6/25/2014 Belem

We were devastated today to learn that the problems with our riverboat voyage from Manaus to Santarem have not ended. 

After learning yesterday that the Cidade do Santarem was no longer in service, and then exchanging our tickets for the Golfhino do Mar 1 leaving at 10 am today, we arrived at 9 am with our bags at Tonico's desk under the mango tree as instructed to board the new boat. In what should not be a surprise, we learned that the Golfhino had not yet arrived to Manaus from its prior voyage. 

So Tonico accompanied us in our taxi to the main passenger dock to determine when the Golfhino would arrive. (There is apparently no way to do this by telephone, let alone by internet.) While David stayed in the taxi, John and Tonico went into the bowels of the dock, where they were told by supposedly reliable sources that the Golfhino would arrive sometime "soon" and that, once arrived, it would take only 1-2 hours to unload and reload. On this basis, Tonico tried to convince us to wait for its departure on board another large nearby boat with numerous other sweaty passengers in the same predicament. It was not an appealing prospect, so we declined.

Given our complete lack of confidence that anything Tonico had been told would play out as stated, we headed back to the hotel to explore our options. Circumstances were also complicated by the fact that Brazil's largest folk festival is now taking place in Parantins on the way to Santarem and at which the Golfhino is scheduled to stop. 

With great disappointment, we decided to cancel our Manaus to Santarem leg and instead fly directly to Belem, the last stop on our trip. We found seats online for tomorrow on Azul (Blue in English), a local airline flying Brazilian-made Embraer passenger jets. We informed Peter, the travel agent in Manaus, of our decision. He was apologetic and promised to send us a complete refund. 

In the afternoon, we watched Argentina win its World Cup match on TV at our hotel, thereby qualifying number one in its group for the next round, much to John's delight. Near half time, the numerous Swiss in our hotel departed to go to their game vs. Honduras in the Manaus stadium. Given that only four World Cup games will be played in this new stadium built at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, and that Manaus does not have a first tier football team, one must wonder why the city was chosen to host any of the games.

We will have an extra three nights in Belem, for a total of six. This should allow us to see additional sights far from the city, as well as to catch up on transferring more photos to our blog. Hopefully Belem will turn out to be as attractive a city as Manaus, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Most of you have probably been expecting commentary on the future of the Amazon, the socioeconomic conditions we encountered, etc. We fully intend to do so, but not until after our trip has ended, we have had a chance to digest what we have seen and heard, and after we have read more source material. For now suffice it to say that the World Cup is playing a substantial role in Brazilian life at this point in time. We can't imagine what life will be like here in a few weeks if the country wins the event.

In conclusion, our plans to recreate the trip down the Amazon by Francisco de Orellana in 1532 have been thwarted. We can only wonder what de Orellena would have done if he had had the same option as we of flying instead.