Manaus (Brazil) Porto – Avenida Lourenço da Silva Braga (map)
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Unload, load, unload – probably also a description of mankind.
It smells of damp dust, urine, charcoal and rusting iron – the wind is devoid of freshness. Wandering salesmen sell Brazil nuts and handkerchiefs, fish-balls, cookies, cigarettes or soap – one of them is on his way with tiny prawn-on-skewers which he roasts for customers on a hand-sized grill.
The boats look as if they are built for pleasure, but they are actually beasts of burden bringing, as they do, masses of goods into this water-world, the vastness of which vanishes into the mist.
On the jetties the bustle of trade crosses with peace. Some lug their ware along, others doze away their time. Fishermen heave large perches onto the pontoon, and the creatures, resigned to their fate, humbly and wearily struggle for breath, as if they do not know that this is their end. In the little stalls nearby coffee salesgirls polish their fingernails. The captains conduct business with their customers – the traders from the nearby market sit drinking their end-of-working-day beer from small glasses and complaining about the ways of the world.
Load, unload, load.
First Publication: 5-12-2015
Modifications: