Sunday 4th February - Barbados

Beaching it in Barbados

So today we are in Bridgetown Barbados. We had already told the shorex team that we didn't want to escort any tours today so we've got the day off. As an added bonus, it's a long day ashore and we won't leave until 10 o'clock tonight. What are we going to do with all this sun? Sadly Peter has to work and catch up with his online students so we decided to spend the morning using the free Wi-Fi in the terminal, and after an early lunch, we , and Chris, the creative writing instructor, would spend the afternoon on a beach.

Now if you look at TripAdvisor the best abeach in Bridgetown is the Boathouse which has very much a party atmosphere and the booze flows freely. But it's a bit expensive if you're not really a partyloving drinker, so last year Peter and I found the Pirate Cove right next door.  (I should point out that the Boathouse is cheap for cruise ship crew). Using the beach itself is free, but if you want to use a lounger and parasol then you'll need to pay a few dollars for the rental of, which is exactly what we did.

OK, so I'm not really a beach person. But I do like swimming and particularly snorkeling, and where better to snorkel than in the Caribbean. It wasn't the best of days in Caribbean terms, in fact it was a bit cloudy and overcast and it even rained a few times. But the sea was warm and I had my contact lenses in, and my snorkel, and my goggles, and I was as happy as the proverbial pig in ... Last year Peter bought me an underwater camera and I was able to use it to film the fish as I swam.

I still haven't worked out how to use the camera though, and didn't film the couple of more exciting fish that I managed to see, but I did get an excellent short clip of a large shoal, which I totally bored Peter and Chris with later.

After a few hours, we headed back about 5 o'clock, mostly because Chris hasn't brought any cigarettes with her, but also because the rain was becoming more persistent and the air was getting cooler too. (So what happened to the fabled Caribbean weather?)

And the reason that I mentioned crew rates for The Boathouse?  Well, on return to the ship, I bumped into one of the staff that had taken advantage of those rates. Absolutely hammered and hysterically funny trying to maintain a professional image. Just class!

So that was Bridgetown Barbados. Tomorrow we are visiting the port of Castries, on the island of St Lucia and escorting an all day tour. Let's hope it's a good one.

Saturday 3rd February - St George's Grenada

One of the beaches on Grenada's coastline.  Very pretty

Another hot sunny day on another hot sunny Caribbean Island.  This is the life isn't it.  We were supposed to be parked on the pier in Grenada, 'cept some hulking great Yank ship has taken our space.  The captain told us a couple of days ago that CMV booked the slot and has confirmation of the booking, but apparently money talks.  The Royal Caribbean ship is much bigger, with more passengers, so the Grenada authorities decided to allow them the berth and make the little Magellan anchor out in the bay, so everyone has to tender across.

We're escorting again - Discover Grenada - a tour of 4 1/2 hours.  It's mostly scenic driving, firstly around the coast, then through the the spice and banana plantations in the middle of the island, along the edges of the rainforest and back out to the coast and Fort Frederick.  There are a few stops thrown in of course.

The buses are quite small, only 20 seaters.  It was chaos loading them - I ended up on bus number 11, but my CMV paddle said number 8.  We were late getting to the buses anyway, and then we had to wait for about 20 mins for the final passengers to turn up because they had missed the tender boat that the rest of us were on. We were easily half an hour late starting

Our first stop was at the Dougaldston Spice Estate, where we were first shown how cocoa beans are turned into chocolate, and then given a brief show and tell re the various spices that are produced in Grenada.  I was that impressed with what I'd learnt, I ended up buying some of the pure chocolate that is produced in the area to use to make drinking chocolate.  Apparently I have to dissolve it into boiling water, simmer for 5 mins, strain, and then add milk and sugar.  I'm told that I'll know that it's the real thing due to the oil of the chocolate on surface of the cup.  I can't wait to try it.

This is how the cocoa bean looks when the pod is first cut.  A bit ugh! actually.  The farmers can tell when the pod is ready, because it starts to heat up as the beans start to ferment.  So there you go. 

