The Real Indiana Jones

Sometimes in looking for things to write about I get on interesting bunny trails. While perusing a list of books that inspire travel I ran across one called The Lost City of Z by David Grann. As I scanned the description, I found that the story was about the man who was the inspiration for Indiana Jones. I couldn't help but follow up on him.

His name was Sir Percy Fawcett and he was quite a colorful character. His resume included being a British artilleryman in Sri Lanka, a tour of duty in World War I and a top secret assignment as a spy in Morocco. He was most famous for his map making expeditions mostly into Brazil and Bolivia. His exploits earned him a prestigious medal from the Royal Geographical Society.

Fawcett developed a theory that an advanced and ancient city had existed in the Amazon. Stories of local natives and one particular story from a Portuguese fortune hunter from 1753 who gave an account of a huge stone jungle metropolis spurred him on.

The explorer became more obsessed with the possibility as time went on and twice in the early 1920s tried to find the city he dubbed Z but was driven back by the conditions of the jungle. Still the 57 year old explorer was convinced the city was there in Brazil and in 1925 set off with his twenty-one year old son and a friend to search again.

The expedition got to a point where he had turned back before and he released his guides continuing on with just his son and the friend. His last communication was what he had sent back with the guides. When two years passed without another word from him, newspapers began to report his probable death. Still stories surfaced that he was living as a native in the jungle or that he was a captive of the Indians. One account had him ruling a tribe of cannibals.

In 1928 the Royal Geographic Society sent an expedition, the first of many that have searched for the lost explorer. The author of the book, David Grann, went into the jungle searching as well and ran across a tribe that had preserved a story in their oral history that fits with Fawcett and his expedition. The tribe warned him not to go into a territory that was ruled by a fierce warring tribe. They never saw him again.

To make the comparison even closer to Indiana Jones, Sir Percy Fawcett's middle name was Harrison--as in Harrison Ford??

World Cruise - The Amazon, Piranha and Pink Dolphins

Some low clouds hung over the river and as we ate breakfast we debated whether or not to take our umbrellas on our excursion. We decided against it since the boats we’d seen on the river that were used for the piranha fishing were all covered. A little rain could feel good anyway.

Down on the pier, the tour boats for piranha fishing were lining up. This was the big thing to do when visiting Santarem. There were at least six boats tied up there for us and more jockeying for position. We were a little early and got on the first boat and were off quickly and on our way to Maica Lake.

After passing by the convergence of the two rivers, our guide began to explain the reason for Maica Lake. During the dry season, the area is a pasture land and there are “farmhouses” on stilts with corrals on stilts and the animals graze on the rich green grass. When the rainy season arrives and the river begins to rise, the animals are put in the corrals. If, and usually when, the water gets up to the floors of the corrals and homes, the residents pack up and move, animals and all to the city and rent space there until they can return.

Many places we passed were still inhabited although I don’t know how they could be. One which was up higher apparently than the rest even had a container garden on their front porch.

We’ve all seen those semi-trucks on the highway at home with loads of pigs or cows peeking out of slatted containers. Well, we passed a couple of large boats that were for hauling livestock. The easiest way to transport large amounts of supplies and produce is by river. According to our guide, the roads were not that good.

Transporting people from place to place many times happens at night since the trip can be very long. The boats are all made to hang hammocks and people spend the night sleeping in the hammocks while the boat takes them to where they want to go.

I felt like we were on another safari of sorts as we entered Maica Lake. Our lovely tour guide who in her spare time teaches English and is an obstetric nurse who makes health journeys up and down the river and is raising five children and being a guide for her husband’s tour business, began pointing out birds and explaining the foliage as well as a little about the piranhas.

Before she could get too far into the piranha story though we were pulling over to a tree to look at some sloths that were hanging and crawling (although slothfully) along some tree branches. We slowed to look through some flowering bushes where she said iguanas hung out but couldn’t see any there until our return trip.

