Santarém is nearly impossible to reach overland and is set at the junction of the Rio Amazonas and the Rio Tapajos. The Santarém region has a history dating back to about 10,000 BC as a human settlement. In fact, the earliest known human creations, in the form of rock paintings, can be found about 100 km northeast of Santarém.
Look at the worker cutting into the rubber tree in a herringbone design, enabling the "sap" to pour down to a central location. We were able to feel the fresh sap and it felt just like an elastic band! It's a lot of hard, back-breaking work. Today, rubber comes mostly from Venezuela and other countries because the rubber tree was exported, without realizing the economic hit that the Amazon region would feel.
We also had a demonstration on how to open a Brazil nut - one of the hardest nuts in existence. The locals open it with a machete! (Those poor fingers...) The outside looks like a mini coconut, and once opened, it has segments that look like an orange, but each segment has its own hard shell which we know as the Brazil nut. The whole nut can keep for a year, and the segments for 3 months without going
rancid.
The later history of the area includes rubber trees, gold rushes, and trade in hardwoods, Brazil nuts, black pepper, mangoes, soybeans and fish. The local museums have interesting collections of stone pieces and pottery dating back 6000 years, and display women's clothing and fabrics made from natural grasses and wood pulp, including a reproduction of a dress made for a Belgian queen, a tablecloth for Pope John Paul II, and colourful festival costumes.
Look at the worker cutting into the rubber tree in a herringbone design, enabling the "sap" to pour down to a central location. We were able to feel the fresh sap and it felt just like an elastic band! It's a lot of hard, back-breaking work. Today, rubber comes mostly from Venezuela and other countries because the rubber tree was exported, without realizing the economic hit that the Amazon region would feel.
We saw many plants, fruit and veggies that I was not familiar with, including the jack fruit which is kind of slimy 
and smells awful. As for the "pharmacy", it is to be found all around in the plants and the "pharmacist" hangs all these herbs and roots in bags at the market and mixes whatever you need on a rickety old table, worn out with years of business! There are also tables filled with tinctures and other mysterious mixtures good for anything that ails you. 
and smells awful. As for the "pharmacy", it is to be found all around in the plants and the "pharmacist" hangs all these herbs and roots in bags at the market and mixes whatever you need on a rickety old table, worn out with years of business! There are also tables filled with tinctures and other mysterious mixtures good for anything that ails you. 
We also had a demonstration on how to open a Brazil nut - one of the hardest nuts in existence. The locals open it with a machete! (Those poor fingers...) The outside looks like a mini coconut, and once opened, it has segments that look like an orange, but each segment has its own hard shell which we know as the Brazil nut. The whole nut can keep for a year, and the segments for 3 months without going
rancid.
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