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Diary 8 February - 6th March 2010

8th February 2010


Posn: 03deg43'.06S 38deg31.60W


Fortaleza - what a sail. Records have been set and then broken. We left Fernando de Noronha at 0645 on Friday 5th February and anchored at Fortaleza at 0945 on Sunday 7th. The distance was 360nm. Our best recorded 24 hours (we record positions etc every six hours when on long passages) was 0600 Saturday to 0600 Sunday when Phil read two books ... no, that wasn't it. We did 186nm at an average speed of 7.75kts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our noon to noon best was 170nm at an average speed of 7.08kts. When we left F de N the wind was SE but gradually backed to ESE and this gave us a superb wind angle for poling out the genoa on the port side and the main with preventer on the starboard side. We had a reef in both and were very comfortable. The wind was mostly around 15kts but got up to over 20 kts at times. Our turbo-charge is to lift the keel which helps prevent rounding up in gusts and off we flew. Our top speed was 10.5kts. Brilliant sail ... and yet again thanks to our windvane steering Windpilot. Everyone arrived with big grins and such sailing happiness after the slog out to F de N from Joao Pessoa.


We kept our 4 on/4 off watch system, with Norma making dinner and Phil making lunch. We were able to sleep comfortably in the forecabin unlike the JP-F de N leg.


The final six miles run into Fortaleza involed an outright race with 'Jomay' (Jose and Maitie on an Ovni 455). The wind veered and we had to bring the genoa across onto the starboard side - easily done without touching the pole as it has both fore and aft guys. They piled on the sail, letting out more genoa but kept rounding up. We had dropped the keel as we were now on a beam reach and with Phil on the helm and the wind at 20kts, we maintained speeds of over 8kts. Yeehaa. Yup, we won as Jomay had to bear away and we rounded the wreck just outside our anchorage. But of course, ce n'est pas une course. Yeah right.


We are anchored inside a harbour and in front of the Marina Park Hotel

(http://www.marinapark.com.br/eng/inicial.asp) and go ashore at their pontoon, having use of the swimming pool and facilities. Our view is of the hotel, the cathedral (remarkably North European looking, with flying buttresses), a boat yard and the Mercado Central. It's not F de N, but then for those of us anchored well inside the harbour, it is not rolly. We have been advised to take a taxi when going to and from the centre of town as the 400 metres from the hotel to the centre is lined with drug dealers, prostitutes and chicos (knife wielding gangs). Apparently it's not advisable to take photographs of them. Fortaleza is in the poorest Brazilian state, Ceara, and it has the largest favela (slum of 800,000 people) outside Rio de Janeiro. We will venture out this evening to a club, Pirata, for some forro dancing (http://www.pirata.com.br/) - talking of which, there was a tragedy in Jacare as we didn't get the lessons. There was some confusion over times and our teachers came and went before we had all turned up. Shame as there were lots of people going to take the lessons, but we will just have to pick it up as we go.


We had the best anchoring theatre of the trip yesterday morning, when 'Mahesadry' ( a large, bright yellow catamaran) arrived and decided to anchor upwind of the fleet. Not being content with the first selected position, they decided to move ... without lifting the anchor ... just dragging it ... until it one of their propellers caught around the warp of one of the anchors of 'Ti'Ouane' ... and dislodged the anchor ... and lost control ... and hit 'Dame Oui' ... and dragged onto the anchor buoy of 'Suzie Too' ... and cut the line with the remaining operating propeller ... and cut the anchor warp of 'Ti'Ouane' ... and dragged the anchor a quarter of a mile as they drifted back out of the harbour ... and 'Ti'Ouane' was dragging back on their other anchor ... and 'Suzie Too' raised their anchor and got out of the way ... just as Alain and Jean arrived back in the dinghy from being ashore and got onto 'Ti'Ouane' and started the engine. Phew!!! Bet they won't do that again. Anyway, the "only" damage was to the anchor warp of 'Ti'Ouane' and the anchor buoy line of 'Suzie Too' ... oh, yes and a bit of a blow to the well-being of the crew of 'Mahesadry'.


