Day 29 - Salvador, Brazil

Friday 7th Feb 2020

Salvador, the capital of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, is known for its Portuguese colonial architecture, Afro-Brazilian culture and a tropical coastline.  Originally the capital of Brazil until 1763 when Rio de Janeiro was given the title, it is now the third most populous city in the country.

Salvador is comprised of an Upper Town, where the cathedral and other important buildings were built for safety, and the Lower Town some 90 yards below.

Salvador holds the world record for the biggest party on earth. Each year, the Carnival of Salvador da Bahia sees almost four million people take to the street to take part in the festival, which features street parades, dancing and live music for a full week.

Today berthed just adjacent to the business district of the city in the Lower Town.  A morning rain shower, soon cleared up.

Time to get ashore to take the shuttle bus to the Upper Town, the touristy part.  Slow progress, just so much traffic in crowded streets, and pretty much just one endless street market all the way.  Very noticeable as we drove through the. City the amount of heavy iron fencing, razor wire and electric fences, must be a sign of the state of security here.

After drop-off a bit of a walk round to view just a small part of the city, hot, crowded and not overly inspiring, good views over the lower town to the harbour.

Very noticeable however all the different faces of the people reflecting their different origins.  Many being descended from the slaves brought to the area from Africa.

Looks like preparations are underway for the Carnival, seats alongside the roads, scaffold towers all around, glad we missed that particular week, it would be manic I suspect.

So it’s back on the bus for the return, a much quicker route, or has the traffic cleared in this part of town?

Back on board.  Fortunately didn’t need the first and most important Portuguese phrase we were given, “Nao Atire”, this one given to us by a Brazilian entertainment staff member, perhaps more useful in Rio, it means “don’t shoot”, we trust he really was just joking.  He also ran a short series of  introduction to Portuguese lessons, for some reason not till after Manaus, better late than never seems to be Cunard’s policy for most things, perhaps that should actually in their case be better late than early!  Unfortunately he didn’t mention one word which could have been useful to one of our new friends, who while walking through town and being told “Peligrosa” by some old boys playing chequers thought they were trying to sell him something, he turned back and only later found out this was a warning of danger, lucky he did turn back.

This evening the show is a rock and roll band called The Bluejays.  Excellent show, good selection of songs played really well.

Days 26 to 28 - at Sea

Tuesday 4th Feb 2020

Today the ship celebrated the crossing the line ceremony, that’s the official crossing of the Equator, we did cross it whilst navigating the Amazon but that doesn’t seem to have counted.  Lots of passengers and crew paying their dues to Neptune to change from pollywogs to shellbacks.  Neptune’s helpers seem to take great delight in liberally smothering the participants in all sorts of goo, sometimes maybe too much delight.

Wednesday 5th Feb 2020

Overcast and wet day today, some quite heavy tropical downpours, though both air and rain very warm, a real pleasure to take a swim in the pool while pretty much everyone sheltered indoors.  Made for a very busy day at all the trivia etc. as sunbathing cancelled for today.

Our complementary wine tasting this afternoon, made sure we had a bit of lunch first just in case they decided to be a bit more generous with the samples, but no, still only a drop or two of each wine.

Tonight in the theatre another performance by Bruce Morrison, this time singing a selection of numbers from various Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.

Thursday 6th Feb 2020

Sunny again today, all back to normal , life back out on deck.

Sailing on down the coast today, not too far off, only one city of note identifiable, Recife.  Lots of Gannet like birds (I guess they are called  Boobies here, as elsewhere in the tropics) using the ship to generate lift and to watch out for Flying Fish disturbed by the wake.  More fish than we have seen for days.

South American Voyage cocktail party tonight.  Couple of drinks and an excellent buffet, especially for lovers of fishy bits, of note some delicious really big crab legs.

Day 25 - Amazon River

Monday 3rd Feb 2020

Macapa, Brazil - sail by - pilot drop-off

Carried on down the river, nothing particular of note, as you can guess much the same as going up.

Out into the Atlantic again late this afternoon, crossing the bar where the clearance below the keel is only about 3 meters.

Seems silly but it is nice to feel the ship moving, a little, and for the sea to be a proper colour again.

