So I trully apologyze to show you my "innocent stomach"....
The heat can be severe sometimes, the only good thing is that everywhere you go you wiull be always surrounded by water...
Raposa has the profile of the MARANHAO I LIKE and the exclusive way that I do have to show myt country to all of you.
Raposa has everything...desert and real enormous sand dune beaches, a real maze of mangroves and rain forest..it is one of the entrances of the famous gateways to the Amazon Region that head to Pará State, but these ways starts here in São Luis area and it ends way faraway in the heart of the Forest. This region in my opinion is not only a Brazilian Territory, this region for me is a real planet because the distances are hard to reach...but not impossible!!!
Forget about facilities, here what we can do is visiting the little fishermen village and find a very experience boatman and hire their time and their boat, and believe me, once you made this contact you will have the best guides in the World. And I am happy to say that I learnt alot with this people!!!
I am grateful for two reasons: ONE they show me one side of Brazil that I still don't know and TWO, they play a very important rule in my work to promote a NON TOURISTIC side of such a wonderful country that Brazil is!
So I hired MESTRE RIBAMAR and his son RIBAMAR...Yes, this simple people of Maranhão has something sacred with this name, they are all called RIBAMAR...in honor of Saint Joseph, saint of this Land...Anyway...they were marvelous...we crossed the see to explore the dunes and the beach beyond...nature is sooo wild and we see all kind of ocean birds...the dunes remind us arabian deserts but after crossing the sand...no mirage...you have the whole ocean just for you!!!
I really recommend you to have a huge breakfast before you join me to Raposa...do not expect to find CAIPIRINHAS or to have an ice cream...There you will be blessed by a land still untouchable since way before the french and portuguese navigators. Actually you will feel yourself just like those first explorers!!! Even when you come across with some locals..they look exactly like indigenous people...so you will have your JAMES COOK moment when you get there!!! hahahahaha : ))))))
Actually walking in the dunes make us realize that comparing to the nature we are just dark spots...and to find the beauty of Maranhao requires well prepared legs and brave spirit to walk...Just think that every sacrifice here is worthy, in the end of every walk, in the end of every challenge you will be blessed by breathtaking spots where god has the best of his Creation!!!
Actually walking in the dunes make us realize that comparing to the nature we are just dark spots...and to find the beauty of Maranhao requires well prepared legs and brave spirit to walk...Just think that every sacrifice here is worthy, in the end of every walk, in the end of every challenge you will be blessed by breathtaking spots where god has the best of his Creation!!!
No, my name is not LUKE SKYWALKER and this is not a STAR WARS scenery...this is just the simple and absolutely gorgeous diverse neature of Maranhão, not so far from the city of São Luis; walking in the dunes demands some stops for you to rest and recover your energy to keep walking...
Something for sure, you will have enough places for incredible photos!!!
Back to the boat captained by MESTRE RIBAMAR we entered the amazing World of Manguezais (mangroves) and IGARAPÉ (flooded forests)...or this is the time when you see how incredible men survive...in this large corridors of water the main transportation are only boats...it is a sort of "amazon Venice" but in a veeeeeeeeeeery primitive version.
A little bucket in this situation is a "instrument of life" you cool off our head while you do not get to the virgin beaches of Taputiu.
A little bucket in this situation is a "instrument of life" you cool off our head while you do not get to the virgin beaches of Taputiu.
Taputiu is a hidden village in the mangroves next to Raposa, the distance that we have to win is massive, we spend about more than one hour in the boat...the way is clored by different kind of trees, thick forests and endless quantity of amazing birds of the Amazon Fauna. If you are lucky you can spot some DOLPHINS as well.
MESTRE RIBAMAR never went to the school in his life and his dream is to give chances to his Son (also called RIBAMAR) to attend school. And Ribamar Junior told me in a secret way that he does not want to go to school, he wishes to learn the profession of his father because he is very proud of him...Actually this simple people that we would probably judge them like NON EDUCATED PEOPLE, they have the never ending wisdon of the nature and they know many things that make us "CITY PEOPLE" more ignorants than donkeys....Anyway....
I know, it will me more simple for you to remember names like Copacabana or Ipanema, and YOU never heard about TAPUTIU!!!!
MESTRE RIBAMAR never went to the school in his life and his dream is to give chances to his Son (also called RIBAMAR) to attend school. And Ribamar Junior told me in a secret way that he does not want to go to school, he wishes to learn the profession of his father because he is very proud of him...Actually this simple people that we would probably judge them like NON EDUCATED PEOPLE, they have the never ending wisdon of the nature and they know many things that make us "CITY PEOPLE" more ignorants than donkeys....Anyway....
Actually we know that these kids needs a better future...but indeed they love what they are doing and they get some decent money with fishing crab, very abundant in the region, and when the fishing season ends once in a while they rent their boat for very curious people like us to be able to visit and explore these unique and fantastic places that we hardly can find in the maps!!!
Humbly speaking I am one of the guides specialized in unique places...hehehehehe :)
But I would be nothing without the natives and I treat them so well.
I know, it will me more simple for you to remember names like Copacabana or Ipanema, and YOU never heard about TAPUTIU!!!!Well, when we finally reached our destination, LITTLE RIBAMAR forgot his functions and turned into a normal child crazy to play with the water...indeed this is our only wish after crossing forests and forest under a NO MERCY SUN....
Again, Taputiu...one of the most fascinating beaches I have ever been in the wilderness of the Amazon, the Amazon Region is not only lots of long rivers, it is also the edge of the Atlantic when it bathes the coast of Maranhão, Pará and Amapá State. We can spend some hours having this wonderful wilderness like your own backyard.
When we got there, we found some people bathing their horses in the water just like me begging for some cool water.
Again, Taputiu...one of the most fascinating beaches I have ever been in the wilderness of the Amazon, the Amazon Region is not only lots of long rivers, it is also the edge of the Atlantic when it bathes the coast of Maranhão, Pará and Amapá State. We can spend some hours having this wonderful wilderness like your own backyard.
When we got there, we found some people bathing their horses in the water just like me begging for some cool water.
Taputiu is for sure one of the most unknown places in my country, but I know how to get there...just one visit to RAPOSA area is a wonderful full day.
Well, it is possible, just write to me and we will discuss all the details and how to get there!
Rafael Torres Lopes
Tour Guide and Travel Planner
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