The piranhas were not man-eating, she said, no matter what we’d heard. The only time they are really aggressive is during the dry season when food is scarce because they are trapped in smaller pools of water. There was a story told on ship that when Theodore Roosevelt visited the locals had trapped some piranhas in an area of the river and let them get hungry. Then when the president arrived, they tossed in a cow and the rest is history, so to speak.

As our guide pointed out, there were children swimming in the river near the city and the piranha did not bother them. She did insist though that we not try to take the piranha off the hook if we caught one. That was her job and she wanted to be sure we went home with all our fingers.

The boat pulled off to one side of the lake in an out of the way place and we were handed our fishing paddles fully baited with a piece of red meat. We lowered the treats into the water and began our patient or not so patient wait.

I could feel the first nibble and jerked but didn’t hook anything. Another nibble. Another jerk. Nothing. I pulled up my line and sure enough the meat was gone. I tried with a fresh piece. Again nibbles and jerks and bait was gone. About the fourth time it happened, I joked that I was feeding them not fishing for them.

Meanwhile though someone caught a catfish, then our first piranha came up. In all the 25 or so guests aboard the boat caught only 3 piranha and 2 catfish and a big leaf. I didn’t even catch a leaf but it was a great time trying. As Bob says, “That’s why they call it fishing, not catching.”

On our way back to the ship, we found an iguana in the bushes eating pretty purple flowers and then as we neared the city, we pulled closer to the fish market on the shore. People were gathered there watching the water for pick dolphins. This is the only area of the world where this dolphin lives. We’d seen the backs of a couple of dolphin as we’d left the ship in the early morning but weren’t close enough for pictures.

On the market pier, someone had a couple of lines with fish tied to the end that they were slapping again the water then pulling in quickly and sure enough, there was a pink dolphin! Yes, truly pink! Pepto Bismol pink!

We slowly and idled nearby and watched the men tease the dolphins with the fish. Several times we could see a head pop up and noticed that these dolphins have a pointier nose than the gray dolphins we’re so used to seeing. They use that nose to dig through the silt to find crabs and shrimp to eat. Like flamingoes, that diet helps maintain that pretty pink color.

There is a legend that says the pink dolphin is magic and that the male can become a human form and entice young ladies into romance and then disappear again into the water. Of course the young lady is then pregnant and blames the dolphin. It being bad luck to harm a pink dolphin, the father of the young lady has no recourse for revenge.

All too soon our morning excursion was over. It was one of the highlights of our trip. How many people get to say they were piranha fishing in the Amazon?

World Cruise - The Amazon, Macapa

The first thing Bob did each morning of our cruise was to turn on our TV and tune to channel 80 which is a live feed from the camera on the bridge looking at the front of the ship and where we are headed. This morning it showed brown water and overcast skies and the temperature was already 80 F at 7:30AM. Welcome to the Amazon!

Smells of sun block and insect repellent were soon wafting through the hallways as people prepared to go ashore in our first Amazon port, Macapa, Brazil, “the capital of the middle of the world.” Why, you ask? Because Macapa is right on the equator.

The brown water was churning all around us as we anchored and the tenders were prepared for our journey ashore. The current in the river matched that of what we saw in China on the Yangtze. We watched the trial run for the tenders. The rushing water made them look as though they were moving sideways as the little boats struggled to shore.

The ride to shore wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be and our tender made it in about ten minutes. The tender pier was not ideal. We stepped over warped board and thin wooden steps to the top of the pier. Thankfully the ship had placed crewmen all along the way to catch a misstep especially from those who had been warned that anyone with walking difficulties should really not try it and went anyway.

It was really hot and humid and another couple from our dinner table shared a taxi with us since we had discovered that the monument to the equator was not anywhere near the city but rather right in between the port and the place the shuttle bus would drop us off. We did what we’d done in Rio. Pointed to the map and he shook his head. We tried to ask how much and he held up five fingers. I’m not sure if that meant $5 USD or BRL or that it would take 5 minutes.

We got in the taxi and were delighted to discover it was air conditioned although it took a little while to get it cooler. About fifteen minutes later we were at the “Majo de Munde” (I think that’s how you’d spell it). It took a few minutes to understand that was what the driver was calling it in Portuguese. They offered to show us a video as the tour groups had already arrived and were about to watch it but we declined and went on out to the monument which was up a flight of stairs.

