This Was Not Part of the Plan

Journal Entry
Belem, Brazil
June 26, 1985

This is the first day of our trip up the Amazon.  I don’t know exactly how far we’ll get but hopefully we’ll make it as far as Iquitos, Peru. Our plan is to make our way west to the Galapagos Islands off the shore of Ecuador.

We’re leaving tonight at 10:00 P.M. on the Terra Santa, a small cargo boat that is going as far as Santarem. It will take two days to arrive, which is a tolerable initiation to Amazon travel. We didn’t come to South America thinking, “let’s do the Amazon” but we have to be frugal after 6 months of trekking through South America. Our friends in Goiana said this is the cheapest way.

The captain, who seems to have a permanent smile on his face, invited us for coffee and crackers while he explained that boats leave from Santarem to Manaus every day. He charged us 500 cruzeiros for David and me, while my 5 year-old daughter Dawn travels for free. The exchange rate is 10.67 cruzeiros to the dollar, so it’s costing us about $47 for two days of transportation, accommodations and food.

The Terra Santa looks old and creaks a lot. Oh boy. Our “accommodations” are actually two hooks from which to hang our rêdes (hammocks). Women and children hang theirs at one end of the boat while the men hang theirs at the other end, supposedly for security. There are at least 100 rêdes on deck. A sign on the wall claims a capacity of 190 people though I can’t imagine where another 90 could fit.

I must have seemed confused as I looked out over the maze of rêdes as David made his way to the men’s end of the boat. The kind captain with the permanent smile came over and led Dawn and me to the front of the boat where he said, “it’s less noisy, stinky and hot.” Kind man.

We skipped dinner because it didn’t look too appetizing. We’re a bit concerned because they’re cooking the food in café au lait colored Amazon water. Luckily we picked up some fruit and peanuts in town and ate our improvised first meal on board sitting on the floor under a rainbow of rêdes.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Filed under: Amazon, Travel on June 28th, 2020 Comments Off on Up the Amazon ’85

Amazon River, Brazil June 1976

The Amazing Happening

My first clue that something amazing was about to happen was the bizarre rapid fire sound of clicks and whistles. A pink dolphin breached out of the café au lait colored water slicing through the dense humidity the air. Another pink dolphin surfaced behind the first one then another and another.

My husband David, my daughter Dawn and I jumped from our hammocks and rushed to the side of the cargo boat. Had we really seen what we thought we’d just seen? No way!

We had never even heard of fresh water dolphins, much less pink ones.

Several primrose colored dolphins continued swimming beside us. After the excitement was over I scraped my jaw off the deck and began talking to the locals questions about this phenomenon. What we heard took the expression “tall tale” to a whole new level.

Read More…

Filed under: Amazon, Travel on November 7th, 2015 Comments Off on Amazon River Mermaids

1976 Amazon River – We decided hitching cargo boats up the Amazon was the cheapest way to cross the continent. It took one month and 5 boats. We figured if our relationship could survive this, it could survive anything – and it has.

Filed under: Amazon, Travel on August 27th, 2015 Comments Off on Up the Amazon ’76