Today’s excursion was quite different. The ship anchored near a small village along the Amazon River and passengers could take a small boat from the ship to the shore(tender) and then mingle with the villagers. The village of Boca Da Valeria was quite a change from the large city of Manaus.
The villagers had some unique ways to earn tourist dollars and would run to crowd around the pier when the tender arrived to be first in line for the tourists.. Small children carried ‘pets’ (baby caiman, baby sloths, large grasshopers, baby turtles, etc.) and would charge $1 to have a photo taken. The older villagers would take guests on a 30 minute boat ride up the narrow river channels for $5. A few souvenirs and drinks/food were available for purchase. They also had a Toucan, a Hyacinth Macaw and parrots on tether for photo opportunities.
I spent the morning relaxing and planned to visit the village in the early afternoon. Jennifer went early in the morning and took a boat ride. When she came back she reported that there were giant water lilies to see so I rushed off to the village for a boat ride. These water lilies can have a diameter of up to 10 feet.
I walked off the tender and selected a boat driver and off we went on our 30 minute ride- no giant water lilies but it was a lovely boat ride in a wooden boat that required bailing.
When we returned to the pier I picked a different boat driver- one with a laminated sign that showed a picture of pink dolphins and giant water lilies. I pointed to the picture of the giant water lilies hoping to let them know that’s what I wanted to see. They pretty much only spoke Portuguese so I didn’t have an easy way to communicate with them. They caught on and asked another driver where to find the lilies and off we went. This time in an aluminum boat.
Less than 3 minutes into the boat ride there were giant water lilies! I was so happy since I really wanted to see them on this trip.
After the boat ride, I walked around the villages little but didn’t take the opportunity to take any ‘pet’ photos because I was wondering what happened to all the adult sloths and the Hyacinth Macaw is an endangered species.
Before the ship left for Santarem, I caught a glimpse or two or three of the pink Amazon river dolphin in the waters near the entrance to the village
