place on Sundays called a Samba.  There is a big drum routine and all the locals come out and dance.  Mom and dad, when you read this I thought especially of you because it reminded me so much of the Brazilian night time version of Guavate.  A few hundred Semester at Sea kids attended which made it that much better.  Everyone danced and had a fantastic time with all the locals. DDO.