“Fascinating and interesting and a great guy. Do not miss a trip with Gil.”
Gil answered all emails promptly, and told us where to find him and how
to identify him. When our ship docked he was right where he said he
would be, and we immediately made our way to where the boat he was using
was docked. He is such an interesting person and has had such a
wonderful life, and really loves the Amazon. It comes over in everything
he says. He showed us the meeting of the waters, then we went up a
small tributary and left the boat for a jungle walk - a real jungle
walk, not the stuff the cruise ships take you on. We saw various plants,
trees and wildlife, and all the time Gil and his local guide kept us
fully informed. We got up close and personal with three-toed sloths, and
when we got back to the boat the crew had set up a picnic with fresh
fruit, cheese, fish, and a delicious local lemon drink, followed by
Chiprianas (the local rum drink) and beer. They cracked open a fresh
brazil nut (which inside contained all the nuts that we identify as
Brazil) and we ate these fresh - wonderful. They also roasted fresh
Cashews on an open fire. We saw ship's excursion boats going past and
waved at them,but they only went about a quarter of a mile further on
before they turned round and came out. After our wonderful lunch we
boarded Gil's boat again and from memory we probably cruised for a
further 2 hours, definitely over an hour, time just passed, seeing more
birds and wild-life, then, on the way back to our starting point Gil
kept us entranced with the interesting story of his life and his family.
We only caught one glimpse of a pink dolphin, but as with any wild
animal, their presence cannot be guaranteed, and all of us agreed at the
end of our month long cruise that Gil's trip in Santarem was the
highlight of our holiday.
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