July 21,

At 0143 after three long horn blasts, the boat stopped. I got up and saw a huge barge pass us. I couldn’t see but I heard banging and clanging. (The stop was at Sao Paulo de Olivenca, according to our English friend and the banging/clanging was from long gas cylinders being loaded – not properly.) Then at 0235, the boat pulled out and we resumed. I stayed out a bit as the stars were amazing.

Breakfast at 0630, was a small bit of scrambled egg in buttered hotdog buns. At 0753, I saw my first pink dolphin!!!!!!! They really are pink. It was as we were turning up a tributary to a stop at Amatura.

Lunch started serving at 1030! We didn’t go until 1100- had noodles and a good amount of chicken. 1130 turned back West up to another loading place in Santo Antonio do Ica. We arrived at 1200 and left at 1250. During our port side time, we watched the loading & unloading. Jeff also bought an internet usage for my phone to see if we could connect better – tried to download a blog. Internet service has been sketchy. I watched as the crew loaded more empty water bottles and other stuff. But the most prevalent item seems to be the bottles. It was our third stop…more frequent than we thought there would be. As we left there was a wee bit of excitement as our ferry boat almost hit the dock. A man was ‘pushing’ from the awning so we wouldn’t hit! As we left we both saw a dolphin here and there, but from a distance. Back down the mighty Amazon River.

We see rare river traffic now mostly small boats fishing, but did see a tug pushing three barges. I did also see cows on an island… Amazon cows, huh. At 1445, we made another stop at Tonantins, but alongside another FB, a sister ship. The ships weren’t aligned very well though and people were coming off the other boat climbing off the rails down into ours! OH MY!! We were close enough we could high five…if anyone was inclined to. But really!?! That was crazy!! Finally, they were stopped and our FB realigned and a plank was straddling the two FBs. Now people and goods were exchanged. Some of the stuff that was just loaded went right back off. Some good looking whole fish came onboard… maybe that is dinner. And like that, at 1509 we pulled away. Onward!

Around 1620 our FB slowed and stopped in the middle of the river. Huh??? A little boat pulled up beside us and delivered a large white bag and two more large fish…looks definitely like fish tonight! 1625 away we continue. At 1642 I noticed a wall of rain coming at us fast. The wind picked up within three minutes it was pouring and the driver steered the FB to the shore, I guess to wait it out. And now supper was being served at the back of the ship. There were so many more hammocks! A couple of staff ladies were squeegeeing the water off the deck floor, but still it pooled about. Thank goodness nobody has fallen. Anyway, as we were in line the boat started to leave the bank and resume course. The rain stopped. Supper was chicken, rice, and pasta. Jeff said there was a bowl that had some kind of salad, but it was empty… and no fish. That would have been nice.

There were so many clouds that there was not a visible sunset. We sat on the balcony a bit then hunkered in for the night. But at 2240 the three long blasts…I went out to see. By 2250, we were alongside another boat at Jutai. And more loading and unloading occurred after a plank was put between the two FBs. I turned to come in and stepped on a bee! I’ll check it out in the morning. I went to bed. The three blasts went off again at 2330…the cruising began again.