July 22,

At 0530 the FB blew its horn for a stop. I heard it but didn’t get up and went back to sleep Jeff later said we were at Fonte Boa for thirty minutes…the newness has worn off I guess. I awoke at 0630. We skipped breakfast. We are eating too much starch, and in general too much food. We got up and about, taking a shower in the “river water” shower. It is – what it is. We walked about the ship, but went back to our balcony or the front of the ship. On our level, the front has an open viewing area that a few can appreciate. Lunch was at 1030. We were in line, close to the front of the line. There was rice, of course. The noodles have a bit of veggies in it, like canned mixed veggies. Also there was black beans with onion and cabbage. Lastly there was chicken.

Around noon we went to the front on our level and watched birds on logs in the water. The crew started “swabbing the deck,” not often you get to use that phrase!😂 They were using a firehose. The captain took us into a narrow channel. A short cut maybe? We saw and “chased” a flock of birds for a bit; saw a brilliant blue bird-going too fast for identifying; and saw trees with red pods – cocoa trees maybe. Also saw a tug pushing two barges of natural gas (Jeff thought). There were a couple of homes here – very surprising. This channel was great, but the crew wanted to wash the upper levels of the front so we had to move or else get wet. So we went into our room and viewed from the balcony. The channel opened back up to the very wide Amazon River at Porto Praia. We were in it from around 1245 to 1335. A very nice 50 minutes. We just continued to look out, taking turns for a nap. The FB did not make any more stops. We passed by a bigger town,Tefe. But we did not pull up the channel to go there though, and this really surprised Jeff and I.

Supper, at 1645, was rice, and /or pasta, beef stew without any liquid, and chicken. It was a nice change to have some beef. But overall the food has a good flavor. They serve a bunch of people! After we finished, we went up for sunset and talked some with S. He had a good upload connection. Crazy we never got that connection. Anyway, Jeff may buy a couple hours worth tomorrow so as to post some blogs. S let us use his phone, which was very nice! Jeff was able to book us a place in Manaus.

We later went out to see the stars from the rooftop area with a half moon in the sky. Amazing Amazon Adventure!