Scenes from Boca da Valeria

Making this video has been a long time of trial and error for 

pictures and music. I won't go into details but will just post  

                                 it as it is. 

Boca da Valeri

Today we stopped at Boca da Valeri, a very small
village. The children like to walk you around and
expect a dollar for each photograph taken.


A House Visit

I heard someone talking about going into the
jungle and seeing some more houses (another
village or part of the same one?). I began walking
that way and a young lady came along and told
me her house was that way so I went with her.
I met her mother and there were two small
children.

Remember, we are in the jungle. Most houses
are built on stilts and are very open. From my
observation, they do well with what they have.
The house we visited had refrigerator and stove
but not much space for storage. But everything
was very clean.

Hammocks are widely used. I noticed several
at the house we visited, and a tarp or something
was rolled up which is probably lowered at
night. I wondered about that until someone said


it was probably needed for the rainy season.

The house (like others) is built open so breeze
Can flow. This house had a porch around half
Of the house and that was where they had
Refrigerator, stove, and an old fashioned
Sewing machine. It was also where they had
Two flat screen TV’s. I don’t remember is
There were doors to the bedrooms.
I never saw any bathrooms. At the same
Time there were no odors.

The people have their TV’s and cell phones,
But otherwise live simply.

It was a delightful day and will probably be one
of the highlights of the trip.

Views of Santarem

Santarem

Today we stopped at Santarem which is probably
a typical Amazon city. We took a cab into town and
visited the Cathedral which was nice but we are in
the jungle and elaborate churches are not the norm.
We walked through the market. As we were riding
into town I kept telling Foster we needed to take a
cab back, not because of the distance but because
of the heat. But hewas determined to walk back,
so we did. It was about two miles and carrying
umbrellas helped.

We saw a lot of local boats on the river walk. They
are often used as transportation along and
particularly across the river.

Santarem is actually on another river and we
had a really good view of the “meeting of the waters."

Malaca

After two days at sea with a stop at Devil’s Island
between we are at our first stop on the Amazon.
This is pretty much a commercial port and the
nearest town of interest is about 45 minutes
away so we decided to stay aboard.

Although it is hot and will stay that way,
there was a nice breeze so we sat on deck
for a while. We watched the taxi boats moving
people back and forth across the river. This
is a narrow part of the river where we can
easily see both sides.

Yesterday as we approached, the river the
water was already turning murky. It is murky
and muddy now. The rainy season hasn’t started
but we may get caught in some showers.

Thanksgiving on the Prinsendam

Protestants, Catholics, and Jews

Okay, so when was the last time we had dinner
with 2 priests and a rabbi and his wife? How about
tonight.

We are at a table for two adjacent to two other
tables for two. The rabbi’s wife showed up first
and we introduced ourselves and when I
asked about prior cruises, she told me she was the
rabbi’s wife and he and the two priests would be
Joining her for dinner.

The reason we have two priests is that the Monsignor
in charge of assignments to HAL made a mistake. Father
Joseph (who we ate with last night) was not assigned
to this trip but is assigned to the next one. When he
was preparing to leave, they told him just to stay on.

When the clergymen arrived, the rabbi saw down
beside his wife and the two priests were beside me.
Because of the way the tables are arranged, the
wait staff thought Father Joseph was with the
rabbi’s wife. We got a good laugh out of that.
We had a very enjoyable evening although I mostly
talked to Father Joseph and the rabbi’s wife because
it is hard to talk over people. I hope we have another
opportunity to visit with them.

Hooray for Tugboats

Did you think tug boats were obsolete? Not so.
They have come to our rescue on the last two trips.
I don’t remember where we were last time, but the
first tug couldn’t get us out so we had to wait for a
second one.

Last night we again called on a tug to get us out of
port. We were very close to “Annette”. It went by
the side we were sitting on and several minutes later
was back on our side giving help (As far as we knot
Ii was same tug).

There are some islands in the Caribbean we have
not been to. Today we marked another off the list -
Guadalupe. Our ship (less than 1000 passengers)
is the largest one that stops there. We had to anchor
pretty far out – over a 10 minute ride. Guadalupe
Is still not overrun by tourists and we walked around
town and into a local neighborhood. Houses were
small but nice.

The last two nights we have had the same couple
sitting next to us at dinner. The first night I told the
lady she reminded me very much of a friend (A
wonderful lady from our church who is in charge
of missions). The couple's name are Jean and Ken-
should be able to remember that. A priest was seated
on the other side of Jean. He was very interesting
and funny.

Annette

The ship docked next to us in St. Thomas  has
a small yacht on the stern. Lucky person.
The main reason it (the ship) got my attention
is its name “Annette”.

It was really hot and humid this morning but
around noon there was a nice breeze and it
was nice sitting in the shade.

On Our Way

We were over 3 hours late leaving because of
lots of “stores” to load. We cannot just pick up
food along the way. On a previous trip we were
told that any ship originating in an American port
must have USDA food. If provisions are needed along
the way, they must be flown in.

The weather is warm but breezy.
I think we can safely expect it to be hot for the next
four weeks