We passed by Santarem last Sunday on our way up the Amazon river to Manaus. It is located where the Tapajos river joins the Amazon river and you may recall the big Cargill storage and loading facility that I had photographed. Soybean plantations nearby and further south is bought by Cargill and loaded onto ships for exporting. Cattle production, mining, and some tourism are also important to the local economy.
Our "Highlights of Santarem" tour was to meet at 8:50 this morning but we had decided last night that we would not be going. Good thing as it started pouring rain at 9am and continued for an hour. We both went to the gym and worked out for an hour. Like the ship when everyone is off doing tours as is very peaceful. We are sitting in the suite watching boats and barges of all types and sizes going up and down the river. The ship is leaving at 1pm so was a short visit after only arriving at 8am. Rebecca has some laundry to do because she does not trust the ship's laundry to do it. There are 3 self use washers and dryers (free) on 3 of the passenger decks. They are usually full every day so I suggested now would be a good time to do it while everyone is on tours. The biggest perk we get now on Regent is free laundry service. I send stuff out about every day. They do a very nice job.
We are planning on having room service bring chicken Caesar salads for lunch. Tonight we have 8pm reservations at Prime 7 (steakhouse). Ray Solaire, our cruise director, is doing his puppet show at 6pm and at 9:30pm the show is a comedic magician, Mark Worgan. We've seen Ray's show but missed Mark's first show last week. Would like to see it but not sure we will finish dinner in time.
Besides being able to use the washers while everyone is on tours, we can get a phone line off the ship too. Another perk we get now besides free internet is 9 hours of free phone time. So we are also making calls this morning. I just talked with my mother and she reminded me that yesterday was their 66th wedding anniversary. I forgot it! No photos to post today.
