Boca da Valeria, Brazil

Of course, not everyone lives in a big city like Santarem. A lot of people live on the riverbank and inland in small communities. One of these places has an Italian name - Boca da Valeria.
This community is normally home to about 75 residents, but today it was invaded by about 600 tourists!

Here in 'downtown' Boca da Valeria, most of the houses are up on stilts. This is because the Amazon river usually causes floods every year and the people like to stay dry. As soon as the locals found out that we were coming, they got ready. The kids were let out of school and mom, dad and all the kids got dressed for the occasion. They even brought their pets along. Most people couldn't speak English, but they all knew two words – one dollar! They would happily pose for you as long as you would give them one dollar or one real (local currency). As you can see, I handed out quite a few dollars.

In the end, we all got what we wanted, so it was a win/win situation. They got our money. We got photos of the locals in colorful, but completely fake costumes!

To really appreciate the Amazon, you need to get off the big ship and explore the backwaters on a small riverboat. Above is a view of the river from the deck of the ship. It's nice to look at, but you really can't see that much.

So my friend and I climbed into a small canoe with a local resident and headed down one of the tributaries. Many of the other passengers were doing the same thing, so there was practically a traffic jam on the waterways.

Our first stop was to see the giant water lilies. These massive plants were at least 3 feet wide and looked like they could support a small child.

This little fella obviously knew better and was content to stay put in his mother's boat.

Some of the passengers took rides in covered boats to avoid the hot sun. Most locals used paddles or poles when they reached sensitive areas, like the lily pads, to avoid harming the plants.

This is what typical housing looked like on the riverbank. What you can't see are the satellite dishes and TVs that everyone seemed to have!

Schooling is very important down here and this school was well equipped with good classrooms and a room full of computers.

The guy giving us the tour invited us into his home, offered us a drink and gave us some local fruit (guavas) to snack on. Then he took us deeper inland to see the real jungle. We had a great time! If you ever get the chance to do this, then go for it.