Then the beans are fermented for a bit longer - 8 days they told us.  After the fermenting bit, they are dried on tables like this.  When the beans are dry and you bite into them, they really taste of chocolate, not quite Lindt or Cadbury's, but chocolate nevertheless. 

Driving through the countryside was pleasant.

And Annadale waterfall was nice.  The island has had an unexpected amount of rain in the last month, so the falls were full, and young men took it upon themselves to leap into the plunge pool in the interests of photography and making themselves a few bucks.  I missed the picture though.

Annandale Waterfall

We finished at Fort Frederick, with these excellent views.  As usual, I managed to find an lizard of some sort.

Our excellent view included being able to watch the Royal Caribbean block of flats sail off.  Unfortunately, logistics prevented the Magellan from being able to move in and take up the berth.

Another lizard.  I have no idea what type though. 

As I said, the tour was supposed to last about 4 and a half hours.  We set off late, and then we had the easy, relaxed, no worries attitude of the Caribbean driver to contend with, add a return tender journey, and we didn't get back to the ship until nearly 3 o'clock.  Everybody was starving and ready for afternoon tea. We worked out that it wasn't worth trying to get back to the island for the remaining time that we had, because the tenders would add an hour in travelling time.

So that was our day in Grenada.  Tomorrow we are in Barbados.  

Friday 2nd February - Scarborough, Tobago.

So yesterday was a seaday.  Peter did his art classes as usual, he's still under the weather, and he was exhausted at the end of it. I helped set up and clear away as usual.  Nothing particularly different, except one of the younger passengers who we chat to regularly has been unexpectedly propositioned by another.  I say unexpectedly because we both thought the guy was gay!  He's also a good 20 years or so older than her, and although she has politely told him she is not interested, he doesn't seem to have understood the statement.  The fact that she has a partner at home hasn't deterred him either.  He's started to appear in the places she normally hangs out, so she has had to take on a bodyguard.  I say bodyguard, I mean a very lovely and very polite gentleman who stays with her and ensures no unwanted advances.

To be honest, her admirer seems harmless enough and no doubt he'll come across someone else to turn his attentions to sooner or later. For now  Peter and I find it amusing that she's got herself into this predicament. That'll teach her not to listen to serenading guitar players.

And today we woke to find ourselves on sunny island of Tobago.  The weather is a little cooler than it's been in Brazil, but then, we are a few more degrees north of the equator.  It's still hot and sunny though.  Just what you'd expect of the Caribbean. Tobago is billed as an "Eco Destination", with rainforests, beaches and coral reefs. There are over 6000 species of plants and animals on the little island, which is only 26 miles long and 7 miles wide.  Oh, and they race goats! (Yes really.) Just the sort of place I should love.

Peter and I are escorting today - "The Panoramic South", basically an on the bus off the bus tour.  In a way we quite like doing them, because they are relatively short and relatively easy.  On the other hand, they are not tours we would normally want to do ourselves, because they are mostly a series of photo stops and visits, with a tour guide to explain.  Peter and I both prefer to be able to wander off into the "wilds" of wherever we are, at our own pace, investigating whatever we find interesting.  (I say "wilds", I mean any street, path, lane or bit of waste ground that we've not wandered across before).

The excursion was OK.  Not one of our favourites, but we did get to see some excellent views from Fort King George and Fort James. As usual the guides explained things as we went along.  What I found interesting was that they reported an increase in tourist trade since the last hurricane which caused a fair amount of damage to many of the surrounding Caribbean islands.  Tobago escaped unscathed, and as a result can recieved the cruise ships, for which they are grateful as they need to boost their economy.  At the moment they have a 40% unemployment rate, and one of their main sources of income, banana's, has been decimated due to desease.

