From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Subject: Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Santarem, Brazil
This is our last stop on the Amazon. We got here at about 7:00 in the morning and the ship was tied up, cleared by customs, and ready to disgorge us by about 8:30.
This was another town whose highlights were nothing,or maybe less. However, it does sit on the conflux of some huge rivers. We took a tour on one of those double decked, river queen type boats. It picked us up right across the dock from the ship. We did have to walk through another river boat to get onto this one.
Our guide was very knowledgeable but we heard very little. The speaker system was far too soft for the loud engines and the guide had a speech impediment.
One thing we are still not sure, is where his ancestors came from. It sounded like he said they were Jews from Morocco. There were Jesuits in the area that were early settlers and he did mention Jesuits several times. We had decided he must have said Jesuits from Morocco. Later when we got back to the ship, we see there is
A Hebrew word written in large letters, in a booklet he was selling. Now we are really confused.
Again, the tour took us to a spot where two different rivers and different waters met. There was a big difference in colors here too. The big river boat took us down some very tiny and shallow waterways that had been dry land just a month ago. It got to be very deep jungle. Excuse me. We have been informed, by the Mariner’s on board expert, that the word jungle is no longer
politically correct. Jungle congers up evil, dangerous and foreboding thoughts. The correct term is now, rain forest. Same definition, more beautiful thoughts. Okay. More bull.
The guide kept calling out the different birds we saw as we went along. He was calling the Snowy Egrets, Snowy Egrets, jut as we do back home. We saw some very large Iguanas and a few birds I don’t think we see in Florida. However, the day we left from Ft. Lauderdale, was supposed to be the coldest day in five years.
The Miami area is overloaded with Iguanas that were let loose and have over populated since they have no natural enemies. When it got really cold, these things were falling out of trees and bushes as if it were raining Iguanas. If you go for a boat ride into the Everglades, you will see hundreds or maybe thousands of birds in the same amount of time. You will also see dozens of Alligators. Twelve to fifteen foot long alligators are not uncommon. The Cayman here, only get to be about eight feet and we never saw any. They hide. Alligators don’t care if you see them.
It was still a very interesting ride through this RAIN FOREST. We got so close to the sides that we were hitting branches of trees. We saw locals fishing in small canoes and we saw many houses and live stock farms abandoned because of the high waters. At times I knew the captain was pulling the boat out of gear so we could break our way across areas of fallen trees and other heavy plants. Every once in awhile he would have to throw the engines in reverse and gun them to remove the build up of foreign objects from the propellers.
After a while the captain put the nose of the boat into a grass bank and they got out the fishing gear. Just like the last time were here, eight years ago, they were handing us hand lines bated with beef. This time there was clear monofilament line rather then the string we were given in the past. That last time we were the only boat fishing. This time I think there eight and all not far away. We were fishing for Paraná in the shallows. There were very few caught, three I think. They were all tiny except the last one. It was just small. The last time we caught a bunch and many more chewed off 
the line before we could get them aboard. I think the monofilament was too slippery for them to bite off or we didn’t get enough hits to give them a chance. At any rate, they released all that were caught. The guide did tell us stories of witnessing people getting eaten by these Parana. One when the dummy went swimming while they were cleaning fish at the rear of the boat and another where someone got cut as they fell into the river.
It really was a very pleasant ride through the rain forest jungle. These things I would do again. Maybe I will hire an air boat in the glades when we get back. It is a great way to spend a day.
We got back to the ship by about 12:30 and at about 1:00 PM we were moving down the river while we had lunch. Speaking of food, Richard Fenn, the hotel manager, obviously didn’t get enough of us the last time and has sent an invitation to join him for dinner again tonight. I would hate to see a grown man cry, besides he orders some really good expensive wine. So I said okay. Just this one last time.
Date: Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Subject: Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Santarem, Brazil
This is our last stop on the Amazon. We got here at about 7:00 in the morning and the ship was tied up, cleared by customs, and ready to disgorge us by about 8:30.This was another town whose highlights were nothing,or maybe less. However, it does sit on the conflux of some huge rivers. We took a tour on one of those double decked, river queen type boats. It picked us up right across the dock from the ship. We did have to walk through another river boat to get onto this one.
Our guide was very knowledgeable but we heard very little. The speaker system was far too soft for the loud engines and the guide had a speech impediment.One thing we are still not sure, is where his ancestors came from. It sounded like he said they were Jews from Morocco. There were Jesuits in the area that were early settlers and he did mention Jesuits several times. We had decided he must have said Jesuits from Morocco. Later when we got back to the ship, we see there is
A Hebrew word written in large letters, in a booklet he was selling. Now we are really confused.Again, the tour took us to a spot where two different rivers and different waters met. There was a big difference in colors here too. The big river boat took us down some very tiny and shallow waterways that had been dry land just a month ago. It got to be very deep jungle. Excuse me. We have been informed, by the Mariner’s on board expert, that the word jungle is no longer
politically correct. Jungle congers up evil, dangerous and foreboding thoughts. The correct term is now, rain forest. Same definition, more beautiful thoughts. Okay. More bull.The guide kept calling out the different birds we saw as we went along. He was calling the Snowy Egrets, Snowy Egrets, jut as we do back home. We saw some very large Iguanas and a few birds I don’t think we see in Florida. However, the day we left from Ft. Lauderdale, was supposed to be the coldest day in five years.
The Miami area is overloaded with Iguanas that were let loose and have over populated since they have no natural enemies. When it got really cold, these things were falling out of trees and bushes as if it were raining Iguanas. If you go for a boat ride into the Everglades, you will see hundreds or maybe thousands of birds in the same amount of time. You will also see dozens of Alligators. Twelve to fifteen foot long alligators are not uncommon. The Cayman here, only get to be about eight feet and we never saw any. They hide. Alligators don’t care if you see them.It was still a very interesting ride through this RAIN FOREST. We got so close to the sides that we were hitting branches of trees. We saw locals fishing in small canoes and we saw many houses and live stock farms abandoned because of the high waters. At times I knew the captain was pulling the boat out of gear so we could break our way across areas of fallen trees and other heavy plants. Every once in awhile he would have to throw the engines in reverse and gun them to remove the build up of foreign objects from the propellers.After a while the captain put the nose of the boat into a grass bank and they got out the fishing gear. Just like the last time were here, eight years ago, they were handing us hand lines bated with beef. This time there was clear monofilament line rather then the string we were given in the past. That last time we were the only boat fishing. This time I think there eight and all not far away. We were fishing for Paraná in the shallows. There were very few caught, three I think. They were all tiny except the last one. It was just small. The last time we caught a bunch and many more chewed off the line before we could get them aboard. I think the monofilament was too slippery for them to bite off or we didn’t get enough hits to give them a chance. At any rate, they released all that were caught. The guide did tell us stories of witnessing people getting eaten by these Parana. One when the dummy went swimming while they were cleaning fish at the rear of the boat and another where someone got cut as they fell into the river.It really was a very pleasant ride through the rain forest jungle. These things I would do again. Maybe I will hire an air boat in the glades when we get back. It is a great way to spend a day.
We got back to the ship by about 12:30 and at about 1:00 PM we were moving down the river while we had lunch. Speaking of food, Richard Fenn, the hotel manager, obviously didn’t get enough of us the last time and has sent an invitation to join him for dinner again tonight. I would hate to see a grown man cry, besides he orders some really good expensive wine. So I said okay. Just this one last time.
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