Amazon River, Parintins

Parinitis is a native city of 100,000 on a large island in the Amazon River.  It is famous for its Boi Bumba  festival held every year in June.  Believe it or not, the festival here is the second largest in Brazil, exceeded only by the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.  The Boi Bumba festival revolves around an old Indian fairy tale about a prize Ox who was killed because an important lady wanted to eat his tongue and then was brought back to life.  The story is told as a play with elaborate costumes and dance.  There is an 86 year old rivalry between two local drama clubs that compete each year to put on the best show.  One club uses the colour red, while the other uses blue.  Everybody In town supports either the reds or the blues.  The business signs are all either red or blue, or both.  This is the only place in the world where some of the Coca Cola signs are blue (see picture).

Here are some pictures of the play.

And here is a blue Coke sign.

The town itself is a real dump.  The only decent building is the church.

But even the church is quite stark.