Getting ready to go home soon
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Devil’s Island, French Guiana – arrived March 17th
We absolutely loved this place. Devil’s Island is really a group of 3 Islands off the coast of French Guyana. The island we went to is called Ile Royale, which is the island used as a French penal colony from 1852 until 1946. Today the prison has been phased out but many of the buildings still remain; some in crumbling disrepair and some having been renovated and used for other purposes. The dichotomy between the extreme beauty of this place and it extreme history made this an even more exciting and fun day.
This is truly a tropical paradise. Visitors are free to walk the grounds and inspect the buildings. On the ship we were given a map with a walking tour in English, as most of the signs are in French. Most of the buildings are built on top of the island and we had to walk up quite a lot of steps to get there. The views from above were breathtaking. There was a small museum that was mostly in French but we could get an idea of what the prison looked like in its heyday. There was a small hotel with a nice bar and gift shop and since it was a hot day and we stopped to have a drink before starting our exploration. We walked through the solitary and condemned prisoner cells and it gave us an eerie feeling. There was a small chapel, a lighthouse, a children’s cemetery, a hospital, convent/maternity ward and wardens’ quarters. There were roosters crowing constantly and chickens running everywhere; parrots, monkeys and agoutis were all free to roam the island. A barnyard held mother sows suckling their pigs. There is a small military unit stationed here so this is a working farm as well.
On the far side of the island the shore is rocky and wild and the surf is swift. It was great to be able to walk the island with no fear of muggings, falling in sidewalk holes or people begging us for money or to buy their wares. It was just a lovely day.
This is truly a tropical paradise. Visitors are free to walk the grounds and inspect the buildings. On the ship we were given a map with a walking tour in English, as most of the signs are in French. Most of the buildings are built on top of the island and we had to walk up quite a lot of steps to get there. The views from above were breathtaking. There was a small museum that was mostly in French but we could get an idea of what the prison looked like in its heyday. There was a small hotel with a nice bar and gift shop and since it was a hot day and we stopped to have a drink before starting our exploration. We walked through the solitary and condemned prisoner cells and it gave us an eerie feeling. There was a small chapel, a lighthouse, a children’s cemetery, a hospital, convent/maternity ward and wardens’ quarters. There were roosters crowing constantly and chickens running everywhere; parrots, monkeys and agoutis were all free to roam the island. A barnyard held mother sows suckling their pigs. There is a small military unit stationed here so this is a working farm as well.
On the far side of the island the shore is rocky and wild and the surf is swift. It was great to be able to walk the island with no fear of muggings, falling in sidewalk holes or people begging us for money or to buy their wares. It was just a lovely day.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Manaus and Parintins in the Amazon
We were scheduled to dock in Manaus on Friday morning but the captain came on the PA and told us that there was a dispute between the Brazilian Navy and the harbormaster and we weren’t allowed to dock or anchor until they had had a meeting to sort it all out. We didn’t have anything scheduled to do until evening so we just sat and waited. Around noon we were told we could drop anchor and start tender operations and maybe we could dock sometime that afternoon. Jan and Karen were the only ones at that point who were motivated to go ashore. When they returned they reported that Karen’s gold necklace had been yanked off her neck and stolen and the place wasn’t worth the visit. That night we had a tour scheduled. At 6:30 we were still anchored so we had to take a tender to our meeting point, where we got into a river boat for an hour’s ride to Lake January. There we boarded canoes, 10 people to a boat, and ventured into small channels looking for alligators. It was eerie and scary. I was way overdressed because we had been warned that there would be lots of big mosquitoes, so I was soaking wet and silently cursing the person (Jan) who had wanted to book this tour. Finally our guide found a cayman, which is similar to an alligator, and it turned out to be very small, about 1 ½ years old. He held it and told us all about it and let us hold it if we wanted to (I didn’t). He said it would grow to be about 9 feet long. We made our way back through the grasses, reeds and lily pads to our river boat for the ride back. It was very pretty and a lot cooler as we rode back watching the city lights and lightning in the distance. And best of all, the Prinsendam had docked while we were gone so we just got off the boat straight onto the ship.
We spent the night in Manaus so the next day the four of us decided to get off the ship and go to look for a grocery store to stock up on wine and pop. Remembering that Karen had had her necklace stolen the day before, we were extra cautious as we walked the streets. The city was filthy, crowded, and incredibly noisy. Not to mention hot and humid. We walked for several blocks and finally found a grocery store which was huge and quite interesting. Then we had to haul our heavy bags back through the hot, dirty, noisy throngs of people. Back on the ship the “buzz” was about a colony of bees that had swarmed and made their home on the side of the ship and around a ladder. It looked like a carpet of bees and it was amazing. They stayed overnight and miraculously the next afternoon they were gone. I hope you can see it in the picture. That evening we bid a not so fond farewell to Manaus!
