Setting sail on the Amazon
Posted: Thursday, May 31, 2007 2:08 PM
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On Assignment
By Michelle Kosinski, NBC News Correspondent
Onboard the Iberostar –
As soon as we stepped onboard, we were stunned. The luxury. The comfort. The marble bathrooms and chilled champagne waiting in each incredibly appointed stateroom.
The Iberostar is a five-star cruising ship – on the Amazon.
It was an odd feeling, having spent the day before in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Brazil’s river port city of Manaus.
That was one side – and this was surely, strikingly, the other.
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| Michelle Kosinski/ NBC News |
| Sunset on the Rio Negro. |
It is the first of its kind, a luxury cruise up the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, stopping in several villages, then going up the Rio Solimoes and returning to Manaus, the colorful sprawling city built into the hills of what was once a rubber barons' town.
The Iberostar has 74 cabins, and just about everything you could ever want or need.
The people who work here feel strongly that tourism – in a limited, responsible manner – can help the people of the Amazon. But it must be done the right way, without intruding or polluting.
Eco-tourism
The Rainforest Alliance is a big proponent of eco-tourism – promoting it as a means to raise awareness about the delicate ecosystem and help the region's economy. They believe that when wealthy outsiders spend cash in these towns, it presents a sustainable option for local people to make money, without cutting down more rainforest.
Surely, no one would like to see this place jammed with tourists or condos or hotels – or five-star cruises either. Its wildness is its magic – and of course – its draw.
How to strike a balance between increasing awareness about the area through tourism – while still treading lightly – is the primary concern.
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| Michelle Kosinski / NBC News |
| The Iberostar cruises along the Rio Negro. |
Villages welcome visitors
Long before Iberostar started this cruise two years ago, they went into dozens of native villages along its banks, meeting with tribal chiefs and asking them if it would be OK to bring tourists through once a week or so.
Some said no way – they wanted to preserve their culture, and worried about what would happen to their villages once money started changing hands.
But others welcomed it. Many tribes, the people here say, are very interested in improving their schools and quality of life. Many see tourism as the answer. Iberostar says the company contributes to these villages, with payments and by building schools.
But then there are those places that the guides say are just too dangerous to even think about going.
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| Michelle Kosinski / NBC News |
| Antonio, one of the local guides. |
"There is no law," Andre, the cruise director, told us after an incredibly luxurious dinner our first evening. "The natives could become angry and just kill us, and nothing could be done."
There are large regions of protected land where the tribes live --and where outsiders rarely venture.
(Some of the passengers were also worried about animals -- jaguars, anacondas, boas, piranhas. One of the guides was supposedly nearly killed by an anaconda that got into his boat when he was a teenager and we saw his scars as proof. All guides into the jungle, we were told, carry machetes.)
All this, just outside Manaus
Just before setting sail, Rafael, one of the ship's crew, rushed me to a nearby store so I could quickly buy another camera for the journey. We raced through the nearly-empty streets at dusk, past the last few people walking home from the market.
Suddenly, a monster-sized mall appeared before us. It was a glittering, jam-packed shopping mecca that would rival any modern American mall.
Rafael laughed – knowing I was expecting something more along the lines of the bustling and extremely pungent market in the town center, where we had spent the rainy afternoon.
"People even from other parts of Brazil come here, and say 'Where are your jaguars? What, you are not living in the woods in a house on stilts? Where is your boat?'" he sighed. "I say to them, you must not be from the same country as me. We have shopping."
Rafael grew up in Manaus, and said that he hasn’t traveled much, not even to other cities in Brazil, but he did spend a year in Switzerland with his church group.
"A beautiful country," he said as he masterfully sped his bosses’ van past row upon row of colorful little homes. "But they don't have friendships like we have here. It took me five months to figure out who lived across the street! Here, we all know each other from the streets, and look out for one another."
We made it back to the ship just in time to set sail, caipirinhas (Brazil’s national cocktail) in hand.
As I sat down to write this, we were imperceptibly moving up the river at midnight. The silence outside was perhaps unlike any I've ever experienced. There were no stars visible through the clouds, but the moon was illuminating the river bank. Otherwise the sky was as dark as the black water of the Rio Negro, burbling like a brook below the ship. There was no rocking or feeling of motion at all.
The wild rainforest – just up the river from the Manaus mega-mall and just outside our palatial ship. Amazing.