We will spend our time here doing some boat maintenance, chilling and settling Julia ... oh, and there's another party on Wednesday night.

Thursday 11th February 2010, 1700 UTC

Posn: Fortaleza, Brazil

This place is a welcome wind down after the hectic time in Joao Pessoa and Fernando de Noronha. We wnet with many of the crews to the Pirata club - billed as Soth America's biggest and most famous. It was lots of fun with live music and dancing. We cannot remember the last time we were in a "club" - probably when they were called discos, but then they didn't have live music. We had eaten out with David, Suzanne and Lisa ('Suzie Too') in the Drago do Mar area which is around a cultural centre - quite a samll area but also quite lively.

Tuesday saw us preparing Minnie B for Julia's arrival and chillin' by the hotel swimming pool. Her flight was on time and there was no delay in geeting through customs and immigration. We had gone out to the airport to meet her and also in thye waiting crowd was a group of people in fancy dress and whooping it up, so we were curious about who they were meeting - turne dout to be some nuns!!!!! Wackiest nuns we have seen.

Anyways, yesterday Julia unloaded her bag of boat goodies, including the charts we managed to leave in our rental car in NI - don't go there, but you wouldn't believe it. She brought out the control unit for the autopilot and with much trepidation it was fitted ... yes, the dockside set-up has been completed and we just need to do the at-sea set-up. Yippee it's working. She also brought replacement cockpit speakers and again, yippee the VHF/HiFi selector allowing the VHF to override the HiFi is working again. We now have a spare selector if anyone would like to buy it. All the boats have some bits of kit that are not working and the impact is variable. 'Harmonie' have their generator not working and bought a free-standing petrol-driven Honda but it will not run their watermaker and also their fridge is not working; 'Tanagra' have broken lower shroud and the replacement that arrived this week had the thread on the turnbuckle going the wrong way; 'Jomay' have a leaking stern gland; 'Dame Oui' have a dinghy with a defalting floor ... and so it goes.

We have a problem with the gearbox on our main outboard but our small, back-up Suzuki is working a treat; we have a bit of a problem with the freshwater system as there is air getting in but still not traced (working on this); and our battery monitor is not working after the switch panel was not replaced properly by some-one who was working on it and it crashed down on our first starboard tack leaving Salvador - we run the engine for an hour each day as we know this will keep the batteries charged and Julia brought a replacement unit that has yet to be fitted. This is the stuff of cruising and living on the boat.

We have visited the Mercado Central which sells a range of clothing and household goods at about one-third the price they were in Salvador, been downtown Fortaleza and will head out for a bit of exploring and shopping this afternoon, a swim in the pool and then out for dinner in the Praia da Iracema area which is busyand bustling in the evening.
Tomorrow we head north for Luis Correa and Carnaval. It's a mere hop at 214nm and the debate is whether to arrive at slack water low tide (recommended but involves leaving about 0300) or slack water high tide (leaving at 0900) - the hot money is on the latter at present.
17th February 2010

Posn: 02deg52’.530S 41deg39’.846W

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

So much going on. Anchoring Mayhem Act 2, Act 3 and Act all the way
up to we have lost count. Not only that, you really have to be
careful what you wish for ... and be careful about complacency and the
small things: “a mere 200nm from Fortaleza to Luis Correia”, we said.
Well it turned into one of the more difficult legs despite the
shorter distance. Then when we got here pandemonium followed.

First though, we had a superb evening out last Thursday in downtown
Fortaleza, by the Ponte de Ingles (inspired by Brighton Pier) where we
drank street capairinhas – so much better than the watered down ones
you get in hotels – and watched the local world go by. We then ate at
a local restaurant, gorging on delicious steaks and pizza (the latter
is a big thing in Brazil) and some decent Argentinian wine. We were
back to Minnie B by about 2230 to be ready for an early start for Luis
Correia.

