March 10, 2020

PARINTINS, BRAZIL

Today we stop at the small town of Parintins. The town is situated half way between Santarem and Manaus on Tumpinambarana Island. It has 100,000 residents. The main attraction for this town is the famous Boi Bumba festival. It is held every year in June. For today they put on 2 shows exclusive for Holland America. The festival in June is more or less a carnaval parade full of colorfull human and animal characters. Before we got to the show we explored the town a little bit. During exploring the town, we got hit with one of the typical tropical down pours, and decided to stop for lunch and let the rain pass by. After lunch we headed for our show. We were greeted with Caipirinha (Brazilian Rum Drink). The show was just fantastic, and went on for over an hour. After the show back to the ship. Today we used tenders supplied by the town. The currents in the river were to strong for the ships tenders to operate in. The rest of the afternoon we spent near the pool.

We are continually updated about the corona virus. They intensified the measures on board. More hand disinfection stations. All the stations are manned to make sure they are used. It is mandatory to use them when you enter the buffet eating area and dining rooms. No self serve of any food in the buffet area. Staff will put it on your plate. There is also a continuous reminder to wash your hands often. I noticed, that there are very few people coughing or sneezing compared to earlier on the cruise. Let’s hope that we keep it that way.

Chow

“South America ” “Parintins ” “Boi Bumba”