Santarém - Where Two Rivers Meet

History, Food, and Culture

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Dancers welcoming our ship

History

Santarém is one of the oldest cities along the Amazon in Brazil, founded by the Portuguese in 1661. It is named for the city of Santarém in Portugal. The city lies between the Amazon River and one of its many tributaries, the Tapajós River. Therefore, the Portuguese referred to the indigenous people who lived in the area as the Tapajós also.

The confluence of the two rivers, the Amazon and Tapajós, is a spectacular sight! When the brown, dense water of the Amazon meets up with the blue-green water of the Tapajós, the two rivers maintain their individual looks and properties. The rivers run side-by-side without mixing in the "Meeting of the Waters" and continues for several miles. This reminded us of the convergence of rivers meeting in both Passau (Danube, Ilz, and Inn Rivers) and Koblenz (Rhine and Mosel Rivers) that also were different colors.

While the Tapajós no longer exist as a separate group, most of the inhabitants of Santarém are descendents of the Tapajós, and embrace their food and culture as part of modern life.

Agricultural Economy (Food)

The rivers have been a source of food and commerce for hundreds of years. Interestingly, the two rivers, although they differ in temperature and salinity, have mostly the same types of fish. One of our first stops on our tour was a local fish market that had many, many types of fresh, locally caught fish. Below are Tiger Catfish (left), and Peacock Bass (right).

Santarém benefitted from the rubber boom in Brazil from 1879-1912. During those years the locals found mature trees in the rainforest to remove the liquid latex and sell it to be made into rubber. As other countries began planting rubber tree groves, they had the advantage and the Amazon area's monopoly on rubber disappeared. Coffee and gold also drove the local economy in the past, and now the most profitable crop is soy.

Visiting a family farm:

A demonstration of the local method of draining latex from a rubber tree. The handmade tools had to be just the right size and sharpness to make the diagonal lines where the latex would run out and drip down into the bowl, without cutting too deep which would injure the tree. One tree could produce about 1 galloon per day, which would be caught in a bowl and gathered each night.

At the same location we saw different plants that grow in the same area and produce fruit, nuts or other products to sell.

Local Fruit:

We enjoyed trying many of the local fruits - some I knew, like mango, papaya and bananas. Others were new to me, like jack fruit (shown in the middle of this picture, the big brown lumpy ones). I gave it a try and it was good, sort of mild and not too sweet. I also tried a cacao fruit, the soft part around the cacao seed. It was kind of slimy and didn't taste at all like chocolate - darn!

Also, on the left side of this picture are acaí berries - the little dark blobs on the long gray stems.

On the right side are mini-coconuts.

The Manioc Plant. This is a plant like Cassava, except it is poisonous until it goes through a seven step process to neutralize the poison. Many different products can be made from the powder that is the end product of that process, but the best known is tapioca.

A part of the process

The many different products from the processing of the Manioc roots, such as cakes, crunchy things, and flat bread. I tried several, they tasted fine, fairly bland. But, the Brazillian coffee they served with the other foods was delicious!

Culture

In Santarém, the culture of the area is a mix of Portuguese, Brazilian, Indigenous, and modern business influences. Here are a few examples:

Celebrations and local performers show influences of all cultures (see first picture in blog).

All children must be vaccinated, for all the possible diseases that exist there, such as malaria, yellow fever and more. Parents who do not get their children vaccinated are held responsible (sounded like a Child Protective Services type enforcement). Vaccinations are free.

The Cathedral in Santarém is a light blue color, and the Jesus on the Cross is depicted as being alive, which is seldom seen.

The mayor of the city in 1935-36 was the first female official in their state.

Dogs and cats are seen roaming (or sleeping) around town.

Termites are everywhere. This is a termite mound, one of many, along the street.

Birds

Here are some new additions to Karen's bird collection.

Oriole Blackbird

Grey Breasted Martin

Black Vulture

Blue-Grey Tanager

That's all for now! Tomorrow we plan on tendering into a small 100-person trading village along the Amazon called Boca da Valéria, if the weather permits.