Wednesday – Boca Do Valeria

Boca Do Valeria divides people rather spectacularly; there are some who relish the experience, and there are those who don’t believe we should visit there at all. Between the two, there are those who can’t make their mind up, and often seem quite confused as to what to think.

When a ship arrives in Boca Do Valeria, many folks from the surrounding villages descend upon the place, in the hopes of having a piece of the tourist pie. Stalls are set up selling all manner of arts and crafts; wood carvings, models, paintings and jewellery.

As passengers alight from the tender boat onto the little wooden jetty, they are besieged by lots of children, all wanting to take their hands and lead them around the village…. and all wanting a little piece of the pie. If you want to take a photograph, it’ll cost you a dollar. Sloths are held out to you, to take a photo with (one dollar); young girls are dressed up in beautiful native costume for you to photograph (one dollar); would you like a peek inside a traditional native stilt house? Guess what it’ll cost you…

The school and church are both open for visitors to see how they live, and donations are invited (that’ll be another dollar, then…).

It’s a colourful place, with lots to see and spend your dollars (or Brazilian Reals) on. We noticed a few minor changes from earlier visits, but the essence of the place remains the same; the people are friendly, and Boca Do Valeria has a good heart.

On previous visits, we’ve always opted for one of the small boat trips on offer. Five dollars a head will give you a boat ride down smaller tributaries, and to different villages. We spent a lot of time encouraging people to take the trips, telling them that it would be the best 5 dollars they’d spend on the whole cruise (we should have been on commission). One couple, from the art classes, couldn’t quite pluck up the courage to go for one. They were clearly quite keen, but didn’t know what to expect (and the in-house blurb actually discourages guests from taking them). So, I turned to Tracey and said something along the lines of ‘do we fancy a boat ride?’, and joined the couple for a thirty-minute trip after all… the best 10 dollars we’ll spend the entire cruise (20 Brazilian Reals, actually, since we haven’t yet bought any US dollars).

Much time was spent talking to Freyser Andrade, the local art teacher, who had a small stall set up to display his paintings. He remembered me from last year, and confessed to following me on facebook. We exchanged details again and posed for photos together, and he gave us a painting in return for me sending him one of mine. I also gave him a set of notes from my on-board classes and a small watercolour painting kit… a thoroughly nice bloke and a very talented artist!

One thing that was missing this year was a bar. For whatever reason, the bar remained closed, which meant that once folks had spent their odd dollars here and there, posed with sloths and iguana, marvelled at the costumes and the parrots on perches, and dodged the children’s beckoning hands, there was nowhere for them to chill out and linger for a while; returning to the ship was the only option.

I don’t have a problem with visiting Boca Do Valeria. Providing the children are discouraged from openly begging, and a fair trade of goods or services for cash takes place, then why shouldn’t the locals benefit financially from that? The word ‘exploitation’ gets bandied around a lot on these occasions, yet I don’t see the natives being exploited any more than the visitors; both get want they want out of the deal. It remains to be seen if that balance can be maintained, though. I worry about what the experience may be like in 10 or 20 years time. Influences from the outside world are bound to have an impact, and the Boca Do Valerians are far from uncivilized; satellite dishes are very much in evidence (the Brazilians love their football, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many have to have their regular fix of Coronation Street or Game of Thrones), and one suspects that the arrival of a cruise ship is seen as simply another payday; a time to dress up in traditional costume, smile a lot and extract as much cash from the rich visitors as they can before they disappear off into the sunset. The visit is still billed as an opportunity to glimpse into the lives of local inhabitants; if the experience is turned into a nothing more than a theme park, then the magic will be lost, and the cynics will be able to say “I told you so”… we’ll have to wait and see…

We did purchase a rather delightful little wooden model of a river boat.