We were back to the ship in time for lunch, and then it was time for us to go out and have a look around for ourselves.  Peter, as always, needed to find wi-fi.  There was free wi-fi at the terminal, which I used to successfully upload a couple of blog posts, but it didn't suit Peter, so he went and find a bar with a good router and settled down for a few hours. I decided to take a walk through the town, past the various stores and offices, noisy bars and busy streets, and find the Botanical gardens, which are only 5 minutes away from the cruise terminal.

I liked this fruit and veg shop, it all looks delicious.

The birds thought so too, and blue grey tanagers hopped around the upper sections, stealing bits of banana where they could.  This birds are a bit blurry in this picture, but you can see where they've been helping themselves.

At the gardens I had plenty to keep me occupied. I really need to find out a lot more about lizards and ghecko's, I have seen so many different types on this cruise.  Here's another, although I think this might be a skink.

And this spectacled thrush just looks weird.

Having spent a little while in the gardens, I made my way back to Peter, expecting him to be ready to leave, since all aboard was at 17.30. On the way, I passed a couple of bars that seemed to be in competition with each other in terms of which could make the most noise.  Both blared out dance music so loud that damage to ear drums was very likely if you stayed in the vicinity for more than an few minutes.  People inside and out were laughing and drinking and dancing, a party atmosphere building up.  The middle of the road between the two bars was like a crash zone, with the different music tracks coming at you from each site.  The noise was almost intolerable.

I got back to Peter, and it turned out we still had another hour, so our return walk was leisurely, taking in the colours and the bustle of the streets.  We got to the music bars, and couldn't resist.  The dance music was so loud, the beat took control and I dragged Peter into the grotty bar area to dance.

Sadly it was time to get back to the ship, but we left thinking that we liked Tobago.  The people are freindly, the island felt safe, and we left it in a happy mood. Maybe we'll go back for  a holiday?

We ended a brilliant day with a brilliant moonrise.  It appeared amazingly large and beautifully bright orange on the horizon, looking more like the sun than the moon.   Tomorrow we will be in St Georges', Grenada.  Peter and I are escorting again, "Discover Grenada", but we should have the afternoon to ourselves.  I'm looking forward to it. 

Wednesday 31 January - Iles du Salut & Devil's Island

So yesterday was a sea day and Peter had his art classes.  The film Papillon was shown at the same time as the class yesterday, which was disappointing. Even though we've seen it so many times before, we wanted to see it again.  We've been recommending it to the passengers up until now, and then the Captain did the same thing during the noonday announcement.  Needless to say, Peter's class numbers were down. Apparently there was also an added bit of entertainment during the showing of the film.  Two passengers wanted to sit in the same place, and neither was going to give way.  They where pushing and elbowing, trying to force each other out of the seat.  The ship's Assistant Cruise Director stepped in to try and resolve the problem, but they were having none of it. Both passengers sat and watched the whole film more or less on each other's laps.  Still pushing and elbowing each other throughout the showing.

Peter has also caught a raging cold, and although he managed to get through his lessons, he was absolutely knackered at the end.  We hoped he would be better today, but he is still suffering.  He's determined to get ashore and enjoy the day, so he's doing his best to ignore the symptoms.
And this is because we've arrived at our favourite island, with all day to enjoy it.  Knowing that most of the passengers will be dead keen to get ashore early, we weren't in too much of a rush even though we wanted plenty of time ashore.  But we did get across a little after 10.

Devil's Island from Royal Island

As usual, we set off right, and as usual, we took the low path to walk completely around the outside of the island, taking in views of St Joseph's and Royal island as we went.  As usual, there was a good strong breeze bustling through the palm trees, and as usual waves crashed against the shore.  We looked for turtles in the water, and wildlife along the path as walked.  Definitely one of our favourite places in the world.

We met on the passengers who'd been ashore for an an hour or so, someone we knew from Peter's classes. He'd already been around the island and was now heading back to the pier and the ship, apparently not that impressed with the place.  "Have you not seen the monkeys and agouti's?" I asked, "Macaws?  Hummingbirds?  What about the old penal colony buildings?"  Nothing seemed to have affected him.  "Well, you must have been impressed with the flowers?", I mean, the place was like a botanical garden, full of so many different beautiful flowers, plants and trees.  Nope, he'd not seen those either.

