Palace in the Jungle

I remember my first night after fishing the Ventuari River in Amazon region of south Venezeula. My guide — odd enough by himself — was describing what was unique about the area, and after long tale about a pack of peccaries turning the tables on a jaguar, he offered that if we wanted to, we could continue upriver and cross the Brazilian border. From there, we could travel downriver past Barcelos to Manaus, and visit the magnificent Amazon Theater, an opera house built in during the rubber boom of the late 1800s. Washington Post writer Andrea Sachs brought those memories back (and ones of swimming to escape the heat) with her piece about the now-gritty Manaus, which serves as a hub for many Amazonian adventures.