Boca da Valeria Brazil Amazon
47
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Explora Journeys (8 Cruises)
Oceania Cruises (14 Cruises)
Regent Seven Seas Cruises (8 Cruises)
Silversea Cruises (3 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
Nowhere in the literal sense: there is no solid pier. The ship anchors in the current at the point where the Valéria river meets the Amazon, and tenders drop travellers in front of a hamlet of stilt houses.
Fewer than a hundred, against more than a thousand passengers on some ships. The encounter seems improbable, and that is exactly what makes this call memorable.
The visit amounts to a few dirt paths: the modest church with its wooden floor, the one-room school, a few open houses. The finest part happens on the water, in a boat with the villagers.
For a few dollars an hour, villagers offer their motorized boats and canoes. You go up the river between flooded banks: giant water lilies, herons frozen on stumps, isolated stilt houses. The boatmen point out parrots hidden in the branches.
Children approach with a sloth on the arm, a parrot on the shoulder or a young capybara on a lead, and pose for a dollar or two. Each visitor will judge the practice for themselves; a polite refusal with a kind word is always well received.
Partly staged, and it is fair to know that. On ship days the village comes alive, everyone knowing these visits matter to family income. But the smiles, the kitchen gardens and the laundry drying between trunks belong to the real life of the river.
Woven baskets, animals carved from wood, necklaces of red and black seeds, on a few tables set out along the bank. Prices stay modest and the money goes straight to the families.
Yes, and in small notes. There are no established shops and no card terminals: everything is settled in bills, US dollars or reais.
Shoes with grip: the dirt paths turn slippery after rain. A hat, insect repellent and water complete the kit.
No monument, no museum, no air-conditioned shop: only families who live off the river and an hour or two of their daily life, shared without ceremony. It is often the call passengers talk about most afterwards.
