this was one of my favourite experiences in the trip. juruti is a small town on the shore of the amazon river in the state of para. it was the first stop we made after santarem, on our way to manaus, and by fabulous luck that day was the first day of festival das tribos, the festival of the tribes. this is a hot weekend festival - a mixture of visual arts festival and carnaval - of two indegenous regional tribes: the muirapinima (muira - blue and red) and the munduruku (mundu - yellow and red). This is a fantastic cultural gathering of local communities, combining a number of artistic and cultural events, like a mini carnaval, dance, music and theatrical in a 3 day feast. though i was there only for the friday evening, i felt a fantastic buzz as young people arrived in groups, all decked out in the respective colours, jumping off from small canoes and larger boats, buses, motor bikes and all other forms of transportation. the colours were everwhere, and i was quite smitten by the beauty of the local women...

the festival takes place every year in the last weekend of july, and i do plan to return one day. you can see more information about it in this link - it is all in portuguese - I think it would be a great way for anyone to experience something trully unique and local to the amazonian indigenous culture and lifestyle.

http://www.portaljuruti.com.br/festival.htm

the sign reads: "xvi folkloric festival of the tribes of juruti".

 

 

 

 

whats the add: 'visa, everywhere you want to be'....very handy out here... 

 

 

 

juruti, a village smack in the middle of the amazon, right along the river, somewhere between santarem and manaus 

 

docking in juruti 

ahh, look at that silver sky. every night on the boat on the river was a different magnificent show 

 

 

 

the road from juruti. this is what parts of the amazon bank look like. little outposts dotted along the edge of a vast canopy of sky tall trees. unfortunately, every little outpost had at least one church, and many of these where 'igreja de deus' the virulent evangelical group that has swept many of the poorer portions of brazil. to me these are an unwelcome sign that the old habit of christians going into native peoples to spread their foreign beliefs continues.