The Amazon--the Final Post

We re-entered the Atlantic Ocean during the night and the water has changed from the muddy brown of the Amazon to the blue-green of the ocean.  While we’ve shared a lot of things, there are a few that we haven’t shared. So today’s entry is a conglomeration of odds and ends!

Stopping in Parintins a couple days ago, we had 2 exciting adventures. First was Rick’s haircut. If you remember from early in the cruise, we consider finding someone to cut his hair an adventure that allows us to visit with the local people, even though we can’t communicate too well. We left the boat and started walking up the street, stopping people to ask directions. Since neither of us speaks Portuguese, I would take a clump of my hair and use my fingers to act like I was cutting it and then point to Rick. We walked half a mile or so, stopping 5 times for directions and arrived at the barbershop shown in Picture 1. The shop was about 8 feet square, with no door or windows. The barber used clippers and then a straight razor around his neck and charged us the equivalent of $3.50. Rick, being a big spender, gave him the equivalent of $5.00!

Following the haircut, we went to a cultural program provided by the ship. Every June, tens of thousands of people descend on Parentins (100,000 population) for 3 days of music, theater and dancing, celebrating the Boi-Bumba Festival. The performers enact the kidnapping, death and resurrection of an ox—a metaphor for the agricultural cycle. There are elaborate costumes and headdresses and nonstop music.  We had the junior version: 1 hour, where the performers never stopped singing and dancing. The energy was amazing. Pictures 2-5 show some of the costumes and action.

To get to Parentins in June, attendees would travel by boat like the one shown in Picture 6. Those are hammocks strung up on the decks for sleeping (you would bring your own) and you would either bring your own food or eat that prepared on the boat. There is air service between the larger cities, but it’s cost-prohibitive. This is the economical way to travel up and down the river at all times and we easily saw 100 of these boats. One of the locals described it by saying that the first day everyone is having one big party. By the second day you want to kill everyone else on the boat. By the third day you want to kill yourself!

Picture 7 shows the current water level. As you can see, the level is high and many areas are flooded. Huge amounts of debris are floating down the river. Picture 8 shows some that has accumulated at the dock in Parentins. A lot of the debris comes from banks that have collapsed after being undermined by high water.

We did manage to have 2 more days of jungle hiking near Santerem and you saw many of the animals from those hikes in the last blog entry. Picture 9 shows what hiking through the jungle typically looked like.  Our guide would carry a machete and would often have to clear branches and vines so we could pass.

On the last adventure, as we were returning to the ship, we were stopped by a downed, very large tree, as shown in Picure 10. We were stopped for about half an hour, as men using machetes and axes (no chain saws!) chopped the tree to pieces to open one lane. We were impressed by the speed. It would have been opened no quicker, with more efficient equipment, in the United States.

We visit Devil’s Island in French Guiana tomorrow.

Amazon Fauna

Animals are hard to find in the dense jungle growth. Our set of pictures is by no means exhaustive, since some estimate that 40% of all the world’s species live in Amazonia. One of our speakers estimated than in a single 6 square kilometer plot, one might find 2500 types of flowering plants, 3000 types of trees/bushes, 100 types of reptiles (snakes!), 60 types of amphibians (frogs), 400 types of birds, 150 types of butterflies and tens of thousands of insects.

Why is the Amazon so rich in plant and animal life? The main reason is that there is no stress. The temperature doesn’t vary much between summer and winter and day and night. There’s no drought. There’s no frost.

Here’s our small collection. Picture 1 shows a fisherman with a recent catch. Fish is the mainstay of the local diet. Many fishermen feel they can comfortably survive catching 10 fish like this per day.

Can you find the iguana in Picture 2? We spotted this in a tree as we sailed along one of the Amazon’s tributaries.

Picture 3 shows a Tiger Heron that we spotted when we walked in the canopy on a boardwalk.

On that same walk, we spotted the monkey in Picture 4.

While canoeing in the “back waters” of the Amazon, we spotted the nasty-looking spider in picture 5. It was about 4 inches in diameter.

The howler monkey in Picture 6 was way up in the tree, so the picture isn’t as good as we would like. And, yes, they howl very loudly.

We spotted the butterfly in Picture 7 as we hiked through the jungle. Our guide held it and then released it to fly away.

Picture 8 shows our only snake. It’s the venomous Parrot Snake and it caused one of our guides to quickly jump in the air to sidestep it (and then he picked it up—carefully).

