“Emotion has a name:
Brazil.” -Pele
The Amazon River! O Rio
Mar! The River Sea! The world's largest river, that fires the
imagination of all who dare to dream, dominates the land and the people who
come in contact with it.
The muddy and mysterious Amazon is a
majestic presence. To those with an insatiable spirit of adventure, it is a
strange mixture of primitive and civilized. The Amazon is a kaleidoscope
of mud huts and mini-highrises, dugout canoes and sleek ocean liners.
There are man-eating piranhas that you don't see and immense Vitoria Regia
water lilies that you do.
A foray into the land of tribesmen
called Waura and Kuikuro, this1000-mile voyage of discovery from the mouth of
the world's mightiest river to the port city of Manaus (at the confluence of
the Amazon and Rio Negro), was once virtually inaccessible to the leisure
traveler.
Two
popular port stops along the Amazon are Alter do Chao and Parantins.
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WELCOME TO
ALTER DO CHAO
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Alter
do Chao: As far back as 1661, early settlers staked their claim to the
jungle-draped Alter Do Chao, an idyllic beach a short distance from
Santarem.
Butterflies and blue water beaches
adorn this virgin strip of vine-choked land that is thankfully ignored by the
native piranhas (man-eating fish). Locals, fishing along the banks of the
Amazon and the nearby Tapajos Rivers, reminisce about the glory days of the
rubber boom when Henry Ford’s nearby rubber plantations prospered.
As luck would have it, I arrived in
Alter do Chao during Carnaval. Trust me, you will sweat as you weave your
way through this humid sea of celebrating humanity. But also trust me,
you will feel the flavor of Brazil as the youthful beer-infused Brazilians
sprinkle you with “lucky flour” made from the manioc root.
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When it was all said and done, my
guide drove me a short distance to the Manioc Flour House where they process
the manioc root into flour. Needless to say, I declined their kind offer
of tasting the fly-attracting products made from the flour.
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MANIOC FLOUR HOUSE
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| BRAZILIAN BOI BUMBA BEAUTY |
At the Boi Bumba Folkloric
Presentation you can experience this magical mystical ritual, rooted in the 19th
century fable of the disputing Cids and Monteverdes families. The
festivities, in the Caprichoso Pavilion, culminate with the serving of Brazil’s
national drink…the Caipirinha. Made of Brazil's national firewater known as
cachaca, the first one can be relaxing but the second can be deadly.
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| BOI BUMBA FOLKLORIC PRESENTATION |
While cruising the Amazon you are
able to experience one of nature’s most spectacular sights. Encontro das
Aguas…the Meeting of the Waters. This rare phenomenon is caused by the
sluggish, inky black waters of the Rio Negro meeting with the fast- flowing,
café-au -lait colored waters of the Amazon. The two rivers, differing in
density and speed, flow side by side for nearly 40-miles before they integrate
completely.
JANET STEINBERG is an award-winning
Travel Writer and a Travel Consultant with THE TRAVEL AUTHORITY in Mariemont,
Ohio.
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