Day 20 - Friday 24th January - Manaus - The Amazonian Experience

The Amazonian equivalent of a bust stop - river boats at Manaus

Today Peter and I are acting as escorts on "The Amazonian Experience" excursion. This is one of our favourite tours and we are really pleased to be escorting it - although being an escort means you have to count people and keep track of them and fill in forms and chase around with hand sanitizer. But we are still dead chuffed to be on this tour. Because of numbers, we are both on the same boat, and funny enough, our tour guide, Ali, is the same tour guide that we had on both previous occasions that we've done this tour. He waved at us from the boat when he saw us on the quay.

So passengers aboard and off we went - first to the meeting of the waters. At Manaus it is the meeting of the Rio Negro and the Solimoes (Amazon). Always good stuff, and Ali always gets a cup of water from each river to show the difference between the two. The reason the rivers don't mix and run side by side for several miles is because of temperature, speed and acidity.

The Meeting of the Waters at Manaus - Rio Solimoes and Rio Negro

From there we went to Lake January, taking loads of pictures as we went.

Floating village in Amazonia, on the way to Lake January

Proud Amazonian fisherman and his catch.  He got a round of applause from the boat when we saw this. 

Houses on stilts in Amazonia

We reached the floating restaurant at Lake January where we dismounted from our river boat and climbed into small, 10 man canoes to be taken around Lake January and into the inlets leading off. Our little canoe went the opposite direction to the other 8, so we were on our own. It was like being in the rain forest proper. We looked out for the birds, listened to the noises of the insects, and watched the jungle trees go by.

We all sat quietly, absorbing our surroundings and feeling the wonder of the place.

Osprey 

I even saw a monkey. I use the words amazing, wonderful, fantastic and brilliant a lot, but that is because they all apply, and they especially applied to this little canoe ride.

Back at the floating restaurant, we then enjoyed a locally prepared meal including two of the favourite fish of the region (sorry, I can't remember the names), before taking a walk over a rickety wooden bridge to the lily pad lake. The bridge lifts you 15ft or so off the ground (to cope with flooding I suppose), but it also means you are amongst the trees and any monkeys that might be about. And guess what? There were monkeys about.

White fronted capuchin

There was a caiman basking at the lake, but I didn't manage to get a decent photograph. It didn't matter because the lily pads on the lake are quite spectacular all by themselves. It's a shame that the flowers only come out at night.

Lily Pads at Lake Janauary, Amazonia

White fronted capuchin

The few of us that were last walking back across the bridge were granted an absolutely wonderful experience. A troop of monkeys decided make their way towards the lily pad lake as we were coming back. Not only did they make their way along the ground below us, but a fair number decided that the bridge was the appropriate route, and followed each other, one by one, up the sides to dash past the spectators stood on the bridge. We stood in awe and delight. What an amazing experience.

Sadly though it was more or less time to get back to the riverboat and make the hour long trip back to the ship. I say more or less, because there was confusion over what time we had to be back, and then, when we were all on board, we seemed to have lost two passengers? But we hadn't really - a certain tour rep can't count!

Everyone agreed it was a wonderful, wonderful day out, and we all wished we could stay longer. But tomorrow we are at Parintins which we know will be very different. Class.

Day 19 Thursday 23rd January - Manaus - Capital of Amazonas

We reached Manaus at lunchtime - Peter had been painting in the morning and produced a fantastic picture of an iguana. I attended a lecture by Louise Bonner about the lost tribes of the Amazon - Louise is a good speaker, and her talks are always really interesting.

After lunch, we went to wait on the quay ready to act as tour escorts on a bus tour - "Manaus - Capital of Amazonas". We were puzzled as to the ships location, as it was on a different floating dock than usual and away from the port terminal. Peter found out later that this was due to a disagreement between the government and the owner of the land who apparently hasn't been keeping to his side of a bargain. As Manaus is due to host some of the World Cup games, the government is keen improve and develop the facilities ready for the hoards of visitors, and at the moment, it just ain't happening.

