Dec 30

It was sunny but quite windy as we sailed to the mouth of the amazon and out into the Atlantic.  Towards the mouth area the river was so wide that all we saw was water and not a hint of land.  The tan color of the Amazon continued well out into the Atlantic.  Today is a sea day as we sail towards Devil's Island (as in the movie Papillon with Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman.)  Terry Breen gave a talk on the history of the 3 islands and what we can see there.  There was a German Fruehschoppen lunch grilled on the pool deck and at 3:00pm there was a Country Fair on the pool deck (a repeat of the one on Nov 23) where the different crew departments set up games.  We could win raffle tickets and at the end, 10 tickets were drawn for prizes.  Tea time featured a variety of strudels.  At dinner we sat with Giovanni, the Chief Engineer whom I've known for several years.  Stephanie Baldwin sang "Broadway Favorites, From Stage To Screen" for the night's entertainment.

Dec 29

We docked at Santarem at 7:00am and all aboard was at 12:30pm, so there wasn't time to enjoy the town which was a shuttle bus ride away since nothing opened until around 10:00.  There is a fantastic fish restaurant in the center of town, but not enough time to get a lunch.  We went to the handicraft booths on the pier and used up the last of our Brazilian money since this is our final Brazil port.  At lunch the huge Pirarucu fish bought in the Manaus fish market was displayed and fillets of it were cooked on the grill.  It's a delicious tasting fish.  At 2:00pm our friend Cheryl Sprague gave a presentation titled "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, A Journey From Darkness To Triumph."  Following that was a champagne tasting with a lot of information about the processes of making champagne and how the different tastes are achieved.  The 2 singers from the cast put on a cabaret after dinner.

Dec 28

In Parentins we attended the Boi Bumba (pronounced boy boom bah) in the new convention center which is enclosed & air conditioned.  Unfortunately the ceiling is much lower than the open air practice arena where we used to see the performance and the really large costumes couldn't be used.  The actual 3 day show in June is in a 35,000 people stadium.  The Boi Bumba evolved from a traditional Brazilian folkloric festivity of mixed African & European origins.  It combines theater, drums music, dancing and magnificent Carnival style costuming.  It evolved into an annual competition between two boi (meaning bull) teams, each with several thousand members.  One team is Caprichoso in blue and representing the black bull.  The other is Garantido in Red and representing the red bull.  The friendly competition is held on June 28, 29 & 30 each year and each night each team puts on a 3 hour performance.  Judging has many factors which include the audience, interpretation of the tale, costuming etc.  The winning team has the privilege of performing for the next year both in Parintins and around the country.  People flock in from all over to see the event and wear team colors much like American gridiron fans on game day.  Houses are even painted red or blue and there are black & white telephone booths around town.  It's a loud and fast paced performance with the storyteller singing out the story line while drums beat away in a frenzy.  There are spectacular floats & costumes with lots of brightly colored feathers.  The floats are large and some have performers inside them to appear as the float is moved onto the floor.  Our performance was only 45 minutes and caipirinhas were served.

Dec 28

We continued our sail from Manaus to Parintins which is across from Alter do Chao (Dec 24 posting) and didn't arrive until 1:00pm.  At 10:00am we listened to a talk by Terry Breen explaining the Boi Bumba show (subject of the next post) that we would see in the afternoon and, for those who hadn't seen it before, she explained the tradition & background of the performance.  At 11:00 8 of us (the same group who sponsored the crew party) had brunch with Kunal Kamlani, the President of Prestige holdings which owns both Regent & Oceania cruise lines and who will also replace Mark Conroy as President of Regent as mark moves to an advisory role in Prestige.  Kunal wanted to meet with us because we all have far more nights on Regent ships than any of the other guests on board and he solicited our opinions on several subjects.  Kunal has his wife and 2 children on board with him.  He's very easy going and I think he will be good for Regent.

After the Boi Bumba performance Pat & I spent a good while walking around the town.  There is a really good fish restaurant along the water several blocks from the port where we ate in 2007, but the unfortunate timing of our arrival & departure precluded going to it.  There were lots of local handicraft stalls near the port but nothing to open our wallets for.  Before dinner there was a Seven Seas Society cocktail party with caviar & shrimp cocktail being served.  We joined the First & Second Engineers for dinner and afterwards attended a performance by 2 Polish classical musicians.

 

Dec 27

We spent the past 2 days in Manaus (I previously posted our excursions) and a heavy rain began just as we left the fish market.  Later in the afternoon when the rain let up just wandered around the port area.  Manaus was founded in the 1600s and it's wealth was amassed in the 1800s as the latex from the endemic rubber trees was exported.  The "Rubber Barons" built fantastic mansions and the high society demanded an opera house which was completed in 1886 and is named Teatro Amazonas.  Much of the marble & tile imported from Europe for the theater & mansions came as ballast in ships arriving to take rubber, sugar & coffee back to Europe.  The theater patrons wore exquisite clothing, the latest in Paris fashions, and the lavish dresses were actually shipped back to Paris for laundering.  The rubber boom ended when seeds of rubber trees were smuggled out, planted in London's Kew Gardens and the new trees exported to Ceylon & India and under priced Brazilian rubber.  The city languished until the area was declared a "duty free zone"  That doesn't mean cheap electronics & cameras, but the ability to import raw materials & components for manufacturing without paying duty & tax.  The city of around 2 million inhabitants has thousands of manufacturing plants and only 3% unemployment.  Honda has a 12,000 employee motorcycle plant, Harley Davidson has its only non-US plant here, there are electronic and automotive plants and all material coming in and finished products leaving must go by either air or ships on the river.  There is no road system connecting Manaus to other major cities (it would be impossible to build the hundreds of miles long bridges over the Amazon & its tributaries.)  The streets are crowded and there are stalls everywhere selling everything from baseball hats & t shirts to cell phones, children's clothing, food, beer and anything else people may want to buy.  I don't know how they survive with all the competition.  The river is very low since it is the end of the dry season and it will rise about 30 feet in the next few weeks as the rainy season commences.  I've been here in January / February time in the past when the river is high and the landscape is very different from my past visits.  The city has done a remarkable job of clearing out many of the favalas (slums) and turning the areas into clean parkland.  We finished off the second day with a caipirnha in a bar in the terminal.  Dinner was in the Prime 7 steak house restaurant with some new friends.