I think we all on this subreddit would be suckers for visiting this kind of place. But it takes guts to do it. Do you speak portuguese? Was the guy you met to move on Brazilian?
You may enjoy reading The River Of Doubt. It is a book about Teddy Roosevelt's journey, after having been president, to explore an unexplored (but white men) and unmapped river in the Amazon. Talk about guts. What an adventure. He almost died on it. The river is now named after him, and a province in Brazil is named after someone on his trip (I forget who).