The Opera House, Manaus

But back to our tour - a simple excursion to include the Opera House, the Palacio Rio Negro, and the Muncipal Market. The advantage of a tour over visiting on your own is the guide. The guides can tell you so much of what you are seeing around you, and ours told us of the recent floods, the effect on the local people and how the government were building new homes for them. All interesting stuff.

One of the fantastic chandeliers inside - from France I believe

We visited the Opera House first, somewhere that Peter and I have visited before. It really is an amazing building. Like many of the historic buildings in the city, it was mostly transported piece by piece from Europe. It is such an over indulgent and opulent building, you could stand and look for years.

The beautifully decorated ceiling of the opulent reception room upstairs in the theatre

We've not been to the Palacio Rio Negro before though and thought it quite grand, a really gorgeous building to look round.

Palacio Rio Negro - this used to belong to a Rubber Baron

A fantastic staircase inside the Palacio Rio Negro

And then we were taken to have a quick look round the Municipal Market. Again, this is another building created in Europe (Liverpool actually), and shipped across. It has just been refurbished (ready for the hoards), and is a pleasant place to walk around and see the fish, craft and meat markets. 

Manaus Municipal Market............   Made in Liverpool!

And then it was back to the ship. I found out that evening that, despite repeated warnings from the ships customer services manager about keeping valuables out of sight, one of our passengers had been mugged. The poor lady had had a gold chain ripped from around her neck. Thanks to some locals that gave chase, she got it back. Fellow tourists and visitors take note.

We stop in Manaus overnight. Peter and I have been here before and know that it is difficult to find a bar that looks safe, so we didn't bother trying to go ashore for the evening. Tomorrow we have another excursion, one of our favourites -that we are really looking forward to - "The Amazonian Experience". So we have to be up early in the morning. Class!

Wednesday 22nd January - Boca Da Valeria

Boca Da Valeria on the Amazon River.

Boca Da Valeria is a "primitive" village in the Amazon which is visited by 20-40 cruise ships a year. When I say primitive, it is in a sense, but if you are expecting naked tribespeople holding spears and living in mud huts, then you are going to be disappointed.

Civilisation has reached this and all the villages nearby. The people who live here use diesel powered engines for their canoes, satellite dishes are common (for the football of course,) western clothing is worn and schools in the villages are equipped with modern books and computers.

But there is no running water, (unless you count the river), there are no roads, and all the houses are wooden huts on stilts without windows or doors. Electricity is provided by generators which are used sparingly. There are no supermarkets or shops and if you want to eat you have to forage for, catch or grow your food. The only way to travel is by boat, and every house and family owns one. The people of Boca Da Valeria live a very different life to our own.

It is a big event when a cruise ship anchors in the river outside Boca Da Valeria. Schools are closed and families from the surrounding villages pack their wares and children into canoes and come to meet the tourists. Boca Da Valeria has a population of 75, but this swells to several hundred when a cruise ship appears, all of them after as much as they can get out of the rich visitors.

Boca Da Valeria village.  The church is on the right.

And we love this place. We managed to get one of the early tenders which meant we were able to walk through the village before many of the surrounding villagers had had time to arrive and set up their stalls. As usual, the children try to take your hand as you get off your pier. The children do not beg directly, but they will be hoping for sweets and trinkets. If one of the passengers reveals a bag full of sweets or crisps, they are likely to get mobbed as the children get almost aggressive in their aim to grab as much as they can. Peter and I keep our hands in our pockets and try not to encourage them, no matter how adorable they are.

Once off the tender and past the gauntlet of children, we turned left from the landing pier to walk through the village to see what there is to see. As I said, the villagers are here to get as much as they can from the tourists, and one of the most common ways is to pose for photographs. Children are dressed in tribal feathers and costumes to pose with pets. Sloths, parrots, a catfish, a toucan and a caiman were on display today. The tourist takes a picture and then gives a token of thanks, usually $1. I have always been very wary of giving the villagers money for this, as I am not sure that the pets are looked after properly. There is a man who poses with a bow and a painted backdrop though, which doesn't seem like exploitation to me, so I don't mind in his case.

