Oldies On Tour

We were woken up to Dotty’s dulcet voice over the PA this morning advising us of todays schedule; we would shortly be starting the tender service across to Alter do Chao and that the last tender would be leaving at 1330hrs.

There is not a lot to say about this place, it seemed to be a religious centre in the 17^th and 18^th century led by Jesuits of the Franciscan order.   Early in the 20^th century it was one of several transportation routes for latex extracted from rubber trees, but by the 50’s the town was in decay.

Nowadays this place is best known for its Ilha do Amor (Island of love), a picturesque island ringed by a white sandy beach directly in front of the “town”.   “The Caribbean of the Amazon’ it is called because of its crystalline waters, white-sand beaches, and laid back vibe; it is one of the places to spend a few laid back days, we are told!!!

Todays tender ride was un-eventful, we arrived quickly with no

hic-ups or delays, disembarked, walked over the sandy beach, across a wooden walkway, with some gaping gaps between the planks in places, and into a small square with a number of touristy type stalls selling the usual c…p; nothing apart for a fridge magnet for us: so back to the beach for a paddle.

We boarded the next tender and arrived back with our Canadian

friends and arranged to play crib before lunch.

After lunch I had a lecture to go to and then we had a lay in the sun, had a swim and prepped for dinner. Tonight we had dinner with a charming Australian Widow; her husband she mentioned on several occasions was a Spitfire pilot in WW2. This was followed by the evening show: a Welshman, Mark Newsome, who was a comic; a singer, and a very accomplished piano player; he was extremely entertaining.

We are at sea for the next couple of days so our readers can have a rest!!!!!

 

Not too early this morning as we aren’t due to anchor ‘till 0900hrs so took breakfast in the Grand Dining room; nothing particularly special about that other than we were sitting by a window when we saw a pod of pink dolphins, unfortunately we couldn’t count them but there were great many, swimming up and down alongside the ship.

Eventually we tore ourselves away as we decided to go ashore to a village that was supposed to be so poor we had to take small trinkets, such as pencils, writing pads etc., and oh yes $1 bills.

It was nearly mid morning by now and we went to the lounge expecting to just get straight onto a tender to take us only to find there were still numerous people waiting to get ashore, so we had to get a ticket and wait.

At last we were called and the reason there was a delay was due to there being another cruise ship anchored here as well.

Boca da Valeria is a small colourful village at the mouth of

the Valeria River with a number of houses built up on stilts to avoid flooding when the river rises during the rainy season. It has a 1-room school and a small church and it is very poor where the children await the cruise ships and are on standby to take you around, and amongst other things show you their homes and animals: we were told!!!!!

We eventually boarded our cruise tender, headed to the 1 small pier up a creek and waited, and waited, and waited; there were two tenders in front of us, one of ours and one from the other cruise ship.

When it was our turn to dock some 50 minutes later, we were cheesed off and along with nearly half the people on the tender we elected to go back to the ship. Whilst we were wallowing, “upsy towndsy” we had an opportunity to see what was on offer there was nothing; Christine called it “phony City”.   Later in the day we heard from other guests who had visited, the place was a tourist trap to con “dollars” from anyone who wanted to part with them. All the so-called inhabitants lived somewhere else and many of the children had cell ‘phones and apparently one guest went to give the children a $1 bill was told they wanted $5: we were glad we didn’t go.

Back on board we had a game of crib, had a meal then an early night as we were both tired and I wasn’t quite feeling rickety boo; nothing a good nights sleep wouldn’t cure.

We were up early this morning; well, early enough to get up on deck and see where the two rivers, Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes meet. Here again we have the phenomenon of the muddy waters of the Rio Solimoes and the clear water of the Rio Negro Joining, and as we passed you could see there was a distinctive line between them. To the Europeans and North Americans, the Rio Solimoes doesn’t exist, it is still the Amazon but to Brazilians, this junction is the actual start of the Amazon. Manaus is 900 miles from the mouth of the Amazon and still it is very large with big ships not only coming this far but also continuing up the Solimoes!!!

