Amazon 2002: 4 - Leticia, Columbia to Manaus, Brazil

The Columbian customs officials - I'm sure everyone in the department showed up - were treated to a big lunch on board. There were about a dozen of them. The ship was quickly cleared, before they even sat down to what is most likely the best meal in town. They did really look after us on shore, though. Everywhere we could have conceivably gone there were loads of special, very friendly "tourist police". There is a huge military presence here as well.

A shuttle bus service was set up from the ship to the town centre and the zoo. It started one bus short, as the driver of the other bus was hit by a motorcycle yesterday, but a tourist company soon filled the gap with more vans.

The zoo was interesting. Quite clean, although the cages and pools were small, but they were really doing the best they could with the limited funds they had. Someone quite accurately described it as a "petting zoo for adults." Among some of the very friendly animals that liked to be petted were the tapirs, who wandered about the park quite freely, and the manatee. He particularly liked his tummy rubbed, and would hold ones hand in his flippers to encourage more attention.

The main downtown pickup point for the ship's shuttle buses was, very sensibly, Tio Tom's Bar. As promised, I had my first cold beer in days on the bus from the zoo to Tio Tom's, then another after a walk through the town. The Internet café worked well and was inexpensive, and I found a good rain poncho. Serious shopping done, the rest of the time was spent drinking beer, relaxing and listening to the loud Latin music at the sidewalk tables outside Tio Tom's.

When we returned to the ship we had a full complement of our group at the recap for the first time, drinks in hand. The maitre d', Gabor, commented on the fact that we were also all gathered together in the dining room for dinner for the first time. It was a rowdy meal, with a lot of laughter and good quantities of wine were consumed. Our festive spirit was commented on by Gabor - who has a great sense of humour, and there were askance looks from other tables, as we were a bit loud, but it didn't slow us down much. I even took a beer up to watch the movie after dinner, then helped four other survivors close the bar afterwards! One thing about feeling lousy for awhile, it does make one appreciate the benefit of feeling good.

Friday, May 3, 2002 We lost another hour last night, but as today was an easy day with no early activity it wasn't too hard to take.

A loud crash and shudder just brought to mind something that I had meant to mention from the Captain's welcome aboard talk. He was talking about the history of the Explorer, which was built by Erik Lars Lindblad as the first specially designed expedition ship in the world. He was saying that it has a special reinforced hull, designed for ice breaking, and that while we were unlikely to encounter much ice on the Amazon; it is still comforting to have the strength and thickness of the hull beneath us.

In the Amazon, there are giant trees floating down stream, particularly at high water. Some can be more than half the length of the ship. When we hit them head on the first crash is the bow, and then comes a second crash as the specially reinforced propeller section tangles with the forest giants. It was a surprise to me that we sailed at night, as there are no navigational aids on the river, but we do. This is a particularly likely time to clobber some of the large hardwoods.

In the afternoon today we headed out on the zodiacs again to explore into some of the lakes and quiet areas within the forest in the Urutubinha area. We have been going on the general exploration trips, but the special expedition choices today were for birders, beginning birders and fishermen as well as the general crowd. There were a lot of scarlet macaws and also the blue and yellow macaws in this area, along with dozens of other varieties of parrots and other species. We also came across a large colony of monkeys in the trees near the river.

Back at the ship we had recap and dinner, and then we went back out into the jungle on a night run at about 9 PM. Two guides were in each zodiac rather than the normal one. The second guide was in the bow with a powerful spotlight scanning the banks along the water and the trees for signs of wildlife. Those with fantasies of large snakes draped off the trees, and giant crocodile eyes peering from the waters were disappointed, though. We did see a large owl like bird, and our guide single handedly managed to wrestle a caiman into the boat - it was about 9 inches long. We did see a larger one - it was about a foot long.

In addition, a night hawk made an appearance, and our guide was also able to capture and land a gold coloured frog about the size of a quarter, or a shilling. Other than that it was a matter of listening to the night noises of the jungle, largely made up of the frog chorus. On return to the ship hot dogs were at the ready, but after the massive dinner, I definitely had to pass!

