Steve and Cathy's Blog

During the night, we crossed the equator!  Today we are arriving in Belem, Brazil (there should be an accent mark over the second ‘e’ but I can’t figure out how to do that), which is 60 miles up the Amazon River from the Atlantic (it’s actually on a huge tributary called the Para River that empties into the Amazon).  Steve has another fitness session with Sho.  Cathy waits in the room patiently, her tummy growling in anticipation of some food.  We arrive at Waves at our usual time (we are getting pretty predictable to the wait staff) for a light breakfast.  We have entered the mouth of the river, and it’s so wide that we can’t see the shore.  Our excursion time has been moved from 10am to 1pm, so we have the morning to mess around.

In order for the steward to have the opportunity to make up our room, and also so that we don’t just reclusively huddle together in our stateroom, we grab computer, book and knitting and find a comfy spot.  We choose the sitting arrangement adjacent to Destination Services, the desk where you book excursions if you haven’t already, and where you can get information on what to do ashore.  Simone and Anna open promptly at 9am, and soon there are people coming up to them with questions.  Cathy is all ears, as this soon becomes very entertaining.

These two women have the patience of saints – either that or Cathy speculates that Xanax is distributed to all staff members of Destination Services.  Most all of the guests are asking questions that, had they read their Currents ship’s newspaper for that day, would have already been answered.  But the ladies smile gracefully and patiently answer.  There is also one guy that goes up to Anna and wants to know why the ship is going to anchor in the river instead of docking right at the city of Belem.  This guy is miffed that he will have to take a tender: “Why, there’s lots of room for our ship right in the harbor!” he testily points out.  Cathy and I are thinking: Hey, Pal, could it be that the river isn’t deep enough for us to dock?  But Anna stares patiently and takes it all in with a smile, and we are speculating that, in the back of her mind, she’s thinking: What do you want from me, jerk?  I’m not the captain!  There are some people so unrealistically demanding that you wonder how they survive.

Well anyway, another reason for our being out and about is that we have received a note from the Concierge asking us to contact him as he has some information for us.  We have no idea what that might be, so we head for his desk right around 8:30.  It turns out that he wants to inform us that we can each get a yellow fever shot for $124, a deep discount off the regular price. There is more to this story, however.

For days, confusion has reigned supreme all over the ship with regard to yellow fever shots, whether or not you need them and the impact on your trip if you haven’t.  The cruise line spelled out months ago that we were responsible for informing ourselves about vaccinations and which ones we needed, and we had gone to a clinic named Passport Health in Hamden that specializes in this work.  The nurse we met with had discouraged us from getting the yellow fever shot because we were over sixty and the side affects could be severe.  Ann, our nurse adviser, reviewed our entire itinerary and determined that the only places where would not be allowed off the ship were French Guiana and Togo.  So we opted to skip the shot, and thus knew the consequences of the decision when we boarded.

Now we have left Barbados, where about three hundred people left the ship and another similar-sized contingent have boarded for the next segment, Barbados to Cape Town.  Some of the people getting on are told that if they don’t get the yellow fever vaccination, that they won’t be able to get off in Brazil.  Others are told nothing.  Others are told other confusing things.  It depends on which crew member you talk to.  We are also being told over and over to bring the yellow fever certificate (that we surmise you get if you do get the shot) to Reception, and to expect a letter about the whole matter.  We’ve never gotten the letter, so we inquire at Reception.  We are finally told that only the country of Togo requires the yellow fever certificate.  So our being contacted by the Concierge appears to be an attempt at damage control to make sure that anyone who hasn’t gotten the shot has the opportunity to do so lest we arrive in Togo and are then given the bad news – too late for the shot.  I go to all this, risking boring you to death, because this is the only lapse in communication and/or service we have seen to date.  It’s interesting to see how Oceania Cruises is trying to straighten out this error.