After breakfast we had agreed to meet up with David and Christine, our friends form Croydon, and walk into town

together. David, being the studious sort was appointed chief navigator so off we went. Dotty our cruise director had said on numerous occasions that it was most unsafe outside the port gates and “you must” get a taxi to the centre. We walked out of the port gates and the first thing we saw across the road was the Cathedral of Our Lady of the conception, one of the must see things. Fancy getting a taxi to just cross the road!!!! Being Sunday the church was full but what fooled us were the three kings, normally this is on the 6^th I think, but they were here today.

Once we left the church we headed out to find the Opera House,

we walked up this very vibrant street with stalls selling all manor of things and street food; everybody was happy, families were there and we waited to be mugged, but nothing happened. We arrived at the top and saw the Opera house. This very ornate Victorian building was commissioned by the rubber barons, in 1886 and was finally completed 12 years later in 1898. The theatre was designed in France and everything, bar the wood, was imported either from France, England and Italy. In its heyday it must have been magnificent, it certainly was the social centre of Manus though it did fall into disrepair in the early part of the 20^th centaury when the rubber wealth of the city dwindled away.   Today the theatre has been refurnished and apart from the wood floors, Stage and seating, much is still original. It cost us 10 Reals (circa £2.50) per person for a guided tour lasting well over and, very worthwhile.

I mentioned the Rubber Barons; in 1850 rubber was discovered and harvested from here and there was much wealth around, but by the end of the 19^th century, other parts of the world were producing rubber in vast quantities and therefore cheaper so the bubble burst and the area went into decline.

After the tour a beer was called for; we also met up with a couple of Canadians from the ship who joined and the six of us had a snack and a couple of beers when the waitress told us to move inside as it was going to rain.

We thought we knew better saying a bit of rain wouldn’t hurt us but she was insistent so we did as she said. 5 minutes later it rained, and it rained it was what one would expect in a rainforest region, stair rods coming straight down. This downpour lasted for quite a long time, several beers long in fact!!! Eventually it stopped so off we went and walked back to the ship. By this time of course all the stalls etc., had gone and the street was very quiet and remembering what Dotty had said, we kept our wits about us but no, again we weren’t mugged or accosted; oh dear Dotty stop causing un-necessary panic amongst your guests.

Back on board after the usual 3 s’s the 6 of us enjoyed a meal together followed by the show; not our cup of tea I’m afraid so we left and returned to our cabin.

We are overnighting in port so will go out tomorrow again.

After breakfast we met David and Christine and headed out to

the Municipal Market, wow what a market. Firstly the building was quite amazing and had separate halls. We walked through the meat hall first and noted some very interesting cuts but I must say most meat was kept in refrigerated cabinets’; next we went through the clothes, arts and crafts/gifts section where Christine bought a rather pretty but functional shoulder purse to keep her ‘phone and glasses in. We then progressed into the fish section but we were disappointed as we arrived too late and they were washing down; oh well, that’s life. We meandered on past numerous other stalls etc., and suddenly smelt a rather pungent fishy odor. We followed our noses and walked into a vast fish market, this market was not part of the Municipal Market complex; perhaps the rents were too high there so the fisherman had their own shed. We were amazed at the variety of fish on sale, all fresh water fish from the Amazon and we stood transfixed at how they filleted these large fish, the care and skill they had was a delight to watch. Naturally as we walked through this area teaming with people we were conscious of “Dotty’s warnings” we christened them the “badlands” but again, no issues: come on Dotty, get your facts straight and stop telling everybody “fake news”

Having had our fill of this vast and busy market we jumped in a taxi and headed out to the big shopping mall. Not that we particularly wanted to visit a modern shopping mall but we were advised it was worth seeing as it was built around some protected rainforest.

