点评:Ask the average person what comes to mind when you mention “The Amazon” and after a passing thought about whether being a Prime member is worth it, you’ll probably get a similar list of answers: snakes that squeeze, fish with sharp teeth, poisonous darts that kill, the rain forest, etc. You probably won’t hear about “Hevea brasiliensis,” a latex-secreting tree that was responsible for one of the defining regional events of the 19th century. From the 1870’s to the 1910’s, rubber was king. Like most happenings that make people wealthy, there was a dark flip-side to the coin, in this case large-scale indigenous slavery. All of these topics and more are covered in this signature museum on the bank of the Rio Negro River. Built as a set for the Portuguese movie “A Selva,” it remains an integral, if not easily accessible, visit for anyone visiting Manaus.
I visited on a Monday with my guide, Milton Fernandes of Amazon Private Tours. The museum is located west of central Manaus and reached via a 30-minute boat ride. My guide was obviously familiar with the owners and after a brief introduction, we started the tour in the now open-air museum. The first stop was the general store, where we saw gear that the workers used in the field, and I learned about their recruitment and daily life. The tour continued in a counterclockwise fashion along a wide path in the jungle. A demonstration of tapping the trees followed, along with a re-creation of the process of vulcanization and explanation of the living conditions of the workers. A visit to the (not real) cemetery was next, acutely juxtaposed with the final stop at the relatively luxurious house of the seringalista. Total time onsite was a little over an hour.
In summary, this was an essential visit and I count it as the signature experience during my week in the Amazon. Although I read two books on the rubber trade before my visit, nothing compares to actually seeing the process of extracting the latex from the trees and hearing stories of the seringueiros (workers) and the hardships they had to endure. Although the buildings themselves are recreations and as mentioned above were used as a movie set, my guide and several outside sources confirm their historical accuracy. The difference in living conditions between the managers and workers was also important to see, especially in such close proximity. Could there have been a little more English signage and explanations for certain displays? Yes, but I’m not sure if that was the intent of the owners; having another human explain this led to a more emotional impact.
If you have just one day in Manaus, I’d book a trip here before anything else.
翻译:随便问一个人,当提到“亚马逊”时他们会想到什么。在短暂思考了一下成为Prime会员是否划算之后,你很可能会得到类似的回答:会勒死人的蛇、长着锋利牙齿的鱼、能致命的毒镖、热带雨林等等。但你大概不会听到“巴西橡胶树”这个名字——这种能分泌乳胶的树木促成了19世纪该地区一件具有里程碑意义的事件。从19世纪70年代到1910年代,橡胶堪称当时最抢手的商品。和大多数能让人发财的机遇一样,这件事也有其阴暗面——也就是大规模的原住民奴役。所有这些内容以及其他相关信息,都在这座坐落于黑河河畔的博物馆中有所展示。该博物馆最初是为拍摄葡萄牙电影《丛林》而建造的,对于任何到访马瑙斯的游客而言,它都是一处不容错过的景点,只是不太容易到达罢了。
我是在周一,在亚马逊私人导览公司的导游米尔顿·费尔南德斯的陪同下参观的。该博物馆位于马瑙斯市中心以西,乘船约30分钟即可到达。我的向导显然与博物馆的主人很熟,简短介绍之后,我们便开始参观这座如今已对公众开放的露天博物馆。第一站是杂货店,我们在那里看到了工人们在田间使用的各种工具,也由此了解了他们的招聘流程与日常生活。随后,我们沿着丛林中一条宽阔的小径逆时针继续参观。接着还观看了采胶的演示。其中包括对硫化过程的重现,以及对工人生活状况的介绍。接着是参观一个(并不存在的)墓地,这一环节与最后参观那位橡胶种植园主那相对豪华的住宅形成了鲜明对比。整个参观过程耗时略超过一小时。
总而言之,这是一次极具意义的参观经历,我将其视为我在亚马逊地区一周行程中的标志性体验。虽然我在出发前读过两本关于橡胶贸易的书籍,。没有什么能比亲眼目睹从橡胶树中提取乳胶的过程,以及聆听塞林赫伊罗斯(橡胶工人)讲述的他们的艰辛经历更令人难忘了。虽然那些建筑本身是仿制品,且如前文所述曾被用作电影拍摄场地,但我的导游及多位外部资料都证实了它们在历史上的真实性。管理人员与工人之间生活条件的巨大差异也值得留意,尤其是在两者如此接近的情况下。是不是可以再多设置一些英文标识,并对某些展品加以说明呢?确实可以,但我不确定这是否是经营者的本意;不过由真人来讲解反而能带来更深刻的情感共鸣。
如果你只在马瑙斯待一天,我建议把参观这里作为首选行程。