Upon extension of the Royal Princess’s hydraulically-actuated tender boarding ramp on Deck 3, several tiny, wooden canoes barely large enough to support the village’s families and children and so immersed in the muddy Amazon that the water level had been parallel with their sides and had to be continually scooped back out, rowed out to the behemoth liner to look, gawk, and touch “civilization,” a lifestyle unknown to them and therefore something akin to an extraterrestrial visitor to the earth.  Although the ship’s passengers had eagerly anticipated a taste of the local way of life, this first encounter had indicated that they considered the experience every bit the reciprocal and, if it had not been for their benign curiosity, they themselves could have been construed as “invaders.”

                Located at the confluence of the Amazon and Rio da Valeria rivers, Boca da Valeria, translating as “mouth of the Valeria Ri » Read more: Boca da Valeria: Primitive Pocket of the Amazon, Amazon River Forest, Royal Princess