Last night I thought no use taking any chances with everyone sea sick around me so I took a Dramamine. I knew that I didn’t have any heavy equipment to operate later that night and today being a sea day I knew that the biggest item on the agenda was lying on a deck chair soaking up the rays.
So I turn on CNN (yes even in the middle of the ocean you get CNN) and there is a new story that it is -46 C in Edmonton. OUCH! It is beautiful here at close to 25 C.
The Dramamine worked great I sleep right though until 9:30 Am catching 10.5 hours of sleep. So having slept so late there was no time for the gym so we headed straight to breakfast. It fixed Agnes up as well and everyone is feeling much better.
After breakfast, I found a deck chair in the sun and with a huge go cup filled with scotch and ice, I settled in to read and nap. It is a hard life but someone has to do it.
Terry
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Amazon Adventure Day 24 – Sea Day
This morning the sea is quite rough and the boat is pitching a fair amount. I was up relatively early and hit the gym. There I met a few of the regulars and one of them was saying that he had walked though the Lido (buffet section of the ship) and he saw a lot of people sitting in bathrobes and look pretty green.
I did my 105 minutes on the elliptical and headed down stairs to shower and get ready for breakfast. I caught up with Agnes on the Lido deck looking a bit green. This is really surprising as we have been on a lot of cruises and she has never been motion sick once.
Today was the big past passenger brunch so with Agnes out of commission I headed off to it by myself. It was great. Lots of wine with the meal and lots of nice words being said by the crew about how happy that we are all such good customers – Right!
This was only the second free drink of the cruise. One when you get on and here is a second one. I am really underwhelmed. It use to be that there was always a free drink being poured. The comedian the other day was talking about the airlines and what now constitutes a “frill” Looks like a drink on a cruise has become a frill. They are charging $4.75 US for a beer on the ship, and $4.95 for a highball. Come on you get the bottle for $6-7 due free, and add a splash of Coke. Good thing I brought two 1.75 Liter bottles of Johnny Walker with me. As I am down to the bottom half of the second day I looks like I will make it.
On the frills thing they have taken away the trays in the buffet. So now you have to carry around your plates and cups without a tray. The official reason is that people with a cane cannot carry a tray. However the hotel manger reviled at the morning coffee and chat session that by taking way the trays it has cut down food consumption by 20%.
With Agnes out of commission I get dressed for tonight’s formal dinner and head out. It is great as usual.
Terry
I did my 105 minutes on the elliptical and headed down stairs to shower and get ready for breakfast. I caught up with Agnes on the Lido deck looking a bit green. This is really surprising as we have been on a lot of cruises and she has never been motion sick once.
Today was the big past passenger brunch so with Agnes out of commission I headed off to it by myself. It was great. Lots of wine with the meal and lots of nice words being said by the crew about how happy that we are all such good customers – Right!
This was only the second free drink of the cruise. One when you get on and here is a second one. I am really underwhelmed. It use to be that there was always a free drink being poured. The comedian the other day was talking about the airlines and what now constitutes a “frill” Looks like a drink on a cruise has become a frill. They are charging $4.75 US for a beer on the ship, and $4.95 for a highball. Come on you get the bottle for $6-7 due free, and add a splash of Coke. Good thing I brought two 1.75 Liter bottles of Johnny Walker with me. As I am down to the bottom half of the second day I looks like I will make it.
On the frills thing they have taken away the trays in the buffet. So now you have to carry around your plates and cups without a tray. The official reason is that people with a cane cannot carry a tray. However the hotel manger reviled at the morning coffee and chat session that by taking way the trays it has cut down food consumption by 20%.
With Agnes out of commission I get dressed for tonight’s formal dinner and head out. It is great as usual.
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 23 – Sea Day
After a week of activity every day, a day off is very welcome.
I sleep in and then go to the gym Thirty minutes on the elliptical trainer and thirty minute lifting weights is great. A hearty breakfast finishes the morning off .
