Review - Our 34 Day Cruise On Veendam - Panama Canal And Amazon River, Part 4

[Aussie Gal]

We have just spent a wonderful 5 days in this most interesting region of this world. We entered the Amazon river on Saturday and on Sunday we arrived in the city of Santerem. We went on a boat trip up one of the tributaries and went Pirahna fishing which was great fun. Peter and I each managed to catch 7 fish between us which was great especially as Pete caught the first fish on the boat.

 

On Tuesday we called into a small village called Boca da Valeria where we were greeted by loads of children. We had brought with us some koalas from home which they all seemed to love. We spent a couple of hours in the village before returning to the ship.

 

We tied up in the metropolis of Manaus which has a population of over one and a half million, on Tuesday. We were so lucky with the weather as it was a little overcast and even though it was 100F it wasn't as hot as last year when it was apparently 110F. We did a tour of the city in the morning which included the market, the Indian Museum and the Opera House. In the afternoon we went on the free shuttle provided by Stern's the jeweller to a resort hotel a little out of Manaus. It was interesting to see the suburbs of Manaus and also to visit the small private zoo of the hotel. Needless to say, we didn't buy any jewellery, not at the prices that were being asked.

 

On Tuesday night we had the wonderful privilege of attending a symphony concert in the Opera House. This was a lucky coincidence that we just happened to be in Manus when this concert was being held. It was a great night and to think that we were 1400kms up the amazon and attending a concert in this historical building that was built in the 1800's and everything has been imported from Europe, including the marble and the beautiful venetian glass chandeliers.

 

On Wednesday we did a 6 hour boat tour which involved seeing the meeting of the waters, going for a 1 hour jungle walk, also seeing a rubber tree and having lunch on a floating restaurant. It was an enjoyable day made even nicer as again it was cloudy and the temps were quite bearable, around 98.

 

Yesterday we called into Paratins our final town on the Amazon. We took a tricycle ride in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the wonderful Boi Bumba Show. It is normally put on in June and is a competition between the red and blue teams. Our show was especially for the ships passengers and just involved the winning team which was the red team. It was a great spectacular and a grand finale for our trip in Brazil. Unfortunately the heavens opened at 2.30pm, an hour before the show and the first rain since we left Vancouver and also the first rain in 3 months in Paratins but that didn't stop the show and the rain had eased by the time the show commenced.

 

Today we are continuing our journey back down the Amazon and tomorrow we will leave this big river and will be back into the Atlantic Ocean. We only have two more ports, Barbados and the Dominican Republic before we finish in Tampa next Saturday. I cannot believe that we have seen so much and done such a lot. Time has gone by very quickly and I will be sorry when our cruise finishes. We have loved this ship and the wonderful crew.

 

Jennie

 

 

[TedC]

Jennie,

 

 

Thank you so much for taking us along on this very interesting voyage. The concert in Manaus must have been extra special - we're envious.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Jennie:

 

I'm loving your five-part series about your cruise on Veendam, but I can barely read this particular post of yours. The letters are so tiny, even with my new reading glasses! I hate to ask you, but could you possibly try again with larger font? Thanks very much.

 

Karin

[Aussie Gal]

Ted,

 

I couldn't believe my ears when it was announced that we would have the opportunity of hearing a concert in that wonderful Opera House.

 

I had been trying to find out on the web if there was any opera at the time we were visiting but unfortunately the season is in April so you can imagine how excited we were to find out that this concert was being held. It was the last concert of a week long Festival of Music.

 

Jennie

[Aussie Gal]

Jennie:

 

I'm loving your five-part series about your cruise on Veendam, but I can barely read this particular post of yours. The letters are so tiny, even with my new reading glasses! I hate to ask you, but could you possibly try again with larger font? Thanks very much.

 

Karin

 

Karin,

 

Here it is again in a larger font. I don't know what happened to that particular series.

 

We have just spent a wonderful 5 days in this most interesting region of this world. We entered the Amazon river on Saturday and on Sunday we arrived in the city of Santerem. We went on a boat trip up one of the tributaries and went Pirahna fishing which was great fun. Peter and I each managed to catch 7 fish between us which was great especially as Pete caught the first fish on the boat.

 

On Tuesday we called into a small village called Boca da Valeria where we were greeted by loads of children. We had brought with us some koalas from home which they all seemed to love. We spent a couple of hours in the village before returning to the ship.

 

We tied up in the metropolis of Manaus (population of one and a half million on Tuesday. We were so lucky with the weather as it was a little overcast and even though it was 100F it wasn't as hot as last year when it was apparently 110F. We did a tour of the city in the morning which included the market, the Indian Museum and the Opera House. In the afternoon we went on the free shuttle provided by Stern's the jeweller to a resort hotel a little out of Manaus. It was interesting to see the suburbs of Manaus and also to visit the small private zoo of the hotel. Needless to say, we didn't buy any jewellery, not at the prices that were being asked.

 

On Tuesday night we had the wonderful privilege of attending a symphony concert in the Opera House. This was a lucky coincidencr that we just happened to be in Manus when this concert was being held. It was a great night and to think that we were 1400kms up the amazon and attending a concert in this historical building that was built in the 1800's and everything had been imported from Europe including the venetian chandeliers and the beautiful marble.

 

On Wednesday we did a 6 hour boat tour which involved seeing the meeting of the waters, going for a 1 hour jungle walk, also seeing a rubber tree and having lunch on a floating restaurant. It was an enjoyable day made even nicer as again it was cloudy and the temps were quite bearable, around 98.

 

Yesterday we called into Paratins our final town on the Amazon. We took a tricycle ride in the morning and in the afternoon we went to the wonderful Boi Bumba Show. It is normally put on in June and is a competition between the red and blue teams. Our show was especially for the ships passengers and just involved the winning team which was the red team. It was a great spectacular and a grand finale for our trip in Brazil. Unfortunately the heavens opened at 2.30pm, an hour before the show and the first rain since we left Vancouver and also the first rain in 3 months in Paratins but that didn't stop the show and the rain had eased by the time the show commenced.

 

Today we are continuing our journey back down the Amazon and tomorrow we will leave this big river and will be back into the Atlantic Ocean. We only have two more ports, Barbados and the Dominican Republic before we finish in Tampa next Saturday. I cannot believe that we have seen so much and done such a lot. Time has gone by very quickly and I will be sorry when our cruise finishes. We have loved this ship and the wonderful crew.

Jennie

[arlenez]

Jennie:

 

I'm loving your five-part series about your cruise on Veendam, but I can barely read this particular post of yours. The letters are so tiny, even with my new reading glasses! I hate to ask you, but could you possibly try again with larger font? Thanks very much.

 

Karin

 

Karin:

 

Copy and paste the message into word and then you can enlarge the font.

 

Regards

Arlene

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Thanks, Jennie, for the larger font, much better, and thanks Arlene, for the good advice.:)

 

Karin