Okay, where were we?  Oh, so after the entertaining time at Destination Services, we head back to the room.  It’s time for more reading and writing, and then lunch at the Waves Grill.  There are only three tours offered today, leaving at Noon, 12:30 and (ours) 1:00pm.  Cathy figures we should wait until 11:45 to eat so that the folks on the earlier tours clear the dining venues.  But a lot of them must be skipping lunch because the place isn’t full at all.  Oh well.

We get done in plenty of time and head for Insignia Lounge as instructed.  We arrive around 12:35 for our 1:00 “appointment” and they’re already handing out tender assignments for our tour, which is the Guama River Exploration.  We see Paula there and join with her, as Kerry and Larry, with whom we were going to do the tour, are nowhere to be found.  Immediately upon receiving our tender assignment, we are invited to board the tender, which we do.

This is our first time on the tender.  As we wrote before, the tender is actually one of the lifeboats.  If it’s a lifeboat, the capacity is 150.  If it’s a tender, the signs say the capacity is 100.  Not sure that’s relevant to this story, but I wanted to make a record of that fact.  By the way, the weather today is hot and humid, with a 90% chance of rain.  Indeed, it has been cloudy all day so far, and it begins to rain as we head out for shore.  It’s hot and stuffy in the tender, and the fiberglass seats and the rocking boat don’t improve the ride, which takes about a half hour as the ship is anchored completely over near the opposite shore from Belem and the tide and current are running against us.

Upon arrival, we cross the dock to two waiting boats, one a good-sized excursion boat with two decks that holds probably 200 and another much older and smaller boat rafted to the bigger boat.  Now about 200 people are taking this same tour.  Our tender had the first batch, and there must have been about 60 of us (others on the tender were just going to town on their own).  We are ushered on to the big boat, pass through that boat and on to the small boat (Yes, the boat you see in the picture for this post).  Now this small boat is maybe 75-feet long, made of wood, seats around sixty, has a roof but no windows and must be at least forty/fifty years old.  Picture the movie African Queen, because that’s what is running through our minds.  It’s been raining, so the seats on the outside are soaked.  It begins to rain as we board, so blue plastic tarps are rolled down to keep out the rain.  So as we travel past the city of Belem, some of us raise up the tarp to see out.  Fortunately, the rain ends quickly, and the tarps are rolled back up.

Now the trip starts to be fun.  There are actually two tour guides, plus the captain and three or four crew members.  One tour guide talks for about fifteen minutes, telling us all about Belem, which is a modern city of 1.3 million people.

There are suburbs and parks and he tells us much good information, sixty percent of which Steve cannot understand because 1) he is terrible with accents, and 2) the sound system has so much bass that it’s hard to decipher what’s being said.  Whatever.  The rain has stopped, what we see looks interesting, and hell, we’re in Brazil!

We are heading for … well, we’re not exactly sure.  The tour said Guama River is our first stop, and we cross the Para River (at least three miles wide) to the bank opposite the city, which is a collection of islands that make up part of the Amazon estuary – the delta at the mouth of the river.  As the guide explains, (or, better stated, what Steve can decipher he says) these islands are inhabited by indigenous people.  They all live on the shore of these islands (because the vegetation is too thick to live inland) in small houses or huts, many of which are on stilts.  Their means of transportation are boats – boats of many sizes, shapes, types and vintages.  We see runabouts, larger boats like ours, fishing boats and what look like long (20-30 ft) canoes powered by small outboard motors that are nothing but a tiny engine, drive shaft and propeller.

We enter one particular channel that runs between two of the islands.  It is full of lush vegetation right to the banks, with brightly-painted small houses interspersed.  The houses are neat and orderly, and the people we see are indeed part of the Amerindian population.  We wave to each other as we go by.  The area is quite beautiful, and we ride for twenty minutes or so enjoying the scenery.  It’s hard to fathom that we are within an hour of downtown Belem.

