Boca da Valeria - 31st March 2011 - Day 28

The village of Boca da Valeria is located at the meeting point of Rio da Valeria (one of the thousands of tributaries) and the Amazon, about 300 miles up river from our last stop.  This was our opportunity to visit a small Amazonian village.  With a population of about 100, it was a dramatic contrast to what we had seen so far, and to many people this became the highlight of the trip.  Villagers in traditional boats greet visitors.

As we got off the tender, after having our photo taken with the mayor,

children rushed to hold our hand and show us around the village – I was carrying a big bag of school supplies (paper, notepads, pencils, crayons, pencil sharpeners) that we had bought in Santarem, which seems to attract more of the children.  Due to the language barrier the “tour” tended to consist of smiles and pointing but have no doubt they were expecting a tip at the end, and once you gave them one, they ran off to the next tourist!  We stopped at the local school to drop off the supplies – they invited Charlotte to join them in their dancing but she was too shy.

Parents often dress their children up in “Native Costume” hoping to earn tips for their efforts.



 Some of the villagers have exotics pets, such as macaws, sloths, anacondas and alligators! Very different from the goldfish and hamsters back home!

We took a boat ride up the river, where there were other little villages.

The homes are built on stilts – when the rainy season comes each year the river overflows so stilts help keep floors dry!  A walk around the inside of the house, showed very basic living conditions with the children sleeping on the floor.

 We thought Charlotte would have found this quite interesting – however, she found it strange how they live (most sleeping on the floor of huts) and also a bit overwhelming.  Also she asked me later, why we gave them money for holding our hands, or letting us take a picture of them. Interestingly, The Veendam comes to Bermuda each summer – Charlotte is wondering if she can hold the hands of passengers on Front Street and show them around Hamilton for a few bucks!!

It was fun interacting with the villagers and seeing how wonderful (?) and simple life can be on the river.   Everyone looked happy and healthy – their diet is fish and fruit, vegetable.   Our 1,500 passengers left the village to go back to its peaceful state.