Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 3

The port of call on March 6, 2023 was the small city of Parintins, Brazil (115,363 people in 2020). Holland America offered only two shore excursions. One was a 90-minute tour of the city on a triciclo “past the major highlights of the city.” Triciclo translates as 'tricycle,' but it's not really a trike but more a tuk-tuk in Asia. The second option was “The Boi Bumba Festival Show.” Since one of my main objectives in travel is to learn of the culture and customs, this was a no-brainer. From the Holland America web site: “The must-see Boi Bumba is one of the greatest folk festivals in Brazil. It is a world full of magic, bright colors, music, dance and folklore -- a feast for the senses. The luxurious costumes and floats, comparable to those seen ... read more

Boca Da Valeria, Brazil was our port of call on Friday, March 3, 2023, and, for only the second port of call on the cruise, the Holland America itinerary says, “There are no Shore Excursions to choose from for today.” Boca Da Valeria (mouth of Valeria) is a small village at the junction of the Valeria and the Amazon Rivers and is quite a fascinating place to visit. The village has less than 150 residents, but the population swells when a cruise ship lays anchor. The locals, residents and “commuters” alike, have made a science out of extracting money from the cruise ship passengers. Many children don traditional clothing to fetch a dollar, but most dress in Western attire. Many children are toting their pet sloth, macaw, alligator, parrot, owl, capybara or other critter as a ... read more

Belém, Brazil is the capital, and largest city, of the State of Pará in the country's north. Belém, Portuguese for Bethlehem, was initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará (Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará). Brazilians often refer to the city as Belém do Pará (Belém of Pará) to differentiate it from a number of other towns called Belém in Brazil, as well as the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank of Israel. It lies approximately 60 miles upriver from the Atlantic Ocean, on the Pará River, which is part of the greater Amazon River system, and is the gateway to the Amazon River with a busy port, airport, and bus/coach station. With an estimated population of 1,499,641 people, or 2,491,052 in its metropolitan area, it is the 11th most populous city in ... read more

First, on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 (our day at sea), while we made our way from Salvador Da Bahia, Brazil to Recife, Brazil, the Oi Brasil group was busy providing complementary dance and music lessons to anyone with the stamina and/or coordination to participate. The list of “Learn to XXX” sessions on Wednesday included, “Learn to Play Samba,” “Learn to Dance Gafiera” and “Learn to Dance Samba.” Some members of the Oi Brasil group will stay aboard ship for the entire time we are in Brazil offering more “Learn to XXX” lessons. That should be fun. Recife, Brazil, our port of call on Thursday, February 23, 2023, has a population of 1,653,461 but hosts the fourth-largest urban area in Brazil with 4,054,866 inhabitants (both 2020 figures). It is the capital and largest city in the state ... read more

Carnival is an annual six-day Brazilian festival held, technically, only the Tuesday afternoon before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. During Lent, that forty-day period before Easter, many Christians, especially Roman Catholics, abstain from the consumption of meat and poultry. Those perishables would not survive through the end of Lent, so Carnival in Brazil or Mardi Gras in Louisiana or Fat Tuesday to many, began as a means of consuming perishables to prevent such wasteful spoilage, hence the term "carnival" evolved from carnelevare, "to remove meat." The Brazilian version of the festival is a celebration of music, dance and song whose rhythm, participation, and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. These rhythms were mainly developed by Afro-Brazlians and Pardos, incorporating and adapting many cultural influences, from the percussion beats of Africa to the ... read more