Blogs from Santarém, Pará, Brazil, South America

I’m currently sitting on a boat in the tiny port of Santarem, a town in the state of Para on the banks of the Amazon River, halfway through a 6 day boat journey that is taking me nearly 2000kms from Belem on the coast of Brazil to Manaus in the midst of the jungle. It’s an epic voyage which has challenged every sense I possess … the noise of the constant forrá music blaring out of the distorted speakers for 15 hours a day, the smell of the blocked toilets and full septic tanks, the taste of the daily repetitive meal of chicken, rice, pasta and potatoes – all in one dish.(its carbs all the way to the toilet), the touch of other people as they bang into you lying in your hammock like an anthropoidal ... read more

De retour a Santarem, nous avons pris nos billets pour le bateau pour Manaus partant le lendemain apres midi. Ca nous laissait une journee pour se balader dans le centre. Il faisait tellement chaud qu´on s´est pose a une terrace pour savourer quelques 'sucos', les fameux jus de fruits exotiques venus tout droit de l´Amazonie. On s´est balade parmi les marches, toujours tres animes. Beaucoup de poissons fraichement peches sur les etalages, tellement enormes qu´il ferait palir plus d´un pecheur! Par contre l´odeur avec la chaleur... L´equipage du bateau nous a gentiment laisse installer nos hamacs le soir, on donc pu dormir sur le bateau ce qui nous a economise une nuit d´hotel. Depart le lendemain prevu a 1heures de l´apres midi.... read more

Apres 3 longs jours de bateau, nous voici enfin arrives a Santarem, ville au milieu de l´Amazonie. On a saute dans le bus direction Alter do Chao, village sur les bords de l´Amazone, repute pour ses plages de sables blancs. Nous avons trouve un genre de camping - auberge ou nous avons installe nos hamacs. Et oui, on commence a prendre les habitudes locales! C´est un village tres calme, pas grand chose a faire, si ce n´est qu´admirer les plages qui se decouvrent au moment de la saison seche (de juin a janvier). Nous avons rencontre un Bresilier, Roberto, qui nous propose de nous emmener dans le parc national de Flona ou habitent quelques civilisations d´indiens. Il a sa famille toujours la bas dans la foret. 3 heures de bateau plus tard (le bateau, une coquille ... read more

But we're 700km from the sea !!! in Alter do Chao a beach resort in the Amazon, the sand is soft and white, the sky blue, but instead of the sea we have the Rio Tapajos, a tributary of the Amazon. It's a great place, very slow, relaxed and chilled out. And because the river is dark coloured water it's relatively acidic so there are no mosquitoes !!!! yeah !!! The place we're staying is great, a few hundred metres from the town centre set amongst trees and run by an ageing hippy who now wants to move deeper into the forest because Alter has become too busy !!!! We spent most of the day in the sunshine on the beach, which we had almost to ourselves - great. We watched the sunset with beer from ... read more

I can't sleep again. And the internet is working a little better than it has been. So... We met an artisan here that makes goods for tourists. He trades with the indigenous peoples of the area for animal skeletons, hides, woods, etc. and then he makes stuff out of it. Knife handles and stuff for blow dart guns, keychains, necklaces, etc. He took us to the zoo and fed us lunch at his place. We bought some things from him. The zoo here is awesome. Dirt roads in the middle of a preserve. Only part of the preserve is the zoo, the rest is... well its preserved, noone goes there. It is owned by a University. We pet a tiny Jaguar, tortured some monkeys with a latex glove (they are afraid of white gloves), saw some ... read more

The title: That is something that Kelly (the little girl on the bus from Maraba to Belem) said to us at one point. I don't know what it means, but it makes me happy. ---------- quick tour of nastiness I have stepped in on the trip while not paying attention 1: Sick Dog (hopefully) Poo 2: Filthy Flood Sludge- Ok, this one needs some explanation... the gutters here have nastiness flowing through them 24 hours a day. The water is white, with a sort of brown film that builds up in places. It has white hairy stuff growing in it as well as lots of algae. The sludge underneath this beautiful cascade is slimy and I sank ankle deep into it after going shin deep in the water. 3: Kicked a dead rotting thing 4: A ... read more

I am in Santarem after 3 days on a boat. We got here two days ago and the ground still feels like its moving when I walk. This place is incredible and way flooded. They have 15 meters more river than they are supposed to, we went in a canoe today and entire trees were underwater... we paddled the canoe to a restaurant we were not supposed to be able to paddle to. And from the water stains on some of the buildings here it looks as though they probably had about one more meter in the past. I will give detailed accounts of things later, but this is probably this nicest place we have visited thus far and one of the most comfortable (and cheapest) hotel we have stayed in thus far. Below is a ... read more