In the afternoon is the ship’s King Neptune festival which celebrates the crossing of the equator. King Neptune is seated on a throne on the main deck and is presiding over punishing of Polly-Wogs (ship’s crew who have not crossed equator before). The crimes the crew have committed include over feeding the passengers, being to fastidious in the cleaning of the ship, to laziness, to making the ship do too fast. On the one side of King Neptune is the huge prehistoric looking cat fish which was typical of Amazon fish, resting on this block of ice. The punishment to the offenders is to “KISS THE FISH” , after which they are covered in this slimy foam and thrown into the pool. Totally hilarious! The ship did a great job.
This evening the ships entertainment is a stand up comedian. He tells a lot of funny jokes and has a great act.
As we venture further into the Atlantic the water is getting rougher and the ship is pitching quite a bit. Tomorrow could be trouble for a lot of people.
Terry
I sleep in and then go to the gym Thirty minutes on the elliptical trainer and thirty minute lifting weights is great. A hearty breakfast finishes the morning off .
In the afternoon is the ship’s King Neptune festival which celebrates the crossing of the equator. King Neptune is seated on a throne on the main deck and is presiding over punishing of Polly-Wogs (ship’s crew who have not crossed equator before). The crimes the crew have committed include over feeding the passengers, being to fastidious in the cleaning of the ship, to laziness, to making the ship do too fast. On the one side of King Neptune is the huge prehistoric looking cat fish which was typical of Amazon fish, resting on this block of ice. The punishment to the offenders is to “KISS THE FISH” , after which they are covered in this slimy foam and thrown into the pool. Totally hilarious! The ship did a great job.
This evening the ships entertainment is a stand up comedian. He tells a lot of funny jokes and has a great act.
As we venture further into the Atlantic the water is getting rougher and the ship is pitching quite a bit. Tomorrow could be trouble for a lot of people.
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 22 – Alter Do Chao Brazil
Today we are taking this trip up to Santa Lucia Arboretum. The ship has taken a side trip up this other branch of the river which is black water rather than the muddy brown of the Amazon. So we are at anchor at this little town of Alter Do Chao. It is a holiday resort town for the city of Santarem. Being the river is so low we are anchored miles out in the river and the tender ride is probably 20 minutes. The beaches there are fabulous and it is almost too bad we are taking this trip as it would be fun to just lie on the beach and swim in the river. The day is about 100 F, with bright sun shining down. A perfect beach day.
We board these ancient old buses for the one hour ride up to the Santa Lucia Arboretum. The Arboretum is up on this plateau well above the flood plane of the river. The buses have no AC and it is sweltering in the bus. Fortunately I get a window seat where the window opens. Once moving it isn’t too bad and I do my best dog imitation by hanging my head out of the window.
The Arboretum is this place in the jungle which has been set aside because of it unique vegetation, and huge variety of plants and trees. We see trees which are hundreds of years old and see a lot of different variety of plants. It is amazing how much diversity there is. The Brazil nut trees are 60 meters high and there are other huge palms and iron wood trees. The Brazil nut grows in this round hard pod with 5-8 nuts in side. We only see the nuts after the pod is gone. It was a great trip and we saw a lot more jungle. The trip back to town is much faster as the ancient old bus doesn’t have to labour up the hills.
Back on the beach we enjoy bartering with the locals for t-shirts, blow guns and other trinkets.
The ship leaves Brazil today but it will take us from 2:00 PM until 8:30 PM to clear the river and past midnight to get past the shallow bar at the mouth of the river.
What a great day!
Terry
We board these ancient old buses for the one hour ride up to the Santa Lucia Arboretum. The Arboretum is up on this plateau well above the flood plane of the river. The buses have no AC and it is sweltering in the bus. Fortunately I get a window seat where the window opens. Once moving it isn’t too bad and I do my best dog imitation by hanging my head out of the window.
The Arboretum is this place in the jungle which has been set aside because of it unique vegetation, and huge variety of plants and trees. We see trees which are hundreds of years old and see a lot of different variety of plants. It is amazing how much diversity there is. The Brazil nut trees are 60 meters high and there are other huge palms and iron wood trees. The Brazil nut grows in this round hard pod with 5-8 nuts in side. We only see the nuts after the pod is gone. It was a great trip and we saw a lot more jungle. The trip back to town is much faster as the ancient old bus doesn’t have to labour up the hills.