We were the next to last boat to leave Fortaleza as people made
different calculations about distance and speed, given that we were
first advised to enter at low water (why?) – we took the view that
with our keel-up draft we would be OK until an hour after high water.
In addition, there was the distance – just over 200nm on the inshore
route of 240nm by the offshore route. Again we were thinking Ovni.
We got up about 0630 to see the anchorage being deserted and prepared
Minnie B – stowing the dinghy, fitting the windpilot etc. Then we had
to do the sea-trials with the new autopilot, so it wasn’t until 0800
that we were on our way.

At first we had about 15kts wind ESE and with our goosewing
arrangement we were sailing along quite nicely. Then the wind eased
and out came the big pink cruising chute. We carried this until about
2100 local time when we went back to our poled out genoa set-up. By
0130 the wind had eased a whole lot more and we wished for more wind.
Hm. Mr Volvo joined the crew for a few hours as we really wanted to
make the entrance to the Rio Parnaiba for the tide and daylight.
There had been a lot of VHF chatter about fishing nets, fishing boats,
oil platforms and other hazards. Some were anxious and headed out to
sea 20nm or so, others headed for the 20 metres contour (not far off
20nm off the coast) but we were concerned that heading offshore would
add too much to the distance. In the end we stayed a few miles off at
the 8-10 metres depth.

Curiously, we met few fishing boats and no nets. Then by lunchtime on
Saturday the wind had filled in very nicely, then it moved to the very
interesting windspeed until finally it was at the “oh my goodness we
are sailing dead downwind with full main and this is fantastic” stage.
A new record was set of 12.1kts with Phil on the helm. The wind was
a consistent 25-30kts for about 4 hours and we were almost in danger
of overshooting the entrance to the river given how fast we were
going.
We put the sails away and entered the river, when the wind increased
to 38kts. Now, we had been given a series of waypoints to follow to
reach the anchorage. From the VHF chatter was clear that someone had
blundered – two boats had touched bottom on the way in, but got off.
We were met by the rally organisers in a motor boat and asked to wait
with ‘Enez Mimosa’ until ‘Dame Oui’ got in and we would be led
up-river together. That was all OK and we turned out to be 6th boat
in – a big surprise as we expected to be among the last.

The Piaui state tourist department have gone to immense lengths to
make us welcome and lay on shoreside facilities – showers, bar,
entertainment, new landing pontoon, internet room and wifi, all at a
former ice-making factory. Our visit is really a very big deal as
the state of Piaui is quite poor and they are trying to boost tourism.
The Rio Parnaiba is actually a large delta with lots of
mangrove-lined tributaries and some quite spectacular sand dunes. We
even thought we spotted the local Squib Class.

But, you may wonder what about the Carnaval? Hm ...

‘Anchoring Mayhem Acts 2 to who knows’ got in the way. It was very
windy and there is a string current running in the river on Saturday
so we and the other nine boats that made it didn’t venture ashore. We
had a nice position near ‘Havanita’ which turned out to be not so good
when we started to come together – we both have about 40 metres of
chain out and we are anchored in depths of 1.4 metres to 4.1 metres
(‘Havanita’ in slightly deeper water). So, about 2200 we had to up
anchor and move out a bit. That was a minor event.

Here’s the mayhem: ‘Chamalou’ dragging back almost to the mouth of
the river (twice) and nearly hitting other boats in the process, and
having to re-anchor several times ; unknown boat hitting ‘Chamalou’;
‘African Seawing’ dragging for two nights running including dislodging
the anchor of ‘Ti’Ouane’, having to cut their stern anchor line
(anchor borrowed from ‘Cigale’ and not buoyed) and getting the anchor
chain of ‘Pilhoue V’ around their propeller – ‘African Seawing’ is now
tied up against a fishing boat; ‘Mahesadry’ dragging and nearly
colliding with two other boats; ‘Tanagra’ dragging and having to
re-anchor several times; ditto ‘Cigale’; ditto ‘Fidelio’; ditto
‘Frangipani’; ‘X-trem’ ditto ; ‘Dame Oui’ having to move a couple of
times; and then last night ‘Agapanthe’ went walk-about and T-boned
‘African Seawing’; ‘Havanita’ had its anchor chain wrapped round its
keel; ‘Suzie Too’ appear to have their anchor stuck on a giant piece
of rope. It may not be over. Everyone is thinking about putting two
anchors in series on their anchor chain. We will wait and see.

