AMAZON ADVENTDURE BLOG #3
Our 28 day cruise to the Amazon was a planned circuit that took us from Fort Lauderdale to Manaus, Brazil and return. As a result, all but one of our stops on the return trip was a repeat visit. During our first two weeks we made mental notes of the things we wanted to do and see on our return visits. Our most favorite “return” was to Boca Da Valeria where we promised ourselves that we would take advantage of an hour long boat ride up the Rio Valeria in a fisherman’s boat. The boat ride was everything we had hoped for. The fisherman’s boat was one of several dozen that were beached near the village of Boca Da Valeria. The boats were brought in from surrounding villages to take advantage of adventuresome cruise ship passengers willing to pay $5.00 each for the privilege of riding in a skinny sixteen foot flat bottomed boat powered by a small outboard motor. We had seen literally hundreds of similar boats fishing on the Amazon and its tributaries during the previous week. The outboard motor was totally different from the outboard we have known and seen before. The engine looked like the kind of engine made for a lawnmower; probably three to four horsepower. A round pole two and half inches in diameter and about five feet long was attached to the motor which was mounted on a swivel hinge allowing the driver to lower the propeller on the end of the pole into the water and move it back and forth to steer the boat while adjusting the depth of the propeller. Since many of the rivers are shallow in places, the unique design allowed the boat to operate in just a few inches of water.
Our boat ride carried us up stream several miles where we saw dozens of well maintained houses on stilts each with its own vegetable garden nearby. Many of the houses had a few flowers planted near the entrance to the house but none had curtains or window coverings. None of the houses were painted but all were similar in the noticeable fact that no trash was to be seen anywhere. We passed several buildings, on stilts, that were obviously restaurants and/or bars but none had any signs describing their purpose. We passed a boat yard where it was obvious that the large boats under repair were brought to the scene during the flood stage of the river and repaired when the flood had subsided leaving the boats high and dry. Once the boats were repaired they waited for the next flood season to float them again. We passed one small village that was home to a small school that taught the compulsory grades one through eight to children in surrounding villages.
Our little boat was one of the few that we saw that was dry. Most had some water in the bottom of the boat while others had operators that spent a lot of time bailing to keep afloat. Ours was the only boat that offered us life preservers to wear which made us feel especially safe.
The boat we rode in is a significant part of life for “Riberenos”; the people who live on the river. The men in each family are fishermen and all fishing is done from a boat like ours. The staple of their diet is fish and manioc. For the major part of the year, this is the only thing that is eaten. Some wild fruit is gathered and eaten. Fish is dried to be eaten during the peak of the flood stage when fishing is difficult and dangerous. Some chickens are raised to be eaten during this period as well. We experienced some of the “danger” known during flood stage as our small boat constantly dodged floating material in the river; plant material, tree limbs and small islands of dirt and grass being washed downstream. We could imagine the challenge when the river is in full flood and moving much more rapidly.
Our return visit to Santorem gave us some time to walk through downtown shops and mingle with the local residents as they shopped. The downtown area was upscale by river standards with a wide variety of stores on the ground floor of multiple storied buildings. Stores had glass display windows with goods on display like old fashion main street stores in middle America. The major difference we noted was the groups of young men standing around passing time with their friends. Because at one time hundreds of thousands of slaves were brought to the Amazon by the English, nearly all of the people we saw were of African heritage. Once we had our fill of shopping and soaking up local atmosphere, we made our way to a cab stand for a ride back to our ship. We let it be known that we needed a cab and a smallish crippled man made his way out of the shade and motioned us to the most decrepit automobile we had ever seen. At first glance we became aware that every door was of a different color and all four fenders were left over from a destruction derby. Dottie was ushered into a back seat while Bill went around to the other side to join her. When he couldn’t open the door, the would be driver painfully pulled himself out from behind the steering wheel and came around to help. When he could do no better, Bill decided to slide in from Dottie’s side. When he opened that door, it seemed that it was about to fall off. A wise decision was made to select another cab and a move was made. Our new cab rattled, coughed and stuttered but we felt much safer as we made our way back to the ship.
Upon our return to “Devil’s Island”, actually Isle Royale, we made are way directly to where we knew we would find the monkeys. On our last visit we saw a few but we knew we could do better and we did. On our previous visit we forgot to take along the packages of crackers we had gathered at the buffet so we could feed the monkeys. This time we had our crackers and we found the monkeys; dozens of them. We duly fed our crackers to the cute little critters much to the envy of our shipmates who forgot to bring along the ship’s crackers they had gathered. We took dozens of pictures and left the area to return to the ship with smiles of fulfillment on our faces and joy in our hearts.
When we stopped again at St. Lucia, we spent our morning exploring the little town of Castres, the tiny nation’s capital. We found the local cathedral to be especially unique. The shape and size of the building, although small, matched that of other churches we have seen. What made it unique was the use of a variety of local wood in the walls and ceiling, much of which was simply stained allowing the texture of the wood to be prominent. A large manger scene attracted our attention because the usual figures of Joseph , Mary, wisemen and shepherds were accompanied by an oversize black baby Jesus and two additional figures from the middle ages; one a flutist and the other a bagpipe player. We continued our stroll past the town square that had been renamed to honor the first of the island’s two Nobel Prize recipients.
Our stop at Nevis (pronounced nee-vas) allowed us the privilege of visiting the smallest nation in the Americas. St. Kitts and Nevis, a formal English Colony, once was a valued sugar producing place that lost its value when the sugar market dried up in the 18th Century. We opted for a stroll around the little town and a visit to the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, once the Secretary of the Treasury for our country. Hamilton grew up on St. Lucia when sugar was king and slaves did all of the work. The museum now located in Hamilton’ birthplace and home described the population of St. Lucia in the 18th Century as about 8500 slaves and 1200 Englishmen. Today the population is more like 8000 with descendants of slaves making up the large majority of the population. Today the two island nation caters to a growing resort trade and farming. The beautiful sandy beaches provide for a quiet get away for those who want peace and quiet with few crowds and fewer jewelry stores. We decided it was nice but not a place where we wanted to spend much time after we “grow up”.
Our good byes at the end of our 28 day cruise were difficult. For the first time in our travels we bonded with some wonderful people that we will not forget. Additionally, we found to our liking the meeting of new friends with whom we could share breakfast or lunch or cocktails. By the end of our adventure we found it pleasant to walk through the ship saying hello to literally dozens of people we now counted as friends. We liked that and look forward to another cruise in our future when we can share the joy in our lives with others.
Love to each and every one,
Gram and Grandpa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill
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