Back on the beach we enjoy bartering with the locals for t-shirts, blow guns and other trinkets.
The ship leaves Brazil today but it will take us from 2:00 PM until 8:30 PM to clear the river and past midnight to get past the shallow bar at the mouth of the river.
What a great day!
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 21 – Parintins
This morning the ship is anchored at a little town called Parintins. It has become some what famous for a couple of things. The first is that it was the site of a Microsoft experiment with a form of long range wi-fi. It supposedly covers mile rather than the typical 180 feet of the normal type of wi-fi. My machine can see it but can’t pull it in. I need and arial for my lap top. The second thing it is famous for is it puts on a Boi Bumba show. This is the dancing which is popular for the Rio festival. This show is kind of a warm up act for people who are hoping to get a spot in one of the big time
There isn’t much in the little town to see as there are only thirty thousand inhabitants and they are spread out over several square miles. So we have a leisurely lunch and then head off to the tenders into town. The town is putting on a special Boi Bumba show for the ship, and we have tickets. When we get there we see that everyone on the ship is already there and we are seated in the back. However we can still see the show so it isn’t so bad. What a show it is. The costumes are fabulous. Wild feathers and colourful patterns. Huge animals made of feathers and paper machete. The story is that the farmers pregnant wife falls in love with the landowners cow and then the farmer kills the cow. Big trouble then as the landowner isn’t very happy. However the witch doctor revives the cow and every body lives happily ever after. My Portuguese is not that great so I may have some of the details wrong on the story. But it was a great show and the dancing was out of this world.
After the show we wandered the little town before boarding the tender back to the ship. It is a very clean little town. The streets are paved and there are lots of shops selling goods made in China. We stop and look in this one shop which sells farm type implements. You can buy an amazing variety machete for the equivalent of $12.00. Or a marine diesel engine for $20,000.
Tomorrow we have our last stop on the river.
Terry
There isn’t much in the little town to see as there are only thirty thousand inhabitants and they are spread out over several square miles. So we have a leisurely lunch and then head off to the tenders into town. The town is putting on a special Boi Bumba show for the ship, and we have tickets. When we get there we see that everyone on the ship is already there and we are seated in the back. However we can still see the show so it isn’t so bad. What a show it is. The costumes are fabulous. Wild feathers and colourful patterns. Huge animals made of feathers and paper machete. The story is that the farmers pregnant wife falls in love with the landowners cow and then the farmer kills the cow. Big trouble then as the landowner isn’t very happy. However the witch doctor revives the cow and every body lives happily ever after. My Portuguese is not that great so I may have some of the details wrong on the story. But it was a great show and the dancing was out of this world.
After the show we wandered the little town before boarding the tender back to the ship. It is a very clean little town. The streets are paved and there are lots of shops selling goods made in China. We stop and look in this one shop which sells farm type implements. You can buy an amazing variety machete for the equivalent of $12.00. Or a marine diesel engine for $20,000.
Tomorrow we have our last stop on the river.
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 20 – Manaus Brazil Day 2
This morning it is pouring rain. And I mean pouring rain. Like it is a rain forest so what do you expect? This is the start of the rainy season so it is to be expected. How exactly you get a rainy season/dry season when you are on the equator I am not sure but they do.
We are headed off on this hour jungle tour today entitled “Off the beaten track”. It is suppose to show us jungle skills and little seen parts of the jungle. We depart the ship and it is a small group of 15 people who are on this tour. We are put onto this speed boat and head up river. The driver fly’s along at an unbelievieble speed considering that the visibility is almost zero due the heavy rain. Hitting a log or un-marked boat would have spelled disaster.
In about 40 minutes we are well up stream from Manaus and get off on the opposite bank. There is a jungle lodge there but it is not being used because of some sort of family dispute. There we meet our jungle guide “JR” who is an army jungle survival expert and he is to show us the secrets of the jungle.
