Amazonas

The state

Get to know Amazonas

Most of Amazonas's territory is covered by forest. Distances are measured in hours by boat: many towns have no road connection to the capital, and the pace of travel follows the rivers' levels, which rise and fall several meters throughout the year.

Manaus grew at the height of the rubber boom, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From that period remain the Teatro Amazonas, the Largo de São Sebastião, the Palacete Provincial and the Mercado Adolpho Lisboa, on the banks of the Rio Negro. The forest also reaches into the city at the Bosque da Ciência and the Museu da Amazônia, which has an observation tower above the treetops.

Boat tours depart from the capital's port. The most sought-after is the Encontro das Águas, where the dark Rio Negro runs alongside the muddy Solimões for kilometers before they mix. Upstream, Novo Airão is the base for the Anavilhanas archipelago, a maze of islands in the Negro. Across the bridge over the river you reach Iranduba, with beaches that appear during the low water. To the north, along the BR-174, Presidente Figueiredo has waterfalls and caves in the middle of the forest.

In Parintins, in the lower Amazonas, the festival of the bois Garantido and Caprichoso takes over the town at the end of June. Access is by boat or plane from Manaus, and many people stay on the boats themselves.

On the table, fish rules. Grilled tambaqui, tucunaré stew and pirarucu are on any menu. Tacacá, served in a cuia with tucupi, jambu and shrimp, is sold late in the afternoon. At breakfast, the x-caboquinho combines bread, tucumã, queijo coalho and fried banana.