Picture 9 shows a group of red ants. We saw many types of ants and termites and Betsy got “up close and personal” with one that had a nasty bite that itched for several days.

Because there were several animals we didn’t get to see, we spent one morning visiting an animal rehabilitation center. People will illegally keep endangered animals and then decide they don’t want them. This center will take them. There were several baby manatees that came to the center because their mothers’ were captured and eaten, leaving the babies orphaned.  There were birds with broken wings and other injured animals, some of which will be returned to the wild and some will remain here. We had a wonderful visit and really appreciate what these people are trying to do.

Picture 10 shows a Hyacinth Macaw that was just gorgeous. It had been purchased to use in a movie and then given to the center. These are rarely seen.

Picture 11 shows a Capybara at the center. It’s a rodent that eats off the jungle floor and weighs between 40 and 50 pounds.

Picture 12 shows a baby sloth. We did see an adult in the wild, but it was so high in the tree that we couldn’t get a photo, although we could see it pretty well through binoculars. This baby was orphaned and spends it’s day cuddled up with Winnie the Pooh and loves to be petted—a spoiled sloth!

What fun it has been to learn about these critters!

Manaus

Manaus is a city of 2 million people 1000 miles up the Amazon from the Atlantic Ocean. It was a sleepy colonial port city until the 19^th century, when the discovery of the rubber tree turned Manaus into a boomtown. By the end of the 19^th century, Manaus had electric lighting and a marvelous tram system, while much of the world was still struggling with gas lighting.

The opera house (Pictures 1 and 2) could rival many in Europe. Jenny Lind performed here and Caruso arrived, but wouldn’t leave his ship because of a cholera scare! Imagine the time it took to get here from Europe or the United States prior to air travel! All the materials for the opera house were brought from Europe.

At the same time, the robber barons were displaying their wealth in grandiose style. Today a cultural center, the house shown in Picture 3 belonged to Waldemar Schoz, a wealthy German involved in the rubber trade.

In the 20^th century the rubber market in Brazil collapsed. Why?  It was against Brazilian law to remove rubber plants or seeds from Brazil. But a crafty Englishman, named Henry Wickam, managed to transport 70,000 seeds out of the country in 1876, telling the customs people that they were rare plants to take to Queen Victoria. They were planted in Kew Gardens in London and the 7000 that survived were taken to Malaysia to start rubber plantations. It was much easier to harvest and transport rubber from a plantation in Malaysia, rather than from the jungle 1000 miles up the Amazon. By 1912, the boom was over and Manaus reverted once more to a sleepy town. Henry Wickam is referred to as “Amazon’s Executioner” by the Brazilians. He was knighted by the Brits!

Today Manaus has reinvented itself as an industrial city and has been granted Free Trade Zone status by the Brazilian government. It is a hub for air, water and truck  (only 2 roads in this part of the world) transportation and we saw huge numbers of ocean-going tankers and cargo ships plying the river and trucks filled with soy beans depositing their loads at the port.

There is a huge market for all kinds of produce and fish (Picture 4). Boats line the river (Picture 5) and ferry people to local villages, as well as to further ports, such as Belem. The amount of boat traffic explains why the Rio Negro is filled with floating gas stations (Picture 6).

The city was honored when Brazil chose it to host several opening games for the World Cup next year. Of course this required a new stadium and a bridge across the Rio Negro. (There are no bridges across the Amazon.) Only 18,000 people live on the other side of the river, so it is their “bridge to nowhere”!

The Amazon--Part 1

Amazonia, the basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries, is critical not only to South America, but to the entire world. Some statistics:

1) Amazonia consists of the Amazon River and its 1500 tributaries. 17 of those tributaries are longer than the Mississippi River. Together, the Amazon and its tributaries total 50,000 miles of waterways.

2) Amazonia covers 2.7 million square miles—40% of South America. It encompasses parts of Brazil, Columbia, Peru and Ecuador.

3) Amazonia contains 20% of the water in rivers of the world and creates 20% of the world’s oxygen.

4) More water flows through the Amazon than through the next 10 largest rivers combined.

5) 500 billion cubic feet of water flow into the Atlantic Ocean from the Amazon every day. The flow for one day would provide enough water for New York City for 9 years. So much water flows into the ocean that it remains fresh for 125 miles into the Atlantic Ocean.

6) The amount of sediment carried into the ocean each day would fill 270,000 10-ton dump trucks. Over time, that sediment has created Marajo Island, which is the size of Switzerland. The sediment causes the water to be a café au lait color.

