The
Province Acre
Acre
is located on the west side of Brazil, closed in by Peru,
Colombia and the Amazon forest. Difficulties of access and
tough living conditions cause the State to be hardly populated,
thats why more than half of population is living in only two
cities, the capital Rio Branco and Cruzeiro do Sul, removing
raw materials from a natural environment (particularly rubber)
is the main economic occupation.
Most transportation is done by boat over the the rivers. Almost
all cities are built at the banks of rivers, roads between
the small cities and town are often non existant or are in
very bad conditions; moving between these cities can take
days of walking (during the rainy seasons, cities can be completely
isolated).
The infrastructure of Public Health is very poor. Only Rio
Branco has water through pipes, and not any city in Acre (including
Rio Branco) has a sewage system. Disenteria and malaria are
main death reason for children.
Capital
City: Rio Branco
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Rio
Branco, the capital of the province of Acre, located
along the river Acre has strong native influences, as
well as influences from the North East region of Brazil.
Rio Branco is one of the most isolated capital cities
in Brazil; the nearest capital is Porto Velho (around
540 km away), in Rondônia, this is as well an
isolated city itself; the nearest major city for Rio
Branco is Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, which is
1445 km away mostly traveled by boat.
Rio
Branco is known for its starting point for nature tourism
in the area, surrounded by forests of rubber and nuts.
Like the other parts of Rio Branco's region, the city
has been spared the worst excesses of pollution, and
is eclectic not only in the mixture of its peoples,
creeds and customs, but also in its architecture. Old
and new join together in its squares, museums, public
buildings and parks.
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The
cultural mixture of architecture can be seen in the cathedral
of Nossa Senhora de Nazaré, which is built in 1959
in the style of a Roman basilica, in the Igrejinha de Ferro,
a chapel made of iron plates, and in the Rio Branco Palace,
with its Ionic columns resembling a Greek temple.
To
find out more about the extraction of latex and the harvesting
of nuts, a visit to the Casa do Seringueiro is a must see.
This museum also has a reproduction of the house of Chico
Mendes and some of his personal possessions. A demonstration
of the many uses of rubber, from toys to shoes and bags, is
on display at the Museum of Rubber, which also contains some
prehistoric fossils.
Also
a recommendation is a visit to a rubber forest . Where you
will see a half natural, half cultivated forest which is about
35 km's from Rio Branco. The process of extraction begins
at sunrice, when the rubber tappers workers make cuts in the
trees and fix gourds or containers to the trunks to catch
the flow of latex. At noon they collect the latex and prepare
the rubber for further use.
The
name "Rio Branco" means literally "White River".
However, the capital of Acre received its name as a tribute
to José Maria da Silva Paranhos, the Baron of Rio Branco,
the Brazilian Chief Diplomat who in 1903 succeeded in resolving
the dispute between Brazil and Bolivia over the territory
of Acre by diplomatic means.
How
to get there
There
is a paved road, the Hwy BR-364 to Rio Branco and the road
from Rio Branco to Brasiléia is paved as well. There
are some more paved roads in Acre but as said, in rainy season,
which is June untill September it will be hard to travel by
road. You better take a plane or boat as most locals do. There
are several travel agencies in Acre who can make your reservation
for flights.
By river you can travel all the way to the border of Peru
from Assis Brasil, not that there is that much river traffic.
Traveling from Rio Branco to Boca do Acre can be done by a
five hour bus ride and by the Rio Purus as far as the Amazonas
and even Manaus.
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