Farewell Brazil

Parintins

One of our last two stops on the Amazing Amazon. How can we top what we have already seen?

We probably can’t but we will give it a crack. Parintins on a Sunday is a pretty quiet town but still has a bustling port area, with many ferries lined up along the pier. After tendering ashore we again marvel at the state of some of the ferries and wonder where their destination is. Off for a walk around the town where very little is open, but Philip finds a hardware/farm store and goes in for a wander and comes out with a souvenir, a small hoe, made in Brazil. He always has need for a hoe!!!

After several hours wandering the town we head back towards the pier and find a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. Of course Philip can’t go past it without going in for a closer look at the menu which luckily also has some English on it. The big open BBQ area looks interesting and smells great as it cooks, lamb, pork, beef and some fish. We take a seat by the railing overlooking the waterfront and pier and peruse the menu. So many decisions but we finally decide on some mutton and pork and sit back to await our meal.

While waiting we talk about the things we have seen and what we would like to have seen. Philip has missed seeing the big tarantulas, (not high on my bucket list) and an anaconda, I would love to have seen the Amazon Pink Dolphins, we saw glimpses of grey dolphins at the Eco Lodge but the pink ones were elusive. As we were relaxing I glanced out to the water, watching some birds and the ferries coming and going and to my great delight saw a dolphin just break the water, then another and another. And they were coming out of the water enough to see they were PINK. To say I was a little excited is an understatement. Several of them played around for a while before disappearing but several times during the course of our lunch they reappeared. What a treat we had. Another amazon bucket list item ticked off. Philip even snapped a picture of one, but thanks to MrGoogle we found a better one. A great way to finish our time in Parintins. (P:- J forgot to mention our “lite” Brazilian BBQ was awesome. I hope she appreciates that without my local food “hunt” no pink dolphins would have been seen!)

Alter do Chao

P:- After a casual breakfast (and my morning gym session (dream on!) we casually wander down to the tender for our trip ashore. We had nothing planned apart from a casual walk around the town of Alter Do Chao (approx 6500 residents), a town that claims the only true white sand beaches on the Amazon. As we take approx 20 steps ashore we are approached by a guy with a small motor boat offering a “Forest, boat, canoe”. In my best Brazilian Portuguese I negotiated a trip in an old crusty boat with a “Smokey” 2 stroke motor to somewhere! We assumed the 1 1/2 fingers he put in the air wasn’t a rude gesture but meant it would be 1 1/2 hours for 75 Reais each (25 bux). So off we motor (no mosquitoes today due to 2 stroke exhaust fumes) round the corner and past the beach shelters somewhat submerged by high water (sorry to the many people looking forward to a beach day) past the town centre and into the most beautiful tributary of the Rio Tapajos motoring amongst forest, what in the dry would be green lush flood plains, past villages, birds, flowers, canoes, old river boats etc. We were quite satisfied with our little “cruise to somewhere”. The “captain” brings us to a landing with a few canoes there, circles around and heads back to town. In my, by now very good Brazilian sign language I imitate me paddling a canoe and after a stern look from us he about turns and takes us to the canoe dock where we are allocated an old canoe with 2” of water in the bottom and a guide / paddler. Once we delicately step aboard (with a couple from Belgium) it’s off we go! Maybe slightly overloaded (me) we had no more than 2” free board which created a few nerve racking moments when the water almost lapped the top of the vessel on several occasions.

Wow before we knew it we were in the most beautiful “flooded forest”, if there ever was an enchanted forest this would be it, absolute quiet apart from bird calls and gentle paddle splash. Submerged living leaves of plants visible into the depths, awesome trees, vines, fruits, insects and spider webs above the water line, which was at times hard to spot because of the magnificent reflections. The vegetation, very different to what we had experienced further upstream. We transferred back onto our trusty motor boat and toured back to town. Not only an impromptu activity but one which has left another lasting memory. We then wandered the town, paddled what was showing of the white sandy beach and listened to a local musician before reboarding the Veendam after a very pleasant day.

And there ends our ports along the Amazon. We still have a day cruising tomorrow before we reach the ocean again approximately 11pm. Then heading north towards the Caribbean.

It’s been a fantastic experience and one we will talk about and remember for a long time to come.

I think I should be worried when I see Philip looking for cruises on the upper Amazon. The cruise boats shrink, build quality deteriorates as the river narrows and I’m not keen on sleeping in a swinging hammock!

(P:- Brazil we approached with an almost negative impression. Ship board gossip (which we have learnt is mostly inaccurate) advised us to stay onboard at all Brazilian ports, which a lot of fellow passengers did! Sure it appears to be a country that was once wealthy and now has a huge gap between wealthy and poor but that doesn’t make them all bad ( as shipboard gossips broadcast!)

We were off at every port, some we did tours and some we wandered ourselves, out of the tourist areas and into local market, beach, natural areas and of course local restaurants and lunch bars. Not once did we feel unsafe or threatened (we were “street aware” and didn’t enter dodgy places). The only places we saw undesirable looking people were around the popular tourist haunts such as theatres, tourist markets, Cathedrals etc. all of which we tend to avoid as they become very monotonous and all but the same after a while. Gold laced cathedrals in areas of absolute poverty don’t do a lot for me!

The Brazilian people we encountered and met were generally helpful, seemed happy had beautiful complexions awesome smiles and have left a lasting impression on us (along with their fascinating country).

Note to oneself —- there is still over 1000 miles of the Amazing Amazon to explore!)

Adios Brazil