On Monday night we were taken to a reception (super crab-based food
and lots of capairinhas) in Parnaiba where there were Carnaval dancers
and drummers. It was OK as it was a demo, so to speak.


We took the dinghy up one of the tributaries to some sand dunes for a
picnic, dragging it through the shallows. The views were lovely.
On Tuesday we sought out some Carnaval activity, having been denied on
Sunday by the anchoring mayhem. It was the last day so we took a taxi
to Parnaiba, with ‘Suzie Too’ and ‘African Seawing’ crews and joined
in the final act where the Blocos (neighbourhoods) parade. This is a
kind of “Not the Carnaval” Carnaval as the floats and costumes are not
the spectacular fantasy of the main parades. One of the most
significant features seems to be for men to dress in women’s clothes
and there is liberal hurling of flour and foam sprays. It’s the last
fling before the austerity of Lent. It was great fun and then we went
to the beach at Atalaia for dinner – very windy but we ate crab,
Dorado and prawns at easily paid prices.


On Friday we sail for Soure which is nearly 500nm and the entrance to
the Amazon . We will be motoring and catching rain for our water
supplies – different from what we have been doing so far on the Rally.
21st February 2010, 1300 UTC
Posn: 00deg14'S 46deg31'W

We have just 75nm to go to the waypoint for entering the Rio Para and the Amazonian system. This is very exciting.

We left Luis Correia on the morning ebb tide and there wasn't a crew that was sorry to leave. The Mooring Mayhem never ceased and two catamarans ended up tied up to fishing boats as they could not trust their ground tackle. On reflection, there seem to be some clear reasons and a bit of luck for the Anchoring Anarchy. First though, the situation: the maximum depth anyone was in at high water was just over 5 meters and the range was 2.7 meters. So it was not deep. There was a tide running up to 4kts and we had wind that was consistently 15-20kts with higher gusts, and on the last evening it was 25kts gusting 30kts. From talking to some of the skippers it is clear that the boat builders have cut corners on ground tackle: 20kg anchor on 50ft boat and 8mm chain on 45ft boat for example. In addition, some skippers had not marked their chain so that had no real idea how much chain they had out. The boats that didn't drag their anchors had the right or oversize ground tackle and knew exactly how much chain they had out - we were in 1.8m to 4.5m water and had 36 meters of 10mm chain with a 20kg Delta anchor. That's a minimum ratio of 8:1. We did not drag and neither did the other OVNI's. The catamarans were the most vulnerable though and it may have to do with the wetted area, windage and ground tackle. There may be a bit of luck in that there were some patches of the bottom that were softer than others. Anyways, we are all a bit more knowledgeable about who goes walkabout and who stays put, and this will influence where we anchor from now on. The wind should not be such a problem in future, but we will be in some strong tides.

Anyways, we got sailing from Luis Correia in an ESE wind of 10kts which quickly picked up to 15-20kts and we sailed along on a beam reach averaging 7kts for the first day. As the night progressed the wind became a bit more Easterly and increased to 20-25kts. We had two reefs in the main and two in the Genoa with boat speeds steady between 7.5kts and 8kts. There is a reef (Manuel Luis)at 00deg53'S 46deg16'W and the choice was inside or out. We went outside as we headed for the 200m contour and more current, also being about 80nm offshore meant we would not have to thread our way through fishing boats and we felt we had pushed our luck on the way to Luis Correia.

