Santarem (MAR 08)

Our first port of call on the Amazon was Santarem.  About halfway between the ocean and Manaus, it a hub of activity on the lower part of the river system, the Amazon Basin being comprised of approximately 1,100 rivers feeding into the Amazon River.

The ship docked at a ferry terminal next to a large soybean plant.  Soybeans are a huge export cash crop in Brazil, replacing the revenue of the long-defunct rubber industry.

The ship docked at the soybean plant as appropriated named CANOLA

Pam & I having been here before (click here to read 2014 blog post), we decided to take a shuttle bus from the ship into town and just walk around.  Once we got to the shuttle bus drop-off/pick-up point in the city, we came up with a new plan.  We decided to walk along the waterfront all the way back to the ship.  The walk proved a bit longer than we anticipated, but we enjoyed it.

pink dolphins of the Amazon

(blue line has fish on it to attract, not hook, them)

large ferry headed to Manaus

Main deck = cargo

Second deck = cabins

Third deck = sling your own hammock

at the floating fish market – a nice change from seagulls

to lock up the stand, all they do is lower the roof

blue tarpaulins are everywhere on boats big and small

wooden hull

From what we observed, regardless of the size of the ferry, all cargo is loaded manually.  Truckloads of tomatoes, bananas, lemons & limes along with PVC piping, water tanks, motorcycles and all sorts of other items are manhandled aboard.  In many cases, 1-3 sacks or crates are stacked on bearer,s shoulders.  The bearer half-walks, half-runs under the heavy load, moving just as fast to come back for another load.  The speed with which the contents of the trucks dwindled was surprising. 

At Santarem, the Tapajos River flows into the Amazon.  For a while there is a distinct line between the muddy water of the Amazon and the clearer water of the Tapajos, but a few miles downriver it all becomes the same muddy color.

Soon we were upriver of the Tapajos, steaming generally west on the Amazon towards Boca de Valeria.