Thursday January 11- Amazon River

 We're docked for a few hours this morning in Macapa Brazil. It is a service stop to pick up supplies and a local ship's pilot.  Especially important because of the shallow waters of the river. I learned yesterday that the Zuiderdam has a draft of 26 feet. We went through an area yesterday that was only about 30 feet deep.

Macapa is an industrial city of about 500,000. Weather today should be 86 with 90% humidity and scattered thunder showers. 

Random tidbits:

• Amazon "pink" river dolphins have skin so thin they look grey or pink.  When excited, they look more pink because of the capillaries near the skin.
• In the 1980's a man and his two sons canoed from Canada to the Amazon.  Read more here. Those crazy Canadians! 
• The cruise director is doing narrative as we cruise.  I don't think she meant to say "All the rubbers came from Brazil".  She was talking about the influence of Henry Ford in the Amazon, when he tried to create Fordlandia, as a source of rubber for tires. More info here in case you're unfamiliar with search engines.

One of the things I love about cruising is waking up to a new view each day. This was our approach to Macapa 

Surprisingly, most of the crew on the dining room were wearing hairnets. 

Our waiter explained it is a Government requirement that any one going in/ out of the kitchen must wear a hairnet.  Ordinarily I'd post my breakfast photo but forgot to take one. It was a plain bowl of oatmeal. 

A restricted escape route??

I always worry when I see an abandoned walker.  Did I miss the miracle?

I brought a salad to my cabin for lunch so I could watch the river go by 

I thought where I lived in Samoa was remote

There were big clumps of grass floating along

View from the Crow's Nest - Deck 10, looking over the bow

My view when I came in to cool down for a bit

No joke!

For my quilting friends

It looks like a beach but that is the river

A rainbow over the Amazon River

They DO have sunsets in Brazil

I had to elbow my way through the crowd to get the sunset photo

My new pal Jodi who takes great care of me in the Main Dining Room

Tough choice on apps tonight.  So many good choices but I went with the Gambas Piri Piri. Delicious

I couldn't decide between the braised oxtail or the Moqueca Brazilian Fish Stew so Jodi brought me both.  And both were excellent

Lemon meringue cheesecake.  Can life get any better?  What a great day