Boca Da Valeria village women sharing a bag of children's clothes given by a tourist

But we do enjoy the crafts, and our humble opinion, these guys are getting better at it. We ended up buying a wooden model of a river boat this time.

Hand made boat from Boca Da Valeria

Peter also got talking to the artist there. His name is Freyzer Andrede, he lives in Boca Da Valeria with his grandfather and teaches art in five of the surrounding villages. We've seen him in Boca Da Valeria each time we've visited. Freyzer speaks pretty good English, and seems to hold Peter in very high regard (having accessed Peter's work through the internet). Freyzer swapped one of his fabric paintings for a promise that Peter will post one of his watercolours to Freyzer when we get back to England. Since we really like Freyzer's work, that was an easy deal to agree to.

Fabric Painting by Freyzer Andrede

And as we've done every year before, we took a boat ride up the surrounding tributaries to see more of the way people live. We talked a few other couples into it too, maintaining that it is still one of the best $10 they will ever spend. And they all loved the trip too.

A canoe boat taking tourists to see the houses and villages further into the forest. 

Suburbia in the Amazon.  Each house has it's own garden and drive on the river. 

Flooded trees along the riverside

Sadly the village bar was closed today, otherwise we may have spent longer in the village, but no matter, as always it was still a wonderful visit. Amongst other things, I got to see a load of Yellow Rumped Caciques squabbling in the trees, and a Yellow Headed Caracaras. Fantastic!

And then it was time to go back to the ship. It always seems a shame to leave this place, but we have Manaus tomorrow. Peter and I are acting as tour escorts on a city excursion - this should be interesting.

Boca da Valeria, Brazil, 2013
Boca da Valeria, Brazil, 2012
Boca da Valeria, Brazil, 2011

Day 17 - Tue 21st Jan - Santarem and Piranha Fishing

Well, we've had a brilliant day. It started with breakfast as the ship was docking, followed by a wander around the deck to see the latest creepy crawlies, I got 4 sphinx moths and another of those gorgeous pink moths with holes in their wings. And talking about wings, there were loads n loads of birds, and I wished I'd brought the binoculars up on deck. It was amazing to see them all, I even managed to get a picture of a Fork Tailed Flycatcher, an amazing bird with an amazing tail.

Then it was time to go down to the pier to take charge of our respective river boats for the Piranha Fishing tour. Seven boats in total, each with around 35 passengers on board, made their way from Santarem docks over to the meeting of the waters, where the Tapajos meets with the Amazon, and the two rivers run side by side for a mile or so. Then it was on to Lake Maica, a little way up the Tapajos River. We love this tour and not just because of the Piranha Fishing. I have to say that in addition to everything we see, the guides on board can be really knowledgeable, passing on so much information about the city, the river and the way of life.

As the riverboats made their way along the inlets off the main river, we first get to see the homes and farms of the local people. There were houses on stilts which were surrounded by the livestock and the ever present covered canoes.

Then we get to see the wildlife. Sloths, iguanas and birds were in abundance today and I was in my element. My little compact zoomed its best, and I managed to get some brilliant photos. (I should point out that the iguana really was very close, and that's why the picture is so clear.)

First, we were lucky enough to see this sloth.  Funny enough it was climbing this tree directly behind an iguana.

A couple of minutes later, we saw this sloth high up in the trees

And then we saw a third one!  It was like sloth bonus day.  We did see another one after this too.  Amazing!

The boat stopped for a little while, and each passenger was provided with a baited fishing line to hang over the side of the boat. And then we waited....................

One of the river boats used for the Piranha fishing tour

Our boat caught four piranhas. I maintain that since three were caught by passengers, we did better than Peter's boat, because even though his caught six in total, four were caught by the crew. Therefore my passengers did better than his passengers. Ergo I win!

The river boats then made their way back to the docks but this time following the river shoreline. As always, I love the sight of the overcrowded banks, the river boats and the floating fuel stations. Just wonderful.

Santarem.  That's the cathedral with the two towers, and in the foreground you can see one of the floating fuel stations.