At 1110 UTC on 20th Feb we made our course change for the entrance to Rio Para with 260nm to go and then a further 58nm upriver to Soure. The wind stayed with us and we were able to adopt our favourite sail configuration: "au ciseaux" in French (scissors) or goosewinging. By 2100 UTC the wind had eased to 12kts and backed so we were broad-beam reaching. All was well with a newish moon and the Milky Way in all its glory.

At the 0300 ship's time watch change Julia reported a large ship astern about 8nm. We kept an eye on this and at 4nm there was no sign of a course change and we were on the same course. You've guessed haven't you? No response on VHF, no response to turning on the Sea-Me active radar transducer, no response to our squillion candlepower hand light. At 2nm we gybed away to the south and after making sure the ship was clear we gybed back. Another call on the VHF and eventually "Castillo de Guadalupe" responded. OK. We have been here before and you know the conversation: "Can you see me?" Where are you?" Give position and bearing from ship. "Let me check." Silence. "Where are you again please?" Give position. "Oh yes, you show a green light." "That's us. Did you see me before? I had to gybe to get out of your way." And now that well worn get out of the conversation gambit (is it taught at Merchant Navy school?): "Do you need assistance?" Stop bothering, point made and remember to put their name on here. It is a bit of a worry, but good look-out, radar check and don't be too precious about who has right of way, as by and large these guys are not looking for a small yacht in the middle of the ocean.

To-day will be our last for using the watermaker until mid-April when we leave the Amazon, so we will top up all containers and the tanks and get ready to use our combination foredeck awning/raincatcher. This could be a bit of trial and error. We have a filter and hose so the water will be filtered before it goes in the tanks and then before it reaches our still spluttering taps. Short of changing a complete length of pipe and filter fittings we still cannot solve the problem of air in the water system. Hm.

There will be a mass-gathering of RIDS boats at the Rio Para entrance waypoint to-night with an entry about 0300 UTC - I think we got us a convoy. It is either go in on this flood tide or wait until 1530 UTC on 22nd. We are on course to meet up with other boats at 0100 UTC and if necessary we will enlist the aid of Mr Volvo to make it as we do not fancy hanging about for 12 hours.

Morale is high and Julia has been standing watches - we have switched from our usual 4 on/4 off to 3 on/6 off, which is great. When it is just the two of us we tend to keep watch, do jobs, eat and sleep. With three people there is more time just to chill and enjoy - "chill", of course, has nothing to do with the temperature as we have to put on the fans in the cabins in order to sleep.

It is hard to believe that we will soon be in the Amazon but just keep on going and eventually you get where you want to be. After Soure we go to Belem which is the last of the big towns/cities for a few weeks. Provisioning and communications may get interesting. There's not much flavour in manioc.
27th February 2010
Posn: 0deg43’.46S 48deg31’.89W
This is the Amazon – it’s wonderful and exciting and we are so lucky to be here. It’s lush, it’s hot and it’s humid. It’s great.
 So, what’s been happening? Lots and lots of changes too.
First, though after our last diary update which did not go when we intended as for some yet to be determined reason the SSB went down and our Iridium connection decided not to have a ring tone, here’s what went down.
We got lots of messages that some-one had blundered with the tide times for entry to the Amazon and our 0130 entry was put back to 0630. What to do for a few hours? Well, we were only to be about 10nm south of the Equator and we fancied a glass of wine, so we turned north to give Julia the opportunity to cross the line. We did … eight times backwards and forwards. Funnily enough, when we were heading for the Equator on our trans-Atlantic we encountered lots of dolphins within a few miles of 00deg and this time it was a whale doing the classic tail in the air and flop.

