New York City
Dark & Stormy Bermuda
The Pitons of St. Lucia
The Journey in Print
Fishing for Piranha
The Teatro Amazonas of Manaus
Midnight on the Amazon
Survival in the Jungle
The Baths of Virgin Gorda
Delicioso Miami
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Trip of the Sublime
To quote again Lonely Planet, "The Amazon's quintessential experiences are more sublime than they are superlative..." True of the Amazing Amazon, and true of the entire journey. Maybe not the "Trip of a Lifetime," but memories to last a lifetime:
New York City
Dark & Stormy Bermuda
The Pitons of St. Lucia
The Journey in Print
Fishing for Piranha
The Teatro Amazonas of Manaus
Midnight on the Amazon
Survival in the Jungle
The Baths of Virgin Gorda
Delicioso Miami
New York City
Dark & Stormy Bermuda
The Pitons of St. Lucia
The Journey in Print
Fishing for Piranha
The Teatro Amazonas of Manaus
Midnight on the Amazon
Survival in the Jungle
The Baths of Virgin Gorda
Delicioso Miami
Monday, November 21, 2011
Miami
Sunday, November 20th - Monday, November 21st
Sunday, November 20th
Amazing Amazon
Day 27 - Disembarkation
M/S Regatta
Miami
Arriving: 7:00 AM
30% Chance of Rain - 82 Degrees
The Amazing Amazon is behind us, as is the paradise of the Caribbean, our memories fading, as our tans will soon.
Off the ship in steamy Miami, a fine mist in the air. Disappointed that our government would not allow a port call on Cuba, we took a trip to Little Havana for a taste of expatriate Cuba.
Calle Ocho (8th St) is the spine of Cuban life in Miami, and Versailles is its heart. For forty years, "The World’s Most Famous Cuban Restaurant" has been a gathering spot for locals of Cuban descent, the town square of Little Havana, and the unofficial consulate of the Cuban community. Politicians come here to earn their Florida bonafides and court the Cuban vote, as Herman Cain did last week asking, "How do you say delicious in Cuban?" We know enough to say "delicioso" in Spanish, and it is. The Versailles experience offers a restaurant, cafe, bakery, store, and walk-up counter. We sat down inside for croquetas and Cuban sandwiches, then stepped out onto Calle Ocho for a Cuban coffee at Versailles' La Ventanita.
Versailles Menu:
Miami is a Mecca for celebrity chefs, Michelle Bernstein among them. Her restaurant Michy's in the emerging Upper Eastside is well regarded for French/New American bistro food with a Latin accent and Floribbean ingredients, but the decor is funky blue and orange and the neighborhood has yet to emerge. We took a flyer on this one and we are so glad we did as it was by far the best meal of the trip, outpacing anything in New York.
Croquetas of Serrano ham and blue cheese were light and crispy, perfectly balanced and accented with sweet fig. Salad and Peruvian ceviche were fresh with a kick of spice and a creative garnish. We shared three small portions of pasta for the main. Carbonara of fresh fettuccine with the ooze of soft cheese in place of the traditional egg, was bursting at the seams with the salt and smoke of three kinds of pork. The pork belly was the best we have had, seared to a hard crunch covering soft layers of fat and lean, bathed in an unctuous porky broth, and served with ravioli. The special of the night rounded out our trio, beef cheeks, already rich and tender, treated to a long slow braise, tucked into sheets of fresh pasta, lacquered in the reduced braising liquid, complemented with chanterelles. We finished with an outstanding soft and warm bread pudding, deep with flavor, and fried pie with fall spice and apple, wrapped in a flaky pastry crisped to a golden brown.
Everything was exceptional from top to bottom, well conceived and perfectly executed, full of flavor and presented with artistry.
Michy's Menu:
Miami to Seattle
Alaska Airlines Flight 17
Departing MIA: 8:25 AM
Arriving SEA: 12:08 PM
We are in the air and on our way home. From New York to Miami and from the Caribbean to the Amazon, it has been a great trip, but we are looking forward to Thanksgiving at home.
Sunday, November 20th
Amazing Amazon
Day 27 - Disembarkation
M/S Regatta
Miami
Arriving: 7:00 AM
30% Chance of Rain - 82 Degrees
The Amazing Amazon is behind us, as is the paradise of the Caribbean, our memories fading, as our tans will soon.
Off the ship in steamy Miami, a fine mist in the air. Disappointed that our government would not allow a port call on Cuba, we took a trip to Little Havana for a taste of expatriate Cuba.
Versailles Menu:
- Versailles Combo Ham and Beef Empanadas, Ham and Chicken Croquetas, Yucca Fries, Served with Cilantro Sauce
- Versailles Especial
Sweet Ham, Roast Pork, Swiss Cheese and Spanish Sausage on Toasted Cuban Bread with Mustard and Pickles - Cuban Coffee
Croquetas of Serrano ham and blue cheese were light and crispy, perfectly balanced and accented with sweet fig. Salad and Peruvian ceviche were fresh with a kick of spice and a creative garnish. We shared three small portions of pasta for the main. Carbonara of fresh fettuccine with the ooze of soft cheese in place of the traditional egg, was bursting at the seams with the salt and smoke of three kinds of pork. The pork belly was the best we have had, seared to a hard crunch covering soft layers of fat and lean, bathed in an unctuous porky broth, and served with ravioli. The special of the night rounded out our trio, beef cheeks, already rich and tender, treated to a long slow braise, tucked into sheets of fresh pasta, lacquered in the reduced braising liquid, complemented with chanterelles. We finished with an outstanding soft and warm bread pudding, deep with flavor, and fried pie with fall spice and apple, wrapped in a flaky pastry crisped to a golden brown.
Everything was exceptional from top to bottom, well conceived and perfectly executed, full of flavor and presented with artistry.
Michy's Menu:
- Mojito
- Jamon Serrano & Blue Cheese Croquetas
Fig Marmalade - Peruvian Style Ceviche
Shrimp, Calamari, Yellow Jack, Mutton Snapper, Ginger, Lime, Chilies, Corn and Corn Nuts, Sweet Potatoes - Bibb Lettuce Salad
Crispy Shallots, Jalapeno Dressing, Grated Jack Cheese - Crispy Pork Belly
Jamon Serrano Ravioli, Belly Broth - Braised Beef Cheek Agnolotti
Chanterelles, Reduction of Braising Liquid - Fettuccine Carbonara
Smoked Bacon, Crispy Jamón Serrano, Prosciutto, Melting St. Andre Cheese, Peas - Michy's Bread Pudding
Raisins, Cognac, Chocolate Chunks, Orange Rind, Vanilla Ice Cream - Deep Fried Apple Pie ala Mode
Apple Cider Caramel, Vanilla Toffee Ice Cream
Monday, November 21st
MiamiMiami to Seattle
Alaska Airlines Flight 17
Departing MIA: 8:25 AM
Arriving SEA: 12:08 PM
We are in the air and on our way home. From New York to Miami and from the Caribbean to the Amazon, it has been a great trip, but we are looking forward to Thanksgiving at home.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Log of the Cruise
Friday, November 18th - Saturday, November 19th
Friday, November 18th
Amazing Amazon
Day 25
M/S Regatta
Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Mostly Sunny
Air Temperature: 80 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 84 Degrees
Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
CANCELLED
We cruised by Turks & Caicos today without slowing down...any further. We are on a slow boat to Miami, still limping along on three-quarter power. The officers of the ship rarely emerged from the bridge, never addressing the "preventative maintenance" that altered our itinerary. We raised the issue on our mid-cruise review and received a response from the Concierge in less than 24 hours. He explained that the fourth engine was down due to mechanical failure, not due to preventative maintenance. The engine actually failed months ago and several attempts at repair had been unsuccessful. When it became clear that a replacement part would not be available in time to restore the engine to operation before our cruise, Oceania notified passengers of the change in itinerary. He could not explain why the cruise line so blatantly mischaracterized the nature of the problem. We can only speculate that Oceania made the decision that preventative maintenance was better public relations than mechanical failure. Maybe so, but lying is even worse customer service.
Still, this resolves the issue for us. Mechanical failure and inclement weather are part of life at sea. They are not within the control of any cruise line, and we are more than willing to accept the consequences.
