travelswithalice

January 03, 2020

 

Meeting of the Waters


It’s the day before Christmas, and we’re on a riverboat in Santarém near the mouth of the Amazon River exploring its complex system of waterways. I watch in fascination as the slow moving Tapajós River entwines fingers of deep blue clearwater through the opaque brown water of the Amazon. 

It looks like oil spill...or a Monet painting...or maybe a Monet painting of an oil spill!




We are told that this is the mini 
version of the “meeting of the waters”. The major convergence occurs in Manaüs, 900 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean, where the inky black Rio Negro and the muddy brown Solimöes marry and give birth to the mighty Amazon. 

This striking natural phenomenon is an awesome thing to watch. Two streams of water, very different in colour, temperature, and speed, flow alongside each other for several miles without mixing together. There is turbulence at points where they begin to converge.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see parallels to the human condition and the societal upheavals occurring today in far too many hotspots in the world. 


On the riverboat, we meander through small tributaries and creeks, passing ramshackle fishing communities, watching out for animals in the wild but finding only an iguana slithering along the waterline and a sloth perched atop a tree. 


We pass alongside other boats much like ours and gamely wave to the people on board who like us are imagining themselves as explorers braving the piranha-infested waters of the Amazon.

We choose a quiet spot to stop and try our hand at line fishing. I’m first to bag a catch and I parade around my tiny baby piranha to whoops of delight from everyone before throwing the greedy little monster back in the water.



I must confess though that I had a bit of help from the crew.


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posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones  # January 03, 2020




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