 We then sailed very slowly through lots of fishing boats to arrive at the rendezvous at the entrance to the Amazon (Rio Para) which is over 20nm wide at this point. Eleven RIDS boats assembled for the trip up the Rio Para to Soure. It was all in daylight so we were able to see the various nets and fishing boats and avoided any problems. We motor-sailed with then Genoa out and benefited from about 2kts of current for the 48nm.
The anchorage in Soure is, yet again, not easy as the main channel is 40m deep and the riverbed slopes steeply to the shore … and it’s soft mud. After Luis Correia we were very careful and followed the advice to drop the anchor and half the scope, then wait 10 minutes, then set out the rest of the chain and dig in. All seemed OK. We dropped in 4.5m at half-tide with a 2.5m range and set out 50m of chain. With the turn of the tide we swung out into 16m. Hm … not too happy, but we were OK for three tide changes and decided to head ashore. As we wandered around Soure – lovely village/town – we called into a cybercafé and because of the interference we turned off the VHF. Having completed our e-mails we went in search of lunch only to encounter Christian from ‘Agapanthe 2’ hurtling towards us saying “Your boat is in the middle of the river”. It was one of those “Oh, shit” moments. We ran back to the dinghy and could see that Minnie B had dragged about 150m but had stabilised – fortunately she missed ‘Enez Mimosa’ who was anchored off our stern port quarter. Anyways, we got the anchor up and looked for some good holding, which meant further up river. In addition, we changed our mooring and added the FX37 Fortress to the chain 5m behind the Delta. It is attached using a Gibb-clip life-line. We will see what happens when we raise the anchors tomorrow morning, but so far so good in that Minnie B has held her position. Well, so much for writing about all the other boats that dragged – Sod’s Law said it was our turn.
 Soure is nice and peaceful, with wide streets and mango trees, and lots of buffalos – even the Police use them for transport – and fishing and ferry boats. There are quiet riverside beaches and we have a lot of secondary growth forestation as well as open grazing land for cattle and buffalos.

 The major change for us is water. We can no longer make water with our watermaker and it has been shut down for the next eight weeks. The shore –accessible water is not potable and neither is the river water. So here’s our water strategy: full tanks and some bottled water for drinking and cleaning teeth; river water (it is brown) for showers, clothes washing, dish washing (tank water for rinsing); shore water for clothes washing too. We are well on this.
 The highlight of our visit to Soure has been a two-days visit to a Fazenda (ranch). Soure is on the island of Marajo, which is the largest river island in the world and home to cattle and buffalo ranching. We were recommended to visit Fazenda Carmo Camara, which is run by Claudio and Circe Monard. It is a16,000 acres ranch with 2500 cattle, 200 buffalos and 120 horses … and pigs … and hens … and dogs etc. However, in order to survive they have moved into eco-tourism and rent out their magnificent early 20th Century house to visitors, who then have the opportunity to ride buffalos and horses, take river trips to see capivar (water pigs), crocodiles, monkeys, sloths, toucans, parrots and delightful red and black birds that bring luck and you have to make a wish when you see one. We walked through the forest and learned about the plants that are dangerous, and those that are benign. We did not see any snakes, spiders or scorpions … shame. The buffalos were remarkably comfortable and easy-going, but the horses were spirited and loved to gallop. OK, so Julia leaned to ride when she was young, but neither Norma nor Phil ever learned. Despite this we approached the experience with gusto and even got in some short cantering and galloping. We would strongly recommend this Fazenda which is about an hour by bus and then a further 12km by pirogue upriver (www.carmocamara.com.br ) – the food is stupendous: buffalo steaks, buffalo tongue, lamb dishes and catfish, along with desserts to satisfy the most ardent aficionados. We swam in the small freshwater (riverwater) lake which was full of large fish and just chilled as well took in the whole farm experience.

This evening there is a small entertainment and drinks and then tomorrow at 0600 local time we leave for Belem which is 48nm of motoring and should be there early afternoon.
This is a major change now as we will not have the sails unfurled for a few weeks and expect to do about 200 hours of motoring.

