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| Mercado Ver o Peso, Belem, Brazil |
The dispute rages on … Which is the longest river in the
world? Is it the Amazon of South America
or the Nile of eastern Africa? The fact
is that both rivers have a legitimate claim to fame for that title. It depends upon what statistics are utilized.
The Nile is slightly longer, but the Amazon wins hands down if watersheds,
tributaries, and volume of water are used.
For example, technically we are on the Para River, 80 miles from the
Atlantic Ocean, but the Para River is a major tributary of the Amazon. Five years ago, we sailed several hours along
the Madre de Dios with our Lincoln-Way travel group to visit Eco Amazonia in
the Amazon Rainforest. Both rivers are
part of the great Amazon River System which puts out up to 32 million gallons
of water a second into the Atlantic. The
Amazon plays a huge role in Brazil’s economy, covering nearly half of Brazil’s
geographic area. The Amazon is home to
about 15,000 species including mammals, birds, fish and insects. Examples are
too numerous to mention but as an example, there are over 200 species of
mosquitoes alone! The Amazon is so vast
that ocean going vessels can penetrate deep into the continent on the river. (Holland America in fact has some cruise
itineraries that sail a significant distance down the Amazon.) Even in the 21st century, there
are tributaries that are virtually unexplored! Suffice it to say, both rivers
are long and both can point to pride as being the longest.
This was our second visit to Belém and was our third port
last year and third to the last port this year.
So much has happened between our January 2012 visit to Belém last year
and this year’s visit. While most
American who don’t travel to South America have probably not heard of Belém,
named after the Biblical “Bethlehem” but it ranks as the fifth largest city,
ranking behind Sao Palo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Brazilia (the interior
city and capital of Brazil). There are between 2 and 3 million residents in the
Belém metropolitan area. Belém’s importance is that it is the major city near
the mouth of the Amazon. It’s the
capital of Para state in Brazil. Remembering
that Brazil is Portuguese, the Portuguese royal family took up residence in Belém
during the Napoleonic Wars, but in September 1822, Brazil gained independence
from Portugal.
Lying at about 1° South Latitude, Belém is as close to the
equator as only a few other major cities (Singapore is about 1° North Latitude). As a result, Belém is nearly always hot and
humid and today was no exception.
Temperature was about 86° F, and I heard humidity was a believable 96%.
So large is the Amazon River that we sailed from about 1 AM
in the morning down the Amazon to our anchor location near at about 8 AM. In certain places near the mouth, it is
nearly impossible to see the shore. With
the size of our home for almost the last four months, the ms Amsterdam is just
too big to be able to dock in Belém itself.
Thus, we need to anchor off the town of Icoaracy and board a large
tender which the port sends to pick us up.
At anchor in, we have just 20 feet below our keel. Our Cruise Director, Bruce, warned us before
we arrived in Belém that it was going to be a long, slow trip to Belém if we
wished to get to the city. It would
start with a half hour tender operated by the port on large tenders with many
more people than the ship’s tenders had.
He advised us that we needed to factor in the time it takes to load and
unload the tender with that many people on it.
Then we might have to walk a plank from that tender, through another,
before stepping out on the pier for a sharp slope filled with grooves which we
had to walk. He warned that it would be
absolutely impossible to accommodate wheelchairs and scooters and that everyone
had to be able to accomplish this under his or her own power. Then, whether on a shore excursion or taking
a shuttle into town, we would have to endure an approximately 45 minute to one
hour bus ride into the city and repeat the process in reverse when returning to
the ship. He said to prepare for about 3
hours of the day consumed by getting from the ship to and from Belém! Makes it hardly worth going into the city,
doesn’t it? And oh yes, be ready to stand out in the broiling sun with no cover
while waiting for the bus and the tenders!
Last year we did have the same tenders as well as the ride
into the city. We had done a great shore
excursion last year in which we got to the city and boarded a boat to sail a
short distance up the river, past some
homes built on stilts above the water.
We remember how interesting it was to sail past those homes while
looking back at the Belém skyline. We
had then gotten off the boat for a short, but fascinating walk through a
rainforest before board the boat back to Belém.