The food on board is unbelievably good. Last night's choices were two appetizers (spring rolls in plum sauce or avocado and shrimp), two soups (a cold banana and coconut soup, or cream of broccoli), salad, three main entrées (roast breast of duck, Norwegian salmon, or imported US prime steak) then there were three deserts. (Cherries jubilee, pumpkin pie with ice cream or one other I don't remember) Having trouble deciding? Do what Marilynn did. She had all three entrees on the same plate!

Saturday, May 4, 2002 We were off at 6:30 AM for an exploratory trip in the zodiacs up another small tributary. The area was alive with squirrel monkeys; we came across at least five families of them. There were also several pairs of huge green parrots, hawks, and of course the pink river dolphins which have been surfacing around us throughout the trip. The locals don't hunt them due to taboos and superstitions, which leaves them no real natural enemies.

After breakfast we went ashore in the river town of Foz do Jutai, which is located right where the black water River Jutai meeting the muddy Amazon (or Rio Solimoes, as the Brazilians call it at this point). It was a very pleasant little town. No souvenir sellers or craft shops - it is not touristy at all - it is a supply and trading centre for an area of about 25,000 people, with fish packing plants and so on. Marilynn bought some hammock hooks and we all stopped for an ice cold beer in a pleasant outdoor bar. The people were very friendly and helpful.

As soon as we were back aboard, the ship headed up the Rio Jutai; where late in the afternoon another zodiac exploration was launched to explore the black water river and flooded forest. This area was particularly beautiful, although the black water rivers do not support the amount of life that the nutrient laden muddy waters do.

Tonight a big BBQ was held on the stern deck, with long tables groaning with salads and cold meats to go with the hot vegetables and BBQ beef, lamb, sausage, spare ribs, fish and chicken After we finished eating outside, under the stars, we headed into the lecture hall where our cabin steward and the ship's electrician were doing an amazing job singing and playing 50's and 60's rock and roll music on their guitars. Dancing was wherever you could fit it in, between the theatre type seats, in the passageways or anywhere else there was a sufficiently large opening.

When the live music eventually quit, our group retreated to the lounge, where being adequately lubricated at this point we began to sing. John Harwood, one of the naturalists with whom Marilynn and I had sailed before, went and got a guitar, which he plays quite well. The evening progressed with a lot of old songs being sung, including some old war songs. The German captain and chief engineer gave us one in German, I rolled out some old air force bawdy songs, John Campbell did a fine job quoting the "Shooting of Dan McGrew" in its entirety and Marilynn sang, and then stood on her head. All in all, a great night was had by all!

The following morning, at a slightly more civilized hour, tours departed in Lago Uara. A couple of walking tours, botany, fishing and general exploration where offered. After a tour of the area and it's wildlife we returned to the main lake area where zodiacs had been anchored for swimming.

Most of our gang participated by getting into the warm water. After we had swum for a while, a zodiac with a large white banner appeared on the lake. As it drew closer, we could see that the banner clearly said "Bar Boat". It really was! Drinks and bocas were on board, so instead of standing at the bar one could simply hang onto a rope along side the zodiac. Nothing like cold beer while immersed in the waters of Amazonia! Nothing on these expeditions is done by half measures! No one noticed any piranha, although a local fishing boat was catching them nearby.

By the afternoon we had sailed downstream to Parana do Macuapanim, where another zodiac expedition explored the lakes and flooded forests of the region. A lot of howler monkeys could be heard in the area. As we had been threatened with a 5:15 AM wake up call, we made an early night of it after dinner, although a couple of our crowd watched the nightly movie.

Monday, May 6, 2002 The threat of the early morning wake up was not an idle one. After a 5:15 AM wake up call we headed off to watch the jungle come to life in an area called Cuxiu Muni. There were a huge number of pink river dolphins surfacing all around us in the tributary rivers. We also were up close to a sloth, lots of birds and a large snake which was swimming across the river.

Apparently sloths can swim quite well, allowing them to move from tree to tree in the flooded forest, but they do it slowly, as they do everything else. I asked if that meant they would always be moving down stream because of the current, and the answer was yes. This would lead one to assume that there could be quite a large sloth population near the mouth of the Amazon, as interior sloths gradually worked their way in that direction!