We got back in time for lunch, and then, in the afternoon, we decided to brave the heat and take a walk into Santarem. The heat really was almost intolerable, and we didn't get far before we ended up in a bar for a cooling drink. An then it was time to go back to the ship.

River boats on the shoreline at Santarem

All in all, a fantastic day. I love the piranha fishing tour, and would go again and again. However, tomorrow we'll be visiting Boca Da Valeria. Another reason to get all excited. I can't wait.

Santarem, Brazil 2011
Santarem, Brazil 2012
Santarem, Brazil 2103

Day 16 - Mon 20 Jan - Cruising the Amazon

We woke this morning to find the ship anchored outside the Macapa Pilot station. The Marco Polo has to wait here for the immigration authorities to come aboard and clear the ship to travel into Brazil, which can take up to five hours. We need a pilot too.

Because the immigration people will be using the craft room as an office, Peter has got a day off. Yippee. And because we've been here before, we knew what we wanted to do first. So off we went on a bug hunt. There weren't many, which was to be expected, but I did come across one that I hadn't seen before.

It's probably about 6 inches across. Quite beautiful.

Once we'd got our Brazilian guests on board (the immigration officials will stay until Manaus apparently), the ship set off for Santarem, a day's cruising up river. Apart from taking an hour out to listen to one of Louise's lectures, we spent the day getting sunburnt (under cloudy skies by the way) and watching the forest go by.

Looking back over the rear deck.  We are being followed!

Miles and miles of tropical forest.  Lovely

A lovely relaxing day finished off by watching the ship's show team put on a new show "Return to the 80's". Ecaterina was obviously having a ball during the "I love Rock n Roll" number, brilliant.

Tomorrow is our first port of call, Santarem and land after five days at sea. Peter and I are booked as escorts on the Piranha fishing tours, which we love since it's a chance to see wildlife as well as catch little fish with very sharp teeth. Yep, I'm all excited again.

Sun setting over the Amazon.  Beautiful

Day 15 - Sun 19th Jan - Crossing the Equator

Actually, we didn't cross the equator today. The ship will cross the equator about 6 am tomorrow, but there was a short crossing the equator ceremony today. It was held on the back deck and involved the entertainment team, silly games, and throwing the cruise director in the pool. This was all followed up by a bit of music and dancing and a good time was had by all.

Peter was running classes and couldn't join in. Amazingly, despite the equator ceremony going on at the same time, the passengers still turned up for class. That's dedication for you.

About 4pm, the sea started to turn green and flatten out. This is the first sign that we are approaching the Amazon and the green is because the brown Amazon river water is mixing with the sea water. Watching over the side of the ship, I spotted a few fish swimming just below the surface. Weirdly, it's only here, where the sea is green, that you can see them like this. It must be something to do with the fresh and the salt water mixing. 

By the time we got to the evening's entertainment on the back deck, the water had turned the lovely muddy brown of the Amazon. The fun of the afternoon continued into the evening, with a little bit of a flutter on the horses, i.e. the entertainment team galloping around the deck according to the throw of a dice, and then the "Trash the 70's" cabaret late in the evening resulted in just about everybody dancing, including me n Peter. 

And then it was time for bed. Tomorrow we'll start our journey up the Amazon. Fantastic.

Days 12, 13 and 14 - 16th - 18th January - Crossing the Atlantic

OK, so we've had three days at sea, and there isn't really a lot to report. The weather has been fantastic, getting hotter and hotter the further we go, you can feel the sun burning as you stand on the deck. The sea is quite smooth and it's lovely to be outside.

The flying fish have appeared to keep us company, and after breakfast, Peter and I go to front of the ship to watch them. Fascinating creatures............ Then it's time for Peter to go inside and start work. He's started painting, and produced two scenes from Mindelo, one of which he sold within hours.