Agouti or Palm Rat

I've heard it so many times in the past.  Voices complaining that the Amazon was disappointing, because you don't see anything.  To many of those voices I would say "Stand still, open your eyes, shut your mouth and listen", because these are people who spend all their time looking out for faults, listening for gossip and thinking about petty issues.  They can't see the wonderful things around them because it takes a little bit of time and concentration.  But not everyone is like that, including the man in front of us.  He isn't ignorant or stupid, he just didn't see the same things that Peter and I did. Is that because we are used to looking for them and he isn't, or is it because we have different interests?  I don't know.  It's weird though.  I wanted him to find the same pleasure in the place that we did, probably because we all want people to like the same things that we do, it confirms that we are correct in our enjoyment.  Thinking about it a little more, it's a shame that he didn't see with the same eyes, I would have liked to see him to enjoy the place more.

We carried on walking around the island, noticing that there was something different from our previous visits.  The noise of the cicadas.  I say noise.  I mean racket!  Normally there is a loud whirring sawing noise that fills the air as soon as you step of the pier on to the island, and that noise was missing.  We walked two thirds of the way around, and all we heard was the wind rustling and bustling throught the leaves of the palms.

We did see other stuff though.  Agouti's, ghecko's and these evil looking wasps.

Then the noise started, as if someone had started a chainsaw, then another chainsaw kicked in, then another.  The cicada's were back and the place felt normal again.  They've not let us down yet.

As we walked on around, we got to see the turtles again.  They must feed in the area and you only see them when they come up for a few moments for air.  This makes it very difficult to get a photograph.

Now nearly back at the pier, we turned inland and walked uphill to the centre of the island where all the buildings are.  There's a restaurant and cafe there, and places to stay if you want to.  On the way, we came across the monkeys.  There are two types on the island, this is a Brown Cappuchin.

On our way to the buildings at the centre of the island, we passed the children's cemetary, the large number of graves a very sad reminder that this place could be nearly as miserable for the prison staff as it was for the prisoners.  Malaria and Yellow Fever make no distinctions.

This is a Soursop.  Apparently it's really nice and sweet when it's ripe. 

At the cafe, which is housed in a building that used to be the prison warders mess, we enjoyed a sandwich, a cold drink and the view of Devil's Island.  The monkeys kept everyone entertained, squabbling with each other and stealing food while peacocks and hens pecked at any crumbs that had been missed.

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Then it was time to have a wander around the old buildings of the penal colony, but not before checking out the gardens and the old pond near to the restaurant, the flowers are beautifu and the trees bear fruit that we would never see in the UK. Iguana's live there too.

As for the penal colony buildings.  They are a cold reminder of the horrific history hidden beneath the beauty of the island.  I've taken loads of pictures in the past and they can be seen on previous blog posts.


Isle De Salut 2012
Isle De Salut 2013 - 1st Post
Isle De Salut 2014


It started to rain as we started back the tenders, which only served to make sure we got back quickly, but it's been a brilliant day and we were more than happy.  Tomorrow is a sea day and then we reach the Caribbean.  Our first port will be Scarborough, on the island of Tobago, and we'll probably be escorting.  I wonder where that will take us?

Monday 29th January - Icoarici

Yesterday was a sea day with very little to comment on except that we went to watch the premier of a new show last night. This one is called Fiesta, and as always, the dancers made it shine.

Today we are at Icoaraci.  According to the ships' write up, there is nothing at Icoaraci, except access to Belem, which is a major city and has a panoramic skyline to match New York or Panama.  Peter and I thought that it looked interesting when we visited last year, so this year we decided we didn't want to do any escorting so that  we could have a look around. It's a tender port, and many passengers were booked on tours in the area.  Trouble was, there was no space on the pier for our tenders.  It was totally full of fishing boats and they weren't going to move just cos a cruise ship had appeared in the middle of the river.

