Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon basin, was not a place I ever thought I’d visit, simply for its remoteness. It’s 1000 miles inland from the mouth of the river and it is the furthest you can go along the river in a cruise ship. Its existence can be explained in one word and that is rubber.

Parintins in Brazil hosts Brazil’s next largest festival after Rio’s carnival, known as the Boi Bumba, which we experience as part of a Viking Cruise.