DAY 11---ALTER DO CHAO

 

        This is our position at 2:30 this afternoon.  We just sailed past Santarem which you will be reading about later in this post.  Mix of sun and clouds today but no rain.  87 degrees and with 77% humidity.  We will be anchoring at Alter Do Chao around 4:00.

BACKGROUND INFO ON ALTER DO CHAO

         Today we are visiting the small village of Alter Do Chao which lies on the bank of the Rio Tapajos (Tapajos River) where is flows into the Amazon.  It is just 25 miles from Santarem.  As with most cities on the Amazon, there is no cruise ship docks so we are tendering ashore.  There isn’t even a place for the tenders to dock.  No excursions here.  Just a very nice white sand beach lined with palm trees, quaint cottages, and local handicrafts.  The Tapajos River was is very clean which results in the most beautiful fresh water beaches in Brazil.  Alter do Chao is also known as the “Caribbean in Brazil” because of this.  Did I mention, it is very hot and humid here again near Equator.

        What an amazing experience cruising up the Amazon River today.  Even though we did it back in 2012 an 2016, I never get tired of it and always something new to experience.  The Amazon basin, as I showed earlier, is huge.  (Equal to the size of the United States)  The Brazilian government is promoting the development of the basin but at the same time trying to protect the eco-system here.  After all, the Brazilian rainforests are important to the world ecology.  Large tracks of the rainforests on the south side of the river have been controversially cleared for soybean and corn production.  These farms are enormous commercial ventures.  The government requires that when they buy and clear the land, they must also buy an equal number of acres and set it aside to remain rainforests.  Several years ago the government built a road connecting Brazilia, the capital of Brazil, to Santarem.  We will pass by this city today.  Grain from the farms to the south is trucked to this port where Cargill, an American owned seed company, buys it and loads it on ships for export.  Brazil it the world’s #1 producer of beef and soybeans.  If you eat Walmart beef, you are eating Brazilian beef!!

BACKGROUND INFO ON SANTAREM

As we shall be passing by Santarem, I thought I better say something about this city.  This important financial and economic center is located midway between the two largest cities on the Amazon.  Manaus is 500 miles to the west and Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon, is 500 miles to the east.  It is located where the Tapajos River flows into the Amazon River which results in another “meeting of the waters” (deep blue Tapajos River water flows into and meets the dirty brown Amazon water)  The city has a population of 300,000.  Founded in 1661 by the Portuquese, it is one of the oldest cities in the Amazon basin.
    The highway south out of the city is used to transport soybeans from plantations to the Cargill storage facility here and is then loaded on ships for export.  Soybeans are also barged down the Tapajos River to Cargill here.  Huge cattle feedlots, mining, and tourism are also important to the economy here

    LAST EVENING

        We thought this guy looked like Minnesota governor Tim Walls who ran with Harris for VP.

                                                    Pocholo, who is the senior bartender.

                                                                      Samir, a waiter.

I decided on the salmon.  I had to send the baked potato and vegetables back as they were not very hot.

                                                A few photos of the show, "World Rhythms".

TODAY

         At 9:30 the Captain made a PA saying our new estimated arrival time for Alter Do Chao will be 4pm.  Originally supposed to arrive there at 9am.  Original departure time was 6pm but now changed to 7pm.  

        There are very few towns on the river, but at 10:30 we passed by Monte Alegre.  Population of 58,000 and there is an ancient archeological site nearby.  It is a cave with numerous rock paintings and pictographs.  It does have a small airport.  No roads, so it is serviced by boats or air.  

        There are other villages on the small rivers that flow into the Amazon but you will need a boat to get to them.  Again no roads.

                                        River water is brown due to silt washed into it.

                                                This shows where we are cruising today.

             At 2pm we were sailing past Santarem so I was up on deck 11 taking some photos. Lots of boats of various sizes.

             This is a floating gas station that fuels smaller boats going up and down the river.

        The next few photos shows "the meeting of the waters).  Fresh water flowing out of the Tapajos River into the dirty waters of the Amazon.

                                                     Santarem is a modern looking city.

        This is a Viking Cruises ship docked at Santarem where we will be docking on Monday, March 11th, on our way back down the Amazon.

         Soy beans and corn are brought down the Tapajos River from huge farms south of Santarem on barges and sold to Cargill (American seed company).  Cargill loads the grain on larger ships for exporting.

                                                Some of those ships anchored in the river.

          

 This is a container cargo ship unloading onto smaller boats to take up tributary rivers.

Alter Do Chao Photos

              Dropped anchor at 4pm and started lowering the tenders to take guests ashore.

    

                                                            Make shift tender dock.

                                                   Sandy beaches, fresh water beaches.

                                                                   Nice little church

                                                           Interesting phone booth.

        After cocktails at 6:00 we will be meeting Donald, the Food & Beverage Manager, at 7:00 for dinner up in Sette Mari.  At noon Chef Robert confirmed he will be making a veal parmesan for me.

        At 9:15 in the theater will be "The Liars Club".  Always a hilarious event.  Three members of the staff will be given a weird word to define.  We will have to guess who is telling the truth as the other two are lying.

        We were to sail at 6:00 this evening but I believe we will not leave until 7:00 now as last tender back to the ship is 6:45..  We are scheduled to be at anchored at Boca Da Valeria by 7am tomorrow.