Part 7 - Manaus to Salvador

Day 16 – Monday, July 6.   Manaus to Salvador.  July 6 was Elizabeth's 18th birthday. Wow! A major milestone. The last night at Juma Lodge the staff had brought out a cake with a candle at the end of dinner and everyone had sung Elizabeth happy birthday a couple of days early.  We were supposed to spend her birthday in Salvador but with the delay in leaving Manaus we would spend much of her actual birthday in airports and on planes, flying from Manaus to Brasilia and then from Brasilia to Salvador.  Elizabeth hates flying. She is not scared, but the recycled air on planes makes her nauseous. 

The clock stuck midnight and July 6th started while we were waiting for the taxi outside the hospital.  Once we got to the hotel Matthew took a shower and went to bed. I joined Elizabeth and Karen in their room and we ordered pizza from room service and had a birthday dinner celebration at 130 AM. We had missed lunch and dinner the previous day as there was nothing to eat prior to security in Manaus so we were going to eat after we had made it out to the gate, and the whole time at the hospital waiting we did not know if the doctor was going to show up with new information in one minute or one hour, so we couldn't leave to try and find something to eat.

Elizabeth is 18!

While in the first aid station at the airport I had sent Eureka Travel an email telling them that we would be arriving a day late in Salvador.  I also called their emergency number, and just got voicemail, so I wasn’t optimistic that they would be monitoring email since it was Sunday. However, they were, and they quickly confirmed that they would notify the hotel and also work to rearrange our excursions.  In the morning I had another email from Eureka and they asked for our hotel in Manaus.  They called to confirm our flight times and told us they would arrange ground transportation to the airport in Manaus.

We had a 330 flight out of Manaus so we left for the airport after lunch. Too bad we didn't have more time at the hotel in Manaus as GOL put us in a very nice resort hotel in a gated community, with a private beach in addition to pools and other amenities. The rest of our day was fortunately uneventful and we were able to leave Manaus without further incident.  We flew to Brasilia and then to Salvador.  Our local guide Alfredo met us at the airport in Salvador and took us to the hotel.  It was a little after midnight when we arrived at the hotel.

For the next two days Alfredo would be our guide. He is Italian, having immigrated to Brazil about 25 years ago. He was very knowledgeable about Salvador, and very passionate about his adopted  country.