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Published: March 8th 2023
Santarem Highlights Shore Excursion – Santarem, Brazil
One of Several Cargo Ships We Observed from the TenderEn route to Santarem, Brazil, our port of call on Thursday, March 2, 2023, we spent two days cruising the Amazon River. Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure of EXACTLY what river we were cruising because Belém, our last port of call, is on the banks of the Pará River. Wikipedia says Belém is “part of the greater Amazon River system” and is “the gateway to the Amazon River” but is technically not ON the Amazon River. The “Amazon basin” is that part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about 2.4 million square miles, or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent, and is located in portions of eight countries – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Most of the basin, Amazonia, is covered by the Amazon rainforest, and, at 2.1 million square miles, is the largest rainforest in the world. The Amazon River begins in the Andes Mountains of Peru and flows a length of about 4,000 miles before it drains into the Atlantic Ocean. Without question, it is one of the two longest rivers in the world. Arguably, it is
the longest. A team of scientists has claimed that the Amazon is longer than the Nile, but debate about its exact length continues. Indeed, an argument of concern only to scientists and tourism bureaus! The Amazon system transports the largest volume of water of any river system, accounting for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers. Interestingly, the Amazon basin formerly flowed west and into the Pacific Ocean! Over time, the uplifting of the Andes Mountains caused the waters of the basin to flow eastward and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Santarem, Brazil, a city and municipality in the western part of the state of Pará and located at the confluence of the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers, was founded by Portuguese colonists in 1661 . Before the Portuguese arrived, it was home to the Tapajós Indians, after whom the river was named. The Tapajós were the leaders of a large, agricultural chiefdom that flourished before the arrival of Europeans. Santarem is the second-most important city in the state and is the financial and economic center of western Pará. It is located some 500 miles from the two largest cities in the Brazilian Amazon: Manaus, upriver
Santarem Highlights Shore Excursion – Santarem, Brazil
The Erection of Makeshift Tourist “Shopping Opportunities” at the Pier Is Commonplace in the state of Amazonas, and Belém, located downriver at the junction of the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean. With an estimated 2020 population of 306,480 people, Santarém is the third most populous city in the state of Pará. Again, Santarém is bordered by both the Amazon and the Tapajós rivers. Both run in the front of the city, side by side, without mixing. The Amazon's brown, milky water carries sediment from the Andes in the East, while the Tapajós's water carries less sediment, is somewhat warmer and has a deep-blue tone. This phenomenon is called "the meeting of the waters" by locals.
Wanting to experience the communities we visited, I booked the
Santarem Highlights shore excursion. From the Holland America web site: “This tour provides a glimpse into the life and times of Santarém -- one of the Amazon’s most vital ports after Manaus and Belém -- with a history that dates back to 1661. While Santarém’s most important function is that of a local trading center rather than a tourist hotspot, it offers visitors some interesting sights and locales. Begin your tour with a drive along the bustling waterfront. Boats are the primary mode of transportation
Santarem Highlights Shore Excursion – Santarem, Brazil
We Were Greeted at the Demonstration Farm with a Dancing Demo in the Amazon. You will see cargo, produce and passenger vessels in various shapes and conditions. In the town center, you’ll stop at the Municipal Market and at Fisherman’s Square. Visit the Cathedral of Our Lady Conceicao -- the oldest building in Santarém. The church boasts a crucifix donated in 1846 by German scientist Frederic Von Martius, who was a member of Münich Academy of Science. Next, visit the Joao Fona Museum, which is housed in the old Town Hall. It is surrounded by the narrow streets of the Old Town and, inside, features a fine collection of ancient Tapajos ceramics. There are also various 19th-century artifacts and publications on display here. From a nearby lookout point, you can observe the Meeting of the Waters, where the muddy Amazon Rvier and the blue waters of the Rio Tapajós flow side by side for many miles before their distinctive colors eventually combine. This natural phenomenon is a great euphemism for the character of the city itself, where different cultures co-exist discretely but harmoniously. A short drive into the countryside brings you to an old manioc flour factory. You’ll see a variety of native trees, including rubber trees, and a brief demonstration
Santarem Highlights Shore Excursion – Santarem, Brazil
Our Tour Guide Told Us About Several Species of Local Flora shows you how latex is extracted. Head back to Santarém and the ship. Notes: Wear light clothing, a hat, sunscreen and comfortable walking shoes. Afternoon visits to the fish market are purely informational. Minimum age is 10 years. Tour involves walking over uneven ground for approximately 200 yards during the visit to the flour factory; around 20 minutes of walking in the Town Hall Museum; and 10 minutes in the cathedral, plus 8-12 steps. Transportation is by basic local bus. Air-conditioned vehicles are not available in Santarém.”
