Cruising upstream in the Amazon basin: We've been river cruising all day today, and will do so again tomorrow. Ship authorities say we will go upstream 900 miles or more to reach Manaus. It is hard to imagine a deep water port for sea-going vessels that far inland.
River cruising is smooth sailing, there is seldom any sense of movement as rivers tend to be darned flat ... no waves or swells. Another nice part is there is usually something at which to look and that something changes every few minutes.
Considering how big the Amazon is, the level of river traffic is quite sparse, compared to the Rhine or Danube, or the Mississippi for that matter. The region isn't heavily populated, we see a very occasional house or tiny settlement along the banks but those are miles apart.
Some of the tributaries we've seen entering the Amazon would qualify as among the world's biggest rivers. To us who live in dry regions most of the time, this sheer volume of water in a riverine setting is surreal.
Tomorrow we go out on a local boat for some up-close-and-personal with these waterways, supposedly fishing for piranha during the trip. They're toothy little buggers, if I remember correctly from our last visit.
It's time to deploy the deet mosquito repellant.
