In April this year I was asked by the Rotary International Foundation (based in Chicago) to do a short project evaluation mission in the north of Brazil. During the past 6 years I have done several of those volunteer assignments in Ecuador, Mexico, Phoenix Arizona (project for Mexican migrants), Ethiopia and last year in central Mozambique. In the database of the Rotary Foundation I am "in the books" as speaking Spanish and Portuguese and with work experience in health projects (my seven years with MSF), logistics and education & training. The staff in Chicago thought: "This year he is not that far from the north of Brazil, so maybe he can hop over quickly...".
What looks on the map as maybe a 4-5 hour flight from Bogota via Manaus to Santarem, is in reality just not that easy because of lack of flights. It turned out to be a travel of more than 20 hours each way with a six hour (and 2 hour time difference) flight from Bogota to Sao Paulo (flying south-east), a 9 hour lay-over in Sao Paulo and then another 5 hour flight up north again (with a stop in Manaus). That is what it sometimes takes to do these assignments....
But look at that big smile of this traveller on his face after those 20 hours.... what a trooper :-)
The city of Santarem is the second biggest city in the northern State of Para (after the capital city of Belem). It is located about half-way between Manaus and Belem in the middle of the Amazonas River delta. It was started as a "trade post" during the colonial period of sugar and rubber plantations in that region. They also had a short "gold rush" in the seventies and eighties.
The city is located right on the Amazonas River and it defines "hot and humid". The current population is around 300,000 and it forms the trading center for a region of about 1.2 million people of whom some live in communities as far away as 12-15 hours on a river boat.
The river boat is by far the most common form of transport in the region and it is fascinating to walk past the area where the boats deliver and pick-up their cargo & passengers.
Not sure if you can see it on the photo, but the upper and lower deck of this boat are full of hammocks. Some other boats have the cargo on the lower deck and the passengers on the upper deck. Some people/traders go up & down on these boats all the time....
The smaller boats cover the travel to communities on shorter distances. I watched for an hour or so the bustling of the coming and going of the people.
This is my lunch during one of the days. The Brazilians have these buffet restaurants where you pay the food you select based on the weight of your plate of food. A great system which I am always surprised not to see adopted in other countries. The first two days I ate a lot of delicious fish dishes so during this 3rd day I chose for chicken and beans....
But then it was time to work on my report for the Rotary Foundation, so just to quote the phrase used by my own Rotary Club in Welland: "Rotarian at work".....
It was another wonderful opportunity to contribute and to visit another special place on earth.
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