The Amazon

The Amazon Basin covers 40% of South America and contains the World's largest rainforest covering eight South American countries.  The area is as large as the continental United States.  Our trip along the Amazon River stopped in Manaus and Santarem, Brazil.  Much of the scenery along our 1,000 mile cruise on the river was remote thick jungle on both sides of the river. 

The people who live along the river rely on boats for transportation since there are very few roads.  The one highway through the region is not completely paved so it becomes a muddy mess during the rainy season.  In the populated areas of Manaus and Santarem we saw plenty of ferry boats and small fishing boats as well as large tankers and container ships.  The ferries are interesting vessels.  Passengers take multi-day trips on the ferries to travel between populated areas.  They bring their own hammocks to suspend from the ceilings of the decks for sleeping.  Of course, the weather is steamy hot and the open air ferries offer few facilities for the passengers that are packed in together.  Our tour guide described the experience as follows:

• On the first night, the passengers are happy.
• On the second night, the passengers are ready to kill each other.
• On the third night, the passengers are ready to kill themselves!

Seeing these travel conditions, we were happy to return to our air conditioned, luxury cruise ship at the end of a long, hot tour to continue our journey on the river.

Jungle view from our balcony

  

The wide Amazon River

 

Thick jungle

 

Ferry loading in Santarem

 

Passengers hang their hammocks for the river journey

The Amazon rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of the Earth" because growing trees take carbon dioxide out of the air and replaces it with oxygen. Sadly, the rainforest is threatened by population and exploitation.  In many places we could smell the strong odor of smoke in the air where the trees have been cut down and the land is being burned and cleared for agricultural and cattle farming.  Environmental awareness and preservation efforts continue.  We were told that Greenpeace sends it Rainbow ship to Santarem each year to protest industry there.  Supposedly, deforestation rates have declined in recent years.

Big industry and smokey air along the river
 bring Greenpeace protests

There is amazing wildlife along in the Amazon, but we did not get to experience much of it because it is the dry season so the birds and insects live high in the tallest trees.  We did see river dolphins and a sloth.  We saw the famous piranha fish in a market.  Some passengers did catch piranha on a fishing expedition.  They are big, creepy fish and have a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.  Fortunately, we did not see an anaconda or giant tarantula.

A number of isolated native tribes still dwell in the Amazon Basin.  The Brazilian government is making efforts to protect their lifestyles by not allowing contact that would subject them to outside diseases and other perils of modernization.

We have left the silty waters of the Amazon River and headed out to the South Atlantic Ocean.  We will continue south along the coast of Brazil leaving the remote areas behind as we  travel to the more developed areas.  Our next stop will be the city of Fortaleza.

The Ladells roughing it on the Amazon River

 

Hello Southern Hemisphere!!!!