Culture and excellent cuisine with its roots in the heart of the Amazon

The gateway to the Earth’s largest tropical forest, Brazil’s second-largest state harbors surprises for its excellent cuisine—seasoned with a wide range of popular celebrations and natural landscape treasures. In the state of Pará, the forest and its resources are the mainspring of everyday life. Palates are sharpened by typically Amazonian ingredients and herbs, which also pervade the local people’s wisdom and beliefs. Belém, the state capital, breathes out Portuguese traditions, the fruits of colonization. Visit the Waterfront Market Ver-o-Peso, the world’s most important herb market, where the produce of the forest peoples is sold; the market is a veritable monument to the trading instincts of the Portuguese who lived there.  Marajó Island, lying between the mouths of the Amazon and Tocantins Rivers, with its buffalo farms nestling in a wild paradise.  On the right bank of the Rio Tapajós, a fishing village hides one of the world’s most beautiful river beaches, Alter do Chão, only revealed when the waters of the Tapajós subside from August to January. At nightfall, this paradisiacal scenario is awash in orange hues—appreciate it on board simple native canoes.