We then arrive at Boa Vista do Acari village, where we come into a somewhat ramshackle dock attached to a somewhat decrepit wooden pavilion and other small buildings.  We are there for a 45-minute walk through the rain forest.  First our guide introduces us to cocoa in its native form, a pod containing a sweet goo with seeds in it.  Then he discusses the major plants we will see.  He also explains that he is a teacher and a tour guide, and he loves to introduce us people from far away to the wonders of the rain forest.  His enthusiasm is infectious, even if I can only make out about half of what he says.

We start out on our walk.  Our group has about twenty people in it, ranging in age from 40 to 90.

Our friend Paula

We wear hardhats to protect us from falling coconuts. Really!

Two people have canes, and you have to wonder if this walk on a wet, vegetation-covered, tree-root infested, rock-strewn path two feet wide is a really good idea.  Whatever.  Off we go.  Even as we look at the dark clouds in the distance and hear rumbles of thunder from time to time, our guide says “It will not rain today,” and we dutifully trot off behind him. We stop every three minutes or so in order for him to show us more flora, and to generally discuss the incredible Amazon rain forest region.  As I said, he is very effusive as he explains the incredible diversity of plants, trees, animals, languages, indigenous peoples, geography, topography and history of this most incredible of regions on earth.

As we trek through the forest, and he shows us various plants and their uses, or trees that are 100-150 feet high, or any number of things, we do begin to “get” what an Earth resource this is.

One fact alone will give you an idea of the size and diversity of the Amazon Region: there are estimated to be 7 million species of insects alone, and over 150 languages are spoken by thousands of tribes of indigenous peoples.  Our guide describes plant after plant that is used to treat all sorts of diseases and maladies, and describes the region as the “Pharmacy to the World.”  As we hear this, we honestly wonder if there may be a plant whose restorative properties couldn’t cure any illness on earth if only we could find it.  That’s how vast and diverse the Amazon Region is.

About three quarters into our hike, our guide announces that the trail is going to get more difficult, and that we have the option to turn around and return on the original path.  Cathy, with bad memories of the trip in Tobago to Argyle Falls, immediately signs up for that, but we find out that there is no one to guide her back to the village, so she reluctantly forges on with the rest of the group.  The path indeed becomes steeper, more narrow and more full of thick tree roots, but we are all together and help each other when required.  It’s worth it, as our guide shows us various immense trees and discusses life on these islands and how the people here harvest the plant life that grows here. In addition to that, we have the chance to meet one of the elders of the village, who, at 76-years old, shows us how to climb forty feet up an Acai palm tree, all in about thirty seconds.  The guy is amazing, and, as an encore, opens a seed pod and brings out a huge, hairy brown spider as big as your hand.

Our path finally leads back to the village.  Souvenirs are purchased and we board our funky craft for the trip back.  Steve spends a few minutes in the bow taking pictures, the rain hasn’t fallen since we left Belem, and the return trip is a breeze, even if we are all tired from the hike and the humidity.  It’s been a valuable and enjoyable afternoon’s introduction to the Amazon and northeast Brazil (properly pronounced Brasseel, we find).

On our way to the dock, we pass hundreds of boats, many in pretty tough condition.  We guess they were all used upstream on the Amazon River at one point in their history.

Luckily for us, we dock immediately without a wait and a tender back to our ship is waiting.

At this point, the tidal current is really running, and it is a fun ride as we traverse the river perpendicular to the current and the waves it kicks up.  The tender operator makes what we observe is a darn good landing at the side of the ship, given the strength of the current.  We are glad to be on board again.

We shower and stagger up to the Terrace Cafe for dinner, because it’s 7:15 and it’s gonna be way past our bedtime very soon!  Actually, we do have a nice dinner and relax, happy that we have had such an interesting day.  We also wonder what has become of the rest of our tour group – the ones that we saw had just arrived on the big boat when we were leaving.  We are envious that they got to ride in such luxury.  But keep that in mind as you read our post for tomorrow.  One hint: as they say, “Be careful what you wish for.”