Day 24 - Santarem, Brazil

Sunday 2nd Feb 2020

Santarem, a small city in the Brazilian state of Pará, has been a major player in the region’s booms of wood, rubber, minerals and, today, soybeans. Nearby is a ‘meeting of waters’ where the darker Rio Tapajos merges with the light-brown Amazon.

‘Clocks went forward 1 hour this morning.

Today our berth was quite well out of town, jammed between a grain import/export dock and a gas plant, delightful.  The walk to town is apparently a couple of miles to anything significant, in the heat and humidity, and today is Sunday so its all shut anyway!

Luckily we have booked a nice little river boat journey.  The boats coming to a pontoon right alongside the ship, so no need to walk more than 20 yards.

Merrily chugging along for a short while brought us to the “ Meeting of the Waters”, this is a different one to the one near Manaus, this is one where the “clear emerald-blue waters of the Tapajos River encounter the muddy waters of the magnificent Amazon River”.

The muddy is right but the clear emerald-blue not too accurate, but close enough.  Just here is the place to view the Pink Amazon River Dolphins, they were good enough to put in an appearance, fairly discretely but good views, can’t say the same for the photos, just too quick, but we managed some part Dolphin snaps.

Off up the Amazon a short way to branch off into narrow channels into the  Igapa, the flooded forrest, to Maica Lake.

Few more Dolphins in this part of the trip, great views of a three toed Sloth in a tree just by the river.

Otherwise we saw a selection of birds, like Herons, Egrets, Vultures and some small unknowns, quite a lot of other birds were heard but not seen.  The only other animals seen going in were cows, I guess destined to become burgers quite soon.

A stop for a while to allow us all to try our hand a fishing for piranhas, a line with a cube of beef on a hook, supposedly showing the primitive method the locals catch their fish, mmm.  No-one on our boat caught a piranha but there were a couple of catfish.

Returning back we spotted an Iguana just strolling along the river bank.

Once back on the Amazon the return trip took us close by the town, the ferry stop and the floating petrol station, very handy for all the river traffic.

Nice view of a very pretty blue Cathedral.

A short detour to just by the fish market, a favoured spot for dolphins, none today, then back to Queen Victoria.

Time for some sustenance and a short while out on deck in the sun, not too long, temperatures this afternoon hit 40 degrees centigrade, phew!

Our guide had suggested that there was good swimming to be had in the rivers, there being lovely white sand beaches up the Tapajos, the only problem we could see was that the muddy waters contained piranhas and the clear waters a fish known as “tiny fish”, that’s a translation of the Brazilian name, which have a habit of invading cosy spots like inside your ears or up your nose, we chose to decline the offer and stayed on the ship.

Afternoon sailaway back out into the Amazon and off down toward the coast.

This evening spent in the Golden Lion Pub with lots of mostly American passengers watching the NFL Superbowl, with suitable snacks provided, Kansas City Chiefs v San Francisco 49ers.  Got very late but managed to see the conclusion back in our cabin, an exciting comeback win by KC.

Day 23 - Leaving Manaus into the Amazon River

Saturday 1st Feb 2020

Fairly early sailaway this morning, then a day spent retracing our track down the river.  Hot, hot, hot and humid.

Manaus Cathedral with Opera House Dome Behind

Jungle and more jungle

More floating weed passing by

Senior Officer’s Cocktail party this evening.

Clocks forward one hour tonight.

Day 22 - Manaus, Brazil (overnight)

Friday 31st Jan 2020

Manaus sits on the banks of the Negro River in northwestern Brazil, it is the capital of the vast state of Amazonas and a major departure point for the surrounding Amazon Rainforest.  At almost a thousand miles from the sea it is still only about 150 feet above sea level.

The rubber boomtown of Manaus grew rapidly as the vast profits from the supplying of rubber to the world allowed it to have a tram system, become the first Brazilian city to have electricity and to build its own opera house.  This all ended in 1914. Rubber trees having been transported to southeast Asia where rubber was produced in greater volume and much more cheaply.  Manaus relapsed into obscurity, apart from a very brief recovery during WW2, until 1967 when it was declared a free zone,  the population has since grown from about 300,000 to 2.1 million.

This morning approaching Manaus, just east of the city the dark Negro River converges with the muddy brown Solimões River resulting in a striking visual phenomenon called the “Meeting of the Waters.”

