Santarem. We’ve been
here before, explored the market and the cathedral, checked out the fish market
and found free wi-fi. We’ve also been on
the “Lake Maica and Piranha Fishing” tour before, but we enjoyed it so much
last time, we had to do it again.
So when Peter’s alarm woke us, we got ready and went upstairs
for breakfast and to take our first look at a familiar dock. But this time, looking
out the Bistro windows, we noticed something very odd. We weren’t berthed? We were still in the middle of the river, and
the Port of Santarem was over there, about half a mile away.
Then we looked closer and realised why. Another cruise ship, The Quest of Adventure,
was in port, and since the dock is only a little one, our ship could not fit as
well. We wondered if it was late leaving, or had broken down? Maybe it would leave shortly? Maybe someone had made an almighty cock up
and double-booked the dock? Maybe
someone in CMV had made an even mightier cock up and forgot to make the
booking? Who knows? Speculation was rife, and most people automatically
assumed that CMV had cocked up. Well
they would, wouldn’t they? It’s a
British trait.
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| Space Stealer! |
The Guest Services Manager, Morgan Van Selman, explained
over the tannoy system that basically, despite us arriving early, the other
ship had nicked our slot, and, (he stated in a tone of barely suppressed
anger), the Marco Polo management team were going to get some answers!
After breakfast we went out on deck and watched as loads of
river boats made their way over to us and formed an orderly queue. We realised that the ship in dock was not
moving, that the riverboats would act as shuttles to get people back and forth
to Santarem. Because of all the changes,
it took ages to get everyone onto their
tours, but finally it was our turn, and we sat at the back of our little river
boat to enjoy the fishing trip.
The reason we liked this little excursion the first time,
and chose to come on it again is that we get to see and hear some of the
Amazonian wildlife. Then there are the wooden houses on stilts, the livestock
kept by the locals, and a glimpse of how the other half live, so to speak.
This trip was no different.
Our guide this time was an American called Frank who’d been in the area
since 1981. He was full of loads of
interesting snippets of information, but my favourite was about the boat we
were sailing in. He explained that the
design is such that the top floor was for people, and the floor beneath was for
cargo. Originally cargo meant livestock, and in particular, cattle. The problem with that was that cattle do not like being loaded onto riverboats. They get a bit mad about it, making it
difficult to get them on board it seems.
Luckily, riverboats are not the usual method of cattle transportation
anymore, and riverboat drivers are a much happier crowd because of it.
As usual, we were taken to see the meeting of the waters,
where the dark river Tapajos and the tea coloured Amazon run alongside each
other for several miles.
Then we were
taken up the Tapajos river to Lake Maica to have a go at catching fish.
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| Riverside life on Rio Tapajos |
Our prized sightings of the day included loads of river
dolphins, a couple of fish eagles, an iguana and a sloth.
Our group also managed to catch about 6
piranhas all different colours. We had
at least one white, one yellow and one black piranha. The fish were thrown back in the water once photographs
were taken. Neither Peter nor I caught anything, but we
could feel the meat being eaten from the hook in loads of little tiny
tugs. In fact, if you looked, you could
see it just under the surface doing a dance as the fish came and tugged tiny
pieces from it. I went through three
chunks of meat that way, but never once saw the fish?
Due to the late start of the trip, we didn’t get back to
the ship until about 2.30pm. We had lunch, and then worked out that if we tried
to take a tender to Santarem, we would have very little time in the town before
we had to come back, and with temperatures around 30oC, it was too
hot and humid to be rushing around. So
Peter retired to the cabin to work on student stuff, and I went looking for the
moths that would have landed last night.
I got a new camera for Christmas, and I wanted to see if I could make
some of its magical features work.
I love all these creepy crawlies. The only thing I wish for is broadband, so I
could spend time finding out what they are, and how they live n stuff.
Then this evening, Morgan followed up his earlier
announcement to explain what had happened this morning re our parking
space. It turns out that the Quest for
Adventure ended up with a quest for water.
It was due at Alter Do Chao today, which does not have a dock and
subsequently no facilities to load the ship up with water. So the crew of the Adventure asked the Santarem
port authorities if they could arrive a day early and take on water. The port people said yes, but only if the
ship was berthed to leave enough room for us to fit in behind. The rest is history......
Thing is, who pays for the extra costs? I’m sure strongly worded correspondence on this very subject is winging
it’s way across electronic airways to sort it all out.
Tomorrow we’re at Boca Do Valeria. More wildlife, more Amazonian people, more
wonderful experiences. Cool.
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