Tuesday January 28, 2020 – At sea and going along part of Brazil’s 7,500 kilometers of coastline (the 6th longest in the world).
We attended a very interesting lecture by celebrity speaker Clare Balding OBE, who is an award-winning broadcaster for the BBC and author. She has worked on every Olympic games since 1996 and on or para-Olympic games since 2000. She won BAFTA’s special award for her work on London 2012 and continues to present major events in sports, factual documentaries and Royal events particularly as they relate to horses. She first met the Queen as her father is the trainer of the Queen’s horses and speaks with her at least once a week. They have had many dinners at their home with the Queen after reviewing the horses. It was very interesting to get first hand information about the Royal family, including an estrangement with Princess Anne following a contested horse race in which both were jockey’s.
The next talk was by the always amusing and educational Tony White (Former UN Drug Control Chief) on “The Other War on Drugs”. How drugs have been used in ancient and modern-day world to motivate and enhance fighting capabilities of combatantants and help sustain and enhance military and political leaders to raise their level of alertness and energy, while simultaneously reducing their need for sleep and food. Here amphetamines have been extensively used. In fact Hitler’s doctor had him on so many medications and drugs that some of the decisions were actually contrary to what was best for the Nazi Success, like declaring war on the USA when he could have continued fighting only in Europe and was gaining on the UK.
That evening we witnessed a terrific one man performance by Bruce Morrison who gave the history of the development while at the same time singing the music of Les Miserables. A master in story telling combined with a spell binding performance, by a consummate artist.
Wednesday January 29, 2020 –
Today we entered the Amazon River for our 1,500 Km sail inland on the Amazon towards Manaus.
We all know that the Amazon River is one of the most amazingly large and impressive rivers in the world and the Amazon region is the lungs of the earth providing oxygen through all of it diverse vegetation, but here are a few facts and figures that may be of interest to recall and on which to reflect.
1. The official source of the Amazon River was found in 1953 at Mount Huagra in the Peruvian Andes.
2. It is 4080 miles long and is the second longest in the world with the Nile being just 100 miles longer
3. There at 1,100 tributaries to the Amazon with 17 of them being more than 1,000 miles long
4. The river can be up to 300 feet (100 meters) deep, and in places is up to 68 miles wide. Between 42,000,000 and 53,000,000 gallons of water per second flow from the Amazon into the Atlantic Ocean.
5. The Amazon region supports 30% of all known plant and animal species with 361 species of birds and estimated millions of insects with many waiting to be discovered. There are 26 varieties of Piranha in the river of which the most deadly is the “Cashew”. The forest has over 3,000 different varieties of trees and 3,000 edible fruits. About 70% of the plants have anti-cancer properties. The largest freshwater fish in the world can be found in the river called Arapaima or Piratucu which can grow to 15 feet long and weigh 200 – 300 kilos (440 – 660 lbs). These fish so large that it takes 3 men to carry.
6. There are perhaps some 50 tribes of people that are yet to be “discovered”.
7. The size of the Amazon jungle is about 100 million years old and is 10 times the size of France and 16% or about the size of France has been cut down. It produced 53% of the world’s oxygen.
8. The island of Marajó is one of the largest river islands in the world and is about the same size as Switzerland.
The lectures today were:-
Tony White on “Harry’s Game”. Harry Was the long tenured director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and served for almost as long as J. Edgar Hoover in the FBI. As such he had a tremendous influence over Drug policy in the US. He was married to Mellon’s daughter and was close with Henry Ford and DuPont. Both these were very anti any form of drugs from Marujuana to any other. DuPont was making other chemical compounds an had the monopoly of Nylon and was concerned that Hemp might be used as an alternative fiber. Thus all conspired to create all encompassing legislation preventing the growth, possession or use of Any Cannabis related products. Worldwide there have only been 2 cases of death that are directly attributable to cannabis. It is also proven that it is NOT physically addictive. Psychological dependence potential occurs in about 9% of users (similar to Valium) whereas the numbers for alcohol are 15% and tobacco 32%.
The next lecture by A.W. Pereira was on Brazil as a rising or declining power. Brazil is a peaceful, diplomatic, cordial, sovereign country that is racially and religiously tolerant that mostly is committed to preserving the environment. It is a regional power in South America, a second-tier non-nuclear power like Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, South Korea etc. There have been three periods where Brazil has been in close alignment with the USA. 1942-45 during WW-II; 1964-67 with Castillo Branco after the military coup, and currently under the Bolsonaro regime (thus for example no visas for US citizens which used to be required). The main principles of the (1988) constitution are – 1) National Independence; 2) Prevalence if Human Rights; 3) Self-determination; 4) Non-intervention; 5) Equality between States; 6) Defense of Peace; 7) Peaceful resolution if conflicts; 8) Rejection of Terrorism and racism; 9) Cooperation between peoples for the progress of humanity; and 10) Concession of Political Asylum. Brazil seeks the political, economic, social and cultural integration of the people of South America to form a Latin American Community if Nations.
The third lecture / performance was the comedian / pianist Jon Courtnay talking about “Funny people playing with pianos”, People in history, who like him use both their talent for playing the piano while simultaneously performing comedy routines. The classic if all is Victor Borge. Others he discussed were Tom Lehrer, Dudley Moore and Les Dawson. A very amusing time.
The evening show was “Singers in Concert”. Grouping of the three orchestras aboard provided great music, but the Cunard singers left a lot to be desired.
Thursday January 30, 2020 –
Continue sailing up the Amazon River at 16 Knots (against the current for 400 miles) towards Manaus, where we arrive at 9 AM tomorrow.
The first lecture of the day was a talk about Salvador, Brazil where we will be next week. It was the Capital under Portuguese rule.
The next lecture was by Tony White (UN Drug “Tzar”) on the pros and cons of legalizing and decriminalization of Cannabis / Pot / Marijuana. Uruguay was the first country to formally legalize the use of cannabis, followed by Canada. On one side Countries and States hope to reduce the illicit parallel market, while raising taxation revenue for the country. On the other hand, requiring prescriptions, long lines are the pharmacy and higher price due to taxation all lead to the user preferring the easier and cheaper black market. There is a growing market in cannabis edibles yet there are no clinical trials that definitely prove it’s benefit. An interesting dilemma moving forward.
We skipped the third lecture on Race in South America in favor of a nice pub lunch.
The evening show was a combination of two acts. The flautist (Grammy Nominated) Viviana Guzman who played the regular flute, the Jade Chinese flute and several other types – all brilliantly.
The second part of the show was Jon Courtenay – the comedian and gifted pianist. Very amusing and brilliant piano playing.
Roger & Anne Travels 