There were regular announcements over the tannoy system, explaining why the tender process hadn't started.  Apparently the local police and port agent had been called to assist, but neither could, since the pier is a public pier, and anyone could tie up to it.  Eventually, the tenders managed to find a space, and then everyone was taken ashore - passengers on tours first of course, since they were already running late.

Peter and I finally got to the little town in the afternoon, and I am pleased to report that the CMV write up is perfectly correct. There is nothing in Icoaraci, except a river shore that seems to have been made up to look nice and then fallen into a state of disrepair, and a few bars. Peter and I turned left off the pier and took a walk along the riverside.  There was nothing of interest, except a load of egrets looking like they were made of stone as they fished on the beach

and the local people doing what local people do.  Hanging around chatting under trees and in the bars.

We got so far along the river front before the police appeared and turned all the passengers back, saying that it was dangerous for us to walk on any further.  As we walked back towards the pier, it seemed like the police kept multiplying, more and more of them appearing to the point where I wondered if they thought we were going to mug the locals.

It wasn't that of course, but they were obviously concerned to make sure we were safe.  Back at the pier site, Peter and I found a bar to use the wi-fi, before taking a short walk in the opposite direction to our stroll earlier (right from the pier, rather than left).  It was a very short walk, because I felt that it didn't look safe and wanted to go back to the ship.

So that was Icoaraci. Although I quite liked it, it's definitely not to everyone's taste, one of the lads that works in the Bistro described it as dirty and smelly.  So there you go.

And that was Brazil. We now head back out to the Atlantic and turn North, heading for the Caribbean.  On the way, we'll visit Royal Island of Iles Du Salut.  It's an amazing place and definitely one of our all time favourites. I can't wait.

Saturday 27th January - Alter do Chao

Today we woke to rain. So much rain that we couldn't even the shoreline as the ship dropped anchor.  Welcome to Alter do Chao!

The ships information sheet describes today's port like this:

"The rustic beach community of Alter do Chao lies on the bank of the Tapajos River... The sandy bay, overlooked by two hills, is not what you would expect to see in the middle of the Amazon...  The beaches of Rio Tapajos are pockets of paradise, and better still, they are mosquito free!... Relax in the shade of a palm tree and watch the locals and tourists go about their day"

I missed out quite a bit of the text, but you get the gist, it's Amazonia's answer to Scarborough.  We've enjoyed a day on the beach here before, watching the Brazilians play volleyball, sunbathing (I got sunburnt), and swimming. It's a tender port, so we had to wait before we were able to get ashore.  We managed to get on a tender about 10 o'clock, just as the rain started to ease off.  Last tender back to the ship was 12.30, so we only had a few hours.

Because we didn't have much time, Peter intended to relax in a bar and use the wi-fi (he always has quite a bit of work to catch up on), and I planned to go looking for wildlife as there are always plenty of birds and insects here.  Last year, we came across a magnificen iguana and since I've not seen one yet on this trip...  Peter settled down in the Mango Bar on the beach front, and I wandered off.

I never have to go far to see something different in Alter Do Chao. I only walked up and down the main beach a couple of times to see these:

Blue-grey Tanager

Oriole Blackbird

Gulf Fritilliary

I kept checking back on Peter, to see if he was ready to leave or anything, but he was beavering away and I left him to it.  As it got closer to the time for him to leave, I started to hang around the bar.  There was some waste ground next door, and I stood on a stage looking over the wall, looking out for birds and butterflies.  Then I saw a long nose and a pair of little black eyes come out of the grass, they looked up at me and the nose was pulled back slowly into the long grass.  I dunno what it was, but the grass stopped moving, and it had gone.

A few minutes later, I saw it again. I tried to take a photograph, but my pictures were so hit and miss I decided that a film would be better.  I am now the proud owner of 45 seconds of video of an Opussum sneaking around the undergrowth and then up over the bar.  David Attenborough eat your heart out!  OK.  Mebbe it won't get me a job on Blue Planet or the like, but I'm dead pleased of it.  This picture is a still taken from the film, which is why it looks a little blurry.