As we trudge up a large hill away from the river we are immediately swallowed by the jungle. The pouring rain darkens the sky and there we are in the real jungle. A few minutes later we stop at small hole and JR pulls a huge tarantula out off the hole. It is at least 8 inches across. He shows us how blow guns are made, how to make a shelter from palm fronds. Don’t touch the trees they have spikes and bugs. You can’t see the spikes but when you rub against the tree the spikes pop up. Then JR rubs this other tree and banks it a couple of times with his machete and these huge scorpion ants (very deadly) appear. We see an amazing number of things that are in the jungle. Three hours later we slog out of the jungle soaked to the skin, and totally amazed at the things the jungle contains.
I have to say this was probably as close to the real thing as it comes.
Today the ship heads back down stream. We have a couple of more stops on the river. Wow what an adventure.
Terry
We are headed off on this hour jungle tour today entitled “Off the beaten track”. It is suppose to show us jungle skills and little seen parts of the jungle. We depart the ship and it is a small group of 15 people who are on this tour. We are put onto this speed boat and head up river. The driver fly’s along at an unbelievieble speed considering that the visibility is almost zero due the heavy rain. Hitting a log or un-marked boat would have spelled disaster.
In about 40 minutes we are well up stream from Manaus and get off on the opposite bank. There is a jungle lodge there but it is not being used because of some sort of family dispute. There we meet our jungle guide “JR” who is an army jungle survival expert and he is to show us the secrets of the jungle.
As we trudge up a large hill away from the river we are immediately swallowed by the jungle. The pouring rain darkens the sky and there we are in the real jungle. A few minutes later we stop at small hole and JR pulls a huge tarantula out off the hole. It is at least 8 inches across. He shows us how blow guns are made, how to make a shelter from palm fronds. Don’t touch the trees they have spikes and bugs. You can’t see the spikes but when you rub against the tree the spikes pop up. Then JR rubs this other tree and banks it a couple of times with his machete and these huge scorpion ants (very deadly) appear. We see an amazing number of things that are in the jungle. Three hours later we slog out of the jungle soaked to the skin, and totally amazed at the things the jungle contains.
I have to say this was probably as close to the real thing as it comes.
Today the ship heads back down stream. We have a couple of more stops on the river. Wow what an adventure.
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 19 – Manaus Brazil
This morning I got up for a little 5.5 mile run before the ship ties up in Manaus. We are headed off on this seven hour jungle tour today.
However before I start in to that I need to talk about this other thing which is that everything here is in Portuguese. So of course everything has huge tongue twister name. No 5-10 letter names! Everything has to have 25-50 letters and is totally unpronounceable. There is almost zero English. What the heck is wrong with these people any way?
There was a Dutch night aboard, and everyone had to wear these little Dutch hats. The men had these little black baseball type caps and the women these white hats with little wings on them. I am sure you have seen pictures. Normally I wear this black Nike running cap which is a baseball type of thing to keep the sun from burning me up. Just to keep it light I have taken to asking if it makes me look Dutch. (wooden shoes, wooden head, wooden listen).
Manaus is on the Negro River which is totally black compared to the Amazon which is brown. At Manaus the two rivers meet and become one. However they flow side by side for miles with this huge strip. The Negro river is black because of the decaying vegetation in the water, where as the Amazon has a lot of clay in it.
Ok back to the jungle tour. Again we get on the river boat and head off. After an hour boat ride we get to this little village where we walk though the jungle to this place where there are these huge lily pads. These lily pads are at least 3-4 feet across. It was pretty impressive. The rest of the jungle is pretty interesting. However it is kind of prepared for the tourists. So, no slogging though waist deep water and slashing down vines with a machete. Lots of interesting trees and stuff but it isn’t like the movies. Later we go on this canoe ride in the Amazon which was in fact pretty authentic.
It’s a hard life but some one has to do it.
Terry
However before I start in to that I need to talk about this other thing which is that everything here is in Portuguese. So of course everything has huge tongue twister name. No 5-10 letter names! Everything has to have 25-50 letters and is totally unpronounceable. There is almost zero English. What the heck is wrong with these people any way?
