300 million litres of water. First get an idea of how much water that really is. Say the average person drinks 2 litres of water per day, then it would take nearly 6000 people their entire lives to drink 300 million litres of water. That’s a lot of water. Now consider that 300 million litres is the amount of water that flows per second ... per second ... from the Amazon River into the Atlantic Ocean. What better way to experience all this water than by boat?
After a wonderful 4 days in Alter do Chao, it was time for us to get back on the water with another 2 day boat trip - this time from Santarem to Belem. This section is where the Amazon gets serious, having picked up most of its major tributaries, either before or during the route. At times the river got so wide it was like being in the middle of the English Channel – you can just about see land to one side, and land off to the other, but there seems like an insurmountable quantity of water in between. It’s a big river.
The boat trip itself was both worse and better than the previous one. Worse in that it was a much bigger boat, and thus there were many many more people crammed into the hammock areas. Worse in that there was a 7 hour delay before we even left Santarem port. Worse in that the hammock area was enclosed with very little ventilation, meaning it became stiflingly hot on occasion. Worse in that the toilets smelt really bad. But, also better. Better because of the scenery. I couldn’t count the number of times we said “Wow, this is such a big river”. There was also some great “Apocalypse Now” style jungle on the banks whenever we got near enough to see it.
According to our guide book there are supposed to be around 50 or so “undiscovered” tribes in the Amazon basin, which have had no contact with “civilisation” (by which they presumably mean guns, cars and mobile phones) for over a hundred years. We cannot claim to have seen any of these, but on Day 2 we passed by a number of tribal communities living in huts right on the banks of the Amazon.
As we passed, the boat veered over to be near the bank, which was the cue for all the children and the mums of the community to pile into their little wooden canoes and paddle out towards us. Once near, they would call, and make some very odd hand gestures towards us. We weren't sure if we were supposed to be offended by this, until a plastic bag full of clothes was flung by one of our fellow passengers at high speed out into the water right next to one of these canoes. Soon, everyone was throwing bags of clothing, food, textiles ... seemingly whatever they could get their hands on. The villagers weren't making obscene gestures at us, they were calling for charitable contributions to be thrown down! They would then dodge the incoming missiles as best they could, and set about scooping their treasure out of the water and into their boats. It was great to watch.
Whilst all this was going on, a couple of the canoeists began to paddle like mad trying to get alongside our boat. After a lot of effort, they managed it and grabbed on. Then, while one of the villagers secured the canoe to our boat, another leapt on-board with a basket full of freshly caught prawns, and began hawking them to the passengers. Unfortunately we didn’t buy any, as we assumed they were raw – though later we saw a number of passengers munching on them. Opportunity missed.
After this flurry of activity, life became slow and relaxed once more as we meandered along towards Belem. It actually got a little dull to be honest – I think four days of lazy river boat travel is enough, even if you are on the world’s biggest river. Finally, on Day 3 (a little later than expected because of our 7 hour delay) we glimpsed the skyscrapers of Belem in the distance, and our Amazon adventure was at an end.
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