Our final stop in the Amazon was Parintins. And guess what? It was HOT. We had to take a tender into town. This was, thankfully, a very small town and it was Sunday so most things were closed and it wasn’t crowded. There were some souvenirs shops open and a few booths selling the same stuff we had been looking at for a week, so we really weren’t very interested in shopping. We found an outdoor restaurant and had a beer, even though it was just after noon. All over town there were men offering to give rides on a contraption that was a sort of buggy driven by a bicycle and we decided that we’d had enough walking and would try one of those. We hired 3 of them and off we went to explore the town. I felt sorry for those guys working so hard. It was incredible to see their stamina in that heat. The ride lasted about 30 minutes and we saw most of what there was to see there, which wasn’t much, but it was fun anyway.
I think most everyone is ready to leave Brazil and the Amazon behind. Now we’re on our way to our next stop, Devil’s Island, French Guiana.
Below are pictures of both stops.
We spent the night in Manaus so the next day the four of us decided to get off the ship and go to look for a grocery store to stock up on wine and pop. Remembering that Karen had had her necklace stolen the day before, we were extra cautious as we walked the streets. The city was filthy, crowded, and incredibly noisy. Not to mention hot and humid. We walked for several blocks and finally found a grocery store which was huge and quite interesting. Then we had to haul our heavy bags back through the hot, dirty, noisy throngs of people. Back on the ship the “buzz” was about a colony of bees that had swarmed and made their home on the side of the ship and around a ladder. It looked like a carpet of bees and it was amazing. They stayed overnight and miraculously the next afternoon they were gone. I hope you can see it in the picture. That evening we bid a not so fond farewell to Manaus!
Our final stop in the Amazon was Parintins. And guess what? It was HOT. We had to take a tender into town. This was, thankfully, a very small town and it was Sunday so most things were closed and it wasn’t crowded. There were some souvenirs shops open and a few booths selling the same stuff we had been looking at for a week, so we really weren’t very interested in shopping. We found an outdoor restaurant and had a beer, even though it was just after noon. All over town there were men offering to give rides on a contraption that was a sort of buggy driven by a bicycle and we decided that we’d had enough walking and would try one of those. We hired 3 of them and off we went to explore the town. I felt sorry for those guys working so hard. It was incredible to see their stamina in that heat. The ride lasted about 30 minutes and we saw most of what there was to see there, which wasn’t much, but it was fun anyway.
I think most everyone is ready to leave Brazil and the Amazon behind. Now we’re on our way to our next stop, Devil’s Island, French Guiana.
Below are pictures of both stops.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Amazon – March 9th – March 15th
We’ve now been cruising the Amazon for a week. We’ve gone from the beautiful blue Atlantic Ocean to the brown waters of the Amazon. There are times when the river is so wide that we can’t see the shore and other times when the shore is only a few feet from the ship. The water’s depth, the currents and Brazilian politics have all affected our schedule.
Our first stop along the Amazon was Santarem. It was sunny and 95 degrees. Here we saw a unique natural phenomenon called “the meeting of the waters”. The Amazon and Tapajos rivers run alongside one another for many miles, without mixing, and we could clearly see the muddy brown of the Amazon right next to the blue of the Tapajos. The six of us went into town on the shuttle bus and walked around and shopped until we were unbearably hot, so we stopped for a beer at a local restaurant. The Brazilian beer is delicious and that’s saying a lot for a non-beer drinker. But it was cold and very refreshing.
The next day we stopped at a teeny-tiny village called Boca de Valeria. We had to take a tender to the dock. There were only a handful of buildings in the village, including a school, a church, a bar/restaurant and a few houses. Oh, and the village outhouse. People came from miles around for our visit to sell their wares, take us on canoe rides and entertain us with their native Indian costumes and some of their animals, including a sloth, a stingray and the biggest rat in the world (I can’t remember what they called it). As we got off the tender, children came to us and took our hands to guide us around the area. It was cute and sweet but we knew that this is a way of begging; they expected to be given something at every turn. Again it was extremely hot and humid and we didn’t stay long. We bought a couple of souvenirs, had a beer, paid a couple of people for pictures and went back to the ship.
Below are pictures of both stops.
Our first stop along the Amazon was Santarem. It was sunny and 95 degrees. Here we saw a unique natural phenomenon called “the meeting of the waters”. The Amazon and Tapajos rivers run alongside one another for many miles, without mixing, and we could clearly see the muddy brown of the Amazon right next to the blue of the Tapajos. The six of us went into town on the shuttle bus and walked around and shopped until we were unbearably hot, so we stopped for a beer at a local restaurant. The Brazilian beer is delicious and that’s saying a lot for a non-beer drinker. But it was cold and very refreshing.
The next day we stopped at a teeny-tiny village called Boca de Valeria. We had to take a tender to the dock. There were only a handful of buildings in the village, including a school, a church, a bar/restaurant and a few houses. Oh, and the village outhouse. People came from miles around for our visit to sell their wares, take us on canoe rides and entertain us with their native Indian costumes and some of their animals, including a sloth, a stingray and the biggest rat in the world (I can’t remember what they called it). As we got off the tender, children came to us and took our hands to guide us around the area. It was cute and sweet but we knew that this is a way of begging; they expected to be given something at every turn. Again it was extremely hot and humid and we didn’t stay long. We bought a couple of souvenirs, had a beer, paid a couple of people for pictures and went back to the ship.
Below are pictures of both stops.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)