Scenic Cruising the Amazon River – Santarem, Brazil – We took a wonderful boat tour today and did a bit of Piranha fishing off the boat. We didn’t catch any Piranha, but one fellow did – it was about 2 inches long! Oooh – scary. We saw a lot of the Amazon and it is lush, green and very beautiful. This is the rainy season and the water will soon rise to an incredible level. You can see water lines on the trees from last year and it is hard to imagine water levels that high in a season. Farmers on the river will go live with family in the city when they can no longer remain in their homes. Some will rent barges, put their cattle on them, and float them on the river. They will live on the barge above the cattle. As they cruise up and down the river, they’ll feed the cattle from the large patches of grass that pass by. I thought that was pretty interesting – pretty ingenious! We especially enjoyed seeing the elusive pink dolphins that inhabit the Amazon. They prefer the muddy water and unlike their cousins, they gray dolphin, they are quite shy. They don’t hang around long – up for air – and in a split second they’re gone. You have to be quick to get a glimpse of them. They are a protected species, but they are not endangered. We wrapped up our tour at a beach on the river. Nancy waded up to her knees in the dark brown water – but didn’t stay in too long. You can’t see what’s around you and from some of the descriptions we’ve heard I wouldn’t want to swim in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment