Thursday, January 16 - Belem (Icoaraci), Brazil

 Our tour met at 7:45 am where we got our tickets and then proceeded to the tender boarding.  Fortunately, since we are on a river, it was a snap and we were loaded onto comfortable local boats (instead of the ship's emergency lifeboats) with a very large capacity.

Belem is technically on the Amazon River, but it is on an arm that splits off of the main river and reaches the Atlantic many miles south of the official mouth of the Amazon.  The ship anchored near Icoaraci which is about 15 miles from Belem.  We boarded our bus, one of four doing this excursion, and were escorted by the police to the pier where we boarded our small river boat.  The guide said the escort is the mayor's idea to make the experience as pleasant as possible for tourists.  Michael thinks the escort is so we aren't as likely to get robbed. Cynic. It still took us about 45 minutes.  

We had to put on life jackets for the small river boat cruise.  Michael could only buckle one of the three buckles.

Some of the houses along the river

We rode for probably another hour through smaller "canals" as well as the bigger part of the river.  Lots of people live here, especially on the large island in the middle.  The acai berry is the primary crop and most of those who live on the river have land where they grow it to bring to market.  It's a very prosperous crop.  The people who live on the island have electricity and running water, although most buy bottled water for drinking.  The sewage system answer was a little vague.  They also have free internet courtesy of Elon Musk and Starlink.  Our guide, who doesn't live here, says he pays a lot for his internet.

Yes, this is a school boat for the local children.

We arrived at what was described as a village, but all we really saw was a small gift shop and a few little stalls.  Here began our "jungle hike" which was more of a walk, thankfully, as it was getting a bit hot by now.

Hard hats were required here also (mine was a bit big so I just plonked it over my 

sun hat).  These were protection from falling mangoes or brazil nut pods which are quite heavy.

The beginning was the steepest part.

Acai palm trees

Getting the Brazil nuts out of the pod which holds 18-20 nuts

There were small "paths" through the jungle and you really had to watch your footing because of the mud and many, many roots.  Fortunately, we had brought our bug spray because the mosquitoes were out in force, but we didn't get any bites.

Don't wander off - you might never be seen again.

Our guide, Valdo, in front of a rubber tree.  You can see the scar lines from the cuts made to let the rubber run out.

The "walking tree" because as it spreads out those roots, it can move many feet away from the start.  There is no trunk going down into the ground in the center, only those roots, some of which haven't even reached the ground yet.

This was a wide spot in the trail.

In front of the "queen of the jungle" tree, named that because it is the largest tree in the forest and very strong.  This one was "smaller" since it is only around 250 years old.

After turning in our hard hats, we boarded the boat for the trip back to the bus and  donned the lovely life jackets again.  We took a different route back and got pretty wet with the spray, but it was actually kind of refreshing.

Under construction

The city of Belem is way in the distance.  It is really large with a population of around 2 million.  We only saw a fraction, and what we saw wasn't pretty at all.  Houses had bars on all the windows and fences with razor wire on top.

This tarantula was on the pier when we returned.  The guide says that when you see a tarantula out in the open like that, it means a storm is coming.  This one must not have gotten the memo because the skies got more clear as the day went on.

After another long bus ride back to our tender pier (no escort this time, maybe they only rob you on your way in) we were delayed boarding the tender because there was another medical evacuation from the ship.  This time the gentleman was taken from the ship on a stretcher via the tender.  We passed a very large hospital that looked good from the outside.  Hope it goes well.  This cruise is certainly keeping the doctor busy since we saw an ambulance at the pier in Dominica also.

It was after 2:30 when we got back so we just grabbed a quick sandwich by the pool.  We were beat and the others on our Trivia team had an afternoon tour so we skipped it today.  

After a quick pick-me-up nap, we headed to Horizons Lounge for a cocktail.  There we ran into Gordon and Patty with whom we've sailed before.  Then along came Bill (the lecturer) and Jean so we all chatted for a while before Gordon and Patty went off to dinner.  We invited the Lees to join us and at the restaurant entrance, we found Doug and Joan, who know the Lees, so the six of us ate together and once again we had a very enjoyable dinner with lots of laughter.  Doug and Joan are from Ontario.  They were probably the eldest of the six but they not only go to all the shows, but then go to the lounge after to listen to the Regent band play dance tunes.  They are my heroes.  Needless to say, it was back to the cabin for an early night for us.