As Shakespeare Said ....

Shakespeare Knew As scheduled, we arrive in Parintins on the next day as we sailed down the Amazon toward the ocean. This is a town of 100,000 people on an island in the middle of the river. It's famous for the Boi Bumba festival in June, when the town doubles in size. This event is described as the largest folk pageant in the world. After June, for the rest of the year the winning team performs a one-hour version of their winning show for tourists. A 35,000-seat stadium is used for the festival, but we will see the shortened version in a municipal building. This is the only activity in town, and is so special that three story-wooden ferries are used to transport tourists from the ship to the show. The show is part of the retelling of an Indian fable about a competition between two oxen, Garantido and Caprichoso. The drums, instruments, and two singers are highly amplified, as locals dressed as Indians, gods, flowers, bulls, snakes, and birds, dance while floats appear and disappear behind flat sliding panels depicting jungle forests. The cast of 100 performs for an hour, after which tourists are invited to join in the dancing, and then to have pictures taken with the performers. The costumes are elaborate, with feathers that double the height of the gyrating women and leaping men. The show would have been right at home in New Orleans or Las Vegas, except for its being about Amazon mythology and sung in the Portuguese language. As Shakespeare aptly said, it is a show "of sound and fury, signifying ...." We are transported back to the ship after the show, as we plan to sail at 2:30 pm. We still have 600 miles to go to reach the Atlantic. But before we sail, various Brazilian officials want to review our passports, medical records, and anything else that might generate some "problem" requiring, perhaps, a fee or a bribe. We finally set sail out of the river at 6:30 pm, and are on our way north to Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana. By now, ship passengers are becoming a bit weary of the passing scenery, which is dramatic in its vastness of water and sky, but the shore looks much the same on either side. Each morning, Alice has opened the curtains of the room and observed, "It's still here," and we laugh. After two more days of cruising on the Amazon, we reach the huge delta. The sea breezes and lower humidity are most welcome, and the waters are looking more blue now than brown. On the ship, we watched the movie "Papillon," based on prisoner Henri Charriere's true-life attempts to escape the daunting and deadly tropical prison on the three volcanic islands known as the Salvation Islands, but more popularly called, collectively, "Devil's Island." Based on the film, we expect to view much larger islands, with swamps, mosquitos, and decaying buildings. Instead, as we approach by ship the islands appear to be an idyllic vacation spot. The swampy scenes in the film depicted times when prisoners were forced to do chain gang labor on the mainland, only 10 miles away. We learn that today there is a small hotel on the largest of the islands, and French visitors are there for a holiday, arriving by boat. We can walk around Ile Royale, the main island, in less than two hours. We walk in a somber cemetery where children of families of the guards are buried. Prisoners who died were not buried in the ground, but instead were buried at sea to attract sharks, a deterrent to escape. A number of the prison buildings are still on the island, as well as a Catholic chapel. From the far side of the island we can see Devil's Island, and the ruins of the tiny cottage where Dreyfus was imprisoned. The third island was designated for prisoners sentenced to solitary and silent confinement. We are told that 60,000 prisoners served time at Devil's Island since its inception under Napoleon III, and about 90% died--many of diseases like yellow fever. As we walk around the island, we see monkeys, a parrot, sea turtles, and Agoutis. The Agouti is a rust-colored rodent that looks like a guinea pig on stilts. (We will put up pictures after we return home on March 11.) Two days at sea later, we are in Barbados. While the island still grows sugar cane, which is processed and shipped to Europe, it is now a popular international tourist location and a mecca for cruise ships. We learn a little about the history, and the island's love of cricket; they have a large cricket stadium. The sport is very popular; our guide says, to laughter, that the British invented the sport, but the Barbadans perfected it. We see small brightly colored "chattel homes," with temporary stone rubble foundations. These are a tradition dating from the end of slavery on the island. The occupants can easily move the homes if a landowner requires it. We observe many signs of prosperity here, and are favorably impressed that there is no trash or graffiti in the areas we see. We learn that the government is very strict about keeping appearances attractive for the lucrative tourist industry. We visit Henderson's Cave, a well-kept, accessible cave with interesting calcite stalactite and stalagmite formations. Unlike other islands in the Caribbean, which are volcanic, Barbados is composed of coral limestone. In fact, Barbados is actually not "Caribbean"; it is in the Atlantic, and it is usually out of the path of hurricanes. It has been over 50 years since the last direct hit. One more significant advantage of this former British colony: the limestone is a natural filter for water, so Barbadians and visitors enjoy clean drinking water. One more stop tomorrow: the American Virgin Islands. Then we'll be back to Florida for a flight home. See you soon! We're really looking forward to having ready, affordable access to the Internet.