I had always wanted to go to South America so a few summers ago I bought a ticket and hopped on the plane. I was unaware that I had just embarked on what would turn out to be one of the most incredible journeys of my life.I chose three cities in which to visit on my trip. They ranged from a poverty stricken Mounouse to the middle class Belem and onto the wealthy city of Rio.
After a 14 hour flight from Florida, I arrived in Manouse. I was only going to be there for 2 days so I started on my sight seeing immediately. The first order of business was to get some money. I found that the exchange rate was 4 cruzodos for 1 U.S. dollar. A cruzodo spent like a dollar over here so this was great. I had $5000. So this meant I now had the equivalent to $20,000! I was rich!
Manouse was once a wealthy city that produced much rubber for around the world but in the early 70's, the market pretty much fell off and the town took a nose-dive in economy.
I had never seen much poverty in my life. There were people walking around in rags picking through the trash and raw sewage flowing down the gutter. They had a visitors center with a railcar that took you around and showed you the nicer areas but for the most part the city was a cesspool of filth and decadence. I was glad when it was time to go. The Brazilian airport workers were on what they call "Operation Turtle." they couldn't strike or they would be fired so instead they did everything very slow. Needless to say , I spent a lot of time in airports during this trip.
I finally made it to the next city, Belem. This was a much better city, where I spent the majority of my time. Belem has much to offer; you never run out of new things to do. It sits right on the mouth of the Amazon river so they have a fairly large fishing port there.
I spent most of my second day touring at the zoo. This particular zoo really amazed me because they had animals I had never seen before up close. These were leopards, tigers, panthers, ostriches, rhinos, and lots of bizarre monkeys. The zoo was unlike any I had been to because of the direct access to the cages. I could have stuck my hand in the cages if I had wanted to.
During the first few days I visited an old fort, cathedrals and a museum. Now that I had indulged in some of the local culture, I was ready to move on to the fun stuff.
The next morning I went to a place called Mezipezo. It's like a huge market. You name it, they have it. The place was incredible. The first thing I bought was a pair of leather boots for about $8. I also got a bunch of jewelry for next to nothing. Then I came across the animals. They had several types of monkeys. The first one I looked at was a sloth. the guy put it on me around my waist. It had long nails that stuck to my clothing and moved very slowly up my body- too creepy for me. He then showed me one that fit in the palm of my hand- too small. Lastly, he handed me a spider monkey. It looked like Curious George. I had to have it. I paid the man 80 cruzodos (about $20) and was on my way. This was great. I had always wanted a monkey and now I had one. He was lots of fun to play with until I got back to where I was staying. He was into everything, pissing all over the place and biting me and then running off and hiding. That little shit was trying to piss me off. I put up with him for about 10 days and then let him go.
The day after I got the monkey I went back to the market place and a man walks up to me (speaking in Portuguese). The only things I could make out that he was saying was women and sex so of course I followed him. We entered this bar and went to this huge back room. There was a crowd of people yelling and clapping in a big circle. I pushed my way through the crowd and couldn't believe what I saw. A lady in a sling bouncing under this donkey doing him. I couldn't help at first then I was amazed how that girl could take such a big thing slamming in her. It was unbelievable. The show went on and they brought in different animals for people to fuck. After about an hour of this I was getting drunk and over this madness so I left.
Prostitution was legal there and I found out in a most unsuspecting way. I spoke very little Portuguese so when I went to this motel I had no idea what this guy was saying. I just nodded my head , smiled and paid him the money. I thought something was funny because I had to pay in a booth that was at the entrance of the parking lot. Anyway I walked into the room and there was this half-naked girl sitting on the bed. I thought I was in the wrong room but when she led me to the bed I knew what was up. So if you're ever in Brazil and want a good night's sleep don't go to a motel- go to a hotel.
The next thing I did was to make a trip up the Amazon. As we traveled up the river in this fairly large boat, natives would tie their hollowed out log canoes to the back of the boat and get a free ride. We stopped at an island and walked around to a village where the natives sold stuff.
There were trees there bigger than I had ever seen.We came across a tree and the tour guide pulled this pod off it and broke it open. She then smeared this red stuff on my face. Come to find out they use it to make make-up. the stuff was like paste and was almost impossible to get off.
I wanted to see how real natives lived so I found a pilot that would fly me to the rainforest to a friendly tribe. We landed on a grass runway cut out of the forest. After about a 1/2 mile trek through the jungle we came to a clearing in which stood about a dozen huts. I was shocked when all these half-naked women came running towards me. I can say it's a lot different to see this in person rather than on T.V. The natives were very friendly. they really liked the Marlboro cigs I had. the natives showed me around starting with their garden. It was a huge field with bushes about 10-12 feet tall. They would cultivate it into a flour and cook it on these huge pans on an open fire. The finished product was similar to rice. It didn't taste too bad and was very versatile in what they could do with it. They also had cashew trees. I learned that the cashew nut has to be roasted before it is eaten otherwise it could poison you or kill you. The pilot got too close when they were roasting the nut and the smoke got on him. He broke out in a rash on his face. Then they showed me their version of canned food. It was a bunch of turtles in a cage. I was told they were not very good but better than nothing.
I was then taken on a fishing trip. They had no poles, just spears. I tried it a few times but caught nothing. A young kid walked up and got one on his first try. I guess I need to work on my spearfishing.
When we walked back into the village I saw one of the natives holding a beautiful gold parrot. The pilot said it was very rare and would cost around 7 to 10 thousand dollars back in the states.
Well the sun was starting to set which meant we had to leave. I got into the little plane and looked down the runway. It was very short from this angle and had tall trees at the end of it. The pilot told me of another plane that had crashed taking off the very same runway. Neat. Now I was scared as hell. I crossed my fingers and picked up my feet as we took off and skimmed the tops of the trees. We make it but my heart was pounding all the way back to the airport.
The final place I visited was Rio. As I flew in I could hardly contain myself. The terrain was much more mountainous and the city was beautiful. It reminded me of Atlantic City. As I drove into the city I noticed a shantytown to the left of the interstate on the side of a huge mountain there was a glimmering city. I got settled in and hit the clubs and casinos. I pulled myself out of bed the next morning and hired a tour guide to show me around. He took me to Sugarloaf mountain which was two huge rocks connected by cable cars to take you to the top. From there you could see the whole city. After the tour I hit the beach. The only thing thats worn there are thongs. the women wore no tops which was a nice change
The water was crystal clear and the sand was the color of gold. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to.
There were shows like on Broadway, miles of 5 star hotels, and many exquisite restraunts. I spent my time there on the beach and in the clubs until it was time to return home.
My 31 days were up and unfortunately I had to go. I've been to 3 continents and many diferent places and I must say that South America was by far the most interesting of them all. If you want to experience culture shock to the fullest extent this is the place for you.
Back to Articles
