Rurópolis, Pará – Throughout the section of the Trans-Amazonian road that crosses the state of Pará, several milestones are reminiscent of the period in which it was built, in the early 1970s, and of general Emílio Garrastazu Médici, the then-president of Brazil. In Altamira, there is the stub of the first tree brought down for the highway to be built, and the general watched the cut; in the vicinities, the municipality of Medicilândia was created and named after the military man; and in Rurópolis there is Presidente Medice Hotel (sic), inaugurated in 1974, the same year of road’s inauguration.
Médici even slept at the hotel once, on the occasion of its inauguration, according to the establishment’s manager, Pedro Buaz de Oliveira, and his wife Eliete. She has worked there at the opening and he was the manager from 1977 to 1982, when the hotel used to belong to the National Agrarian Reform Institute (Incra).
In the early 1970s, according to the manager, Rurópolis had little over 2,000 inhabitants. Now it has more than 36,000. The city, like many others in the region, emerged at the time of the Trans-Amazonian’s construction, serving as a stop for settlers who established themselves along the road and its side roads.
It was the time of "Brasil Grande" (the Great Brazil), which was idealized by the military and capsized during the first oil shock. Médici was the third president in the Brazilian dictatorship regime, out of a total of five. The regime lasted from 1964 to 1985.
Later on, the property was passed on to the Rurópolis City Hall, which invited Oliveira to become the manager again approximately 10 years ago. "[The hotel] was virtually abandoned. I was asked whether I wanted to run it, and I said ‘Ok’" he said.
Oliveira claims that in its heyday, the hotel used to receive government officials and tourists from the United States, Europe and even the Middle East, seeking the region’s natural beauties such as the Grim waterfalls, near the city. According to him, the establishment used to have an agreement with the Tropical Hotel in Santarém, which belonged to the Varig airline, which would send guests to Rurópolis.
"We used to receive many famous people from the United States," he said. Another illustrious guest, according to Oliveira, was Médici’s successor, Ernesto Geisel, who spent a day at the hotel, but did not sleep there.
Now, says the manager, the clientele is diverse, but there are no tourists. A large share of the guests have their stays paid for by the City Hall itself, and others are the employees of companies working to pave the road that leads to Santarém, a 220-kilometre trip.
The ANBA reporter spent one evening in one of the hotel’s 20 rooms, as did the other members of the E.torQ Amazon Journey, a car trip from São Paulo to Pará sponsored by automaker Fiat.
It is clear that the hotel has seen better days, but it is still the best in Rurópolis, despite the sound of bats in the roof as this article was being written.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
