Other Watersheds 17B

You know from the previous “other watersheds 17” that this is the Amazon, so look at the color of the water.  If you want to read a scholarly article–albeit an old one–check this one out.   If you want to see satellite photos of the mouth, where this silty freshwater mixes with the ocean, click here. Keep in mind that way upriver, freshwater from the Amazon also fails to initially mix with freshwater from its tributary, the Rio Negro.  The non-mixing phenomenon can also be seen where the Ohio and the Mississippi meet, seen here [scroll].

Recall these photos were taken by my daughter, and I’m glad she took photos like this one below.

One town where she stopped was Mazagão Velho Novo. 

I find the lines on these Amazonian boats quite unusual, although I’m thinking they must be of traditional Portuguese design.

My daughter was studying marketing of forest products, including wood.

Small local farmers brought their crops to market by small boat, so she took photos like these to document what appeared on the docks.

I’m not sure what the bundles of sticks in the foreground were, but bananas are familiar, and these nuts are.

The dark fruits are açaí, a palm fruit.

I wish I’d gone along with her on this trip, because these boats are intriguing.

RORO of an open sort traveled the big river.

As you’d expect, larger cargoes moved on barges pushed by tugs like this,

like Milton Cesar, and then cargo ships travel a thousand miles up the river  to Manaus

necessitating big tugs like Merlim and Excalibur, which curiously list

port of registry as Paranaguá, 2000 miles away as the birds fly.

All photos thanks to my daughter.  Since she speaks Portuguese, maybe she’d be interested in returning there as my guide.  This may be the last post for a while.