Today Pelado lives in the village where he was raised – Samauma. That’s where he met his wife, Noeme, undoubtedly the best chef in remote fishing operations in the Amazon.(see Noeme’s story) Noeme and Pelado have been married since 2001. That’s where he raises his two kids. The younger one, Madison born in 2004, already is a great fisherman. Fly Fishing is his new passion acquired after spending 3 weeks in our operation in 2020.
Being one of the village leaders where he lives, Pelado couldn’t ignore that proximity to Manaus had started to corrode hundreds of communities. So, he decided to do something for kids, so that they’d not get involved with that life. Pelado is a huge soccer fan and he especially loves European soccer. 5 years ago, he created a junior team and named it Chelsea. Then, he organized a tournament, naming it Champions League. So, for years, the tournament was a success and only paused for the lack of financial resources – something we’re also trying to fix with our Care&Share program.
Pelado is a great man, leader and professional. He is another one of those hard to find pieces to the puzzle that has made what we do even better and more fun. He instills a military like attitude in the work ethic of our staff and is a lot like Rob in the fact that he can separate work from fun with our guests, staff and partners. It starts to sound like a broken record but we are lucky to have Nadson Silva on our team and a part of our family. Pelado takes our favorite ABC rule (Always Be Casting) to a whole new level. And, boy, you don’t have a future in fishing if you don’t pass “The Pelado Test”.