Donna Brown's comments on cruiseship tour

Santarem

Gil Serique

www.gilserique.com

gilserique@gmail.com

55 93 9973 8951

$120/person

50% prepaid via Western Union, balance on day of tour

Prepay was via Western Union – was a little complicated but finally worked. Balance was in USD cash on the day

Pickup at pier in two cars, 9:15 AM transfer to riverboat at Richard Hemmington’s pier, to meeting of the waters, canoe on floodplain, explore Maica Lake, return. Snack and mineral water included.

EVALUATION:

One of the highlights of the trip – Gil is a delight. Saw sloths, pink dolphins, many birds. Gil mailed us tee shirts, carry bags, and copies of his bird book prior to the trip. Fished for piranhas, caught some, Gil and Junior (boat capt) cooked them up for a snack – tasty! Smaller boat excursion into flooded forest. Group after ours (also on B2B) also loved this one – they hit a tree at some point, knocked it down and were treated to seeing all the critters that lived there which included a colony of bats escaping. We saw several pods of pink dolphins, lots of birds and sloths. Even more interesting was Gil’s commentary of the way of life in this region – farming during the dry season, fishing during the flooded times and how people move back and forth from their homes on stilts to other homes on higher ground and keep their livestock on platforms raised up above the river and move them around on barges, which we were also able to see.

Gil was guide to the author of Thief at the End of the World – Joe Jackson – a book about the man who ‘stole’ rubber seeds for Kew Garden that ultimately formed the basis of the S.E.Asia British Empire rubber plantations and doomed the Brazilian rubber industry – very good book.