We hope it’s not too cold in the UK.
1st March 2010

Posn: 01deg28´.70S 48deg27´.96W

We left Soure yesterday morning at 0630 and with a favourable tide, completed the 48nm to the anchorage at Belem by 1400. We motored but also had the genoa out and eased back on the revs.
Raising the anchor at Soure was not easy s the chain was really sunk in the mud and we had to motor out several metres, ensuring the chain did not run out under strain nor putting a lot of strain on the windlass by using the snubber. Then it was raise the chain that was freed and keep repeating until we were free. The Fortress anchor came up easily and was readily brought on board, so we were pleased with our new anchoring technique. The mud here at Belem is somewhat more solid but even so it was necessary to drop and lay half the chain, wait 20 minutes then lay the rest and wait another 20 minutes before digging in the anchor.

We saw our first ``Iles Flottante´´ on the way - they are large collections of branches, wood, various undergrowth and ... allegedly ... snakes. We are due to encounter more and they have a habit of collecting around the anchor chain when moored for the night. We have a shiny, new, very sharp 18´´ blade machete for hacking them away - and it´s in a rather splendid leather sheath.

Our anchorage is beside the Hotel Beira Rio and there is a floating pontoon for the dinghies, and we have free wifi, a whole bank of computers for exclusive RIDS use as well as use of the swimming pool. It´s good
 .
Our 5hp outboard is being repaired to-day and that is also good news.

We will do some sightseeing around the old part of the city, which is centred on the docks for the rubber trade. Interesting factoid no. 3752: Brazil had a virtual monopoly on rubber production and became rich on it, until an Englishman smuggled out some rubber tree seeds and took them to Malaysia. The rest as they say is history.

Belem will be our last major victualling opportunity for four weeks so a major shop will happen on Friday. The rest of the time we will do some boat servicing and cleaning, as well as chilling at the hotel pool. Look, some-one has to do this.
6th March
Belem
We arrived in Belem on Sunday, after our first journey in Convoy, from Soure. We were under strict instructions to follow the lead boats, Ti´ Ouane and Xtreme,and it all went very smoothly. We anchored off the Hotel Beria Rio, where all the staff have been very helpful and welcoming. The pool at the hotel has been very popular - a nice touch of luxury before we head off on the Amazon leg of the rally.

Monday saw the usual rally meeting, with Nicholas and Patrick explaining the arrangements for the coming weeks. In addition, we met some Brazilian students from the university, some French speaking, and one (Freddy) English speaking. They have spent quite a bit of time with us, taking groups from the rally on sightseeing trips, and also helping out by acting as interpreters when we´ve needed the services of electricians and, in our case, a dentist. Yes, Norma continues her tour of local dentistry, needing a replacement filling here.

Freddy helped us on board Minnie B on Tuesday, when an electrician came on board to sort a problem with the battery monitor, and then accompanied us to the dentist in the afternoon, followed by a short tour around the main sights of Belem. These included the cathedral (Our Lady of Nazare), the fort, and some gardens with lovely birds and butterflies.
On Wednesday morning we got up early and caught the bus to the market at Ver o Peso, where there is a huge fish, fruit and vegetable market every day. It´s quite a sight - the variety of fish was remarkable.Then we had a short walk in the centre of town, visiting the Teatro do Paz, a beautiful building based apparently on La Scala in Milan.
Thursday and Friday have been spent stocking up with food and drink. We´ve been given a schedule showing where we will be able to find shops and restaurants over thr coming weeks and as the next supermarket will be in Santarem at the beginning of April, we´ve had to load up with stocks of dried and tinned goods as well as drinks and water.

We´re in a new phase regarding water use - we anticipate no access from now on to shore side water, again until Santarem. So, we will be using river water for showering, and washing up, and we have been trying to catch rain water in a tarpaulin to supplement the water in the tanks. Normally at this time of year, the rainy season has started but it´s late this year and we´ve had just a little rain here, and that not every day. So, it´s a bit of a worry for the organisers (and us).

Last night the hotel organised a reception for us, with an excellent display of local dancing - Julia joined in the Carimbo with great enthusiasm. There were the usual delicious capairinhas too, before we headed back to Minnie B for dinner and a relatively early night.

To-day we are due to head off up river for the first of many short stops.