Internet continued to be problematic and expensive and it was extremely hard to post blog entries! And here I am back in Vancouver trying to catch up and edit and in some cases add more pictures.
But yesterday was exciting as we headed down the Amazon to the city of Belem. And that seemed quite magical to me. As you see it was a bit muddy and also wide. The Amazon could contain the other major world rivers. In the picture above you can see them bringing down the lifeboats that would be our tenders to transport us into the city of Belem.
When we got to Belem we immediately went onto another boat to take us in our Amazonian rain forest tour.
When we got off the boat we initially walked over a rather rickety boardwalk
At the clearing we entered there was a small school in session. Parents are given by the government, family allowances if children in school, and this is effective in improving school attendance and lessening poverty.
We entered the rainforest and our guide was very knowledgeable about the Amazon plant and animal life. I wish I could remember all that he told and showed us!
It was fun to see Birds of Paradise in bloom
A little girl brought us a wooly, apparently harmless spider to examine and other than ant and termite nests and one butterfly we didn't see much other animal life!
Here are cocoa beans drying
Below local boys scampered up the trees
A peak into the school
A couple of young men cool off in the river-I almost jumped in myself it was so hot!
But on our way back to Belem a dramatic tropical storm flared up. It was so bad for awhile tenders couldn't get back to the ship but we were in the pier shopping centre in pursuit of acai ice cream.
We would have liked to have seen a sloth or even a bird in the jungle but no luck. It also would have been nice to have seen a bit more of Belem but we were a bit wet as it was. But now I have been on the Amazon, and have experienced a bit of a world I had only read about!
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