*This entry is written by Azman
The next day after the amazing Amazon river tour, our Brazilian friend, Mr Rodrigo brings us to a unique waterfall at Presidente Figueiredo Amazonas, Brasil. It is situated about 100km from our hotel – North of Manaus. Before we started our road journey to Presidente Figueiredo, Rodrigo wants us to try a typical Brazilian breakfast at Manaus Sunday Market. I am a little nervous about that because eating at stall in a busy and open market always make me lose my appetite after seeing whatever non-Halal things hanging around.
Rodrigo drives a Toyota Corolla that he got from his previous Japanese boss and while driving, he told me that in Brazil, Japanese car is only for rich people. Low and middle income people normally drive European cars such as Volkswagen, Citroen and Renault. Totally different from our country!
The Sunday market is a very normal day-market. Open from early morning until afternoon. Selling low quality shirts, Manaus handmade souvenirs, foods and many unique local fruits. I bought some key chains, fridge magnets, piranha and also astray or bowl made from coconut shell. Not really cheap for Malaysian standard but actually cheaper than any other place in Manaus.
Above us dried piranha fish keychain, I didnt buy this but I did buy piranha fish fridge magnet and Diyana blogged about it HERE.
At the end of the market, there were many stalls and we had our breakfast at one of the stalls called Cafe da Rose( Kafe Kak Rose la kot). Rodrigo ordered one of Brazilian breakfast for us called tapiocas recheadas. It is made by tapioca flour that’s cooked in a pan. Then it is stuffed filling of your choice.
I had omelette in mine.
Just near the Sunday Market, was the famous Manaus Amazon Theater. It is actually an opera house and the symbol of Manaus city as wealthy city during their heyday of rubber trade before our country, Malaysia got into the market and rule the world. haha! The emergence of Malaysia actually caused the downfall of Manaus, Brazil. Thanks to our good plantation system compared to Brazil!! The Opera House was built using materials from all over the world, and was once visited by all the most famous opera divas and maestros.
After we visited the Opera House, Rodrigo drove us to see AMAZONAS waterfall. There are many waterfalls at Presidente Figueiredo and the one that we visit called CACHOEIRA DO SANTUÁRIO or RESERVA ECOLOGICA SANTUARIO. We need to pay R$10 to enter the waterfall area.
From the parking, it has a jungle trail and we need to walk about 1km into the forest before we can see the waterfalls. The waterfall features three levels, the highest being about 10 meters. As well as waterfalls, natural pools and streams were also simply wonderful.
It is almost same as our own waterfall however the unique about Presidente Figueiredo waterfall is it make you feel that you are swimming in coffee because the water is BLACK!
Nobody dares to swim at first because of the black water. We just touch and smell the water only because not sure either it is safe or not. However, after a while, we started to swim like little kids. Laughing and enjoying the waterfall as much as possible!!
After about 2 hours at the waterfall, Rodrigo told us that we must going back before 5pm. He didn’t want to drive at night because the road is very dark and dangerous then. So, we immediately packed our stuff and went for our late lunch at a cafe inside the sanctuary.
Eating in Brazil is actually expensive! I had Tambaqui Frito, which is simply fried Tambaqui fish that costs RM75.00. All the fish they serve are fresh water fish but unlike in Malaysia their fishes are all more than 1 meter big! Imagine! Then after we finished lunch, we just directly went back to my hotel.
Over all, that’s another unique and wonderful experience for me in Brazil… Exotic food, black waterfall and all… I still think Brazil is a great place to visit and I know Diyana would love to visit this place cause it is beautiful and exotic but it is too far away from home… Flying here is exhausting and too long, else I would love to come back with my family.
Anyway, in my next post, I will share our everyday lunch and dinner at Manaus, Brazil… Food lover stay tuned!
