We ordered an Uber Saturday morning to take us to what we in English call the Opera House but which locally is known as the Theater of the Amazon, a performance space for more than just opera.
There was of course a problem getting there. Five minutes into our drive the Uber app crashed. The driver stopped and he tried to reset it, which didn’t work so we gave him 25 Reals ($4) and he took us downtown.
We had already made enquiries and knew the English language tour was at ten so we asked about it after we bought our tickets. The young usher at the gate screwed up his face in horror: foreigners! That was a great greeting and then we spotted our tour driver from Friday taking tickets, the man who couldn’t speak English. I walked past and said nothing as I am still pissed off about that fiasco. 
The theater is vast and I freely admit I had the wrong lense for long distance photography but I include some pictures to try to illustrate the opulence of the theater. It is in use almost daily with performances of classical jazz and Brazilian folk dance and so forth. Tours operate around rehearsal schedules but none were on stage when we were walking through.
In 1542 Francisco de Orella was crossing the Amazon jungle from Peru trying to find a short cut to Spain. Spaniards first settled this place at the junction of the Rio Negro (the black river) and Solimões River also known to us as the Amazon. We saw these two rivers meet when we crossed the Amazon to arrive in Manaus. The black and brown waters are represented on the floor of the theater. 
The interesting thing about Governor Eduardo Gonçalves Ribeiro who got this thing built was that he was black, the first black governor of the state of Amazonas. Actually it went far beyond the color of his skin, he was a Renaissance man of uncommon talent. He was born in 1862 in Maranhão State in the city of San Luis which is on the coast just south of Belem the city at the mouth of the Amazon. He moved to Manaus when he was 25 and three years later in 1890 hr was governor of the state. He had already published a newspaper and been commissioned a lieutenant in the Army and as governor he undertook a program of renovation and civic expansion in the city in the jungle. 
Meanwhile our young tour guide Giovanna was explaining the brilliance of the mirror in the corridor.
With three seats facing it the young lovers could sit opposite the mirror and exchange glances which could be observed and kept under control by the chaperone seated in the middle. Life in 19th century Manaus was strictly regulated for the upper classes.
Life on the rubber plantations was rather less elegant of course.
On this floor there was also, of all things, a Lego model of the theater. Apparently the state government decreed all public buildings should be painted a bilious shade of green so they did as shown. That didn’t last and the building went back to its original pink. 
We stood around waiting with no idea how many were on our tour but there was a large crowd and growing of people who spoke or appeared to understand Portuguese. In the top photo they are seated in the photo listening to a Portuguese speaking guide. 
The theater was the brainchild of the governor of Amazonas State in 1892 and it opened for business in 1896 and it is Manaus’ most well known landmark. The city’s 535 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and as you look at these pictures bear in mind everything that is not made of native woods was imported from Europe including the masons artisans and artists that built this palace.
The theater is an expression of the ridiculous wealth of this absurd city buried in the jungle. Even today you can only take a paved road north 650 miles to Venezuela or the ghastly dry season only road we drove from Porto Velho or ship yourself on a boat or your vehicle and goods on a barge down the river. Nowadays of course you can fly but a hundred and thirty years ago it was a steamer out of here with every chance of yellow fever or malaria or dysentery killing you. Rubber made this city wealthy beyond imagining and this theater created social acceptance for the rubber barons. Poverty exploitation and human suffering in a vast scale created this fabulous, memorable structure and this glorious.
Now here’s where things get weird. The artist responsible for the statuary was born in my home town in Umbria and was commissioned to work on the opera house among other Brazilian commissions. 
He was born in Collevalenza near Todi in Umbria and his there’s recognized early on, commissioned by popes and politicians. I’d never heard of Enrico Quattrini but I have now.
Original lights and fittings since 1896.
We went souvenir shopping.
Blow pipes if you feel you need them.
Fun over we took an uber to a doctor’s office. Layne has been having some stomach trouble and we got an appointment in a fancy gastroenterologist office on Monday. $110 for a consultation so we are in a first world league here…
The elevator call buttons looked like a giant credit card reader. Or something never before seen.
Then lunch in a vast fish restaurant. We over ordered as usual. The guy lunching next to us had a large beer in a giant cooler thing. Cold beer is important in 100 degree heat.
Grilled fish to start and it was delicious, delicate fall off the bone white meat.
Layne had a capirinha, sugar cane alcohol not unlike a mojito but less acidic.
We also ordered some famous Brazilian fish stew but boy, it was bland. Hot sauce couldn’t save it either big pieces of flabby gray boiled fish, potatoes and celery. We tried it and never again. Oh and it had a whole boiled egg: weird.
And checkout this gloop. We’ve had it before and it still tastes of nothing more enticing than wall paper paste.
For dessert Layne had chocolate mousse and I had passion fruit mousse. Excellent.
Resist that:
Then we went home to annoy our sleeping dog.
Our Uber this time was a BYD, a Build Your Dream, a giant Chinese corporation that sells electric cars worldwide and owns the market. Not surprising as it was comfortable and well appointed.
You get the feeling the future is Chinese. Too bad I guess.
