Saturday, August 30

Location: Santarém, Pará, Brazil

Today's weather: 28°C.

I got up at 7.30, eager for breakfast. I like Pousada Alter do Chão very much. Although the accommodation is very basic it is very comfortable and has that wonderful luxury – a private bathroom. Breakfast was wonderful – fresh coffee (unfortunately already sweetened with sugar), breadrolls, buffalo milk flan rolled in coconut, and suco de maracuja. Muito delicioso! I spent the next few hours continuing to update my diary notes for the website (still struggling to write up my experiences at Manu).

At 10am I left to return to the Centre for the Preservation of Indigenous Culture and Sciences. I hoped to find out more about the Centre and the problems being faced by the Amazon Indians. I had promised to bring ice for the American's hangover – but arrived carrying ice-creams instead.

I talked for about an hour with the American and Maria Antonia – learning a great many things about the continuing loss of Amazon Indian culture. The people here were very worried and very sad that something so significant was being lost. They were very dedicated at trying to keep cultural ideas, identity, and knowledge alive for future generations – but it was a lonely effort without any help for outside organisations. I felt sad because the disappearance of Indian cultures means the disappearance of 11,500 years of history and accumulated knowledge about the rainforests. Scientists tell us that our own ancestors probably lived lives similar to the Amazon Indians – their disappearance means that we also lose something of ourselves.

After my visit to the Centre, I walked back to the Pousada where I packed up my things, paid my bill, and left to catch the bus to Santarém. I had to ask several times to find the bus-stop (the one in Alter do Chão) had also moved since my last visit. The bus was an old clunker with ripped seats. It stalled while in Alter do Chão and needed to be push started again. But, it made it back to Santarém. There were few other people on the bus. We made our way through several small settlements in the countryside and scraggly remnants of rainforest. In some places the forest seemed tinder-dry as if the accidental dropping of a match would set the whole thing alight. On the journey back I kept thinking back on the conversation that I'd had at the Centre. Also noticed the term "mini box" painted on all the small local stores.

Back in Santarém, I made my way back to Hotel Alvorada – where most of the guests were gathered at a table in the hotel lobby playing cards. They gave me my old room back – really a double room with a small balcony and doors which can be opened up to provide a breeze. It has a view of the river and the meeting of the Tapajós and Amazon rivers. I wandered out to buy a late lunch, stopping at a small place called Gaby Lanche (Rua 15 de Novembro) where I ordered a huge burger called X-salad containing salad plus the usual other burger things. The staff struggled trying to understand my bad Portuguese but eventually figured it out. I then returned to the hotel where I showered, wrote a little more, then spent the next hour semi-dozing in my hammock. Lately I've been finding it hard to work when the weather is so hot and humid. But I think this is normal 'cos most of the locals seem to find it hard too. Feeling guilty for doing nothing productive, I went out to take some photographs.

I returned to the hotel just after dusk (having watched the Amazon sunset from the riverfront) I stood on the balcony of my room – looking in the direcetion of the streetlamps next to the river where bats were darting back and forth through the air looking to insects. Music drifted across from the courtyard across the street – old American and English ballads, songs from Louis Armstrong, Dean Martin and others playing in the tropical heat of the evening. I had the feeling that Santarém could be a very romantic place if you wanted it to be so. Suddenly, I missed Maria back in Manaus. I stood on the balcony, watching the street scenes below me, listening to the songs drift over from across the street and enjoying the gentle breeze.

I continued writing for a while then went out to grab some dinner. I tried writing for a while again after dinner – but eventually fell asleep.