There was a Dutch night aboard, and everyone had to wear these little Dutch hats. The men had these little black baseball type caps and the women these white hats with little wings on them. I am sure you have seen pictures. Normally I wear this black Nike running cap which is a baseball type of thing to keep the sun from burning me up. Just to keep it light I have taken to asking if it makes me look Dutch. (wooden shoes, wooden head, wooden listen).
Manaus is on the Negro River which is totally black compared to the Amazon which is brown. At Manaus the two rivers meet and become one. However they flow side by side for miles with this huge strip. The Negro river is black because of the decaying vegetation in the water, where as the Amazon has a lot of clay in it.
Ok back to the jungle tour. Again we get on the river boat and head off. After an hour boat ride we get to this little village where we walk though the jungle to this place where there are these huge lily pads. These lily pads are at least 3-4 feet across. It was pretty impressive. The rest of the jungle is pretty interesting. However it is kind of prepared for the tourists. So, no slogging though waist deep water and slashing down vines with a machete. Lots of interesting trees and stuff but it isn’t like the movies. Later we go on this canoe ride in the Amazon which was in fact pretty authentic.
It’s a hard life but some one has to do it.
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 18 – Boca Da Valeria Brazil
This morning the ship is anchored in from of this tiny village, Boca Da Valeria of supposedly 80 people. The idea is that we get to see how the locals live. We are going to tender to the village. The residents are going to be out to greet the ship.
Well yes, the tenders are lowered and everyone is ferried over to the village. When we get there, there are maybe 200 kids and yah they are all real cute. Right! Every one of them is saying in very bad English “Dollar, Dollar”. Some of them have an iguana on a string, or a sloth, or are dressed in their festival costume and the idea is that you take their picture and then give them a dollar. One kid even had a large bug on a string. Mind you it was about 8 inches long. I would guess it was some sort of grass hopper type of bug.
So you walk up to the village which is a typical jungle village of 6-10 buildings on stilts and there is a little school, a little church and even a bar. What is unbelievable is that the average age of the people we saw was maybe 10. No old people. Very few adults and a lot of kids. So each adult has 10-20 kids or they were imported for this special occasion.
When, we have been on these sight seeing trips before we have always been told “Don’t give the kids money! It turns them into beggars.” Well that isn’t what was being done here. Don’t get me wrong I am all for helping the third world and all for helping these people find new ways of joining this century, etc. etc. However I am not sure that this was the right thing. Well, it was an interesting little side trip into something. I am not sure what. A few scotches and I am sure we could figure out what it all means.
After a wonderful meal in the dining room the third world is forgotten. My 10 oz NY strip was perfect. After supper was a bug hunt on the ship. As sun down is 6:20 Pm and it is dark (pitch dark) by 6:45, the ship is this huge brightly light object which attracts all manner of bugs. On deck I saw some moths with 6-8 inch wing spans and a thousand other bugs which go beyond description.
It’s a hard life but some one has to do it.
Terry
Well yes, the tenders are lowered and everyone is ferried over to the village. When we get there, there are maybe 200 kids and yah they are all real cute. Right! Every one of them is saying in very bad English “Dollar, Dollar”. Some of them have an iguana on a string, or a sloth, or are dressed in their festival costume and the idea is that you take their picture and then give them a dollar. One kid even had a large bug on a string. Mind you it was about 8 inches long. I would guess it was some sort of grass hopper type of bug.
So you walk up to the village which is a typical jungle village of 6-10 buildings on stilts and there is a little school, a little church and even a bar. What is unbelievable is that the average age of the people we saw was maybe 10. No old people. Very few adults and a lot of kids. So each adult has 10-20 kids or they were imported for this special occasion.
When, we have been on these sight seeing trips before we have always been told “Don’t give the kids money! It turns them into beggars.” Well that isn’t what was being done here. Don’t get me wrong I am all for helping the third world and all for helping these people find new ways of joining this century, etc. etc. However I am not sure that this was the right thing. Well, it was an interesting little side trip into something. I am not sure what. A few scotches and I am sure we could figure out what it all means.