A very civilised start to the day, not too early a meeting time for our city tour.  First to the Art Nouveau-style Municipal Market, that’s the fish market, interesting, lots of unusual fish, I don’t think they have fish like trout in the Amazon, Piranha doesn’t have quite the same appeal.

Most of the locals find fish to be the cheapest option to provide protein in their diet.  

Outside to view the harbour, lots of river ferry boats many with hammocks for longer journeys, many people coming and going from the boats with all sorts of possessions for transport, even a divan bed!

Also here the local fishing boats tie up supplying (and selling) the fish.

On through the general market to the vegetable market, more recognisable produce here, though some extras like palm fruit (apparently they taste like potatoes) and some very prickly looking strawberry like fruit.

Back on the coach and up to the Indian Museum, here several rooms displaying aspects of Amazonian Indian culture, lifestyle and traditions.  All sorts of exhibits here, from archeological pottery through feathered head dresses to blowpipes and woven baskets etc.  Simple materials used ingeniously and skillfully, still used today by the remaining indigenous tribes remaining in the forrest who continue to have no contact with modern civilisation.

Next to the 600 seat Opera House, the ‘Teatro Amazonas’ completed in 1896, partly paid for by subscription by the wealthy locals.  The square in front decorated in black and white tiles, reminiscent of the Azores, also Portuguese. 

The majority of the materials used  imported from Europe, mostly GB, France and Italy.  Iron columns from Scotland, glass chandeliers from Murano and painted ceilings form France, etc. etc.  Very clever design and location to take advantage of the wind from the Atlantic which blows up river to the Andes funnelled through ducts below the floor to provide a cooling draught coming up below the seats.

Back to the port taking in views of the city and it’s Cathedral.

Time in the afternoon for some recovery in the sun.  One more afternoon trivia, our first win!

This evenings folkloric entertainment provided by a local group, the ”Raizes Caboclas Group”,playing and dancing a typical Amazonian show.

Overnight in port to allow folk who wanted to to go to an evening performance in the Opera House.

Days 20 and 21 - Amazon River

Wednesday 29th Jan 2020

The Amazon River in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and is generally considered the second longest, after the Nile (both around 6400 km).  The river’s most distant headwaters are in Peru.

At an average discharge of about 209,000 cubic metres per second it is greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined, the Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean.  The Amazon basin s the largest drainage basin in the world, over seven million square kilometres. Brazil’s portion of the river's drainage basin is larger than any other river's basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into thenAtlantic Ocean, yet already has a greater flow at this point than the discharge of any other river.

More than one-third of all known species of flora in the world is found in the Amazon rainforest.  Notable mammals of the Amazon include Pink River Dolphins, Amazon Manatee and Giant Otter.  Reptiles include the Anaconda and Caimans.  Over 5600 species of fish, plus about 50 new species per year inhabit the waters, including the Arapaima, a freshwater fish up to 4.6m long, up to 60 species of Piranha, only a few species are man-eaters!, about 1200 species of Catfish, 100 species of Electric Fish plus Electric Eels and River Stingrays.  Between 700 and 1500 species of birds are found in the Amazon rainforest.

Last nights performance by Bruce Morrison very good, quite an accomplishment for a solo performer with just orchestra, many songs from Les Mis and lots of facts about the musical over the last 30 years.

This morning well on our way up the Amazon, looks like we are sailing through very thin mud.

Started precautions with anti bug spray today, better safe than sorry.  River seriously wide, in places the banks just disappear in the distance, amazing.  Weather hot, steamy and fairly murky.

Temperature in the 80’s.  Early afternoon anchored for a couple of hours near Macapa for official procedures by the Brazilian authorities and to pick up a river pilot.

Short rain storm cleared the air quite nicely, much more pleasant.  Lots of vegetation etc. floating by and a few birds starting to appear.  Very few signs of civilisation except a few boats crossing the river to who knows where.  Looks like pretty much nothing but jungle.

Tonight it’s the “Singers in Concert” with the combined ship’s orchestras, strings and harpist.

Thursday 30th Jan 2020

More river, few more scattered buildings and river traffic.

The landscape  continues consisting mostly of what appears to be rain forrest and some patches of farmland with cows.

More sun today, very humid with a couple of showers plus thunder, very soon gone.