Friday AM, November 1, 2019, Santarem, Brazil

Santarém is a city and municipality in the western part of the state of Para in Brazil.  Located at the confluence of the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers, it has become a popular tourist destination.  It is the second-most important city in the state, and the financial and economic center of the western part of the state.  It leads the Santarém Metropolitan Area, made up of Santarém, Bel-terra, and Mojuí dos Campos.  It was once home to the Tapajós Indians, a tribe of Native Americans after whom the river was named. They were the leaders of a large, agricultural chiefdom that flourished before the arrival of Europeans.

It is located some 500 miles from the two largest cities in the Brazilian Ama-zon:  Manaus, upriver in the state of Amazonas, and the Pará state capital Belém, located downriver at the mouth of the Amazon on the Atlantic Ocean.  Santarém has an estimated population of 299,419 people (2012 Census), and is the third most populous city of the state.  The city occupies an area of 14,304 square miles, of which 48 square miles are urban areas.

The city was founded by Portuguese colonists in 1661 as New Santarém (after the city in Portugal).  It is one of the oldest cities in the Brazilian Amazon.  This is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santarém.

Because of the crystalline waters of the Tapajós River, Santarém has more than 62 miles of natural beaches, such as those of the village of Alter do Chão, known as the "Caribbean in Brazil."  The Guardian ranked the latter beach as one of the most beautiful in Brazil and the most beautiful beach on fresh water.  Alter do Chão is also home to Sairé, one of the most important folklore festivals of the region, which is held annually in September.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santar%C3%A9m%2C_Par%C3%A1

Tapajos National Forest Hike   

We journeyed into the vast rainforest of the Amazon for an invigorating trail hike through its lush flora.  We embarked on a scenic drive via motor coach down a lonely highway to the reserve.  Created in 1974, this protected portion of the Amazon covers more than 1.3 acres of rainforest, lakes, rivers, and freshwater beaches.  It supports sustainable utilization of local natural resources, such as hardwoods and latex.  We met our naturalist guide and set off down the trail under the dense forest canopy.  We enjoyed the peace and tranquility of our surroundings as we admired the diversity of flora around us.  Our guide helped us identify the different species of plants, such as Brazil nut, vanilla, cocoa, and rubber trees.  We saw a samauma tree, one of the largest trees on Earth, able to reach a height of 240 feet and a trunk diameter of 19 feet.

Docked at 7 AM.  Immediately noticed the two-colored river.  The dirty brown in foreground is from Amazon River (color from clay upriver); the dark blue in foreground is from Tapajos River (color from high acidity of trees, roots, rotting vegetation upriver).

Entrance to Henry Ford's failed rubber tree plantation.  The trees did not fair well planted as an orchard; they need to be "wild" in the rainforest.

After leaving the paved highway, we had a 15-20 minute drive on a two-track dirt road to the trail head.  Laying across the dirt road was what looked like a tree branch.  As the bus passed over it, the just-picked-up naturalist had the driver stop the bus.  He ran to the rear, along with our bus guide.  In a minute the guide called us out using our remote headsets.  It was a 5-6 foot boa, missed by the bus.

  

The naturalist pushed the boa around; we got to see it spring to make a strike.  All were far enough away that it did not reach any of us.

Sanauma tree.  One of the tallest in the world but endangered because large eagles would nest in them that would kill small farm animals.  Farmers cut down the trees to take away nesting sites; the trees are now protected by law. 

Can grow to 240 feet tall.

Ed, our 54-year old bus guide of 30 years.  He is very knowledgeable regarding the Amazon Rainforest.  Several times he made the statement that "The Amazon is the last frontier for agriculture."

Cocoa trees with blossoms that are ground up for making cocoa.

 Termite nest above; termite tubes (tunnels) below.

Trunk of Brazil Nut tree (above); top of tree (below).  Requires 60 years' growth to produce initial crop; lives 600-700 years.

Outer husk that fall out of Brazil tree when ripe; contains 15-18 Brazil Nuts in individual shells.

 Typical vines in a jungle.

Another termite nest.

Medium sized ant with a whopper of a bite.  Causes pain for hours by super tightening muscles in the area of the bite.

Friendly ant nest; these will not bite.  These can be put on bare skin, rubbed in, and become mosquito repellent.

 These vines attach and eventually kill trees.

Our naturalist (blue shirt) demonstrating how some tree sticks can burn.  Our guide told us the Amazon Rainforest fires only burn the upper canopy because the intermediate levels and ground cover is too wet to burn.  So when we hear about fires in the Amazon it's typical and not an issue (goes out before long on its own); my how the news media fails to report the full facts.

We did this rainforest hike in the morning.  Later that day we did an orientation of the city.