We all woke up around 4:30am to get ready for our “sunrise contemplation” excursion. I drank a couple of coffees while 9 of us going on this boat ride assembled, and then we motored off into the darkness. We reached a big lake about 30 minutes before sunrise, and just sat there and contemplated. There were thick clouds in the sky and fog on the lake. There would be no sunrise, so I made my own on my phone while the rest of the boat continued to contemplate.

We had our last breakfast at Anavilhanas, and I chatted with a boy, maybe 12, from São Paulo who asked if I was a basketball fan after learning I’m from Boston. (Clearly he doesn’t know that in Boston we excel at all sports.) He’s a Houston Rockets fan. I should have invited him to Boston to reconsider his options. Cool kid, irregardless.

I skipped the morning hike excursion, my first bail, so I’d have enough free time to finally cross-stitch. I dragged it across continents, down rivers, and through jungles for 2 weeks. I wasn’t going to allow over-programming by our eco-resort to rob me of my hobby time. I spent two solid hours stitching some light blue around the fish in my scene. UNTIL I RAN OUT OF LIGHT BLUE!! This hasn’t happened to me ever, running out of a color. I must have lost a length of it at some point in my travels. In the 15 years I’ve been picking away at this project, I’ve probably been on light blue for 2+ years. There’s a strand of it on the armrest of a couch somewhere in the world. Note to self: hit Michaels and pick up some more Dimensions #17976! [Future Benj: I picked up the closest thing Michaels has. It’ll have to be close enough. Or I could pull out and redo the last 2 years worth of progress…]

Last lunch was delicious as always. Apple pie (Amazon deconstructed style) for dessert. And a cute little monkey watching from the trees next to our table. Something new every day! Sorry that this is our last.

At 2pm we were picked up for the long bumpy road back to Manaus.

By 4:30pm we were back at Tropical Manaus hotel. This place was really nice at some point maybe a decade or two ago.

It’s like a big old haunted palace. A ghost town. Creepy as shit.

But it has some nice Amazon river frontage.

We missed opening hours for the adjacent zoo, but we’re kind of expecting more of a pet cemetery anyway. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, since we have all day to kill before our red eye. But now to see if the one remaining restaurant at this resort actually opens at 7pm like they say…