In the City Again

We are back in Santarém, after our teary goodbye in Anã.  As predicted, we lost the soccer game, in a decisive 3-0 loss.  We got in a few good shots on goal, but clearly they got more and were more successful with them.  And only our women played, because their men's team didn't show up.

Our women are the reigning champs, as we won our one and only game (in about 36 or so over the years) on our last visit in 2017.  So we showed up with a big flashy trophy and put it on the line, with the clear assumption that we would be leaving it behind.  We left it behind. The whole trophy ceremony and photo shoot was more fulfilling than the game was for us.  But we had fun trying to play, and connecting with kids on the sidelines, and being the butt of some of the locals' jokes.

A lot of our main friends came over to the guest area after the game and joined us for a "cultural night," which was mostly a lot of music (from our sources and from theirs) and a lot of dancing. All of us danced and we danced a lot with our hosts and co-workers from our various jobs. We were drenched with sweat at the end of it all so we took our inflatable solar lanterns down to the river to cool off.  It was a beautiful (but very dark!) night and our lanterns glowed against the water to give it and us an ethereal aura.  We made our way into our hammocks just after midnight even though we knew we were waking up at 5:30am.

5:30 was early and dark, but we hopped up and cleared the ôca, brought down our many clotheslines, and cleared out the bathrooms in time for an on-time departure at 7am. We didn't quite keep our schedule, though, as our farewell ceremony took us awhile.

We gathered in a circle on the beach by the boat holding hands with the locals and each of us spoke our hopes and dreams for the community and the projects we had worked on during these weeks. Maya then took some sage and cedar that she had brought from the U.S. and offered it to them as a joining our our lands; she burned one bunch of sage and blessed each of the people in the circle. Mylan spoke for us and tearfully expressed our happiness at their warm welcome, the progress of the projects, and their tendency to make us the objects of their ridicule, because we have all learned that Brazilians only roast the ones they love.

Our hosts spoke too, telling us how much they appreciated us and would miss us.  The president of the community, Ailson, told us he hoped our ways of commitment and unity would rub off on the community members who didn't always participate.  We think they are doing pretty well on the unity front but were flattered that he thought we had done anything that was worth emulating.

When it was finally time to get on the boat, we watched tears flowing in every direction as we hugged our hosts again and again, thanking them in Portuguese for all that we have experienced.  We ate breakfast as we motored out of the Arapiuns and into the Tapajós.  The winds were strong and the waves were choppier than we have felt so far, and a couple of us (who shall remain unnamed) got enough motion sickness to send their breakfasts off the back of the boat.

We made our way to Alter do Chão, a nearby beach community that has a quasi-resort feel, including some stores, groceries, and restaurants.  Shawny and Katie left us wandering in Alter do Chão (with Jesse) as they headed to the airport so Katie can make her way back alone to attend some of the Ph.D. program interviews to which she has been invited.  Everything went smoothly getting Katie to the airport so once Shawny returned we headed back to our Santarém home from earlier in the trip.

We ate lunch and went to a local zoo hospital for injured wild animals.  We saw manatees and big cats and monkeys and lots of amazing birds and a bunch of other animals that only exist in the Amazon.  We also saw a HUGE alligator, that was fortunately very calm and quiet today.

We went from the zoo to a self service ice cream shop, where we loaded up on flavors that are largely based in local fruits.  We decided that the selection wasn't diverse enough, so we set out to find another ice cream shop to supplement our first run.  Most of the other places that we checked out were closed, so we gave up and went souvenir shopping instead.  Almost everyone found what they needed, though we have a few more items on our wishlists so we will do some more shopping tomorrow.

We are all quite tired tonight so we are going to try to sleep in and take it easy in the morning.  We might not go to sleep at all tomorrow night, as we have to go to the airport at about 1am to make our 4am flight.  And we have a 22-hour layover in Manaus, so our travel odyssey will still continue for quite awhile.

We have one more day in our little part of the Amazon, then another in a bigger Amazon city.  Our upcoming posts will probably brief if we manage to post at all.  And in case you are wondering, our ill teammates seem to be pretty fully recovered, though a couple of new patients are feeling a bit under the weather.  We'll keep an eye on things and get everyone back in one piece.  Thanks for your care and concern as we find our way home!

Alter do Chão—the DIRTies' final boat stop—featured a wide variety of tourist attractions. 

The DIRTies found their way to the Santarém Zoo featuring Macaws, which excited the group. 

Spider Monkeys were a highlight of the Animal Sanctuary. 

The Spotted Leopard relaxed while the fearful DIRTies stared in wonder. 

After a long day of acting like tourists, the DIRTies got to get a sneak peek of Santarém at night.