Given the fact that we had done that excursion in 2012 and enjoyed it so
much and the fact that we had kept so busy doing shore excursions on our
current trip, we decided to do what many passengers do in virtually every port
and that was to take the shuttle to the local market or mall and poke around
there instead. Personally, it’s not what
I would want to do in each port as it’s the shore excursions that teach what
makes the region we are visiting worth visiting. Those who just go into town and don’t avail
themselves visit the port but don’t learn the beauty and history of where we
are visiting. But it’s a personal choice
and everyone has individual motivations for travel. However, in our case having been here a year ago,
this was a good option this time.
So we boarded the crowded tender and after a few more got
on, we took a quick ride to the Icoaracy tender dock. Despite the dire warnings, it was a piece of
cake getting from the tender to the pier and the upward slope at the dock was
no steeper than last year! Last year it
didn’t pose problems and the same held this year. We couldn’t understand why the big warnings
this year! Anyway, we got on the bus and almost as soon
as we took our seats in literally the last row, the bus left. We enjoyed the ride into Belém, passing busy
residential areas as well as small businesses and factories.
Unfortunately one thing we have noticed in Brazil is the
graffiti marked buildings in both Fortaleza and Belém. There are otherwise attractive structures,
landmarks, and statues that are defaced, taking away much of the beauty that
they would otherwise show. We have also
been puzzled by the strictness of Brazil in terms of unusual requirements for
cruise ships. First, obtaining a
Brazilian visa requires applicants to negotiate a maze of rules and
requirements best left to professionals.
They also require local inspectors to make sure that the kitchen adheres
to inspections by their officials. Yet
we notice a great deal of litter and uncleanliness that wouldn’t be permitted
in the US and Canada.
When we arrived at the Vero Market, we realized it was the
location from which our boat for the shore excursion had departed last
year. We walked along the riverfront
and found the Mercado Ver o Peso (“check the weight market”) which had
souvenirs as well as food products. We
wandered through the stalls and looked for interesting items for sale. Barb was intrigued by a man carrying a wooden
armadillo, complete with scales and movable wooden parts. Of course it would have been a unique and
appropriate purchase for a city on the Amazon as armadillos are found in the
Amazon rainforest habitat. She asked the
price but found it too high and walked away.
Her thought was that she really didn’t need this large object and it
would be somewhat difficult to pack! But
it would have been an interesting momento from Brazil! The market was full of sights and
smells. From the dark stalls in the
interior of the market selling crafts to the food markets with colorful fruits
and vegetables, a variety of fish, and even live geese and chickens, they made
for interesting browsing. After an
unsuccessful search for a post card to send to the young student as part of her
school project, we spotted the shuttle bus in a different location than we had
anticipated. As a result, we decided to
board for the return to the dock at Icoaracy.
We had planned to go back shortly anyway, so took advantage of the bus
being right there, right then! It was a
hot, humid day and didn’t want to spend a disproportionate time outside at the
height of day. Although the shuttle ride
was longer going back than it had been coming¸ we experienced no waiting and
the tender ride was short.
A few minutes before we should have lifted the anchor and
been on our way, the captain announced there would be a delay as he announced
the ship was waiting for some passengers who had missed the last shuttle from Belém
and was returning to the tender dock with a police escort with sirens blaring
and red lights flashing in order to get them there so as not to hold up the
ship’s departure any longer. We are
surmising that a special tender had to deliver them to the ship. It would be interesting to know how much this
dramatic return to the ship cost these people!
This was a very rare announcement; in fact it may have been the first of
the cruise. Had they not gotten back and
the ship left without them, they would have had to find their way to remote
Devil’s Island or St. Lucia in the Caribbean at their own expense! It’s one of the reasons we typically do
Holland America shore excursions or make absolutely certain we will be back on
our own well ahead of final boarding time.
.
Normally we don’t comment on the ship’s evening
entertainment, but I make an exception here.
We had the second performance by the “Huber Marionettes”. Philip Huber designs and creates his own
marionettes and then pulls their strings.
His creations are so lifelike they are beyond amazing. From the cute
little dog with all its canine qualities, to a virtuoso pianist, an operatic
singer with a bust that would shame Dolly Parton, an acrobat, a punk rock
singer and several more, the quality of this show makes this one of the best we
have ever seen on Holland America.
And on a personal note, we have had the first two of our
pieces of luggage delivered from storage to begin the arduous task of
packing. I guess we all know what that
means! Time to think about going home
again. One short week to go!
CT
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