We could have been swimming with stingrays in Turks & Caicos, but we are just as happy to have a day of rest on board Regatta.
Saturday, November 19th
M/S Regatta
Amazing Amazon
Day 26
Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Mostly Sunny
Air Temperature: 80 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 84 Degrees
We closed out the cruise in style, with two peaceful days at sea. Flying fish danced in the waves off our bow and seabirds circled above.
We spent this afternoon and well into the evening at the spa in the thalassotherapy pool. This is the only place on board where you can look out over the bow, without the filter of glass, and feel the wind in your face. Tres stayed out on deck until the last ray of light fell into the dark of night, in the final "King of the World" moment of this voyage.
In the 27 days since she departed New York City, Regatta has sailed 1 ocean, 1 sea, and 1 river, traveling 7,434 nautical miles to 9 countries, 9 islands, and 2 continents.
The God of the Sea has been gentle, the God of Weather kind. We have had a safe and comfortable journey, a leisurely cruise, a wonderful adventure.
Friday, November 18th
Amazing Amazon
Day 25
M/S Regatta
Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Mostly Sunny
Air Temperature: 80 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 84 Degrees
Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
CANCELLED
We cruised by Turks & Caicos today without slowing down...any further. We are on a slow boat to Miami, still limping along on three-quarter power. The officers of the ship rarely emerged from the bridge, never addressing the "preventative maintenance" that altered our itinerary. We raised the issue on our mid-cruise review and received a response from the Concierge in less than 24 hours. He explained that the fourth engine was down due to mechanical failure, not due to preventative maintenance. The engine actually failed months ago and several attempts at repair had been unsuccessful. When it became clear that a replacement part would not be available in time to restore the engine to operation before our cruise, Oceania notified passengers of the change in itinerary. He could not explain why the cruise line so blatantly mischaracterized the nature of the problem. We can only speculate that Oceania made the decision that preventative maintenance was better public relations than mechanical failure. Maybe so, but lying is even worse customer service.
Still, this resolves the issue for us. Mechanical failure and inclement weather are part of life at sea. They are not within the control of any cruise line, and we are more than willing to accept the consequences.
We could have been swimming with stingrays in Turks & Caicos, but we are just as happy to have a day of rest on board Regatta.
Saturday, November 19th
M/S Regatta
Amazing Amazon
Day 26
Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Mostly Sunny
Air Temperature: 80 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 84 Degrees
We closed out the cruise in style, with two peaceful days at sea. Flying fish danced in the waves off our bow and seabirds circled above.
We spent this afternoon and well into the evening at the spa in the thalassotherapy pool. This is the only place on board where you can look out over the bow, without the filter of glass, and feel the wind in your face. Tres stayed out on deck until the last ray of light fell into the dark of night, in the final "King of the World" moment of this voyage.
In the 27 days since she departed New York City, Regatta has sailed 1 ocean, 1 sea, and 1 river, traveling 7,434 nautical miles to 9 countries, 9 islands, and 2 continents.
The God of the Sea has been gentle, the God of Weather kind. We have had a safe and comfortable journey, a leisurely cruise, a wonderful adventure.
Crew Page
Cruising is a guilty pleasure. We are privileged to be able to travel in comfort and style, but that is only thanks to the sacrifice of the crew who make it possible, and Oceania has the best.
These young women and men come from all over the world, to see the world. They work extraordinarily hard, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, on six month contracts. Always with a smile and a friendly greeting, often in a language that is not their own. These are wonderful people and a pleasure to know. We would choose virtually any one of them over virtually every one of our fellow passengers. In fact, we love them. We want to take them all home with us, starting with these four:
Mario and Peter in Toscana. Mario is a gentleman and a charmer. He sets the tone for impeccable service in fine dining. Peter is warm and wonderful, humble and sincere, a total sweetheart. In addition to his restaurant service, he is at the top of the gangway every morning passing out bottled water for the day in port, carefully drying each one. His mama must cry herself to sleep every night he is away from home.
Natalja and Hnin in The Terrace. Natalja is a brainy beauty from Estonia, our favorite destination in the Baltic. Hi Natalja!!! Her smile lights up the room and her laugh warms your heart, a conversationalist par excellence. Hnin is on her way home to Myanmar after the next cruise, where she studies law and language and is thrilled by the political awakening in her country. She has a loyal following who sit in her section every night.
There are a dozen more favorites: the one we call Cute Girl who is a smoky stunner with an attitude, the wine steward we call Slick - a good guy and a great bartender with real flare, the smoothie guy, the quiet older busser with a stumble gag, the dessert girls so sweet you have to look away, the laundry room attendant always early to unlock the door. And then there are the deckhands no one notices who love to be engaged with just a wave, the cabin stewards and stewardesses you pass in the hall who stop their work to ask about your day, the front desk staff...more than 400 crew in all, and all appreciated.
We did not ring the butler's bell often, but Rosario was always at the ready, dressed in tux and tails with strawberries dipped to match.
We enjoy seeing these people every day and we will miss them when we leave. Many thanks to all, and the best for the future to each!!!
These young women and men come from all over the world, to see the world. They work extraordinarily hard, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, on six month contracts. Always with a smile and a friendly greeting, often in a language that is not their own. These are wonderful people and a pleasure to know. We would choose virtually any one of them over virtually every one of our fellow passengers. In fact, we love them. We want to take them all home with us, starting with these four:
Mario and Peter in Toscana. Mario is a gentleman and a charmer. He sets the tone for impeccable service in fine dining. Peter is warm and wonderful, humble and sincere, a total sweetheart. In addition to his restaurant service, he is at the top of the gangway every morning passing out bottled water for the day in port, carefully drying each one. His mama must cry herself to sleep every night he is away from home.
Natalja and Hnin in The Terrace. Natalja is a brainy beauty from Estonia, our favorite destination in the Baltic. Hi Natalja!!! Her smile lights up the room and her laugh warms your heart, a conversationalist par excellence. Hnin is on her way home to Myanmar after the next cruise, where she studies law and language and is thrilled by the political awakening in her country. She has a loyal following who sit in her section every night.
There are a dozen more favorites: the one we call Cute Girl who is a smoky stunner with an attitude, the wine steward we call Slick - a good guy and a great bartender with real flare, the smoothie guy, the quiet older busser with a stumble gag, the dessert girls so sweet you have to look away, the laundry room attendant always early to unlock the door. And then there are the deckhands no one notices who love to be engaged with just a wave, the cabin stewards and stewardesses you pass in the hall who stop their work to ask about your day, the front desk staff...more than 400 crew in all, and all appreciated.
We did not ring the butler's bell often, but Rosario was always at the ready, dressed in tux and tails with strawberries dipped to match.
We enjoy seeing these people every day and we will miss them when we leave. Many thanks to all, and the best for the future to each!!!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Dominican Republic
Thursday, November 17th
Amazing Amazon
Day 24
M/S Regatta
La Romana, Dominican Republic
Island of Hispaniola
Greater Antilles
West Indies
Arriving: 11:00 AM
Departing: 4:00 PM
30% Chance of Rain - 86 Degrees
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, but has been spared the natural, social, and political turmoil suffered next door. In the 1990s, Gulf + Western Industries developed the Casa de Campo resort, making the Dominican Republic an overnight international tropical beach destination. The resort area has expanded into the neighboring fishing village of Bayahibe Bay, including the Hotel Be Live Canoa, an all-inclusive four-star resort at Bayahibe Beach. The grounds are a tropical paradise and the beach is pristine, winning European Blue Flag International certification for high-quality water and environmental management. We spent the afternoon by the sprawling pool taking in one last day in paradise.
Amazing Amazon
Day 24
M/S Regatta
La Romana, Dominican Republic
Island of Hispaniola
Greater Antilles
West Indies
Arriving: 11:00 AM
Departing: 4:00 PM
30% Chance of Rain - 86 Degrees
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, but has been spared the natural, social, and political turmoil suffered next door. In the 1990s, Gulf + Western Industries developed the Casa de Campo resort, making the Dominican Republic an overnight international tropical beach destination. The resort area has expanded into the neighboring fishing village of Bayahibe Bay, including the Hotel Be Live Canoa, an all-inclusive four-star resort at Bayahibe Beach. The grounds are a tropical paradise and the beach is pristine, winning European Blue Flag International certification for high-quality water and environmental management. We spent the afternoon by the sprawling pool taking in one last day in paradise.
