I've been listening to the on board talks about Brazil and if the facts are correct, it seems has a 201 million population. It covers 8.5 million sq km, and although I haven't done the maths myself I am informed that that's 23.8 people per sq km.
The GDP is 3 trillion dollars. 7th highest in the world, and yet it is largely rain forest and undeveloped land, and has considerable economic inequality.
We will be in three different provinces Amapa , Paras and Amazonas.
Brazil's currency is the Real but US dollars seem to be universal currency.
Brazil hosts the worlds second largest dam.
Sugar cane was introduced by the Portuguese - and this is responsible for the production of ethanol, alcohol and sugar.
Biodiesel is also being produced in the Amazon basin (but this raises the controversial issue of whether deforestation should be permitted for soya to be grown in the rain forest)
Beef is still an important part of the economy. as is coffee which has been grown here for 150 years, I think it might have been brought in from Africa.
Brasilia is now the capital, and this has changed quite a few times over the various regimes.
Rio de Janeiro is the most visited city in Brazil (It alone has a population of 12 million)
Famous Brazilians- Pele is the only footballer to have played in the winning team 3 times. He retired in 1977
Here are some "fast facts" about the Amazon
Widest point can be 120 miles in the rainy season.
Spans Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador,Brazil, Venezuela and also touching on Surinam and Guyana
30% of all identified species are found in the Amazon rain forest
There are 16000 tree species
2/3 rain forest is in Brazil
There are 2.5 million insect species in the Rain forests of the Amazon, 500 species of fish, 1800 species of bird, electric eels, vampire bats, caiman (massive lizards like crocs), 40,000 different plant species and the pink dolphin (distinguishable by its absent dorsal fin and very humped back) - it is the only fresh water dolphin. One amazing fact was that there are 90,000 tons of living plants in one sq Km of land
Cattle ranching accounts for 70% deforestation. since 1978. 289000 sq miles of Amazon rain forest has been destroyed. Recently driven by industrial activities and cattle ranching. Late 1970's to early 2000's worst time. Caused by other things that accompany industrialisation e.g. Road building, dam building, settlements, influx of land speculators and illegal logging.
The trend reversed in 2004 in Brazil (not the surrounding countries)
New protected areas, satellite monitoring, environmental group pressure, mindset change. deforestation has declined by 80%.
Layers of the rain forest
At the base the forest floor almost nothing grows. 80% of the forest floor has come down from the upper canopy layers. fast turnover, composting, ant eaters live there, army ants, turtles also use the forest floor to forage. The canopy layer. The emergent layer is home to bats, eagles, parrots, butterflies.
We were recommended by one of the speakers to read Martin Strell's The Man who swam the Amazon. He did it in 66 days.
More specifically Manaus is the largest city in the middle of the Amazon - Our cruise takes us to Manaus on 6-7 February
The river is 4000 miles in length, it has the largest volume of all world rivers and is second in length to the Nile and we will travel the first 1000 to Manaus. This is equivocal. Many of the tributaries are 1000 miles
Manaus is Situated on the Negro and Somaso rivers. Famous for the meeting of waters black and brown - they do not mix because of difference in temperature, speed and density. Negro flows at 1.2 mph at a temp of 28 c Amazon flows twice as fast and temp 22C.
Manaus is the commercial hub of the Amazonas. Noisy. It's the rainy season.
1890-1920 brought rubber boom to Manaus. Later became a duty free zone to attract people to the region. Used to be isolated, reached only by water and air but now has two large roads that link the region.
Nearest salt water is 1000 miles away. Small river boats act as buses of the Amazon.
The different types of rain forests are home to 400-500 Amer-indian tribes, the Amazon tropical rain forest, semi arid areas with scrub land, and the humid Atlantic sub tropical areas all exist in Brazil
We will be docking alongside on a floating dock with a convenient covered walkway. We have been advised not to wander too far on our own.
