Sunday, February 25

Sun diamonds sparkle
on brown Amazon waters –
gilding the silt.

Belem is the largest port on the Amazon River. Took a tour that wound up being 6 hours with no lunch. Fortunately I had packed water and a candy bar, so survived. We are almost on top of the equator, so things are pretty hot and sticky. When I got back, I grabbed a couple of cookies from the coffee bar and collapsed on my verandah until I had cooled off enough to shower off the sweat and DEET. (Since the ship cannot purify its own water in the Amazon – too much silt – we are to conserve water until we get back out of it on March 4.)

The best part of the tour for me was a Botanical Garden and Zoo. I couldn’t walk around as much as I would have liked, but there was lots of shade, and I had fun watching several agouti running around loose (unfortunately, never when I had my camera out.) We anchored out in the river and tendered in on local river boats like the one shown here which was interesting. It being Sunday, there wasn’t a whole lot open, but the driving around the city was nice.

Monday, February 26

Sailing full speed up the mouth of the Amazon, but only making 19 knots because the tide is against us. We are headed for Macapa to pick up a pair of river pilots. Weather is warm (hot if you try to move around outside very much) with off and on showers. We’ll be crossing the equator back and forth for the next several days.

Last night in the dining room, all the staff were in costume for Oscars Night. I felt really sorry for the poor guy in the King Kong suit as well as the captains who were in things like tiger and lion suits and Renaissance regalia, but they appeared to be having fun. The awards were shown on our tv system, but as they began at 11"00 p.m. and went on for four hours, I gave them a miss.