What was amazing was that there were easily 30 or 40 people in the bar, completely oblivious to this amazing little creature.  I showed the film to the bar manager, and even she was surprised that I'd seen it. Now all I have to do is work out what type of Opossum it is, (apart from a wet one).

It was back to the ship shortly after that.  Queueing for the tender, we watched dragonflies, butterflies, and a massive black bee forage through the flowers on a bush beside us.

The entertainment continued as we moved down the beach, but this time it was a musical band of enterprising Brazilians who filled our ears with Brazillian dance music as we waited.

Once we were all back on board, the ship set sail for our next stop.  Weirdly, we will have to exit the mouth of the Amazon, sail south for a little while, and then turn back into the Amazonia but this time we will be sailing up the River Para to Icoaraci.  The journey will take around a day and a half, so tomorrow is a sea day and Peter will run his art classes. Icoaraci here we come. 

Friday 26th January - Parintins

So today we arrived about lunchtime to Parintins, home of the Boi Bumbai.   It's a three day dance contest, where the red side competes against the blue side.  Half the population of 100000 people are red supporters, half the town are blue supporters. It seems to be dependant upon where you live as to which side you support, but don't quote me on that.

Peter and I have been to Parintins several times before and there isn't a lot to it. It's a tender port, and this year they have a new pier.    We've watched the Boi Bumbai show that is a tour excursion, and it is fantastic, we recommend it to anyone.  Today though, we are escorting the Highlights of Parintins tour.
As I said, we've been to Parintins before, and we didn't think there would be much to see on the tour, and in a way, there isn't.  Except we got to see the stadium, the training stadium and the old puppet floats from previous Boi Bumbai contests.  Our respective guides were really good, explaining the history, the story and the contest, and we both enjoyed the tour on our separate buses.  My guide got some dancers to go through a routine for us, Peter's guide got them acting out the story.

Peter and I have seen the Boi Bumbai show that is put on for cruise ships, and we thought that was fantastic.  Now, having seen the stadium where the real contest is held, and the size of the actual puppets used in the event, we are in awe.  Apparently it costs about $1000 dollars to get a seat in one of the boxes, methinks that if I had the money............

Tomorrow we are in Alter Do Chao.  Another tender port, but no escorting. It's possible to swim there, but we probably won't seeing as it's only a short day, and I'll want to walk around and Peter will want to use the wi-fi.  It's all go this cruising lark.

Thursday 25th January - Manaus Day 2

So today we are escorting one of our favourite tours, "The Amazonian Experience". We had to get up early to be ready on the quay at 8am. The tour has
 changed a little over the years, but basically it goes like this:

First everyone climb aboards one of the medium sized riverboats - they usually have two decks, toilets and a small kitchen area and carry around 80 passengers.
The riverboat takes takes us to see the meeting of the waters - there are nearly always a few dolphins about and today was no different, quite a few sightings were made.

A floating gas station on the Rio Negro

From the meeting of the waters, it's about an hour on the riverboat to Lake January. The guides (we had three today) provide various amounts of information about our surroundings, and point out things such as the floating gas stations, the differences between the waters of the Amazon and the Rio Negro, and info about the floating villages.

One of the most picturesque of the floating houses.

At Lake January, which is an ecological site, the river boat moors at a floating restaurant and we transfer into several smaller motorised canoes which carry 10 people. The motorised canoes travel around the edges of the lake, looking for wildlife. We got to see Egrets, Wattled Jacana, Large Billed Terns and Caciques as well as loads of butterflies and dragonflies that move far to fast for anyone to photograph. Peter managed to get a picture of a Southern Lapwing though, and I got one of this Jacana chick.

Wattled Jacana chick

The canoes head into one of the smaller tributaries of the lake, (called igrapes), where we our surrounded by the jungle proper. We can hear and see the flashes of birds around us. The butterflies are amazing, including the very large and beautiful Morpho. Our guide explains things about the forest, the trees and the way of life for the local people.