Is the Amazon the longest river in the world? There seems to be disagreement here. National Geographic insists the longest river is the Nile, which is about 4000 miles long. But Jacque Cousteau’s foundation has traced the Amazon to a glacier in Peru, which would make it a few miles longer. It remains a mystery….

The River is deep enough that ocean-going vehicles can reach Iquitos Peru. We’re in Manaus, which is 1000 miles in and Iquitos is 1000 miles further.

Where does the water come from? There are 3 types of tributaries:

1) Brown rivers. These rivers come from glaciers in the Andes Mountains and the brown color comes from the sediment created by the glaciers moving along the mountains.

2) Blue rivers. These rivers come from mountains that have no glaciers, so they look essentially clear.

3) Black Rivers. These rivers provide the purest water and flow through lower elevations, where there is much vegetation that increases the tannins in the water, making it appear black.

Much of Amazonia is a rain forest that receives 150-180 inches of rain a year. The Amazon River itself flows roughly along the equator and has very little variation in temperature—it’s always hot and humid! There are two seasons, the dry and the wet. The wet is from December to May and the dry from June to November.  In the wet season the water in the river rises a few inches every day. We’ve heard different estimates, but the current depth of the river is 35-40 feet above what it was in November. This means buildings must be built on higher ground, or on stilts or they float on a raft. Picture 1 shows a small farm near Santarem. The water has risen to the point that livestock and people have been moved to higher ground. Vegetation survives in the water and forests appear to “float”. Picture 2 shows a village on stilts near Manaus. On some houses you can see that the water line has risen into the house. Picture 3 shows a floating house, which was built on a raft and is tied to the shore.

Traffic is by boat. Picture 4 shows a school bus that transports children from remote villages to a central school. Other than in the larger cities, there are few roads and many of those become impassable in the rainy season.

One of our stops was in the Anavilhanas Archipelago—the largest group of islands in a fresh body of water. We visited the Ariau Jungle Hotel, which has 5 miles of boardwalks above the water. Picture 5 shows what the jungle looks like closer to the canopy. That same day we also took a canoe into a “floating forest” and hiked through a section of the forest that was above the water line, seeing some amazing vegetation. (Picture 6).

Floating through the forest allowed us to see some of the small villages. Picture 7 shows a typical house. Interestingly, they may have shutters to cover the windows, but there is no glass or screens—and there are lots of insects and animals that we would not want crawling into our house! In most there is no plumbing or electricity. Some houses have generators and it’s interesting to see a house like this with a satellite dish. The river is the water source. If it’s a “brown river” you need to let the sediment settle to the bottom before using. Bathing is done in the river.

From Manaus we took a boat to the “Meeting of the Waters”. Manaus is where the Rio Negro (a black river) and Rio Solim’fes (a brown river) meet to form the Amazon. Picture 8 shows how the 2 rivers, with very distinct colors, run side by side for about 12 miles. The reasons they don’t mix immediately:

1) The Rio Negro comes from Columbia and the Rio Solim’fes comes from the Andes and the Rio Negro is several degrees warmer and flows slower due to lesser elevation changes.

2) The Rio Negro has a low PH, which makes it acidic, while the Rio Solim’fes has a higher PH, making it neutral.

We then visited the January Ecologic park, where we walked through the jungle to a lake where the giant water lilies grow (Victoria amazonica). Picture 9 shows both the pads and some blossoms. The pads grow to 6 feet wide and are an amazing site. Picture 10 shows a pad beginning to unfurl.

Following the walk, we canoed through another floating forest, as you can see in Picture 11.  Picture 12 shows a Ceiba Tree, the sacred (and largest) tree in the rainforest. These can grow to 200+ feet high and be flooded for 6 months of the year and survive. You can see the water mark on the trunk of the tree—and remember, we’re already 3 months into the rainy season! Interestingly. This is also a “communications tree”. By pounding on the trunk, you get the effect of a drum, which can be heard for miles.

Needless to say, it has been one amazing experience after another. Today we’ll tour Manaus and we’ll try to post some pictures tomorrow. Then it’s 4 days sailing back out to the Atlantic Ocean and, I’m sure many more great pictures!

Wandering Up Brazil's East Coast

Since leaving Rio 10 days ago, we have made several stops along the east coast of Brazil. It’s not real touristy; some of the places lack an infrastructure; but all are gearing up for the World Cup next year and the Olympics in 2016. Picture 1 is a map with our stops circled.