Virgin Gorda
Wednesday, November 16th
Amazing Amazon
Day 23
M/S Regatta
Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
Leeward Islands
Lesser Antilles
West Indies
Arriving: 10:30 AM
Departing: 4:00 PM
Scattered Clouds - 84 Degrees
Virgin Gorda is the second largest of the 36 British Virgin Islands, only 16 of which are inhabited. With a name like "Fat Virgin," this island must have had a tough time in high school, but her curves inspired Christopher Columbus, who "envisioned the island as a pregnant woman in a languid recline with Gorda Peak being her big belly and the boulders of the Baths her toes."
The Baths National Park is the island's must-see attraction and its most celebrated beach, a unique geologic formation that is a highlight of the Caribbean.
A steep, winding, rocky path leads from the road down to the beach, 350 nearly-vertical yards of hazards and obstructions.
The beach is spectacular, strewn with giant boulders scattered about the sand and into the water, creating arches and tunnels, caves and grottoes, placid pools fed by the waves and warmed by the sun. It's as if the giants were playing a game of marbles and forgot to clean up before they went home to dinner. The water is clear and blue, fish dart in and out among the rocks, and boats line the bay at the buoy line. Mother Nature, however, is an inhospitable host. The sand is coarse and crowded without a breath of shade. The path into the water is blocked by rocks at every turn, the surf is high and the undertow vicious, the grottoes and tide pools even more treacherous. A weak swimmer with a fool's arrogance could find themselves in fast trouble.
With a seat in the shade and a drink in-hand, the views overlooking Sir Francis Drake Channel from the top of The Baths were just as inspiring. This is the Caribbean.
Amazing Amazon
Day 23
M/S Regatta
Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
Leeward Islands
Lesser Antilles
West Indies
Arriving: 10:30 AM
Departing: 4:00 PM
Scattered Clouds - 84 Degrees
Virgin Gorda is the second largest of the 36 British Virgin Islands, only 16 of which are inhabited. With a name like "Fat Virgin," this island must have had a tough time in high school, but her curves inspired Christopher Columbus, who "envisioned the island as a pregnant woman in a languid recline with Gorda Peak being her big belly and the boulders of the Baths her toes."
The Baths National Park is the island's must-see attraction and its most celebrated beach, a unique geologic formation that is a highlight of the Caribbean.
A steep, winding, rocky path leads from the road down to the beach, 350 nearly-vertical yards of hazards and obstructions.
The beach is spectacular, strewn with giant boulders scattered about the sand and into the water, creating arches and tunnels, caves and grottoes, placid pools fed by the waves and warmed by the sun. It's as if the giants were playing a game of marbles and forgot to clean up before they went home to dinner. The water is clear and blue, fish dart in and out among the rocks, and boats line the bay at the buoy line. Mother Nature, however, is an inhospitable host. The sand is coarse and crowded without a breath of shade. The path into the water is blocked by rocks at every turn, the surf is high and the undertow vicious, the grottoes and tide pools even more treacherous. A weak swimmer with a fool's arrogance could find themselves in fast trouble.
With a seat in the shade and a drink in-hand, the views overlooking Sir Francis Drake Channel from the top of The Baths were just as inspiring. This is the Caribbean.
Martinique
Tuesday, November 15th
Amazing Amazon
Day 22
M/S Regatta
Fort de France, Martinique
French West Indies
Windward Islands
Lesser Antilles
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 3:00 PM
Partly Cloudy - 88 Degrees
The Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles taken together are the West Indies, an arc of islands that forms the NorthEastern rim of the Caribbean Sea.
The Greater Antilles are the Northern reach of the arc and are the largest islands of the chain. They include:
Windward Islands
Fact and fiction have come together in our reading on this leg of the journey. "Caribbean" is an epic historical novel by James A. Michener that traces Caribbean history from the year 1310 to the present in 16 chapters, truth embellished, each a different story set on a different island and told from a different perspective, but all woven together to form a comprehensive narrative of the region.
Martinique is the largest of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Martinique is an island of lush landscapes, tropical flowers, verdant rain forests, and towering mountains. It is, "The Island of Flowers." Fort de France looked lovely as we sailed into the harbor this morning, but, as one guidebook noted, Fort de France "should be a grand place. It isn't, and hasn't been for decades." We crossed FdF off our list and took a tour out of the city.
Just outside of Fort de France, in the tropical jungle hills overlooking the city, is a monument to the Catholic Church, Mother France, and the colonial glory of the island. The Church of Balata was built in 1925, a one-fifth scale model of the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur at Montmartre in Paris. A bit of the grandeur has been lost in translation, the paint is peeling, and the setting doesn't set the right tone, but the architecture is inspiring and the views are incredible.
Saint Pierre is the heart of this island, broken and battered, singed and still smouldering. It was once "The Paris of the West Indies," the most modern town in the Caribbean, a picturesque seaside village on the NorthWestern coast of Martinique, in a stunning location at the foot of...Mount Pelee.
On May 8th, 1902, two thunderous explosions rocked the island, and Mount Pelee unleashed its fury. A cloud of burning ash and poisonous gas spewed into the air raining down over Saint Pierre and a flood of molten lava raced down the side of the mountain at 250 miles per hour. This torrent of death, reaching 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, instantly vaporized everything in its path. 30,000 people, virtually the entire population of Saint Pierre, were killed in two minutes. Two minutes, flat.
We toured the village, but there is precious little to see. The remains of the old have become the foundation for the new. Le Musee de Saint Pierre tells the story of the tragedy. Pictures document the aftermath. The major artifact of the collection is the church bell, cracked like the Liberty Bell, melted by the heat, and crushed flat by the weight of the mountain on top of it.
Mount Pelee, the volcano long since dormant, is at peace, its shattered cone shrouded in mist.
Amazing Amazon
Day 22
M/S Regatta
Fort de France, Martinique
French West Indies
Windward Islands
Lesser Antilles
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 3:00 PM
Partly Cloudy - 88 Degrees
The Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles taken together are the West Indies, an arc of islands that forms the NorthEastern rim of the Caribbean Sea.
The Greater Antilles are the Northern reach of the arc and are the largest islands of the chain. They include:
- Cuba
- Jamaica
- Hispaniola
- Puerto Rico
Windward Islands
- Dominica
- Martinique
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent
- Grenadines
- Grenada
- Puerto Rican Virgin Islands: Vieques, Culebra
- U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix, Water Island
- British Virgin Islands: Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada
- Anguilla
- Saint Martin/Sint Maarten
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saba
- Sint Eustatius
- Saint Kitts
- Nevis
- Barbuda
- Antigua
- Redonda
- Montserrat
- Guadeloupe
- Dominica
Martinique is the largest of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Martinique is an island of lush landscapes, tropical flowers, verdant rain forests, and towering mountains. It is, "The Island of Flowers." Fort de France looked lovely as we sailed into the harbor this morning, but, as one guidebook noted, Fort de France "should be a grand place. It isn't, and hasn't been for decades." We crossed FdF off our list and took a tour out of the city.
Just outside of Fort de France, in the tropical jungle hills overlooking the city, is a monument to the Catholic Church, Mother France, and the colonial glory of the island. The Church of Balata was built in 1925, a one-fifth scale model of the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur at Montmartre in Paris. A bit of the grandeur has been lost in translation, the paint is peeling, and the setting doesn't set the right tone, but the architecture is inspiring and the views are incredible.
Saint Pierre is the heart of this island, broken and battered, singed and still smouldering. It was once "The Paris of the West Indies," the most modern town in the Caribbean, a picturesque seaside village on the NorthWestern coast of Martinique, in a stunning location at the foot of...Mount Pelee.
On May 8th, 1902, two thunderous explosions rocked the island, and Mount Pelee unleashed its fury. A cloud of burning ash and poisonous gas spewed into the air raining down over Saint Pierre and a flood of molten lava raced down the side of the mountain at 250 miles per hour. This torrent of death, reaching 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, instantly vaporized everything in its path. 30,000 people, virtually the entire population of Saint Pierre, were killed in two minutes. Two minutes, flat.