We arrived, walked in and debated where we were, Lakeside, Essex; Blue water, Kent; Florida; Hong Kong etc., etc: They all look very similar with the same brand, still, not put off we hunted down the rainforest part. After circumnavigating the place with no luck, we asked, but with zero Portuguese knowledge and no one speaking English there, we had trouble getting directions but, we persevered and eventually got pointed in the right direction: what a disappointment met us upon arrival, yes there were a few specimen trees between the car parking spaces and that was about that; again fake news! Anyway we split for ½ an hour as I needed to buy a new pair of shorts and once accomplished, met up for a coffee and a “something” we know no what, but had to try one. They

looked like pears covered in breadcrumbs but were some sort of grated fish, covered in mashed potato (I think) enclosed in breadcrumbs. They were served hot with some sort of bar-b-q sauce and they were very nice. We also shared a giant piece of Chocolate cake, oops!!!

After a rather disappointed visit we jumped back into a cab and went to see one of the Rubber Baron’s house that today is a

cultural centre, but closed on a Monday, still it was a beautiful house and in its heyday, standing alone in its own grounds must have been spectacular.

Christine and I then got a taxi back to the ship and our friends elected to walk, well they are younger than us.

After dinner we had Jamie Michael Stewart, he was excellent again and tonight he concentrated singing Frank Sinatra hits.

Off to bed as we start the trek back down the Amazon this evening.

 

Our arrival was on time but as we weren’t here for long we didn’t think there would be much to see so had a leisurely breakfast before boarding our tender.

Parintins sits on Tupinambarana Island in the middle of the Amazon and is approximately 250 miles further up-stream from

where we were yesterday and it’s also known as the city of the bulls; it is one of those places that’s only accessible along the Amazon by air or ship, and in our case by tender.   Parintins were first inhabited by a couple of Indian tribes who were discovered by a Portuguese fellow 1796 and the area was eventually “officially” recognised in 1880.

Travelling across from the ship to the pier we saw Pink Dolphins, unfortunately they are not like common dolphins, they don’t come up to play, they only surface for air; still we saw some. When we got off the tender the girl from the ship told us not to fall in as there were also Piranha fish and Alligators though I think she meant Cayman; similar but different.

There were excursions but again very expensive and they seemed to be “padded out” so we planned to do our own thing.   Being a fairly small town, population around 100,000, cut off other than ship or plane, there is little traffic, no public transport as far as we could see, other than pedal tuc tucs, similar to Nicaragua. They also had “Moto taxis” these are official motorbike taxis; just hop on, they supply you with a helmet and off you go, well we didn’t, we decided a more leisurely pace was called for so jumped into a pedal tuc tuc. In the port area they were asking for $20 for an hour’s trip around the town, outside we got one for $10 and he certainly took us around for longer than an hour, he took us to the few, but various sites. When we got in we worried about the pedal pusher, he looked very old and feeble and probably that’s why he was cheap; we had visions of him leaving us, or asking for another $10 to take us back. But no, he took us on a round robin; we pedaled round what looked like an old church that was locked up, along various streets pointing things out along the way, though as he didn’t speak any English and our Portuguese is non existent, we didn’t always catch what he was saying.

He then took us to this rather large stadium, naturally being

Brazil we assumed it would be a Football stadium, but no this was a purpose built and used for the big annual festival “Bio Bumba”. Bio Bumba is a very big and imagine the sizes[/caption]colourful annual festival that takes place in late June, and it’s the second largest festival in Brazil after the Rio de Janeiro carnival. It’s a folklore about a precious bull, (that’s where Parintins gets its alternative name, City of the bulls). The interesting thing about this festival are the two opposing teams, each trying to outdo each other, rather like Manchester City and Manchester United, or Liverpool and Everton. The two teams, “Garantido” and “Caprichoso” are subjected to many rules; they compete against each other with floats, costumes, story telling, flamboyant dances etc., and they present themselves to the public in a specially constructed stadium called “Bumbodromo”. This stadium has a capacity of 35,000 and it is split into two sections, red and blue for the opposing supporters. According to our pedal tuc tuc driver, when the crowd gets going, the whole stadium shakes.   There is quite a story behind this festival and rather than bore you with it, those who may be interested can click on the this link:- www.boibumbafestival

