John and I wake up this morning early, it's the first time we are up before we get into port. It's a beautiful morning, we are in the Rain Forest of the Amazon and so we see dark clouds and wonder if it will rain on us today. Santarem is our first stop on the Amazon River. We spent one full night and one day on the Amazon already. We will visit Santarem today, then the small village of Boca Da Valeria and finally Manaus during our four days on the river.
Santarem was first settled because it is located between two major Amazon River cities, Belem and Manaus, and the fact that it is located at the junction between the Amazon and one of it's principal tributaries, the Rio Tapajos.
In 1958, Santarem became rich overnight, when a rich, long vein of gold was discovered near Itaibuba, a small town 60 miles up the Rio Tapajos. This lead to Santarem becoming a supply post and the opening of a road to Cuiaba in 1969 linking the area for the first time to the rest of Brazil.
