Ilha de Marajó has much more to show you

Museu do Marajó
Inspired by the saying that Brazilians have eyes at the tips of their fingers, in 1972, the Italian Padre Giovanni Gallo created the Marajo Museum, where everything is “hands-on”. The exhibits, which are inter-active, working models, include mobiles, wheels, gadgets and illustrative panels similar to Windows, that lead you step by step into your chosen subject. Here you will follow Marajo through all its cultural stages of development, in rich detail.

Cidade de Afuá the City built on Piles
Situated at the north of the Island, this town is affectionately known by the locals as Veneza Marajoara. Its peculiar charm is that all of the town buildings are constructed upon wood piles; houses, schools, local government buildings, churches, the bandstand, hospital and commercial properties. All are inter-connected by concrete or wooden pathways and the only permitted mode of transport is the bicycle. The town is quite large, with 11.000 inhabitants. There is one rather macabre peculiarity of Afuá and that is that the town’s graveyard is regularly inundated by water. The Afuenses (locals) say that the inhabitants die twice in Afuá, the second time by drowning!

Ice that isn’t ice-cream
Throughout the Island you will see advertising plaques displayed saying Choop for sale. In Brazil, draught beer is known as Chope, but in Marajo, Choop is not a mis-spelling of Chope. In fact it refers to their local home made ice-cream. Chupitar is a word meaning to suck slowly and is an invitation to enjoy a Cacau or Cashew flavoured ice cream.

Watch out for those Mermaids!
As sun-set approaches, the local dusky maidens dress up as Mermaids and spin stories of seduction through their sensual “Carimbó” dance. Their brightly coloured dresses appear to be made from the fluorescent scales of Yara, (the lady of the waters). Their white, embroidered blouses recall the foam of the seas and the bead collars, bubbles of water. At weekends, Folklore groups perform in the town squares and on the local beaches, accompanied by percussion and string instruments, flutes and drums.

Don’t forget to take red ribbon with you!
Cachoeira do Arari is a place of festivities! One of the most important festivals is in honour of the beloved Sao Sebastião. The Nossa Senhora da Conceição church is an important destination for devotees and pilgrims alike, who, whilst they pray to the Saint, lying in his alcove, decorate his image with long red ribbons. The greater the complexity of the pilgrims’ requests, the longer the piece of ribbon!