There is only one tour suitable for someone with a sore hip and slow walking speed so we've booked it, the River Negro cruise, a low key half day alternative to the intrepid explorer excursion, the Amazon Experience
The city municipal market are close to the ship. (designed by Gustav Eiffel) It is also home to a Cathedral - mid 19th century replacement for the earlier one destroyed by fire. there is also a famous opera house the Teatro de Amazonas, built at the time if the rubber boom. Rubber boom bust in 1914 so the Opera House was neglected for a while.
Originally the trip was optimistically scheduled to set off at 9:30, but a few days ago the Captain realised we would miss that and added on an hour. It surprises me that we can even be given a time slot when I consider all the weather, obstruction and current variables. Congregating in the theatre started at 10:30 instead of 10:10. We were ready for off at 10:30, but because of further delays in the river, like navigating roots, huge logs and shallow depths affecting water speed we were a little bit late setting off on our Rio Negro boat trip. Soon we were climbing onto the top deck of our double decker and David, our tour guide began his commentary about Manaus and the waters.
After the oceans our impression of the Amazon is like a thick log soup, brown or yellow ochre in colour and totally opaque. I have taken hundreds of pictures! As we moved along in the tour boat up the narrower parts towards the tributaries the colour streaked and changed, looking like oil on water, but it was water. Our trip up the River Negro showed us the dark inky black river, the colour of which is said to be because of the black rocks higher up the mountains. A few miles up this river and we could see what looked like a sandy beach, but turned out to be the meeting of the black and yellow waters. The boat's captain went to great trouble to explain the factors which caused this phenomenon but I can only remember source, velocity and temperature. Our captain stopped for a while and encouraged us photograph it from either side. Some people saw the freshwater pink dolphins there but I was looking in the wrong direction again.
Next we made our way to much shallower water and transferred into canoes holding 10 people. At this point I felt like in Jamaica that I might have bitten off more than I could chew as my hips weren't geared up to the manoevres on and off a small canoe. However - the end justified the means and for a little discomfort and extra effort (with help) I now believe it was well worth it. For this we wore our life jackets which became sweat suits as the temperature rose to 34C. All the boats had a flat roof to protect us from direct sun, and the movement created a pleasant breeze without which it would have been really difficult. Our drinking water was one of the day's greatest pleasures, but soon disappeared and we were too light weight to try the boat's own drinking water, even after the guide promised it was clean, and not 100% trusting of other claims that we could drink the river water near the shore, or that the mozzies did not carry malaria, Dengue or zika. We of little faith!
We were so lucky to see the massive water lilies on what David called "the lake", white herons's/egrets at the river side, eagles hanging around the tree tops, moorhen mother and chicks. Finally we made a trip down a very narrow stream to see a huge oomalooma (check spelling) tree, 500 years old but still with short roots making it potentially topple-able with little effort. Wisely we had covered ourselves with Jungle Formula before we left because we saw many large insects, wasp like but three times the size we're used to, flying insects the size of dragon flies. Some landed on our hats and clothing, some just flew in and out of the boat, some spiders hitched a ride and began spinning from the roof. It was all like magic and it feels like a lovely dream.
On our return the skies changed to black and very dark grey clouds and we could see from the down streaks in the distance that rain was on its way. When we reached our berthing place and were getting ready for the security checks before climbing back on, we felt a strong gust of wind which knocked over the security barriers and sent the bins flying around the pier. I was really impressed with the speed in which this potentially dangerous situation was handled immediately and nobody was hurt. Just in time!
Today we experienced high tea, as the timing of the trip necessitated. Well I never! Choices included chips, pies, cakes, scones, noodles galore, very little "lighter option" here. I am very glad we don't need to do this often, I'd be the size of a bus.
An Argentinian trio performed for us tonight, called Impact (I think the late Lady Thatcher might have been in the audience in spirit, as when they introduced themselves as from Argentina someone booed, ffs!)
Anyway, they were three men, two front men and a musical director/piano accompaniment
they performed Flamenco style, dance, guitar, percussion, synchronised dance with bullfighting cape and a scary form of I suppose its a mixture of juggling and twirling metal bands, again synchronised. They were very very good, even though I'd never choose to watch a variety show like this, I really enjoyed it.
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