The old boy eventually dropped us at the cruise terminal after taking us everywhere including an area where there was a lot of street food, fish in particular being bar-b-que’d. He tried to get me to try some but I wasn’t hungry!!!Tonight we had booked to go to “Tuscon” the Italian steak house on board, which was excellent and this was followed by our entertainment, Katerina Rossa who plays the violin un-believably well; it nearly talks to you and she received a standing ovation, well deserved.

After the show we had a corridor chat with a couple of English folk from Croydon and agreed we would meet up and walk into town at our next port of call, “Manaus” tomorrow

A normal morning, tea in bed followed by breakfast, then over the tannoy: —— oh dear were going to be late arriving at Santarem due to a stronger than expected current. I think this ship need’s to up-rate its engines; it needs extra power to deal with all the currents!!!!!! By the way we are now 400 miles in-land from the Atlantic and the Amazon is still very, very, very wide.

A beautiful day, sunny and very hot as we boarded the complimentary shuttle to town; by the way, I have to say I use the term “town” in the loosest term. The coach bumped along the road, no rear suspension, no air-conditioning (not that we expected this) hard and narrow plastic seats and that’s before we talk about the roads. Potholes, manhole covers missing, traffic going where they want, no rules me thinks, and a lot of noise, horns etc.

There is not too much to say about the “town”, whatever shop you went into the stuff for sale was much the

same; washing machines, fridge’s, mobile ‘phone covers etc., etc., and clothes: blimey, there were so many clothes retailers I don’t know how they all survived.

We walked up one street, strolled down another, meandered along another and eventually arrived at the Cathedral. From the outside it looked promising, but on the inside, it looked rather austere; not what a RC church normally looks like.

We then walked through the market and back to the Promenade. There were all these Amazon boats with their bows resting on the “beach”. We think they were “types” of overnight ferries as they had hammocks; two or three decks and they were loading sacks of rice; fodder for the “guests” we presume.

Not withstanding our short and limited stay here, Santarem does have some history but more importantly it is a junction where two major rivers meet; the Tapajos River flows into the Amazon but the amazing thing here is; the Tapajos River is crystal clear but the amazon is “Café-au-Lait, and both run alongside for several kilometers, before converging. This phenomenon is called, “The meeting of the waters by locals”, no surprise there!!!!! However saying that, the

view is quite amazing. When you look over to the Amazon you think you are looking onto a very long sandy beech; wrong, it is the Amazon Water.

Now for the little history for those who may be interested, oh well here goes!!!

The first reference to this place was in 1542 by a Spaniard who wrote about the local Tapajos Indians. 10 years later a Portuguese explorer along with a “Father Cristoovao” and a few hangers on set out to explore the upper reaches of the Amazon. They came upon this area where the two rivers meet and set up a port.

The actual town of Santarem was founded by Father Joao Filipe Bettendorff in 1661, where he built the “Chapel of our Lady of Conception”, The town was named after the city in Portugal, and apart from that, there is not a lot to say. But today this port, apart from being a cruise stop, is a very busy terminal for the loading of Soy Beans. Cargill Inc., has a

major facility here. They have a number of very large storage silos and a conveyor system to load bulk carriers when they arrive. You may wonder why I mention them, well, there is a lot of controversy in these parts about the way they are decimating the rain forest to grow soya beans. They must feel guilty a teeny bit as they have removed their name off the warehouse roof.

Back on board for a swim,

during which time we continued planning our “party area” in the new house, (if we get it); for example where to put the Jacuzzi and the bar, and what size pool we need etc., etc. This was followed by dinner and the show; not so good tonight, it was the ships singers with the show band doing many Broadway hits.

Tomorrow we visit Parintins,