Well, my first Idea was to cross all the Amazonia by boat, from Sao Luis to Tabatinga, where I would be able to cross to Colombia. But I spent too much time on the road and I had to leave the country quicker than I had planned. The tourist visa only allows Belgians to stay for 3 months. 

 

I flew from Sao luis to Manaus, the biggest City inside the Àmazonia. The view from the sky was indescribable…  The forests and rivers everywhere...  Seen from the mainland, the city is so big that you don’t really feel you’re actually inside the Amazonia, solely the humidity and the heat reminds you of where you are…   I had few days to spend there and I decided to plan a boat trip to go inside the Amazonia.  I reached the harbour and saw a lot of boats:  fishing boats, passenger boats, cruise boats …  I understood how the rivers are the main resource and roads inside the Amazonia… 

 

The tours (boat rides?) lead me to visit different places and villages inside and deeper in the Amazonia. I felt a bit too much part of a big touristic attraction…  The kind of activities I usually avoid… I prefer to discover and feel things by myself… During the many stops, I visited a village of indigenous people where people where dressed with traditional clothes…   the chief of the tribe talked to us about the nature around us and how they respect it…  The tourism these villages allowed them to buy stuff from the city and access to more things.

 

I have to say that I was a bit perplex by this kind of tourism and how society and civilization helps them to survive…  In a country in which they destroy and burn more and more forests in favour of agriculture. 

Mr. Bolsonaro didn’t help to save what is left of the rainforest. Deforestation has spiked under his tenure. He has long favoured the opening the Amazonia to miners, farmers and loggers, and his government has openly worked to undermine the land rights of Indigenous communities.

 

I spent my last days visiting the city of Manaus and going to the main beach of the city... a river beach.. it was actually very funny even if I was a bit scared of what was inside the water when I went to swim… 

 

From Manaus I took another flight to go deeper in the Amazonia and eventually reach Tabatinga, the last city before the border of Colombia where I would be able to cross by the road and reach Leticia...  in which I would have more time to discover the rainforest. 

 

As I left Brazil, I knew that I would come to this country again… I really fell in love with its diversity and people... I was amazed to see how people want to share their happiness with you... how amazing it is that people with less than you are willing to share their happiness with you...  how many times people asked me if I was happy… Do we really ask ourselves this kind of question in Europe? … as we fall apart on a highway in which we always want more and forget the simplest of things that make us happy …