After breakfast we went ashore to visit the community of Sao Francisco de Boca do Capivara, where they had the inauguration of the new community centre funded by A & K, the owners of Explorer Shipping and our ship "Explorer". The company does a tremendous amount of good work along the river, supplying at no charge essentials such as machetes, fishing gear, school supplies and so on to the various villages where they stop. At one little village near where we were exploring the town water pump had quit, so some of the ships electrical and mechanical people headed over and were able to get it repaired and going again.

Cathy, the doctor on board, also had her own charitable operation. She collects medicines from pharmaceutical companies, plus medical supplies such as stethoscopes and so on which she personally delivers to hospitals and clinics along our route. She also holds free clinics, and spends the time ashore in helping to instruct the local paramedical that each village usually has. It is really nice to be associated with a ship which does so much good, and creates so much goodwill among the local people!

After the ceremony and ribbon cutting this morning, the village put on some traditional dancing, and then a tour. John Harwood, of guitar fame the other night, decided we should also dance for the villagers, and so had the whole group doing the hokey pokey before the amazed local residents! Previously we had amused them with a couple of choruses of "You are my sunshine." A tour of the tiny village and their new school was next, and then back to the ship where a number of villagers were welcomed aboard to answer questions from the passengers in the air conditioned comfort of the lounge, cold beer in hand.

We sailed steadily all afternoon, so after a siesta a "Viennese Tea" was held in the dining room with some of the best apple strudel I've ever had. There were also about a zillion calories worth of cakes, tarts, buns, ice cream, custard and so on. Baileys with hot chocolate or iced coffee were the preferred drinks.

Tonight after another amazing dinner we had a quite night sipping liqueurs in the lounge, before making our way to bed.

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 This morning we were able to sleep in until 6 AM before the call came for the morning expedition. Marilynn & Lee both decided that bed was the better alternative, but the rest of us headed off. We did a short wildlife tour, seeing some big green iguanas for the first time, then headed for the town of Boca Do Anama.

This is a thriving waterfront community where we were able to watch the processing of the yucca, which is soaked in submerged canoes, then peeled, mashed, processed in water and cooked. It is poisonous when started, but ends up being tapioca and also flour. There was a floating building with three big cooking areas for the benefit of the whole community. Three families were there processing their yucca when we were there.

Another interesting process that we observed close up was the harvesting of jute. The stalks are left in the river to soak, then the owners or workers stand in the river, often in water up to their chests, peeling the fibrous bark off the stalks. They can spend the whole day standing in the river, coming out only for meals. The bared stalks are allowed to float away, but the stripped off jute is folded up and put into a canoe to bring ashore to dry. It is then bundled, tied and shipped. Some of the many river boats anchored along the town riverfront were laden with jute.

There were several sawmills working as well, primarily planer mills smoothing rough hardwood planks. Logging and sawmills have been in evidence all down the river. It is an important economic resource for many riverside communities. The mills we have seen so far have all been very small, with half a dozen or less employees.

After our return to the ship for breakfast we headed down stream to meet the Rio Negro, and to dock at the city of Manaus. There were a number of interesting lectures during this time, as there always is when we are on the move.

Before docking in Manaus we went down river below the city to view the "meeting of the waters" where the high volume, black water Rio Negro pushes back the muddy Solimoes, causing a distinctive two tone waterway for a distance. The combined river from this point onwards is indisputably called the Rio Amazonas, or Amazon in English. The passing through the meeting of the waters was appropriately anointed with the distribution of drinks made from Brazilian Caipirinhas on the top sun deck, a particularly strong Brazilian liquor that began as rum. It is a country wide favourite, being both potent and cheap.

The last lecturer on the way down river was a fellow by the name of Bob Meade, whose speciality is river systems and their flow. He'd done a number of surveys on the Amazon, measuring volume and flow. Some of his figures were amazing. For example, where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes meet, the Rio Negro has the flow of two Mississippi Rivers, and the Rio Solimoes the flow of six Mississippi Rivers. This is before we meet the Rio Madeira, flowing out of the Bolivian Andes, and one of the biggest tributaries. The Amazon dumps over a billion tons of Andean sediment into the ocean each year, spreading it up the north-east coast of South America for over 2,000 kilometres, right up to where it merges with the sediment from the Orinoco River.

The city of Manaus has a population of over 1.5 million people. There are no roads from here into Brazil, but it is possible to drive north to Venezuela. We are looking forward to our exploration of the city tomorrow.