After a wonderful meal in the dining room the third world is forgotten. My 10 oz NY strip was perfect. After supper was a bug hunt on the ship. As sun down is 6:20 Pm and it is dark (pitch dark) by 6:45, the ship is this huge brightly light object which attracts all manner of bugs. On deck I saw some moths with 6-8 inch wing spans and a thousand other bugs which go beyond description.
It’s a hard life but some one has to do it.
Terry
Amazon Adventure Day 17 – Santarem Brazil
I was up early in the morning to go piranha fishing. The most vicious dangerous fish in the entire world, and we are off to catch them. WOW! So the ship docks in the city of Santarem and a small river boat comes along side the Prinsendam and we get on the river boat.
I guess that I should back up a bit here and tell you a little bit about the situation. Forget those pictures of the Amazon you have seen where there is a little dug out canoe widing though the jungle. WRONG. The Amazon is huge. I mean really huge. It is some thing like 150 miles wide at the mouth and even though we are a couple of hundred miles inland at this point it is still something like 25 miles wide. So there are hundreds of these river boats which ply the river. Generally they are about 30 feet long, with two decks. The lower deck might have anything from cattle to passengers who sleep in hammocks. The top deck generally has plastic chairs. They are all painted white with blue trim.
At any rate we get on this boat and head off across the Amazon to this other river called the Tapajos River. Once on this river it is starting to feel like the pictures we were talking about earlier. Small little river with dug out canoes. However it is the end of dry season here so the river is at its very lowest. The river goes up by 25-30 meters from lowest to highest. So we are at the bottom of these huge river banks with the jungle way above us. There are several of the river boats in a line so I commented that it was kind of like the jungle safari ride at Disneyland. About 30 minutes up the river we pull over to start fishing. There are lots of bits but only one piranha is caught. Although the fish is quite small (6-8 inches) it has a huge set of teeth and I can see how a school of them could clean the meat off your bones in minutes.
Back on board the Prinsendam, it is Jim and Sandra’s 38 wedding anniversary. So we are going to the Pinnacle Grill which is this incredibly fancy restaurant on board. A quick shower to get cleaned up and we are off to eat. I have this 18 oz fillet mignon. It is maybe the best fillet mignon I have ever had. I won’t bore you with the rest of the details of the meal but let’s just give this place a five star rating.
It’s a hard life but some one has to do it.
Terry
I guess that I should back up a bit here and tell you a little bit about the situation. Forget those pictures of the Amazon you have seen where there is a little dug out canoe widing though the jungle. WRONG. The Amazon is huge. I mean really huge. It is some thing like 150 miles wide at the mouth and even though we are a couple of hundred miles inland at this point it is still something like 25 miles wide. So there are hundreds of these river boats which ply the river. Generally they are about 30 feet long, with two decks. The lower deck might have anything from cattle to passengers who sleep in hammocks. The top deck generally has plastic chairs. They are all painted white with blue trim.
At any rate we get on this boat and head off across the Amazon to this other river called the Tapajos River. Once on this river it is starting to feel like the pictures we were talking about earlier. Small little river with dug out canoes. However it is the end of dry season here so the river is at its very lowest. The river goes up by 25-30 meters from lowest to highest. So we are at the bottom of these huge river banks with the jungle way above us. There are several of the river boats in a line so I commented that it was kind of like the jungle safari ride at Disneyland. About 30 minutes up the river we pull over to start fishing. There are lots of bits but only one piranha is caught. Although the fish is quite small (6-8 inches) it has a huge set of teeth and I can see how a school of them could clean the meat off your bones in minutes.
Back on board the Prinsendam, it is Jim and Sandra’s 38 wedding anniversary. So we are going to the Pinnacle Grill which is this incredibly fancy restaurant on board. A quick shower to get cleaned up and we are off to eat. I have this 18 oz fillet mignon. It is maybe the best fillet mignon I have ever had. I won’t bore you with the rest of the details of the meal but let’s just give this place a five star rating.
It’s a hard life but some one has to do it.
Terry
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