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Amazon Afternoon

Gave my first lecture last night. One would think that 6:30 is a bad time for a lecture, but Seabourn makes it work beautifully by having bar service during the lecture. Come spend happy hour learning something! It’s a concept! Attendance was fantastic. I figure if 10 percent of the passengers are at my lectures, that’s pretty good, but las night my guess is it was over 15, so yay!

The subject was the Amazon , touching on the massiveness of the river (its volume is higher than the next 7 biggest rivers in the world combined), the ancient civilizations in the area (the real ones, not El Dorado) and contemporary issues like deforestation.

I really enjoy being on the Amazon. It’s earthy, and authentic in a way cruise destinations often destroy over time. We are a very minor thing happening today as people go about their business in Santarem. I like it that way. It’s not all about me and my dollars. In fact, most people scarcely pay us any mind. They have better, or at least more pressing, things to do. I have left them to it, and am now ensconced on the ship, ready for a relaxing afternoon, falling asleep over my audiobook by the pool.