TRAVEL INFORMATION - Brazil - page 435

DIRECTORY
TRAIN TRAVEL
Curitiba Ticket Office
Tel [phone].
www .serraverdeexpress.com.br
Estação Ferroviária
Praça Cesário Alvim 102, barra,
Ouro Preto. Tel [phone].
www .mariafumacamg.com

BOAT TRAVEL

AJATO
Rua Bares 3, Centro, Manaus
Tel [phone].
Amazonastur
Tel [phone].
www .amazonastur.am.gov.br
Viverde
Rua dos Cardeiros 26, Manaus
Tel [phone].
www .viverde.com.br

Cruise ship Iberostar moored on the Manaus harbor

CRUISE TRAVEL open decks - upper and

lower - where passengers
sling their hammocks. Meals
and water are provided.
Boats of the old style ply
dozens of routes throughout
the Amazon basin. The most
common routes run between
Manaus and Porto Velho,
Manaus, Tabatinga, and São
Gabriel de Cachoeira, near
the borders of Peru and
Columbia, respectively, and
Manaus and Santarem, half-
way to Belém. The Manaus-
Santarem route also has a
high-speed catamaran which
makes the journey in a single
day. Those more keen on
tours than transportation can
go for one of the comfortable
boats for charter in Manaus,
such as Viverde , that take
passengers on a personal
exploration of the Amazon
River. For information on
buying tickets in advance,
contact Amazonastur , the
state tourism agency.
The Rio Paraguay on the
western edge of the Pantanal
has a large fleet of boats,
most of which are outfitted
for multi-day sport fishing
cruises. These boats depart
from both Corumbá in Mato
Grosso do Sul and Caceres
in Mato Grosso.
On the Northeast coast,
an absence of roads connect-
ing the Maranhão and Piauí
coast makes boat travel the
only alternative to long
detours inland. The most
scenic option is to travel
from Parnaíba in Piauí
through the islands and inlets
of the Delta da Parnaíba to
Tutóia, one of the gateways
to the Lençóis Maranhenses .

A very leisurely way to travel
the Brazilian coast is on board
a cruise ship. Several com-
panies offer three- to five-day
cruises, most typically
between Santos, Rio de
Janeiro as far as Salvador, or
other Northeastern cities.
Another route starts in Recife
and travels to Fernando de
Noronha. There is now also
a regular cruise ship, the
Iberostar Grand Amazon , that
departs from Manaus on
three- and four-day cruises on
the Amazon. Tropical Cruises ,
which leaves from Rio de
Janeiro City, offers very good
trips along the Atlantic Coast.
The old-style Amazon Clipper
Cruises can be excellent for a
tour of the Rio Negro.

CRUISE TRAVEL

Amazon Clipper Cruises
Tel [phone].
www .amazonclipper.com.br
Iberostar Grand Amazon
Tel [phone].
www .iberostar.com.br
Tropical Cruises
Tel [phone].
www .tropicalcruises.com.br

Yachts at anchor near Ubatuba beach, São Paulo state