First, there were approximately ten busloads of Holland America passengers for the
Santarem Highlights tour. I don’t recall ever having more than about 4 or 5 busloads before. The first order of business for our tour guide was the itinerary, which varied from that cited in the descriptor above to prevent a bus-jam at any of the tour destinations. Next, I recently posted that one of my tour guides had one of the two best English language skills of all of the tour guides I have had on the cruise. That number of tour guides with excellent English language skills has now increased to three. Our first stop would be a demonstration
Santarem Highlights Shore Excursion – Santarem, Brazil
Scoring the Bark of the Rubber Tree Causes It to “Bleed” the Milk Used to Make Rubber farm where three major topics were explained. We learned about rubber trees and the harvesting of rubber milk, about the cassava plant whose poisonous roots are used to make manioc flour and, after processing, tapioca and about the harvesting of Brazil nuts.
The Brazil nut is a large tree, reaching 164 feet tall with a trunk 3–7 feet in diameter. It is among the largest of trees in the Amazon rainforest and may live for up to 1,000 years. The fruit of the Brazil nut tree Is a large capsule resembling a coconut (4-6 inches in diameter and weighing up to 4.5 pounds) which contains 8–24 wedge-shaped seeds (the "Brazil nuts") that are 1.5–2 inches long and packed into the capsule like segments of an orange. The fruit takes 14 months to mature after pollination of the flowers. The lumber from Brazil nut trees (not to be confused with Brazilwood) is of excellent quality, having diverse uses from flooring to heavy construction. Logging of the trees is now prohibited by law in all ithree producing countries (Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru); however, Illegal extraction of timber and land clearing present continuing threats. Our demonstration farm tour concluded with a tasting
Santarem Highlights Shore Excursion – Santarem, Brazil
The Solidified, Partially Dried Milk Is Elastic and Rubbery – Go Figure of fruits, nuts and cassava plant products.
I took about 1.5 zillion photographs at the demonstration farm and don’t have the knowledge or memory to provide accurate, meaningful labels for each, so I will include those I think you will find interesting and hope you enjoy them. As an aside, Bill Gates decided to update my operating system and my photo viewing software. I now have my name emblazoned in the lower right corner of each photograph I have taken. Thanks, Bill, but no thanks. I’ll deal with that when I get home.
Out next stop was the fish market. The tour description says, “Afternoon visits to the fish market are purely informational.” Well, our visit was very close to “purely informational” as many of the vendors were cleaning equipment and preparing to close for the day. Again, I made no record of the various species of fish I photographed so I’ll present the pictures for face value – the processes happening in a Brazilian fish market and pictures of fish you might never have seen before. Our third stop was Cathedral of Our Lady Conceicao. Mass was underway so we couldn’t visit the interior, but we did
take a peek through the open doors. As cathedrals go, this one was quite plain and nondescript. Our fourth and final stop was at the Old Town Hall Building (the Joao Fona Museum). Both the building and the story are interesting, but I’ll spare you the story. The demonstration farm tour was the highlight of this tour. The fish market was interesting, but, honestly, I could have done without the cathedral and the museum. Our tour guide was fantastic but, remember, your tour guide is a coin flip!
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