Squirrel Monkey at Lake January

After about 30 mins, it's back to the floating restaurant where we disembark the canoes and make our way to the back of the buildings to the edge of the lake and a to a raised walkway. The walkway takes you through the jungle to a pond of lily pads and to a massive kapok tree with it's enormous buttress roots. If you are lucky, the lilypads will be flowering, or you may see a Caiman, or even better still, you'll see the monkeys. If you are unlucky, you'll also get bitten several times by the mosquitoes in the area and get drenched in a downpour. Today was a good day, we got to see monkeys and a caiman, and some more beautiful butterflies.

Cookie Butterfly at Lake January

Back to the restaurant, and everyone tucks in to a locally prepared meal he food is very good, and prepared with clean water (not water taken from the river)and is safe to eat. I tried the local fish, which has a pretty mild taste to be honest - although the bones were hughe.
And then there is a wander around the very large craft hut. I bought a cute little owl, it looks like it's been made out of some sort of seed or nut. The colours have been sanded or polished out, and a little bit of carving has completed it. It's awesome.
Finally, it's a riverboat ride of 40 or 50 mins back to the ship. Everyone is very satisfied and quite tired by now, and watch quietly as the river goes by.
You can see why it's one of our favourite excursions, and we recommend it to everybody.

We arrived back at the ship around 2.30pm, and we decided to take a very quick look at the main square just outside the port gates. I'd thought that it looked different from previous years whilst we were on our bus tour yesterday, and I was right.  The main square has been tidied up and landscaped, and for the first time in several years, we visited the cathedral, which is in need of a little tlc, but is still a nice place to be.

Manaus Cathedral

The ship left Manaus at 5pm and we ended our day in the company of Ian the photography lecturer, and Chris, the Creative Writing teacher.  None of us can play darts, but that didn't stop us having a hilarious evening throwing darts at the board, playing round the clock.

Tomorrow we are in Parintins, home of the Boi Bumbai. A new day and a new city. Class!

Wednesday 24th January - Manaus, Brazil

I was up early and although a few moths and bugs had landed overnight, once again it was a relatively poor turnout, although once again, a couple that I'd not seen before.

So Manaus is the capital of the state of Amazonia. It doesn't sit on the side of the Amazon River itself, (which is called the Solimoes by the Brazilians),  but on Rio Negro, or Black River, one of the massive tributaries into the Amazon.  The Rio Negro and the Solimoes are very different rivers, one black, one milky tea coloured, and they run side by side for several miles. I always find it fascinating the way the two waters can sort of sit on top and beside each other, not mixing, like oil and water, you can spend hours watching it. The ship sailed through the meeting of the two rivers as we approached the port, with all the passengers hanging over the sides taking photographs.

It's the biggest city and port Amazonia with a population of 1.7 million people.  Like all big cities, there are high rise office buildings, department stores and it has it's own international airport.  But it still very much a city of Amazonian Brazil, with hundreds of little boats and houses on stilts along the riverside.  The crumbling pavements and streets are bustling with life and bursting with colour.

Sadly it has earned a reputation of being unsafe, we have been warning people not to take anything ashore that they can't afford to lose, and to watch for pick pockets. We were greeted by carnival music and dancers on the quay when the ship arrived at lunchtime.  Peter and I were to escort the "Manaus, Capital of Amazonas" tour this afternoon so we were on the quayside after lunch, numbered lollipops in hand.

There are no photographs from my tour, because I realised almost straight away that I was missing my camera and that I must have left it in the cabin.  We visited an indian museum, the craft market and the legendary Opera House.  Legendary because of it's opulence and beauty, and always worth visiting if you are in the area.  Luckily we had an excellent guide who managed to keep everyone interested during the museum, kept a fatherly eye on them in the craft market, and added exactly the right amount of humour in the Opera House. Everyone enjoyed the tour.