We toured the village, but there is precious little to see. The remains of the old have become the foundation for the new. Le Musee de Saint Pierre tells the story of the tragedy. Pictures document the aftermath. The major artifact of the collection is the church bell, cracked like the Liberty Bell, melted by the heat, and crushed flat by the weight of the mountain on top of it.
Mount Pelee, the volcano long since dormant, is at peace, its shattered cone shrouded in mist.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Barbados
Monday, November 14th
Amazing Amazon
Day 21
M/S Regatta
Bridgetown, Barbados
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 6:00 PM
50% Chance of Showers - 85 Degrees
Barbados was one of the last Caribbean islands to be colonized. When the British arrived, there were no natives living on the island. There was evidence of previous human habitation, but it's thought that these remains belonged to Arawaks forced to flee from St. Lucia by marauding Caribs. They didn't stay, or last, long. Now, Barbados is considered the most British of the Caribbean islands. Cricket is the national pastime and tea is still an afternoon ritual, but Barbadians, known as Bajans, are more laid back than their English cousins. Maybe it's the rum. Barbados is a beautiful island of postcard-perfect beaches, cane fields, and rugged coastline.
We have back-loaded the cruise with days at the beach, and Barbados has some of the finest sand around. We spent the day in the sun, at the Harbor Lights Beach Facility on Carlisle Bay, a fat crescent of white sand and one of the island's best beaches.
Amazing Amazon
Day 21
M/S Regatta
Bridgetown, Barbados
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 6:00 PM
50% Chance of Showers - 85 Degrees
Barbados was one of the last Caribbean islands to be colonized. When the British arrived, there were no natives living on the island. There was evidence of previous human habitation, but it's thought that these remains belonged to Arawaks forced to flee from St. Lucia by marauding Caribs. They didn't stay, or last, long. Now, Barbados is considered the most British of the Caribbean islands. Cricket is the national pastime and tea is still an afternoon ritual, but Barbadians, known as Bajans, are more laid back than their English cousins. Maybe it's the rum. Barbados is a beautiful island of postcard-perfect beaches, cane fields, and rugged coastline.
We have back-loaded the cruise with days at the beach, and Barbados has some of the finest sand around. We spent the day in the sun, at the Harbor Lights Beach Facility on Carlisle Bay, a fat crescent of white sand and one of the island's best beaches.
Devil's Island
Saturday, November 12th
Amazing Amazon
Day 19
M/S Regatta
Devil's Island, French Guiana
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 4:00 PM
Partly Cloudy - 90 Degrees
Most cruise lines don't make port calls at penal colonies, but Oceania is committed to unique destinations.
Devil's Island is part of a three island chain, Iles du Salut, six nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana. These islands were a notorious French penal colony from 1852 to 1952. Commitment to Devil's Island amounted to a death sentence to the 80,000 criminals and political prisoners who were sent here, most never to be seen again. If they survived the disease, violence, and harsh conditions of prison long enough to serve out their sentences, they were forced to remain in French Guiana for the rest of their lives. A troubling past for a tropical paradise, now a faded memory. Devil's Island is the only ile of the three that is open to the public, part historical site, and part nature reserve.
More than 50,000 people a year visit this island of Heaven and Hell. There is a ferry from the mainland, pleasure craft dot the harbor, and the public pier is always busy. Families with French accents roam the island, fishing from the shoreline, and camping among the trees. A path leads all the way around, a pleasant stroll through the lush tropical forest of palm trees, historic buildings given back to nature overlooking the rocks and surf below. A giant staircase of well-worn stone leads up to a museum that tells the story of the island. The stairs continue from there up to the crest of the island 131 feet above sea level. A small rustic hotel occupies the former administration building at the "Top of the Rock."
We walked the walk and climbed the climb. When it was time to go, we were free to do so.
Amazing Amazon
Day 19
M/S Regatta
Devil's Island, French Guiana
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 4:00 PM
Partly Cloudy - 90 Degrees
Most cruise lines don't make port calls at penal colonies, but Oceania is committed to unique destinations.
Devil's Island is part of a three island chain, Iles du Salut, six nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana. These islands were a notorious French penal colony from 1852 to 1952. Commitment to Devil's Island amounted to a death sentence to the 80,000 criminals and political prisoners who were sent here, most never to be seen again. If they survived the disease, violence, and harsh conditions of prison long enough to serve out their sentences, they were forced to remain in French Guiana for the rest of their lives. A troubling past for a tropical paradise, now a faded memory. Devil's Island is the only ile of the three that is open to the public, part historical site, and part nature reserve.
More than 50,000 people a year visit this island of Heaven and Hell. There is a ferry from the mainland, pleasure craft dot the harbor, and the public pier is always busy. Families with French accents roam the island, fishing from the shoreline, and camping among the trees. A path leads all the way around, a pleasant stroll through the lush tropical forest of palm trees, historic buildings given back to nature overlooking the rocks and surf below. A giant staircase of well-worn stone leads up to a museum that tells the story of the island. The stairs continue from there up to the crest of the island 131 feet above sea level. A small rustic hotel occupies the former administration building at the "Top of the Rock."
We walked the walk and climbed the climb. When it was time to go, we were free to do so.
Friday, November 11, 2011
River Days
Thursday, November 10th - Friday, November 11th
Thursday, November 10th
Amazing Amazon
Day 17
M/S Regatta
Cruising the Amazon River
Sunny
Air Temperature: 88 Degrees
River Temperature: 86 Degrees
Friday, November 11th
Remembrance Day
Amazing Amazon
Day 18
M/S Regatta
Cruising the Amazon River
Air Temperature: 89 Degrees
River Temperature: 87 Degrees
Early this morning, Regatta emerged from the mouth of the Amazon back into the Atlantic ocean. We are no longer within the river's banks, but still sailing Amazon water, riding the plume out to sea.
We have had two days on board ship to recover from, and reflect upon, our time on the Amazon. There have been grumblings of disappointment among our fellow travelers, but we did our research. Lonely Planet set the tone, and our expectations:
"Every traveler has fantasized about a trip to the Amazon. Just the name alone evokes images of dense rain forest, indigenous tribes, and abundant wildlife...Yet many travelers leave the Amazon underwhelmed, having come expecting a Discovery Channel-like encounter with jaguars, anacondas, and spear-toting tribes. That simply doesn't happen...The Amazon's quintessential experiences are more sublime than they are superlative...It's only in the halogen glare of unrealistic expectations...that a trip to the Amazon will feel disappointing."
Romantic notions of a wild jungle towering over a raging river are the stuff of fairy tales. If they exist at all, they are to be found far, far up the river from Manaus, and far beyond our reach.
Still, we floated 1,000 miles up a storied river. We fished for piranha and hunted caimans. We witnessed wealth and poverty, separated by 100 years. We experienced culture, indigenous and imported. We sat in a gilded opera house in the capital of nowhere. We survived a trek through the jungle.
We got what we came here for, the Amazing Amazon.
Thursday, November 10th
Amazing Amazon
Day 17
M/S Regatta
Cruising the Amazon River
Sunny
Air Temperature: 88 Degrees
River Temperature: 86 Degrees
Friday, November 11th
Remembrance Day
Amazing Amazon
Day 18
M/S Regatta
Cruising the Amazon River
Air Temperature: 89 Degrees
River Temperature: 87 Degrees
Early this morning, Regatta emerged from the mouth of the Amazon back into the Atlantic ocean. We are no longer within the river's banks, but still sailing Amazon water, riding the plume out to sea.
We have had two days on board ship to recover from, and reflect upon, our time on the Amazon. There have been grumblings of disappointment among our fellow travelers, but we did our research. Lonely Planet set the tone, and our expectations:
"Every traveler has fantasized about a trip to the Amazon. Just the name alone evokes images of dense rain forest, indigenous tribes, and abundant wildlife...Yet many travelers leave the Amazon underwhelmed, having come expecting a Discovery Channel-like encounter with jaguars, anacondas, and spear-toting tribes. That simply doesn't happen...The Amazon's quintessential experiences are more sublime than they are superlative...It's only in the halogen glare of unrealistic expectations...that a trip to the Amazon will feel disappointing."
Romantic notions of a wild jungle towering over a raging river are the stuff of fairy tales. If they exist at all, they are to be found far, far up the river from Manaus, and far beyond our reach.
