When I was backpacking through Brazil as a young man in 1990, my river boat stopped in Santarem for a few hours to take on people and unload supplies. So I took the opportunity to walk through town. I had read in my travel book a short bit about the confederados in Santrem but did not think much about it. I was sitting down at a corner cafe smoking a cigarette and drinking a coffee when scraggly guy on a bike pulled up to me and said "hi". Being an obvious foreigner I assumed he was going to panhandle. he asked for a cigarette in perfect English which piqued my curiosity. We started talking and as we talked more and more I could see he had pretty good command of english but with slight accent I couldn't make out. I asked him how he know English so well and he said something like "my granddaddy" or "grand father" and "they were from america". "What do you mean?" i asked, he said his name was Riker. I didn't put two and two until much later that he may have been related to the Rikers....or confederado family.
I got up and left after a few minutes because I could see he was getting ready to ask for a drink or something else.
When I was backpacking through Brazil as a young man in 1990, my river boat stopped in Santarem for a few hours to take on people and unload supplies. So I took the opportunity to walk through town. I had read in my travel book a short bit about the confederados in Santrem but did not think much about it. I was sitting down at a corner cafe smoking a cigarette and drinking a coffee when scraggly guy on a bike pulled up to me and said "hi". Being an obvious foreigner I assumed he was going to panhandle. he asked for a cigarette in perfect English which piqued my curiosity. We started talking and as we talked more and more I could see he had pretty good command of english but with slight accent I couldn't make out. I asked him how he know English so well and he said something like "my granddaddy" or "grand father" and "they were from america". "What do you mean?" i asked, he said his name was Riker. I didn't put two and two until much later that he may have been related to the Rikers....or confederado family.
I got up and left after a few minutes because I could see he was getting ready to ask for a drink or something else.