Journey with Christina

 

After our adventurous boat ride we needed some R&R, and some personal space. Our next stop was a sleepy village at the edge of the Rio Tapajos, a 40-minute drive south from where our boat docked in Santarem. The draw to the village is an unbelievable powder sand beach that juts into the river known as love island to locals with a beautiful lake, Lago Verde on the other side of the island. We were there at the end of the wet season so the island was still partially submerged underwater. We were told that by the end of the season the island would be completely emerged, and the town filled with tourists. We were lucky to have the place mostly too ourselves.

 

From top left: Love island half submerged, me on Love Island having lunch with Lago Verde in the background, a beach on our tour, a sunset form one of the beaches on our tour, Jon lounging on one of the beaches we were taken on our tour, and the beach near our pousada.

We spent three glorious days swimming in the warm waters, paddle boarding in Lago Verde and to love island for lunch.

Jon and I paddle boarding, I still managed to get burnt with a hat and rash-guard.

We also did a day tour which took us to Floresta Nacional do Tapajos, several other stunning beaches and watching the sunset while trying to spot some of the famous pink river dolphins. Floresta Nacional do Tapajos is a 545,000-ha reserve on the banks of Rio Tapajos which is home to 26 riverine communities who make a living from harvesting Brazil nuts, rubber and fishing. We took a 4-hour hike where we learned about different plants and their uses and even saw a tarantula.

 

From top left: Jon and I in front of the hike we did, famous rubber tree and extracted rubber, a tarantula, walking tree (yes the tree actually moves), Jon and I in front of a Kapok tree, and flooded forest.

After the hike and a relaxing canoe ride through the flooded forest we had a delicious lunch of local fish, rice, salad, beans and fresh fruit juice with one of the local families. Of course there was a cat there who proceeded to immediately find Jon, start mowing and rubbing all over him (animals for some reason love him which he does not reciprocate). He promptly stomped his foot in true tantrum style and I think muttered “damn cat” under his breath to which our very kind hostess grabbed a broom and chased the cat from the room so he, who I’ve taken to calling Princess Jon, could enjoy his lunch in peace.

 

Me having lunch at our local hosts house, she was the only cook in “town” and the bathroom facilities.

We also did what we swore we would not do on this trip. Laundry by hand. As only a portion of our clothing is for warm weather we sweat through those pretty quickly. With no laundry in town we were stuck washing by hand in the outdoor laundry sink, of course with no rubber stopper because I did not bring it.

Jon, who at home drops his laundry off to be washed and dried for him, doing our laundry so I could update this blog.

 

What we ate, we tried more fish which was all delicious, the Amazon has over 3,000 varieties of fish and some of the most mouth-watering fruit juices I have ever had. We also had some good old favorites like pizza and burgers, although mine had plantain on it, yummy. We experimented a little on love island and tried fish balls, which were sort of like a crab cake and these fried fish “snacks” (see picture below). I think they are supposed to be eaten like potato chips. I looked over to find Jon crumbling his. When I asked what he was doing he replied that he was looking for the meat. They were basically fried fish skins.

 

Where we stayed, Pousada do Tapajos Hostel, which was located a 5-minute walk to the town center and on a small shaded beach. We had a private air-conditioned spick and span room with a bathroom for about $40 a night including a good breakfast with eggs. The owners were very helpful and their teenage son who spoke English was very helpful. The grounds were beautiful and immaculately kept with an outside oven, hammocks and a kitchen for guests use. Since we were both recuperating from our boat trip the cleaners the next day were kind enough to leave us a fresh new clip on toilet bowl cleaner which Jon somehow managed to get stuck to his pants.