Santarem had been half the way from Manaus to Belem and during the night, we had passed Almerim and were heading now towards the island of Marajo and the delta of the Amazon River. Incredible fact that one small river arm of the River Amazon, one single small river arm in this huge delta had created the island of Marajo, an island with enormous dimensions, bigger than many islands in the Pacific, the Caribbean or the Mediterranean. The main stream of the Amazon River flowed further towards the north of the island of Marajo towards the city of Macapa and just a small river arm flowed to the south of the island of Marajo towards the city of Belem.

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Just a quick stop in Gurupá, enough time for the mobile salespeople to sell some of their food and the Amazon Star entered the labyrinth of the delta, entered one of the small river arms that flowed down south around the island of Marajo and towards Belem. We entered a different Amazon River, a narrow river arm where one could almost touch the trees. But not only the nature changed, the civilization changed and we went back in time and back to small original indigenous communities, actually not even communities just a line of single houses along the river.

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Although close to the ocean and close to civilization and some of the major cities of Brazil, you felt you were in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The rainforest was right in front of your face, you could obviously see it and you could smell it but you could also almost touch it. The inhabitants did accompany the ship for the next hours; children in small boats were paddling close to the ship and hoping for a present, some food, a toy or some clothes and actually passengers had prepared plastic bags with exactly this and were throwing them now into the river. The houses along the river were of the same wooden style as in all the regions along the River Amazon, may it be Peru, Colombia, Venezuela or Brazil, still something was different, something that was not really visible, something more spiritual.

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We passed many houses, many shrimp farms, fruit farms and woodcutters’ farms. Many boats hooked on to the ship, the children entered the ship and were selling the shrimps, the fruits or the nuts that the rainforest and the river offered to their families. I was amazed and happy that we drove through this part of the Amazon River during daytime so that I could experience, I could watch and understand. My neighbor may not have noticed this; maybe she was waiting for me to return to my hammock for her then to leave her hammock and push me or hit me.

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We came closer to Breves and back to civilization. Young boys from the city were swimming in the river awaiting our approach. The closer we came, the closer they came and once we passed them they started swimming as fast as possible towards the ship trying to grab one of the tires, the bumpers that were protecting the ship at the dock against other ships or the dock itself. They had to be very quick, be lucky and strong to grab one, in case you do not grab one you had to swim away again to avoid to get close to the propeller. Only 2 out of the 10 boys made it and were now surfing in the river holding tight onto the tire they had grabbed. We arrived at the port and I had the chance to leave the ship and buy some drinks and eat a Maracuja cake. Back on the ship, I decided for the same strategy as last night. I enjoyed watching the movie “Alive” and became really, really tired. I went to my hammock with the same funny feeling like days before about more strange surprises during the last day on board of the Amazon Star.

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For a small understanding of the days travel, I have included a Google Earth map. The red pins mark the locations I have stopped and taken pictures. At the bottom of the page you will find a link for all the pictures I have taken. The link will open in a Google+ Album. At the top right of this Google+ Album you will find the button for a Slideshow.

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See map and distances / Siehe Karte und Entfernungen / Ver mapa e distâncias / Ver mapa y distancias

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