Santarém – Picture of the Day

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Happy Birthday to Sean and Sue!

We started the day out by going piranha fishing. They docked a barge right next to ship that let us walk right onto our little boat. What a great idea. We had a great ride down the river – Keith said it felt more Jungle Cruise-y than yesterday and he wished he’d worn his shirt again. 😊 We saw some water buffalo run toward the river, then cross a narrow section really fast, and disappear into the brush. I guess the water part of their name is for a reason – swimming seemed to be their thing. There were quite a few different butterflies that wandered their way around our boat. We saw a sloth in a tree. That in itself was quite a feat – it was reallllllllly camouflaged. I had to zoom in to take a picture and it does not do it justice. The tree he was in was very near, but it was very tall. Looking at him with binoculars was terrific – his little smiley face was so cute. Suddenly Keith said, “Come over here. There are pigs in a boat.” I think pigs in a boat could be the hot new replacement for pigs in a blanket. Or Pigs in a Boat could be a great name for a band.

We got butterflied pieces of wood with line and hooks and bait. We hand cast off the side of the boat. Someone caught a little catfish almost immediately. It took a while, but one of the guys working on the boat caught a little piranha. I lost my bait twice – I was more feeding the fishies than catching them. Keith was pretty good at throwing out his line, but never caught anything. It just did not matter. It was a glorious day, in a glorious place.

As we chugged back to the Viking Sea, we got good looks at the separation of waters between the Amazon (brown, muddy looking water) and the Tapajós River (dark blue and clear). They don’t mix because the chemical content is different, the Amazon has more sediment, and the Amazon is warmer. You can just see a line of two colors. It is weird. And cool.

We were getting close to the ship and Keith pointed out that it looked like it was raining to the north. And then it was RAINING on us. My hat flew across the boat (I retrieved it) and the waves really started rocking. The boat guys pulled down the tarps on the sides of the boat, but not before we got a bit wet. We had to wait to dock because the waves were too much. It is the rainy season, so we were lucky to have a beautiful morning and a fun rainy bit.

We ate very quickly and headed out to do the city tour. We had to take tenders to the dock and were delayed because of waves. We found Regina and Brad – and we were the cool kids in the back of the bus. They showed us maps the front desk gave to them in case they wanted to go into town on their own. We laughed a lot at the questionable usefulness of these maps.

The main exporting company here is Cargill, which is based out of Minnesota. We rode about 30 minutes – I’m sorry – we BOUNCED for about 30 minutes before getting off at a flower house. Our guide was taking about gardens – growing your own food and spices because even though it was only 30 minutes, that was a lot and people don’t go to town much. I thought we were going to see a commercial flower operation and kept wondering where it was. We walked past the family’s vegetable garden and chickens and rubber trees. Then there was a covered area with a bunch of guys doing something…we were at the manioc FLOUR production area. They pull up cassava trees (1” diameter) and there is a big potato looking root. One guy was peeling the skin off, then gave it to a guy who feed it through a grinder run by two guys turning a big wheel with a piece of twine for a belt. The ground up meal is WET, so it is put in this giant woven snake-y thing that drains out the liquid. Then it is toasted on a big flat metal table with a fire under it. It is called manioc flour or tapioca flour (tapioca is WEIRD. Please see the POTD from yesterday…or the day before that) or yucca flour or cassava flour. We tasted it after it was dried and heated and it was delicious. I could have eaten it as a snack.

They also had Brazil nut trees. The pod Brazil nuts grow in is about 4-5” in diameter and heavy! It looks like a cannon ball. We couldn’t walk under the trees because they are in season and when the pods ripen and fall, it could actually kill you. They hacked one open and there are 22-24 nuts inside. The farmer offered a cash prize if you could fit them all back inside of the shell. (Speaking of nuts – the last two days we got peanuts instead chocolate. Today we got nothing. NOTHING. WTH?)

We bounced back to civilization. We drove around town and stopped at their cathedral. They have a life-sized Virgin Mary with real people hair. The hair is donated by people all year long and then it is changed annually. That is a new one for me.

We didn’t get to visit the museum as scheduled because they aren’t very good at organizing tours and we waited for over a half an hour for some people who were assigned to our bus that took a later tender. It is interesting that they do not send a Viking crew member on the tours with us like Princess does. We just go off with the locals on our own. I’m just thinking about that. Huh.

While we were riding around town, we went past a shiny building, and I saw the reflection of our bus in it. There I was, peeking out of the back window. I wished I had a picture of it, but of course the building wasn’t very big and it was over before I could even think about taking a picture. As we ended the tour, I made Keith zoom ahead to get out and take my picture. I wanted him to hurry, because I was already going to be the last one off the bus. After he snapped the picture, I zoomed off the bus. We hurried to the tender boat, because we were already later than the last tender was supposed to leave. As we were sailing toward the ship, I had a terrible thought: WHERE MY HAT IS AT? (It’s a thing I say. For little to no reason). This time I meant it. Oh, no. I left my hat on the bus. Darn. It was a cheap hat we bought from a bin in Edinburgh, but it was my travel hat and I wish I hadn’t hurried and forgotten it. Darn. Twice.

They had turkey at the buffet. It was delicious and I was delighted! Not fish!

We did not win trivia. It started early (What? Why? We had to catch Regina and Brad up four questions when they arrived at 8:01) and they zoomed through. We had no time to chat about answers and make guesses – not that we would have gotten any of them right, but the fun is in the playing! Everything was corrected and done by 8:12. Fail of a game. (Not that I am judgy) (But I am judgy)

Play along!

What West Indies dance has people trying to get under a stick?
What name is shared by 3 Scottish kings, 8 popes, and 5 Tzars?*
Where is the Bossa Nova dance from?
How many tusks does a warthog have?
What family of stone does marble come from?*
What vaccine did Edward Jenner invent?
What is the eagle on the Mexican flag holding?*
What was the name of the movie with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn where they took a little boat down a treacherous river?
What European city’s name means home of the monks?*
What was the name of the necklace in Titanic?
What red pottery means baked Earth in Italian?
Mark Twain said, “Familiarity breeds what, other than contempt?”
What plant is used to make tequila?
A warning on early Chinese paper currency warned counterfeiters that they would lose what?
What two Caribbean nations are separated by the windward passage?*

2 thoughts on “Santarém”