The monument is a tall tower with a hole in it. From its base a cement divider runs along a walkway showing the divide between the northern and southern hemispheres. It is said that at the equinox that happens twice a year, the sun fills the hole in the monument. At the time the sun was beating down on us and the humidity beginning to wear us down so we quickly took the requisite pictures and found our driver again.

Bob “negotiated” with the map again pointing to the fort that was in the city. About another fifteen minutes and we were there and the meter read $60 BRL. Bob gave him $70 BRL (about $30 USD) and he seemed happy. We were. We’d avoided a hot cramped shuttle bus with no A/C and were seeing everything we wanted to see.

The fort, Fortaleza de Sao Jose, is in a star shape and was built betwee 1764 and 1782 to defend the north side of the Amazon against French incursions from the Guianas. A group of locals in bright traditional clothes were dancing as we entered. Again locals thought we were part of the ship’s tour and offered us bottled water which we happily took as ours was about gone.

While we explored the fort, we could see rain clouds gathering in the distance and wondered if we’d get back to the ship before it rained on us. But then part of us wished for the cooling rain. We were really sweltering. After all, this was the equator.

We chanced walking through the town and found it delightful. Yes, it had depressed buildings and cheap merchandise in the stores but the folks we encountered were friendly and happy to interact with us even though we didn’t understand them and vice versa. Smiles, handshakes, and giggles are a language all their own.

After a few pictures, we rounded the block and headed for the artisan’s building where the shuttle bus was to pick us up. A quick look in at the stalls of crafts and we were sure we didn’t want to buy anything. It was too difficult to even see since outdoors it was cloudy now and there wasn’t much light inside.

When we noticed the crowd waiting for the shuttle bus, we decided instead to go across the street and get something cold to drink at the bar and restaurant. Another couple joined us and we sat for a while, enjoyed the breeze blowing in the shade of the pavilion and watch as people crowded onto the shuttle bus. It was a half hour trip and many were standing for the ride.

Our drinks finished, we decided to get in line for the next shuttle. When it arrived, everyone got a seat because the big crowd was gone. We did however manage to arrive at the tender pier in the rain and have to walk on the muddy dirt road a ways to get to the tender.

Still, it had been a good day and hopefully there would be enough water for all the showers that would be needed. You see, just as we were to enter the Amazon, we were told that we needed to conserve water because they could not use the river’s water for our supply and we would not have opportunity to get fresh water for a couple of days when we would arrive in Santarem. The guest laundries had been closed to conserve water so we rinsed sweaty clothes in the shower to keep from smelling up the room. We don’t have a private balcony to air things out.

Our night and part of the next morning would be spent sailing on the river as we moved to our next port, Alter do Chao.

World Cruise - Piranha Fishing ?

Piranha fishing? Are you kidding me? Turns out he wasn't. Bob knows I love to fish but really, for piranha? He went ahead and booked our excursion from Santarem, Brazil, as we travel the Amazon on one leg of our World Cruise.

I've seen piranha in aquariums enough times to know they are nasty looking critters. So I went on my own "excursion" to see what I could find out from others who have gone before. I found one comment on a Cruise Critic forum and then another report from a blogger who added pictures and gave a good description of the excursion.

Apparently along the way you see villages and flora and fauna of the area as well as an interesting phenomenon where two rivers flow together, one brown (the Amazon) and one either blue or green (the Tapajos). Then you reach Maica Lake where you do the fishing.

Both descriptions of the fishing said that the hook was already baited (raw meat) which will make my husband happy. He's a fisherman as long as someone baits the hook and takes the fish off. I'm with him on taking the fish off this time. I don't think I want to handle a fish with teeth like that.

So, if you want to hear how our fishing trip goes, stay tuned right here. It should take place sometime around April 26. I don't think this is a catch, freeze, and send home deal though. No matter. I'm packing extra bandaids though.