Parintins, Brazil - It's all a bunch of bull!

 January 15, 2024

Our fourth stop on the Amazon River is Paratins, home to 115,000 people and also called "The Land of Magic." It is home to the annual festival called Boi Bumba.  It is held in late June and the festival brings in another 100,000 people, along with 50% of the annual income for the small town!  It is surpassed only by Carnival in Rio Dejanero.  It is a big deal!

 

The festival has its roots in a local legend about a resurrected ox.  It is a big competition between two teams.  The red team is called Garantido and the blue team is Caprichoso.   This competition has the town split in half.  It is like the Hatfields and the McCoys or the Bears vs the Lions.  You are born into your team basically.  One of the vendors we met was a Caprichoso, but she was married to the man sitting 3 feet away who was a Garantido!!!  They take this super serious!  The red team’s bull is white with a red heart on his forehead, and the blue team’s mascot is a black bull with a blue star on its forehead. 

Legend has it that a Portuguese woman was married to a native man who worked for a rich farmer.  The wife is very pregnant and she was craving some beef tongue to eat.  (Yuck!) So, the dutiful husband goes out and kills what he doesn’t yet know is the farmer’s favorite bull.  He has granted his wife’s wish, but he is now on the run from his employer!  He hides in the jungle, but while there encounters a shaman who helps him to resurrect the ox!  He is then back in the good graces of his boss, and everyone lives happily ever after!  Not exactly Disney, but something like that ….

The competition is based on which side can re-tell the story of the resurrected ox the best.  The teams are judged on flamboyant dances, elaborate costumes, fantastic singing, and very large extravagant floats!  (Think Rose Parade on steroids!)  There was a reenactment show of the festival performed for guests of the cruise ship.  We didn’t go, but we certainly heard it from outside. Some said it was the best show ever!

Instead, we took a trike ride with a guy named Rinaldo pedaling us around in a pedicab-like vehicle.  It was a great way to see the town.  He was Caprichosa (though he wore a red hat!) The trike, too, was decorated for the festival.  He pedaled us around for an hour or so.  He had very strong legs! 

He also took us to place where the Caprichoso team practices and builds their floats.  Everything there is blue, the stands, the mural, the stage; there is even a blue Coca-Cola sign there!  

 

Finally, he took us to the stadium where Boi Bumba is held.  It is called the Bumbodromo.  On each side of the stadium, there are beautiful murals and statues telling the story.  It holds 35,000 people, and half the seats are red and the other half blue.  

After Rinaldo dropped us off, we walked around the town a bit.  We walked past road-side markets and a beautiful park where a Christ the Redeemer statue was high above an art installation!  We ended up at a restaurant which lured us in with the smell of roasting meat on a spit.  It was on the water and had a nice breeze blowing and the sounds of Boi Bumba down the street.  Here, Marty had his ritual beer of Parintins, making his mark in yet one more spot on the Amazon!

 

After some souvenir shopping, we headed back to catch a tender back to the ship.  Vialula bought a hand painted wooden parrot painted by the vendor’s husband and a couple of bull magnets.  

Loved the fun, friendly spirit of this town!  After all, it's just a bunch of bull!  Goodbye to Parintins.

 

Tomorrow is our last stop in Brazil.  We go to Santarém to fish for piranha!!!

Til then …. Obrigado (how they say thank you!) for following us on our adventures.

 

Vi and Leroy