The whole morning we traced the steps of the monks in this deserted and neglected Fransiscan Cathedral. The white ants did their part destroying the wooden pillars and stair cases and we had to walk carefully. A Portuguese man, I think the caretaker, escorted us into the building, emptied from everything. Only the screws keeping the statue of Saint Fransisco on the wall was left. We saw the odd white and blue wall tiles, chipping away, from the Portuguese customs. It does look though they are starting to renovate this beautiful ruin.
A silence fell over all of us when he showed us the big hole, where the slaves and trouble makers were chained against the wall, and as soon as the tide comes in, they were drowned very slowly by the incoming tide. Only a black vulture on the steeple was keeping an eye on the roaming souls...
As soon as the tide began to rise, we lifted the anchor for Maragojipe.
What an awesome sail we had in this river, sailing with a wind of 15 to 20 knots. We were still amazed at the thought of sailing a river in Brazil! We tacked a couple of times, enjoying the race with the traditional square sail boats, until we reached the long jetty of Maragojipe! Two yachts were already on anchor, and we dropped anchor at 5m.
Johan couldn't wait to go into the new little town to find out about the Saturday market. We walked the streets of the little town, passed all the little Bars where people were playing cards and dominoes, while sipping the popular local beer, Scol. We treated ourselves with ice lollies and were surprised when the cafe owner could speak a bit of English. He told us that the Market is tomorrow as we thought, and just down the street.
We took the dinghy home, but our Skipper decided to lift the anchor to go closer to the jetty, out of the current, and we anchored at 1,5m, and hoped not to be beached.
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