Boca de Valeria, Brazil

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 – Boca da Valeria, Brazil

A day out of National Geographic. We had a GREAT day which started in the pouring rain. We were on the first tender out at 8AM (perks to being 4* on Holland America!) and saw the pink dolphins on the way to the small village of Boca da Valeria.
We were welcomed to the center of the one-street village (mud paths and ants and bugs – I thought for sure I was going to be in the hospital from bug bites but all went well) by a welcoming committee of children ranging from 3-11 years old. They wanted to hold our hand and lead us around town, asking for a dollar or goodies for their school or home. We quickly latched on to “Donald”, a nice man with 8 children who offered us a canoe ride upriver for $5 per person per hour. Sold. Off we went on his motorized canoe through the mangroves and through the gigantic lily pads into the back waters of his “neighborhood”. We glided right up to his front door, to his home on stilts and saw where the water level from 2009 had reached two feet above the floor of the home. Wife and eight children greeted us at the kitchen door – one gas burner worked on the stove and their portable stove was not functioning. The living room/bedroom had a loft and the hammocks were strung up for bedtime use and TV viewing. One small cot for day use and bedroom time use. Yes, there was a TV and radio and stereo and a large book shelf with text books. Donald had been a teacher at the local school and had traveled four hours each way to the town of Paratins for his education and taught at the local school in St. Rita, where his children now attend.

The potable water comes from a rainwater tank across the river and through pipes to an outside spigot. One spigot; an outside sink near the entrance to the kitchen and an outside toilet up the hill. He had made their picnic table kitchen table and was planning on an addition to the home when he was financially able but it was marked out in the sand, where the clothes were now drying on clothes pins. No screens or glass on the windows and he had an electric fan, he said to keep away the mosquitoes. Many chickens were running wild under and around the house but made no noise. The children go to school in the afternoon but we could not quite understand the hours (our conversation was through my Spanish and his Portuguese so it was interesting at times!). They had another canoe for the kids to get to school as we figured they needed both canoes for everyone. Donald was anxious to explain and show us everything.

We headed up river now to the village of St. Rita to see the school and church. We climbed a steep stony hill where we were met with kids holding parrots, toucans and other colorful birds on sticks – take a photograph for a $1. The school was quite modern! It was orange colored, octagonal shaped with a rotunda/grandstand center for meetings, a computer classroom!!, offices for teachers and staff and a café area for prepared meals. There were four classrooms and regular school desks and chairs and blackboards and a TV in each room. Down the muddy street was a hut which served as the village market; Donald bought gasoline which was sold in a 2-liter soda bottle. The Catholic Church was at the other end of town; there were about 80 homes in the village, all with at least 6-8 children. Donald claimed it was a nice community with no violence or crime and everyone helped each other.

On the way back to the village where the ship tenders ran from, we stopped to hear the stillness around us. Birds sang, the water rustled, the sound of the waves around us…peaceful and silent.

Back in town, we explore the one street from end to end. Some kids had small fish on a stick, one man a huge catfish on the table, one 16-year old girl was in full regalia Amazon costume as was a man with feathers and bow and arrow, etc. Other kids were holding sloths, monkeys (could have been a pygmy marmoset or a Goeldi monkey), colorful birds and one family were dressed in costume and had a baby armadillo and something that was a cross between a hog, warthog, long-haired furry dog and small elephant without the trunk!..it was a very unique tame zoo on the high street! Vendors were out with homemade crafts of wood and fabric and paintings – little voodoo dolls, necklaces, wooden carvings of birds and fishes, riverboats from balsa and beautiful paintings. And through all this, the children were holding on to the hands of the passengers as if they were their long-lost grandchildren – each party seemed to be enjoying the moment.

Back on the ship, we had a nice lunch as we watched the canoes come closer and closer to the ship, trying to sell their wares from the canoes and being pushed back by security. We had a nice sail away and then sat in the back of the ship to see the river behind us. It is so wide; much wider than I thought and much muddier. The riverboats ply the waters around us and there are still many clumps of grass and wood floating by. Small villages occasionally appear at the banks but most of the time, we are passing tall trees. The landscape is flat and the sky seems endless. You can see rain storms in the distance – I saw five at one time as I glanced behind the ship – and the cloud patterns are incredible. Went up for sunset but there were too many clouds for a display of color. Dinner and Al Brown, UK comedian, was the entertainer. Listened to the Rosario Strings and worked.

Population of 2200 on Boca de Valeria. Goats and longhorn cattle were imported by the Spaniards and Portuguese.

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” - Plutarch