Life on board is relaxing. We've enjoyed Ecaterina's show to the Carpenters, an evening with Michele Monro, where she told us all about her father, Matt, and Richard Syke's show to Neil Sudaka, So we've had show every evening. I've also been to listen to Dr Louise Bonner give her talks on the Amazon. When Louise is speaking, it's standing room only, in the Marco Polo Lounge. It completely fills up, and people end up sitting on the floor or standing around the edges, but then, she does give a very good presentation.

I've been keeping Peter's classes very full, which is all good, but I still have people on the waiting list, and people turning up at the door asking if they can join, but it is finally beginning to settle down, and falling into a very organised and relaxed routine. We even cleaned out all the palettes and refilled the paints, marking out which is which for the students. We made a right mess of our cabin bathroom, but it made the passengers happy.

It's been really lovely on deck in the evening. It's been so balmy and warm it's wonderful. The night before last, Peter and I stood at the back of the ship watchin the silver and steel grey reflections of the moon on the water for ages. Quite romantic really.

We were sat out there last night, enjoying a bit of chit chat and I looked up to see the moon gently bounce up and down in the sky. What wonderful tricks your mind can play on you. Of course the moon isn't bouncing, it's the ship moving up and down but you've forgotten that momentarily.

Tomorrow the entertainment team will be putting on a crossing the equator ceremony on the back deck, and the day after, we will be entering the mouth of the Amazon. As soon as we are in the river, the Brazilian immigration authorities will come aboard. They will stay on board the whole time we are in Brazil, and will be using the craft room for an office during that team. Therefore no more craft classes until we leave the Amazon, but that's not a problem, because just about every day is a port day, and we have got so much to see.    As Peter say's............. "Bring it on!"

Day 11 - Wednesday 15th January - Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands

A street in Mindelo

This was our fourth visit to the island, and one day, we really should get our act together and maybe go a little further than Mindelo. Peter did take his driving licence with him, thinking that if we came across a car hire company, we could maybe drive out to Mount Verde or one of the beaches, but it wasn't to be.

So we took the port provided shuttle bus to the centre of town, and went for a wander. This is the first time we've visited when Mindelo has been open, but to be honest, I'm not sure it changed that much from our previous visits, except there were more little shops open, each of which sold everything from clothes to earphones. This meant I was able to buy a pair of shoes and Peter was able to get a set of earphones from the same shop. Many of the shops take euros, but not all, and some will take your euros and give you change in escudos.

We did our shopping, and then had a wander around the market and the fish market in the morning.

A stall holder on the market in Mindelo.  Her "stall" is the second hand clothing and shoes laid across the ground.  

"Working the line"  Cleaning and gutting fish factory style in Mindelo Fish Market. 

Fishing boats of the locals

In the afternoon we walked out of the port and turned left to spend a little time on the beach there.

Beach at Mindelo - this has been built up since our visit in 2011

We thought it very different from what we remembered, and checking back on old photographs, we were right. Sao Vicente is being built up and prepared as an exclusive tourist destination, and the beach has been built up and prepared too. To be honest, we preferred it the way it was four years ago, but it still looks good now and all the building work and new hotels bring work for the people of the island. You can see poverty everywhere, contrasting starkly with the buildings and facilities being built for the rich tourists. Hopefully things are getting better for the people of Mindelo.Like every other person at the seaside, I enjoyed a paddle along the beach, and then a paddle back again to join Peter for a sit in the sun. We watched the enviously handsome and beautiful locals walk and play along the sand. They are all tall and slim, but then, there isn't a McDonalds, KFC, Burger King or Subway here yet.

After a wonderful hour or under the hot sun, sadly it was time to get back to the ship. There was a little bit of trauma as we left Mindelo, because a lamp fell, smashed a load of concrete off a pier wall, which in turn smashed a hole in the fuel pipe, which then made an ugly black stain in the water as the ship pulled away. I hope they got it fixed quickly.

Leaving Mindelo

So now we have five sea days before we get to Brazil. Somewhere along the line we'll go into the dead zone, where there will be no internet or phone connection, and we will also cross the equator. Tomorrow we'll be able to go to the front of the ship and see flying fish. Fantastic!

Mindelo 2011
Mindelo 2012
Mindelo 2013