March 9 - Santarém, Pará, Brazil

Think of the hottest, muggiest day in August in Virginia and you might come close to what it’s like here in Santarêm today.  We’re anchored about 500 miles up the Amazon from the ocean and 500 miles downriver from our next stop in Manaus.

Here are a few facts and figures about this place.  The city of Santarém has a population of a little over 300,000.  I found that remarkable for a place that’s pretty much in the middle of miles and miles of nothing but rainforest. Here’s something even more amazing; the city occupies an area of 8,836 sq. miles of which only a very tiny portion is urban.  This area as well as most of the Amazon region was settled by many different indigenous tribes who farmed (corn) and hunted.  In 1542 a Portuguese named Francisco de Orellano attacked a settlement of the Tapajós Indians. It wasn’t until forty years later that a  European settlement was started and finally in the middle of the 18th century the name Santarém, after a Portuguese city of the same name, was given to the principal settlement at the meeting of the Amazon and Tapajós Rivers.

That leads me to talk about something else.  Here at Santarém the Tapajós River and the Amazon meet at a place fittingly called ”the Meeting of the Waters.”  The Tapajós has blue-green water while the Amazon is a muddy color.  At this point where they meet both rivers carry so much water that for several miles the rivers flow next to each other without the water mixing so you can see a distinct color difference.

In the morning I took the shuttle bus from the tender pier to a drop-off point along the river.  I don’t know why that was picked as the place to stop because aside from an overlook of the river and one little shop there was nothing else.  I did get a good picture of a great white egret posing on a railing for me.  We stayed for less than 30 minutes and took the bus back.  On the return trip we passed through a vibrant shopping district.  Most of the stores were completely open on the street side and obviously not air-conditioned.  They didn’t appear to be geared for tourists but rather were filled with things necessary for ordinary life.

Isn't this a pretty guy?

Open air stores along what must be the main street

Why is Santarêm here?  Brazil is one of the major exporters of soybeans in the world.  Much of the deforestation of the Amazon region is due to increasing farming of soybeans and cattle.  Santarém is a principal port for the shipment of soybeans, most of which go to China and Russia.  There were huge barges with storage containers on them loaded with soybeans waiting to be loaded onto freighters.  Brazil has not changed its exportation policies despite the conflict in Ukraine and in fact is one of the biggest importers of Russian fertilizer to help grow its soybeans.  It’s a very circular arrangement.

Some of the soybean barges

In the late afternoon I took a zodiac tour to a place across the river from the city.  We went into what looked like a marsh to see what wildlife we might encounter.  There was a Brazilian guide with us to point out things.  The first thing I learned is that the area we were going through is dry land in the dry season and cattle graze there.  What I thought was marsh grass is actually wild rice which the cows feed on.  Our driver took the zodiac through places I thought we’d get stuck so that we could get close to trees where we saw a couple of large iguanas and all kinds of birds.  We rode through an area that had Victoria water lilies.  These are huge green discs that can reach a diameter of 10 feet and on which some animals can actually lie.  The ones we saw weren’t that big and the only things on them were large snails.  Evidently the underside of the lilies is very spiky so fish can’t nibble on them.

What looks like marsh grass is really wild rice

Do you see the iguana sleeping on the tree in the middle of the photo?

                                                                       Victoria lilies

This is the waterway we rode through. No wonder they had to clean the prop and the intake.

See the black and white bird sitting atop the tree? I can't remember its name but it isn't a great white egret.

We had to stop several times so the outboard could be lifted out and the props cleaned off of the greenery we’d accumulated.  At one point an alarm went off because the water intake was blocked with muck and grass. That took a major cleaning. I can’t remember the names of all the species of birds we saw but there were a lot.  Evidently early morning and late afternoon is when they are more active.  When we made our way out we had to stop at a restaurant with a very long dock because the owner owned the little waterway we rode through and we had to pay him his toll.  As we headed out we rode to a place where the waters met and saw some of the pink dolphins for which this part of the Amazon is famous.  These are freshwater dolphins and much smaller than their saltwater relatives.  They don’t jump out of the water either although they did occasionally come up and part of them could be seen at the surface. I didn't get a picture because catching them coming up was so hit or miss so I confess to stealing this photo from a site on the net that had a photo so you could get an idea of what I saw.

So that was my zodiac trip on the Amazon.  I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't run into many insects except for some dragonflies.  There were no swarms of mosquitoes, flies or gnats.  However when I got back on the ship every stitch of clothing I was wearing was drenched because it was so hot and muggy and the sun is so intense. There was a disco party on deck tonight and I didn't go. I didn't need to be soaked again so I stayed in air-conditioning.  Tomorrow is another day cruising up the Amazon.