Still, we floated 1,000 miles up a storied river. We fished for piranha and hunted caimans. We witnessed wealth and poverty, separated by 100 years. We experienced culture, indigenous and imported. We sat in a gilded opera house in the capital of nowhere. We survived a trek through the jungle.
We got what we came here for, the Amazing Amazon.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Parintins, Brazil
Wednesday, November 9th
Amazing Amazon
Day 16
M/S Regatta
Parintins, Brazil
The Amazon River
Arriving: 11:00 AM
Departing: 6:00 PM
Partly Cloudy - 95 Degrees
Parintins is a large jungle island town of 105,000 indigenous riverine people. This is the center of Indio culture on the river, an artist colony of native crafts. Parintins is a festival town known far and wide for the Festa do Boi Bumba.
For three days every June, Parintins is the place to be on the Amazon. The Boi Bumba Festival is a celebration of indigenous culture, the Amazon's answer to Carnival in Rio featuring parades, ritualistic dance, fantastic costumes, intense drama, and fierce competition. The story revolves around the death and rebirth of a legendary boi (ox) in a rivalry between two competing camps, the red Garantido clan, and the blue Caprichoso clan. This rivalry is not limited to three days in June, not restricted to the arena, not just for fun. This is serious year-round business and everyone takes sides. Homes and business are painted in red or blue. People dress in red or blue. This is Crips and Bloods without the guns. The festival draws 35,000 spectators from all over the region, overwhelming the limited accommodations available. People stay on boats anchored in the river and camp in the forest. The purpose-built stadium, the Bumbodromo, is filled to capacity for just three days a year.
Regatta is anchored at Parintins today for a special, condensed, command performance of the Boi Bumba. We are lucky to be here to have this opportunity. It is purported to be the greatest folkloric show on Earth, but we are just not folkloric folk. Even the very best folklore is still our very worst nightmare. Best of luck to the Garantidos and the Caprichosos, but we know how this story ends.
Amazing Amazon
Day 16
M/S Regatta
Parintins, Brazil
The Amazon River
Arriving: 11:00 AM
Departing: 6:00 PM
Partly Cloudy - 95 Degrees
Parintins is a large jungle island town of 105,000 indigenous riverine people. This is the center of Indio culture on the river, an artist colony of native crafts. Parintins is a festival town known far and wide for the Festa do Boi Bumba.
For three days every June, Parintins is the place to be on the Amazon. The Boi Bumba Festival is a celebration of indigenous culture, the Amazon's answer to Carnival in Rio featuring parades, ritualistic dance, fantastic costumes, intense drama, and fierce competition. The story revolves around the death and rebirth of a legendary boi (ox) in a rivalry between two competing camps, the red Garantido clan, and the blue Caprichoso clan. This rivalry is not limited to three days in June, not restricted to the arena, not just for fun. This is serious year-round business and everyone takes sides. Homes and business are painted in red or blue. People dress in red or blue. This is Crips and Bloods without the guns. The festival draws 35,000 spectators from all over the region, overwhelming the limited accommodations available. People stay on boats anchored in the river and camp in the forest. The purpose-built stadium, the Bumbodromo, is filled to capacity for just three days a year.
Regatta is anchored at Parintins today for a special, condensed, command performance of the Boi Bumba. We are lucky to be here to have this opportunity. It is purported to be the greatest folkloric show on Earth, but we are just not folkloric folk. Even the very best folklore is still our very worst nightmare. Best of luck to the Garantidos and the Caprichosos, but we know how this story ends.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Manaus, Brazil
Monday, November 7th - Tuesday, November 8th
Monday, November 7th
Amazing Amazon
Day 14
M/S Regatta
Manaus, Brazil
The Amazon River
Arriving: 9:00 AM
60% Chance of Rain - 87 Degrees
The story of Manaus is the rise and fall of a bouncing ball.
There are countless species of flora and fauna in the Amazon that can't be found anywhere else on Earth. They are unique to this environment. We can't count them all because we haven't even discovered them all. We don't even know what we don't know. In the midst of this unmatched biodiversity, the very first European explorers were intrigued by one tree in particular. They watched as Indio tribes tapped these trees to collect a milky-white liquid that solidified into a pliable and elastic substance from which they made many useful things, and round balls for playing games. The Europeans had never seen anything like it, and added this bouncy stuff to the specimens they brought back to their home countries. An Englishman got hold of one of these samples and started experimenting. Of all the potential uses he found for this product, one was especially promising. It turns out that this substance was very effective at "rubbing out pencil markings." And so, he called it rubber.
For many, many years, rubber was just a novelty with limited commercial potential. Natural rubber is only stable within a certain temperature range. It becomes soft and sticky in extreme heat, hard and brittle in extreme cold. An American inventor solved this problem in 1844 with a process called vulcanization. You might recognize his name, Charles Goodyear. Vulcanized rubber is stable at any temperature, opening up infinite new possibilities, but two subsequent inventions exponentially expanded the market for rubber and changed the Amazon forever.
In 1888, a British inventor was trying to improve the bicycle. This new mode of transportation was just starting to take hold offering unprecedented freedom and mobility, but the ride was rough on the crude rubber tires of the time. The solution was to trap air between layers of rubber in the tire to absorb the shock and cushion the ride. The pneumatic tire. Its inventor, another recognizable name, John Dunlop. The rubber boom in the Amazon had begun, and Manaus was ground zero. Demand for rubber grew steadily and foreign business interests took notice. Tapping the rubber was a very labor-intensive process. Just 2.5 acres of land in the rain forest could have as many as 700 different species of trees, but no more than a few of any one kind. Rubber trappers had to walk miles to tap their trees in the morning only to retrace their steps in the evening to collect the rubber. There weren't enough men to do the job, so the rubber barons forced the Indios to work as slaves, and they started to make big money.
The invention of the automobile was the final catalyst in this runaway reaction. When Ford Motor Company introduced the Model T, mass-produced on the first modern assembly line, the demand for rubber to supply Ford's factories with tires exploded. And the Amazon had a monopoly.
At the height of the rubber boom in 1911, there were more than 100 rubber barons in Manaus. It became one of the wealthiest cities in the world overnight. The nouveau riche of the Amazon had built a city worthy of their place in the world. The very best in modern infrastructure, grand public buildings, graceful mansions, and the pinnacle achievement of the era, the Teatro Amazonas. The rubber barons of Manaus built one of the world's great opera houses, in the middle of the jungle.
The boom created by names like Goodyear, Dunlop, and Ford, was undone by an unknown name, Henry Wickham. The rubber barons of Manaus thought they had their game of Monopoly won, but Wickham had Boardwalk and Park Place in his back pocket the whole time. In 1876, Wickham smuggled 70,000 rubber tree seeds out of the Amazon and took them back to the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in London. The botanists at Kew planted the seeds in a greenhouse to recreate the conditions of the Amazon, and the rubber trees flourished. When the seedlings were old enough to travel, they were shipped to tropical plantations in the British colonies. By 1912, they were ready to come to market with this new source of rubber. Rubber plantations were much more efficient than harvesting naturally growing rubber in the Amazon. Vast forests planted row by row with rubber trees exponentially increased the yield of each tapper. Prices plummeted and the rubber barons of the Amazon couldn't compete. The boom had gone bust in just 30 years. Within a decade, Manaus was once again the jungle backwater it had been before. The city was literally plunged into darkness. They could no longer afford to import coal to run the generators. Even the grand Teatro Amazonas fell silent. It didn't host an opera for nearly 90 years, the stage turned into a football pitch, the auditorium used for petrol storage.
Modern Manaus is still a city of faded glory, home to two million people. It is the hub of economic activity in the region, a free trade zone since 1967, the "Hong Kong of the Amazon." It sits at the confluence of the three greatest rivers in the Amazon Basin: The Solimoes (as the Amazon is known on this stretch), the Rio Negro, and the Madeira, but the city isn't actually on the Amazon. Manaus is 5 miles up the Rio Negro from the "Encontro das Aguas," the meeting of the waters where Brazilians believe that the Amazon truly begins. Just as in Santarem, two rivers flow side-by-side for miles before they are fully integrated. The Rio Solimoes is a creamy light brown in color, alkaline, cooler, and faster than the Rio Negro with eight times more sediment. The Negro is almost back, acidic, warmer, and slower. When they come together, it looks like coffee with cream before the cream has been stirred in.
