alex gallafent

Just a short update tonight, I’m afraid. I’ll be up again in about six hours to go to the airport. Not to return home – that’s on Wednesday – but to catch a flight to Urucu. It’s a offshore oil facility, only the ocean in which you’ll find it is green and full of trees. Urucu is run by Petrobras, the state energy company. And they make big claims about being conscientious stewards of the forest. So I’m going to take a look.

There could be one hiccup, though, and that’s the weather. The daily hour+ flight to Urucu has been cancelled a number of times recently thanks to downpours in Manaus. Hopefully I’ll catch a break.

Caught an opera tonight: Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. It was performed at the Teatro Amazonas, a glorious reminder of the Saudi-like riches that swamped Manaus during the nineteenth century rubber boom. H & G were Portuguese in this production and renamed Joao e Maria. But there was still an evil witch, dancing gingerbread and an exploding oven.

Listen out for a story about the opera house in the not-too-distant-future on PRI’s The World. It’ll include clips from a young American double-bassist who until January was living in Indiana and had never heard of Manaus. Now he’s playing with the Amazonas Philharmonic. I do believe that’s what might correctly be regarded as something of a curveball, no?

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Finally, some grim news from not far away. The BBC reports that at least fifteen people have drowned and many more are missing after a ferry capsized in the Solimoes river. That’s the river I wrote about a couple of days ago, the one that joins up with the Rio Negro to form the greater Amazon.

The capsizing happened near Manacapuru, only 80km (50 miles) from here in Manaus. It’s thought the ferry was overcrowded.

The BBC report says ‘Most of those on board the boat, which went down in a sudden rainstorm, were young people returning from a party.’