Back at the ship, I realised that I hadn't left the camera in the cabin.  Oh oh!  Maybe I had dropped it on the bus.  I dashed back outside to catch the excursion organiser.  He rang the bus driver to ask him to search the bus.  As I waited to hear if the driver had found it, Peter's tour bus arrived back, so I kept an eye out for him, ready to explain that I had lost a £200 camera. As he walked over to me he lifted something out of his rucksack...... my camera! Phew!  Obviously I'd put it in the wrong one when we getting ready.

It's an overnight stop in Manaus.  We both needed a cold shower to cool off before dinner, and in the evening, we took advantage of the free wi-fi in the terminal building. Many of the passengers went to listen to a jazz band at the theatre, and the crew took advantage of the overnight shore leave and spent a lot of money in the bars.  Everyone had to be careful of course, passengers used taxi's to get about, and the crew maintained safety in numbers, but there were no mishaps and the day ended well.

Tomorrow Peter and I are escorting the Amazonian experience.  Awesome.

Tuesday 23rd January - Boca Do Valeria

I was up dead early today and up on the decks looking for moths n stuff.  Once again I was disappointed that there was very little about.   I’m coming to the conclusion that this ship is different.  Maybe the engines don’t hum in the right way, maybe the lights aren’t as bright.  I don’t know, but whatever the reason, there isn’t a lot for me in the early mornings. But there is still always something new.   I came across a German woman carrying a lovely little moth with zebra stripes, and I found a mangrove flannel moth, which I don’t think I’ve seen since the first cruise.

Now Boca Do Valeria is described as “typical of the thousands of small, isolated communities within the Amazon basin”.   It probably is, except none of the others regularly receive visits by cruise ships carrying several hundred people, which is when the residents of Boca Do Valeria and all the surrounding villages eagerly come out to welcome the visitors

Last year, a passenger described the village as fake, and many passengers can be heard to comment about how it is all just a display.  They are right in a way, because the villagers all leave their normal routines to see the cruise ship passengers and hopefully earn a few dollars from them.

The schools close and entire families climb into their respective little boats, bringing their items for sale, pets, and anything else they think will be of interest , and descend into Boca Do Valeria, which normally only has about 75 residents.  The adults set up stalls and the children rush to greet the visitors, showing off their pets and hoping to be rewarded with sweets or trinkets or dollars.  The children have practised the puppy dog look and can be demanding and ungrateful, but they will leave you alone if firmly refuse to let them hold your hand.  And I discovered during this visit that not all the crafts come from the village, and that they probably go to Manaus or Santarem to get stock.  Even so, there is still some local stuff if you look, such as hand painted table runners, crochet and little cloth dolls, and the people are friendly.  A couple of the women spoke a few words of English, which they learned at school which I thought was nice to hear.

As usual, Peter and I took the little river boat ride that we love, this time we were accompanied by Chris.  Peter took loads of photo’s of the boats and houses on the riverside so that he can paint them later. I just enjoyed the views.   We were taken to the village of Santa Rita again, where we were shown the school and the church.  Peter and I noticed the floor of the church was covered in really nice square wooden tiles, and that there were glass doors that we didn’t remember from previous visits.  We’ve checked old photographs and there weren't any doors at all before, and the floor was black lino.  It looks like our donations have been put to good use.

The visit ended in the bar and a quick walk around the village.  As usual, all the pets were on display, with the hope that people would take photographs for a donation.  The way the sloths and some of the other pets are kept doesn’t seem right to my western, animal right beliefs.  But then parrots and macaws are kept by Europeans in houses back home and at least here they are in an environment with plenty of wildlife and greenery going on around them, and are probably not as bored.

The ship pulled up anchor a little after three in the afternoon, and we set sail for Manaus, once again spending time on the decks, watching the jungle go by.  Such a  privilege.

We ended the day watching guest act Gerry Graham – very entertaining.  Tomorrow we should arrive in Manaus a little before lunch.  I know we’ve visited all these places before, but I always look forward to new experiences at each port every time.  Manaus here we come.