Manaus is host to the three quintessential experiences of the Amazon:
Manaus has a number of lovely relics of the rubber boom, beginning at the banks of the Rio Negro. The Alfandega, the customs house prefabricated in England and shipped to Manaus in sections, has stood watch over the port area since 1906. The Mercado Municipal was built in 1902, a series of cast iron open-air market buildings, the design by Gustave Eiffel based on the grand public market in Paris, Les Halles. This wholesale and retail market is the commercial heart of the city, with row after row of tropical fruit, fish, and vegetables. The most famous of the mansions built by the rubber barons is Palacio Rio Negro overlooking the river. It was completed in 1913, after the collapse of the rubber market. The owner refinanced his grand home and retreated to Europe leaving his debt behind. The Palacio became a government building, home to the governor of the state of Amazonas.
Brazil is infamous for its favelas, vast slums of ramshackle houses made from scavenged materials, lawless, and historically without utility service. In Rio de Janeiro, favelas climb the hillsides above the city. In Manaus, the favelas are found in low-lying water-logged hollows, land unfit for habitation that no one else wanted. The city has relocated the residents of some of the downtown favelas into better housing, creating beautiful meandering parks in their place.
We toured the Indian Museum, a collection of artifacts from the local indigenous tribes housed in a re-purposed open-air schoolhouse. Next, we ventured just outside the city, to the campus of the Army Jungle Training Center, and the Zoologoico do CIGS, the military zoo home to more than 300 animals from the Amazon.
Our city tour is called "The Highlights of Manaus," but really there is only one, the Teatro Amazonas. The Manaus Opera House was conceived and built to be as fine as any in the world, and surely it is. This is the urban symbol of the Amazon, a grand reminder of the wealth generated by the jungle, in the city cut from the jungle. It is a fusion of Manaus and Milan, the architecture and materials imported from Europe, the design themes at home in the Amazon.
The auditorium, in the shape of a harp, seats 700 on the main floor and three wrap-around balconies. The seats, upholstered in red velvet, are fixed, but the backs are rounded and the armrests sculpted to give the illusion of chairs. The ceiling is painted as if looking up at the four pillars of the Eiffel Tower. From that is suspended a chandelier of French bronze and Italian Murano glass. The stage curtain was woven in Paris, and painted by a Brazilian artist to depict the Meeting of the Waters and the Indigenous goddess of the river, Iara. The hardwoods are from Brazil, but finished in Europe, the light and dark mosaic of the floors also meant to evoke the Meeting of the Waters. The marble is Italian Carrara, the stone of the facade Portuguese, the cast iron columns and banisters from England, the mirrors French, the porcelain Venetian. The cupola is adorned with 36,000 ceramic tiles from Alsace in the colors of the Brazilian flag. The park leading to the grand entrance of the opera house is paved in waves of black and white stone, again a reference to the Meeting of the Waters. This theme is repeated in the iconic paving at Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro.
The Teatro Amazonas is truly glorious, not just a museum and a monument to history, but a living part of the fabric of the city, the pride of Manaus. Fully restored most recently in 1990, there is a renewed commitment to live classical music and the calendar is full. The Opera House hosts a music festival every spring, and this week it is home to the Amazonas Film Festival.
After our morning in the city, we spent the evening on the river, in search of caimans. The caiman is neither alligator, nor crocodile, but similar to both, the only such creature in the Amazon.
It was a perfect night, the sky nearly clear, the moon nearly full, balmy in the mid-70s. We boarded a riverboat at the pier for a cruise to the jungle backwaters of January Lake, where we tied up to a floating dock. There, we transferred to "canoes," covered boats seating 10 people in 5 rows of two, with outboard Yamaha motors, the preferred form of transportation in the Amazon. Riding low in the water, we truly felt a part of the river as we went deeper into the night. The water, though, was not deep, maybe five to ten feet, grasses and reeds waved in the evening breeze, snags from submerged dead trees poked through the surface.
In the daylight, and in another season, the water would be covered with Victoria regia, the giant water lily of the Amazon, its lily pads reaching six feet across, so sturdy they can float a small child.
As we neared the hunting grounds, the guide began to scan the shoreline with a flashlight. Back and forth until he spotted our prey, the glowing orange eyes of a caiman staring back at us. Fixed on the target, another guide they called Caiman Boy jumped into the water to wrestle the caiman into submission with just his bare hands. He pursued the caiman with fearless abandon, neck deep in the inky murky waters of the river hiding a thousand unknown hazards. When the caiman, stunned by the light, was subdued, Caiman Boy climbed back into the boat, bringing the reptile with him. Fierce and pissed at his change of circumstance, the caiman thrashed violently and broke loose from his handler. The women screamed and the men recoiled as the caiman scampered toward the back of the boat. It took both guides to regain control of the beast and tie him down for the trip back to the floating dock where he was posed for pictures. When show and tell was over, the caiman was returned to the river.
Admittedly, this was not a PETA-sanctioned tour, but we have been assured that no reptiles were harmed in the filming of this movie. It was great fun just to be out on the river under the stars. With the motor cut and our canoe adrift, only the sounds of nature disturbed the peace, the call and response of a thousand living things.
Tuesday, November 8th
Amazing Amazon
Day 15
M/S Regatta
Manaus, Brazil
The Amazon River
Departing: 4:00 PM
60% Chance of Rain - 89 Degrees
City and river explored, the jungle awaited, "The Great Green Hell."
The Amazon rain forest is home to more than ten percent of all living species in the world. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200 fishes, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region. Every inch of space is put to its highest and best use, every resource is allocated according maximum efficiency, every opportunity is maximized in the never-ending struggle for life. This battle royalle is more vertical than horizontal, its front lines in the impenetrable canopy, the supply lines amid the leaf litter on the forest floor. Everything green must have access to water and nutrients in the soil, and the sunlight that rarely filters down that far. The fauna follows the flora up to the canopy, or down to the ground. In between it's no-man's land, a demilitarized zone. Much of the wildlife has adapted to stay hidden, sometimes heard and rarely seen, but it is there in overwhelming quantity and staggering diversity. Low to the ground, iguanas and snakes slither; giant and relatively cute capybara rodents scurry; tapirs, jaguars, and wild boar roam; and ants march in relentless precision. So many ants, in fact, that they represent 10% of the non-plant biomass in the Amazon. Billions and billions and billions of ants. Howler monkeys and sloths swing from tree to tree. Osprey, ibis, toucans, herons, kingfishers, and macaws fly above the forest and swoop down to the river below.
This biodiversity is not just key to the health of the rain forest and the Amazon region, but to the entire planet. The Amazon is the world's greatest carbon sink, removing pollution from the air, and producing as much as 40% of the oxygen we breathe. The Amazon is critical to the ecosystem of the planet, we cannot survive without it. And yet, over the last 50 years, 16% of the rain forest has been lost to deforestation and development. The tragic irony is that when the forest is cleared for agriculture, the soil that sustained the incredible life of the jungle is too thin to support crops for more than a few years. These trends must be reversed, and will be when it is in the interest of the Amazonians to do so. Eco-Tourism can help and we are here to do our part.
We boarded a fast boat on the pier for a ride up the Rio Negro to the site of our Jungle Trek. There are no bridges spanning the Amazon river, but a new one has just opened across the Rio Negro, linking Manaus on the North bank to the jungle on the South. The locals don't understand this government project. They say there is nowhere to go on the other side. But, traffic was brisk on the bridge as we cruised under it.
The Negro is running seasonably low, exposing deserted white sand beaches lined with palm trees for miles and miles up the river. The boat ride through paradise was lovely, but "The Great Green Hell" filled us with dread. The first challenge of the day began when we "docked" on the beach below the jungle. The "dock" consisted of a rickety portable wooden step ladder leading down from the bow and set into the sand in a few feet of water. Set on one of the lower steps, a ten foot plank extended from boat to shore, resting on a stump buried in the sand at the water line, another ramp down from that to dry land. On either side, guides took our hands as we tentatively made our way to shore.
We trudged through the sand up to the tree line and started into the jungle. Two planks bridged small streams along the way, the first very nearly split in two and submerged in the middle, the second in pretty good shape. We climbed the bluff above the beach and came to the jungle lodge that would be our base camp for the day.
