Manaus

I'm in Manaus. It's very cool, but only in the metaphorical sense. In the literal sense, it is not even close. But I like it :)

We woke up super early today to get here. (No, I'm not just a college student who says anything before noon is early; we met at 3:15am.) We couldn't actually check-in right when we got here since it was still before noon, but they stored our stuff while we went to explore the city.

The coolest thing we saw was this old opera house:

I don't remember specific amounts, but its estimated value is astounding! Probably because it has so many cool features and designs like...:

This fantastic floor design, made of several different types of wood (all from Brazil).

Another cool floor. I thought this was less-cool, until we found out that the two colors of wood are meant to represent the Solomon and Black Rivers, which flow together to form the Amazon. (Pictures of the actual rivers to come!)

Beautiful pink marble from Portugual.

And gorgeous chandeliers and just overall grandeur in the entire building.

I loved it!