Our first stop after Rio was in Armacao Dos Buzios, which is a resort area near Rio, where Cariocas (Rio inhabitants) go to their beach homes. We wandered the town in search of a haircut for Rick. We always enjoy rising to this challenge when abroad and it’s always fun trying to communicate what he wants done. Fortunately, cutting his hair is not much of challenge, so I just point to the clippers, pass my hand over his head like I’m holding them and make a buzzing sound. 15 minutes later we left, paying the equivalent of $10, which included a very generous 30% tip!

We then wondered up the coast to Vitoria and Vila Vehla, which are 2 adjacent cities of about a million people. We visited the Convent da Penha, which was built in 1558, sits way above the city and provides an amazing view of the city below (picture 2).  The Chapel contains a very famous picture of the Virgin Mary (The Lady of the Rock) and the faithful climb the hill on their knees on Easter Sunday to worship it.  We then visited an Artisan cooperative where pottery is made to serve their famous Capixaba dishes. These “stews” were originally made by slaves, who took whatever food their owners didn’t finish, combined it in a ceramic pot and slowly cooked it. Today these are largely fish and seafood stews. The ceramic pots (panelas) are made by hand by a group of women at the cooperative and then fired in an open flame, as shown in Picture 3. After firing, they’re dipped in a liquid made by soaking mangrove tree bark in the water from a nearby polluted-looking stream, which waterproofs the pot for cooking the stew. Given the weight of the huge pot and the questionable final soaking, there will not be one in the Hubers’ luggage!

Our next stop was Salvador de Bahia, the original capital of Brazil, which was discovered in 1501 by Amerigo Vespucci. This area is the heart of Afro-Brazil culture and it was interesting to learn that there are many more Candomble (voodoo) houses, then there are Catholic churches—and there are 365 churches! It is not uncommon for families to practice both voodoo and Catholicism. Our guide told us that the people prefer to be called Negros because “Black” is the color of an object and should not be used to describe a person. He further explained that the African culture has been kept alive here, whereas it has disappeared in America. There are “houses” (Benin House, Mozambique House, Nigeria House, etc.) where individuals may go to check their ancestry. Picture 4 shows the original slave market, along with some of the other brightly-colored houses that make up Old Town. Like the Spaniards in other parts of South America, the Portuguese established large churches here, decorated with much gold leaf, as shown in Picture 5. This was a fascinating visit and we learned much of the history of this part of the world.

In the new part of town, we saw the brand-new football stadium that’s being built for the World Cup next year. Interestingly, all new stadiums only seat 55,000, rather than the 80,000 that used to be allowed. We were told the Federation that makes up rules for football hopes this will reduce injuries from riots! Of course, the exception is the monster stadium in Rio, where the finals will be held. It originally held 180,000 seats, but is being rebuilt to only hold 83,000, in the interest of safety.

Moving on, we next visited Recife, which is struggling to become a tourist town, but hasn’t quite made it! What’s most interesting here is that in this area of the coast, you are closer to Africa than to the western edge of Brazil. (Brazil is a really big country, the size of the contiguous 48 states.) Locals often call Recife the “Venice of Brazil” because of its canals and bridges, but we’re not buying it!  It does have some lovely architecture (and a new football stadium) that is being fixed up for he World Cup. Picture 6 shows one of these “spruced up” parts of town.

Brazil is known for it’s cachaca—a rum-like drink made from distilled sugar cane liquid. We were told that regular rum is distilled from molasses, but that doesn’t explain white rum…. Anyway, we tried cachaca mixed with limejuice and A LOT of sugar and it’s quite tasty!

Our final stop along the coast was Natal, where we had a great time sailing over the dunes in a dune buggy.  We went up great, tall dunes, slid down the dunes sideways and then drove along the beach, often in the water. We even managed a ferry ride in our dune buggy, as we crossed the bay. The remaining pictures show some of the great views we experienced.

We’re now enjoying 2 relaxing days at sea, with lectures on the Amazon. This morning we crossed the equator at 7:42. Our ship desalinates water for use on board and today is our last day adding water. Once we enter the Amazon we are on water conservation restrictions--not taking water on or discharging waste. It will be interesting to see what happens for the next 10 days--we could be a smelly lot! Tomorrow morning we arrive in Macapa, at the mouth of the Amazon, where we pick up our pilot to take us into the Amazon.  We will go in as far as Manaus, which will take 4 days. This, of course, was the reason for choosing this trip. Hope we’ll have lots to tell about as we get into the jungle!