After a brief orientation, we were assigned a guide and a woodsman and set off into the wild. Our woodsman blazed a trail, a path that disappeared behind us as we passed. In nearly 90 degree heat and high humidity, we climbed higher and higher into the jungle. As our woodsman led us deeper into the rain forest, machete in one hand clearing the way, he wove a crown of palm fronds for each of the ladies on our trek.
The ground was soft under our feet, roots and vines catching our boots, branches blocking our bodies, twists and turns in the trail as we hiked ever-higher, we were breathing hard and soaked with sweat.
This was not just an idle romp through the forest, but a serious jungle survival course. We paused to learn about the herbal remedies of the forest, how and where to build a shelter, how to find a dairy tree and tap its milk, how to climb a 30 foot tree without a single branch for the first 25 feet, where to build a fire and how to light it without a match, which liana vine provides clean refreshing water to drink, and which one is poisonous, how to set a trap for game. By the time we reached the crest of the jungle uplands, we were certified survivalists.
The long trek back down was proof of how far we had come. When we finally stumbled back to the lodge, refreshments awaited, served by the resident monkey. He was adopted by the lodge when his mama abandoned him. She carried her baby on her back, but he fell off when she was being chased by a pack of dogs and tried to escape up a tree. She was too afraid to come back for him.
Over and over and over again, in their descent of the River of Doubt, the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition faced impassable rapids and falls in the river. They were forced into the jungle to "portage" around the raging waters. They hauled their water-logged canoes out of the river, unloaded their supplies, and scouted the route forward. The rain forest is most dense at the water's edge where every living thing pushes out and up in search of light. They men had to clear a path, often a mile or more, through the tangle of jungle by hand and machete, under constant attack from insects, and sometimes from Indios. The party's massive canoes were too heavy to carry or even drag over the jungle floor, so the men had to create a "corduroy road." They felled trees, removed their branches, and laid them across the path to ease the way of the canoes. The prep work done, they were finally ready to drag the canoes and all their supplies down river and around the white water. This process would take a full day, or more, with their supplies dwindling, their health failing, and their strength waning. With their canoes reloaded and relaunched in the river, it was sometimes just another mile, just 15 minutes of relative rest, just around the next bend, that they faced another impassible obstacle and another struggle through the jungle.
Our jungle trek was literally a walk in the park compared to the ordeals that Roosevelt and his men faced every day, and we are exhausted. Their achievement is unimaginable. We are going to take a nap.
Monday, November 7th
Amazing Amazon
Day 14
M/S Regatta
Manaus, Brazil
The Amazon River
Arriving: 9:00 AM
60% Chance of Rain - 87 Degrees
The story of Manaus is the rise and fall of a bouncing ball.
There are countless species of flora and fauna in the Amazon that can't be found anywhere else on Earth. They are unique to this environment. We can't count them all because we haven't even discovered them all. We don't even know what we don't know. In the midst of this unmatched biodiversity, the very first European explorers were intrigued by one tree in particular. They watched as Indio tribes tapped these trees to collect a milky-white liquid that solidified into a pliable and elastic substance from which they made many useful things, and round balls for playing games. The Europeans had never seen anything like it, and added this bouncy stuff to the specimens they brought back to their home countries. An Englishman got hold of one of these samples and started experimenting. Of all the potential uses he found for this product, one was especially promising. It turns out that this substance was very effective at "rubbing out pencil markings." And so, he called it rubber.
For many, many years, rubber was just a novelty with limited commercial potential. Natural rubber is only stable within a certain temperature range. It becomes soft and sticky in extreme heat, hard and brittle in extreme cold. An American inventor solved this problem in 1844 with a process called vulcanization. You might recognize his name, Charles Goodyear. Vulcanized rubber is stable at any temperature, opening up infinite new possibilities, but two subsequent inventions exponentially expanded the market for rubber and changed the Amazon forever.
In 1888, a British inventor was trying to improve the bicycle. This new mode of transportation was just starting to take hold offering unprecedented freedom and mobility, but the ride was rough on the crude rubber tires of the time. The solution was to trap air between layers of rubber in the tire to absorb the shock and cushion the ride. The pneumatic tire. Its inventor, another recognizable name, John Dunlop. The rubber boom in the Amazon had begun, and Manaus was ground zero. Demand for rubber grew steadily and foreign business interests took notice. Tapping the rubber was a very labor-intensive process. Just 2.5 acres of land in the rain forest could have as many as 700 different species of trees, but no more than a few of any one kind. Rubber trappers had to walk miles to tap their trees in the morning only to retrace their steps in the evening to collect the rubber. There weren't enough men to do the job, so the rubber barons forced the Indios to work as slaves, and they started to make big money.
The invention of the automobile was the final catalyst in this runaway reaction. When Ford Motor Company introduced the Model T, mass-produced on the first modern assembly line, the demand for rubber to supply Ford's factories with tires exploded. And the Amazon had a monopoly.
At the height of the rubber boom in 1911, there were more than 100 rubber barons in Manaus. It became one of the wealthiest cities in the world overnight. The nouveau riche of the Amazon had built a city worthy of their place in the world. The very best in modern infrastructure, grand public buildings, graceful mansions, and the pinnacle achievement of the era, the Teatro Amazonas. The rubber barons of Manaus built one of the world's great opera houses, in the middle of the jungle.
The boom created by names like Goodyear, Dunlop, and Ford, was undone by an unknown name, Henry Wickham. The rubber barons of Manaus thought they had their game of Monopoly won, but Wickham had Boardwalk and Park Place in his back pocket the whole time. In 1876, Wickham smuggled 70,000 rubber tree seeds out of the Amazon and took them back to the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in London. The botanists at Kew planted the seeds in a greenhouse to recreate the conditions of the Amazon, and the rubber trees flourished. When the seedlings were old enough to travel, they were shipped to tropical plantations in the British colonies. By 1912, they were ready to come to market with this new source of rubber. Rubber plantations were much more efficient than harvesting naturally growing rubber in the Amazon. Vast forests planted row by row with rubber trees exponentially increased the yield of each tapper. Prices plummeted and the rubber barons of the Amazon couldn't compete. The boom had gone bust in just 30 years. Within a decade, Manaus was once again the jungle backwater it had been before. The city was literally plunged into darkness. They could no longer afford to import coal to run the generators. Even the grand Teatro Amazonas fell silent. It didn't host an opera for nearly 90 years, the stage turned into a football pitch, the auditorium used for petrol storage.
Modern Manaus is still a city of faded glory, home to two million people. It is the hub of economic activity in the region, a free trade zone since 1967, the "Hong Kong of the Amazon." It sits at the confluence of the three greatest rivers in the Amazon Basin: The Solimoes (as the Amazon is known on this stretch), the Rio Negro, and the Madeira, but the city isn't actually on the Amazon. Manaus is 5 miles up the Rio Negro from the "Encontro das Aguas," the meeting of the waters where Brazilians believe that the Amazon truly begins. Just as in Santarem, two rivers flow side-by-side for miles before they are fully integrated. The Rio Solimoes is a creamy light brown in color, alkaline, cooler, and faster than the Rio Negro with eight times more sediment. The Negro is almost back, acidic, warmer, and slower. When they come together, it looks like coffee with cream before the cream has been stirred in.
Manaus is host to the three quintessential experiences of the Amazon:
- The City
- The River
- The Jungle
Manaus has a number of lovely relics of the rubber boom, beginning at the banks of the Rio Negro. The Alfandega, the customs house prefabricated in England and shipped to Manaus in sections, has stood watch over the port area since 1906. The Mercado Municipal was built in 1902, a series of cast iron open-air market buildings, the design by Gustave Eiffel based on the grand public market in Paris, Les Halles. This wholesale and retail market is the commercial heart of the city, with row after row of tropical fruit, fish, and vegetables. The most famous of the mansions built by the rubber barons is Palacio Rio Negro overlooking the river. It was completed in 1913, after the collapse of the rubber market. The owner refinanced his grand home and retreated to Europe leaving his debt behind. The Palacio became a government building, home to the governor of the state of Amazonas.
