Day 53 of 67. 14 days to home.
We arrived her around 3.00 in the afternoon. The odd time is a result of navigational issues, tides and distances between ports. The early part of the day sort of wasted away, it was too hot to walk outside and the anticipation of the late visit sort of took the edge off the day.
As soon as we docked we four were off then ship onto a shuttle that took us about two miles to the other side of the town of 110,000 people. There were no really ugly skyscrapers here, but not much of interest either.
It is obviously not a tourist destination, that is good, but as a result we just saw a typical uninteresting medium sized town without anything spectacular about it.
The most memorable thing today was the heat. Where we went really depended upon where the shade was. The market, which we all love to stroll had an endless supply of hammocks, rucksacks and simple household items, many ankle socks etc. This was not a tourist market. The fish market was shut, too bad, as that is always interesting.
We did come across the odd kiosk directed to us tourists, with blowguns, masks, stuffed piranha fish and catfish and the like. Jim succumbed to a catfish purchase, we restricted ours to some giant fish scales to be used for finger nail honing. We also bought some crayons to give to some kids along the way in the next day or so.
It was a short day, a hot day but not the most interesting on the trip so far. We did not have a meal ashore, just two Fantas and Jim and I split a beer.
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A tender ride tomorrow morning to a little place called Boca da Valeria where there are no organized tours, we hope to visit a local village by small boat while there. Short stay there, we head upstream at 2.00 PM, heading to Manaus.
Those are boats that go up and down the Amazon. The lower level is for cargo, the upper decks are for people. They swing their hammock in the decks and that is where they sleep, day or night as the ship moves along and stops at little settlements, villages or individual homes.
Welcome dancers as we went ashore. Could be Mexico eh?
Anything to get around...
Seeking refuge from the heat. I asked the sock vendor to stay there, with sign language.
I have a theory that those cardboard pieces are 'rented' on site by a person who 'owns' that stretch of road. I suspect that nasty things may happen to your parked car if you do not 'rent' his cardboard.
Fellette waiting for me under a lovely fruit tree of some sort. Mango?
Lots of tourist stuff in this specialty shop. Some of the merchandise is available on the street as well, often at lower prices.
One of those Amazon boats docked near our ship. I imagine they are quite safe, they just look a bit dodgy.
Dried, mounted and varnished piranha, $10.00 each.
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