Where are we today? Santarem

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 Blog by Dave:

Elizabeth was a little under the weather so I went into Santarem by my self today 😞

We have turned around on our voyage up the Amazon River at Manaus.  The ship stopped at Parintins, the home of the Boi Bumba Festival and the whole town splits into two teams one Red and on Blue.

Santarem is a town of about 350K people.  I took a tour titled "Santarem Highlights". First we visited a place outside of town that demonstrated some of the local fruits nuts and show how them make a gluten free powder called "cassada".  This is made from the same root where we get Tapioca, which without processing is poisonous.  

First they peel the roots like a potato.

Then they grind it with a hand cranked grinder:


Then they put the mushy ground material in a special woven grass tube

Then they site on a pole with leverage one the tube connected to a hook on the wall and squeeze out all the liquid. Which is later boiled to make tapioca

Then they sift the material that is left to get only the fine pieces.

Then they cook it in a big tray with an open fire under it to create the graduals about the consistency of couscous.


We saw that Brazil Nuts in their pod that look a lot like a coconut.


We saw how they scar rubber plant similar to maple trees to get the latex sap.

As we were leaving a little friend jumped up on a table and greeted us as we left.

We then went back into town and say the church that is the oldest building in town. 

We went from there to the fruit and fish market.

We stopped at museum that is housed in the old municipal building.  Among the pictures of former Mayors of the city was on man who was a descendant of Confederate southerners that settled in the Amazon after the US civil war.


At Santarem the Amazon River and the Tapajos Rivers merge.  The Tapajos is clear green water and the Amazon is muddy.  When they merge they stay separated for several miles due to acidity, temperature and speed.

Santarem is our last stop on the Amazon River though it will take us almost three more days to get back to the Atlantic Ocean.  Here is where it is on our trip.  



Manaus was where we turned around after traveling over 2000 miles from the mouth of the Amazon and Santarem is about half way back.

As the ship heads due East we were treated to this beautiful sunset from the aft deck of the ship where you can see the sun on the water and the wake of the ship.

'

Next stop is in St. George Grenada after three days of sailing between the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean.



















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