Manaus is one of the main city’s of the North Region of Brazil and is the capital of Amazonas state. A city of around 2.5 million people located where the Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes join. The dark waters of the Rio Negro running along side the bluer waters of the Solimoes as they meet to form the great Amazon river.

The city benefited from the creation of a process that allowed the sap from rubber trees to be turned into rubber. This led to a large influx of investment to exploit this new world product.

Across the city you can find a number of grandiose buildings created from this illustrious past, many copied from famous buildings in Paris and Portugal using expensive materials to represent the wealth of those times.

Manaus is considerated as the entrance to the Amazon rainforest and the starting point for those wishing to explore this natural wonder.

We only spent one night here before heading to our lodge some 2.5 hours drive into the Amazon rainforest.

Its an interesting city but like some others in South America, a fading echo if its wealthy past, decline following as the produce of rubber was replicated in other parts of the world.