Belem (FEB 15)

VEENDAM anchored off Icoaraci in the Baia do Guajara on the Guama River, about 50 miles upriver from the ocean.  It was necessary to anchor here as the water shoaled closer to Belem, about 12 miles further into the bay.  We tendered ashore.  We thought that we would be doing this in local craft, but it was in the ship’s boats.

We boarded our tour bus for the drive to Belem where our first stop would be one of Brazil’s biggest open-air markets with over 2,000 stands.

The black specks in the upper left corner are not a dirty camera lens,
but rather buzzards circling the fish market.

From the market, we walked to a nearby fort that at one time protected Belem.  Along the way we passed a truck full of loudspeakers blaring out something about pay.  Based on the number of police and soldiers stationed around it, as we approached we thought it might be the beginnings of the extension of a police strike in Vitoria.  Teasing out snippets of what was being said at some outrageously loud decibel level and as we got closer seeing the sign on the side of the truck, it became clear this political rally was about pay for teachers.  (Brazil has lots of serious financial problems as it goes through its worst economic depression in decades.)

Great mural!

As forts go, it was quite uninteresting.  There were a few fun photo ops.

Make love, not war!

Make love, not war!

Make selfie, not war?

The church outside the fort was not the one we were scheduled to visit, so it was back onto the bus to get to Basilica de Nossa Senhora de Nazare.  I could not get back far enough to get a good picture of the outside of it, but it was deceiving unimpressive for what was housed within it.

ribbons attached to the fence as prayers and remembrances

Doors into the basilica

A quick ride in our bus, which incidentally was named…

…(and I am going to guess without Marvel Comics’ permission), we arrived at Bosque Rodrigues Alves BotanicalGardens which had a combination of plant and animal life.

Our bus then returned us to Icoaraci, where we boarded a tender back to the ship where so entertainment was taking place by the pool.

I will leave it to you to write your own caption

When hauled, the anchor did not stow properly, a fact that was not immediately apparent to the crew.  After proceeding a few miles downriver, it was necessary to heave-to (i.e. stop) so that a series of options could be tried to resolve the problem.  One approach involved the pilot boat trying to get the kink out of the chain.  Hummm – small pilot boat working underneath a 20-ton anchor.  Volunteers? 

Ultimately the ship had to re-anchor and put a strain on the chain.  This solved the problem.  VEENDAM proceeded to sea through a series of tropical rain showers – each short but intense.