Brazil is infamous for its favelas, vast slums of ramshackle houses made from scavenged materials, lawless, and historically without utility service. In Rio de Janeiro, favelas climb the hillsides above the city. In Manaus, the favelas are found in low-lying water-logged hollows, land unfit for habitation that no one else wanted. The city has relocated the residents of some of the downtown favelas into better housing, creating beautiful meandering parks in their place.
We toured the Indian Museum, a collection of artifacts from the local indigenous tribes housed in a re-purposed open-air schoolhouse. Next, we ventured just outside the city, to the campus of the Army Jungle Training Center, and the Zoologoico do CIGS, the military zoo home to more than 300 animals from the Amazon.
The Teatro Amazonas is truly glorious, not just a museum and a monument to history, but a living part of the fabric of the city, the pride of Manaus. Fully restored most recently in 1990, there is a renewed commitment to live classical music and the calendar is full. The Opera House hosts a music festival every spring, and this week it is home to the Amazonas Film Festival.
After our morning in the city, we spent the evening on the river, in search of caimans. The caiman is neither alligator, nor crocodile, but similar to both, the only such creature in the Amazon.
It was a perfect night, the sky nearly clear, the moon nearly full, balmy in the mid-70s. We boarded a riverboat at the pier for a cruise to the jungle backwaters of January Lake, where we tied up to a floating dock. There, we transferred to "canoes," covered boats seating 10 people in 5 rows of two, with outboard Yamaha motors, the preferred form of transportation in the Amazon. Riding low in the water, we truly felt a part of the river as we went deeper into the night. The water, though, was not deep, maybe five to ten feet, grasses and reeds waved in the evening breeze, snags from submerged dead trees poked through the surface.
In the daylight, and in another season, the water would be covered with Victoria regia, the giant water lily of the Amazon, its lily pads reaching six feet across, so sturdy they can float a small child.
As we neared the hunting grounds, the guide began to scan the shoreline with a flashlight. Back and forth until he spotted our prey, the glowing orange eyes of a caiman staring back at us. Fixed on the target, another guide they called Caiman Boy jumped into the water to wrestle the caiman into submission with just his bare hands. He pursued the caiman with fearless abandon, neck deep in the inky murky waters of the river hiding a thousand unknown hazards. When the caiman, stunned by the light, was subdued, Caiman Boy climbed back into the boat, bringing the reptile with him. Fierce and pissed at his change of circumstance, the caiman thrashed violently and broke loose from his handler. The women screamed and the men recoiled as the caiman scampered toward the back of the boat. It took both guides to regain control of the beast and tie him down for the trip back to the floating dock where he was posed for pictures. When show and tell was over, the caiman was returned to the river.
Admittedly, this was not a PETA-sanctioned tour, but we have been assured that no reptiles were harmed in the filming of this movie. It was great fun just to be out on the river under the stars. With the motor cut and our canoe adrift, only the sounds of nature disturbed the peace, the call and response of a thousand living things.
Tuesday, November 8th
Amazing Amazon
Day 15
M/S Regatta
Manaus, Brazil
The Amazon River
Departing: 4:00 PM
60% Chance of Rain - 89 Degrees
City and river explored, the jungle awaited, "The Great Green Hell."
The Amazon rain forest is home to more than ten percent of all living species in the world. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200 fishes, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region. Every inch of space is put to its highest and best use, every resource is allocated according maximum efficiency, every opportunity is maximized in the never-ending struggle for life. This battle royalle is more vertical than horizontal, its front lines in the impenetrable canopy, the supply lines amid the leaf litter on the forest floor. Everything green must have access to water and nutrients in the soil, and the sunlight that rarely filters down that far. The fauna follows the flora up to the canopy, or down to the ground. In between it's no-man's land, a demilitarized zone. Much of the wildlife has adapted to stay hidden, sometimes heard and rarely seen, but it is there in overwhelming quantity and staggering diversity. Low to the ground, iguanas and snakes slither; giant and relatively cute capybara rodents scurry; tapirs, jaguars, and wild boar roam; and ants march in relentless precision. So many ants, in fact, that they represent 10% of the non-plant biomass in the Amazon. Billions and billions and billions of ants. Howler monkeys and sloths swing from tree to tree. Osprey, ibis, toucans, herons, kingfishers, and macaws fly above the forest and swoop down to the river below.
This biodiversity is not just key to the health of the rain forest and the Amazon region, but to the entire planet. The Amazon is the world's greatest carbon sink, removing pollution from the air, and producing as much as 40% of the oxygen we breathe. The Amazon is critical to the ecosystem of the planet, we cannot survive without it. And yet, over the last 50 years, 16% of the rain forest has been lost to deforestation and development. The tragic irony is that when the forest is cleared for agriculture, the soil that sustained the incredible life of the jungle is too thin to support crops for more than a few years. These trends must be reversed, and will be when it is in the interest of the Amazonians to do so. Eco-Tourism can help and we are here to do our part.
We boarded a fast boat on the pier for a ride up the Rio Negro to the site of our Jungle Trek. There are no bridges spanning the Amazon river, but a new one has just opened across the Rio Negro, linking Manaus on the North bank to the jungle on the South. The locals don't understand this government project. They say there is nowhere to go on the other side. But, traffic was brisk on the bridge as we cruised under it.
The Negro is running seasonably low, exposing deserted white sand beaches lined with palm trees for miles and miles up the river. The boat ride through paradise was lovely, but "The Great Green Hell" filled us with dread. The first challenge of the day began when we "docked" on the beach below the jungle. The "dock" consisted of a rickety portable wooden step ladder leading down from the bow and set into the sand in a few feet of water. Set on one of the lower steps, a ten foot plank extended from boat to shore, resting on a stump buried in the sand at the water line, another ramp down from that to dry land. On either side, guides took our hands as we tentatively made our way to shore.
We trudged through the sand up to the tree line and started into the jungle. Two planks bridged small streams along the way, the first very nearly split in two and submerged in the middle, the second in pretty good shape. We climbed the bluff above the beach and came to the jungle lodge that would be our base camp for the day.
After a brief orientation, we were assigned a guide and a woodsman and set off into the wild. Our woodsman blazed a trail, a path that disappeared behind us as we passed. In nearly 90 degree heat and high humidity, we climbed higher and higher into the jungle. As our woodsman led us deeper into the rain forest, machete in one hand clearing the way, he wove a crown of palm fronds for each of the ladies on our trek.
The ground was soft under our feet, roots and vines catching our boots, branches blocking our bodies, twists and turns in the trail as we hiked ever-higher, we were breathing hard and soaked with sweat.
This was not just an idle romp through the forest, but a serious jungle survival course. We paused to learn about the herbal remedies of the forest, how and where to build a shelter, how to find a dairy tree and tap its milk, how to climb a 30 foot tree without a single branch for the first 25 feet, where to build a fire and how to light it without a match, which liana vine provides clean refreshing water to drink, and which one is poisonous, how to set a trap for game. By the time we reached the crest of the jungle uplands, we were certified survivalists.
The long trek back down was proof of how far we had come. When we finally stumbled back to the lodge, refreshments awaited, served by the resident monkey. He was adopted by the lodge when his mama abandoned him. She carried her baby on her back, but he fell off when she was being chased by a pack of dogs and tried to escape up a tree. She was too afraid to come back for him.
Over and over and over again, in their descent of the River of Doubt, the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition faced impassable rapids and falls in the river. They were forced into the jungle to "portage" around the raging waters. They hauled their water-logged canoes out of the river, unloaded their supplies, and scouted the route forward. The rain forest is most dense at the water's edge where every living thing pushes out and up in search of light. They men had to clear a path, often a mile or more, through the tangle of jungle by hand and machete, under constant attack from insects, and sometimes from Indios. The party's massive canoes were too heavy to carry or even drag over the jungle floor, so the men had to create a "corduroy road." They felled trees, removed their branches, and laid them across the path to ease the way of the canoes. The prep work done, they were finally ready to drag the canoes and all their supplies down river and around the white water. This process would take a full day, or more, with their supplies dwindling, their health failing, and their strength waning. With their canoes reloaded and relaunched in the river, it was sometimes just another mile, just 15 minutes of relative rest, just around the next bend, that they faced another impassible obstacle and another struggle through the jungle.
Our jungle trek was literally a walk in the park compared to the ordeals that Roosevelt and his men faced every day, and we are exhausted. Their achievement is unimaginable. We are going to take a nap.
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