Boca da Valeria, Brazil

Sunday, November 6th
Amazing Amazon
Day 13
M/S Regatta
Boca da Valeria, Brazil
The Amazon River
Arriving: 8:00 AM
Departing: 1:00 PM
60% Chance of Rain - 87 Degrees

Boca da Valeria translates to "Mouth of the Valeria" River. We anchored this morning where the Valeria meets the Amazon.

There are more than 200 Indio tribes in the Amazon. During the years of the rubber boom in the late 1800s and early 1900s, these indigenous tribes were decimated as they have been all over the new world between first contact, and total exploitation, by European explorers and settlers. Numbering more than 1,000,000, there were fewer than 200,000 Indios left by 1915. One hundred years later, their numbers are rebounding, even in the face of new threats from deforestation and development. Still, there are more than 50 tribes in this region that do not have regular contact with the outside world.

The people of Boca da Valeria are most certainly not among them. This is a small settlement of 75 - 100 people, a tiny fishing village 400 feet up the hill from the river. Actually, these people, the Caboclos, descend from both natives and Portuguese settlers.

While the ship turned on its anchor, for most of the day our veranda looked out over the 200 yards of channel between ship and shore. A floating dock was set into the mud on the other side. The trail that led up the hill and into the village from the dock was lined with villagers waiting for our arrival. Some particularly enterprising locals didn't wait for passengers to come to the village, they came to the ship. They piled into leaky canoes along with their best ambassadors (cute kids) and anything that they had to sell or trade, or show and tell, and motored and paddled toward Regatta. They surrounded the tender dock two or three canoes deep and climbed over one another to reach the passengers boarding the tender. They posed Three-Toed Sloths for pictures, but didn't appear to treat the animals very well. We heard this was true for other wildlife on shore as well.

This stop is not about the natural wonders of the Amazon, but a chance to meet and mingle with the Caboclos, to see their way of life, and support their barter economy. As the Oceania port guide noted, "It is customary to bring some small items such as pencils, pens, cosmetics, baseball caps, or t-shirts as gifts." In this regard, Oceania leads by example. The crew loaded several tenders with donated supplies for the village. Some passengers have been hoarding soap and shampoo for the Caboclos. That's nice, but are we saying that they are unclean? By whose standards? These are not primitive people. Boca da Valeria is wired for electricity. They have street lights. Their homes are better constructed than many we have seen along the river. We can see a satellite dish.

We are conflicted about this kind of experience. This region is not abundant with economic opportunity. Tourism is a large, growing, and sustainable business, but this feels like a visit to the people zoo. People of privilege on tour to point and stare at people of poverty in their natural environment. Not to mock maybe, but certainly to condescend.

In the end, we decided to skip the heat, humidity, and the bugs, avoid the hard sell and the sob story, keep our guilt and pity to ourselves, and stay on board the ship.