Pirapora and São Francisco in Brazil

North of Três Marias is this terminus for boat journeys on the Rio São Francisco. The cutting down of trees, in part as fuel for the boats, and the low rainfall in recent years, has reduced the river's flow. The town itself is a tourist attraction because of the falls in the river, which make for excellent fishing. The fishermen use punt-like canoes. The sandy river beaches are used for swimming. The riverboats' grotesque figureheads,

, are made in the workshops of

Between Pirapora and Januária is the colonial fishing town of São Francisco, with many attractive houses and a good handicraft market in the town hall. Of the two remaining wood-burning stern-wheel boats (allegedly built for Mississippi services in the 1860s and imported from the USA in 1922 to work on the Amazon) one, the

, was restored for services on the Rio São Francisco. The town is popular during

,

and has a carnival in July.

Brazil's other great river cuts a deep blue course through the desert backlands of Minas and Bahia before plunging through dramatic gorges in Alagoas and pouring into the bottle- green Atlantic. There are pretty colonial towns dotted along its entire length, many of them completely lost in time. Passenger services on the river from Minas have been discontinued but masters of cargo boats in the port may permit passage. There are regular stops at

(famous for Brazil's reputed best

) and

in Bahia. The latter is a pilgrimage centre with a church built in a grotto inside a mountain, but it's a very poor town. There are hotels and a choice of bars on the river beach.