CYNTHIA BARNES :: sharing the latest information on new media marketing

This is the biggest city so far on our journey. And I know we’re getting closer to civilization because my iphone has reception for the first time since arriving in Brazil!

The sleepy little town of Parintins, Brazil, comes alive once every June as the Boi Bumba festival begins. This is a party 2nd in size only to Rio's Carnival.  People come from all over Brazil, most travelling by boat, hanging hammocks and using the boats as floating hotel during the 3 day extravaganza.

Brazil is alive with color, music...people. I think that's why I liked it so much...buildings are brightly painted, but downtown Manaus was a little sad because many of the beautiful old buildings, built when the Europeans were here during the rubber boom are now abandoned and covered with graffiti. In the mid 1800's they discovered rubber here, and there was a boom, akin to the gold rush. The sad part of it is that the indigenous people were pratically enslaved, treated poorly, beaten if they didn't produce enough rubber.

Welcome to the first entry in my new travel section!

For the holidays, my 85-year-old father and I embarked on Princess Cruises’ 600 passenger Royal Princess for the adventure of a lifetime – a 2 week, 3,500 mile journey from Manaus, Brazil, up the Amazon River to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.