Finally...Belem!

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  Belem, Brazil
Sunday, October 23, 2005

Well..what can we say...it was long but not too bad! At times it seemed like we were steaming along at a roaring pace so at one point we couldn't quite understand why it was going to take so long! Until we hit a dirt road and then we knew why and it became pretty slow going to say the least! Overall though, there was a sense of mutual sympathy and camaraderie between everyone on there, lots of smiles, very friendly bus drivers (who put movies for us on in English!) and good food stops on the way! And we arrived in Belem about 9ish the next evening (only 32 hours in the end!) and waltzed into a hotel just across from the bus station for a much needed shower and the luxury of a bed! Yipppppppeeeeee! I was so tired that I couldn't be bothered to go out for food! Paul went out and got a burger but he didn't tell me that at the time as he felt guilty for not bringing me one back! He's so horrible! Hee Hee!

After all that travelling, we were prepared to get everything sorted today - find a hotel closer to the centre, book a flight to Manaus and get our tour booked in the Amazon but OH NO...fate was working against us and it turned out to be a public holiday! Grrrrrr! We were so frustrated - no airlines open, one travel agency was open but you couldn't book anything (??) and only one internet café in the whole of Belem which was a serious stroll from our hotel! Despite all this, we found a really sweet hotel and even though the streets of Belem were deserted, we had no choice but to make the most of a very quiet city!

We did some research in the internet café and then found a cute little bar for some ice, cold beer! We had to join in on a public holiday of course! We then headed down to the docks to watch the sunset and the Amazon was as rough as you like - at this point we were glad that we'd decided to fly to Manaus rather then taking the 5 day slow boat instead! The skies were cool...really moody and you could see the storm clouds gathering! The dockside in Belem is very funky (and full of drunk locals on this occasion!)...they've basically converted the whole area into posh restaurants and cafes with a cute little art gallery and shops. All the cranes along the front are now design features and look particularly nifty at night when they're all lit up. We decided to hang around here for the rest of the night and treated ourselves to a posh buffet and a few beverages! Yummy food, caiparinha's, mellow tunes (coming from a live band on a moving stage hanging from the roof!) - so all in all a fab end to a frustrating day! And a lesson for my hubby is that when I'm feeling abit down, all he has to do is buy me some nice food and I'm smiling again in no time!

So finally the next day had to be the day we got sorted! And we did...eventually! Our travel agency was now open to actually sell things and once we'd established that we actually wanted to get to Manaus and not Fortaleza - we had lots of options! It took us so long to make a decision, the flights had gone up by the time we made on! We're good! Flight tickets in hand though and smiles on our faces, we'd done it...we finally had a plan! We spent the rest of the day feeling a lot more relaxed and enjoying the sights and sounds of Belem.

We visited the small zoo there (not one of Paul's fave pastimes as he hates seeing the animals cooped up) which had loads of plants from all over S America. We loved it as we'd seen most of them in the wild and most of the animals too! I went snap happy and took lots of piccies anyway and we loved to see the pink ibis which is quite a rarity! They're the most amazing pinky colour and can be found in the wetlands in Venezuela but we knew we wouldn't have time to go there so that was cool! We saw a couple of jaguar's too but they had really small cages...bless! Had a nice potter round though and then spent our last night in Belem in complete contrast to our first...eating HUGE burgers sat with locals on picnic chairs in the street!

The next morning, we wandered around the docks visiting the different markets - fish, meat, veg and another one where you could get just about anything! One of the highlights was seeing a MASSIVE fish and we're talking about 2˝ m long and about 50/70kg in weight called a piranaku which is found in the Amazon! Even the locals were taking photos so it must have been impressive. We took a photo of me stood next to it and that really gives you the perspective!
It's a really vibrant part of the city and great for people watching and vulture watching actually! You've never seen such big birds hanging around for any leftover fishies! It's I think I glimpse of 'old' Belem before it got all funky and tourism caught on so much so really glad we managed to have a quick wander before leaving!

And then it was time to head for the airport so backpacks at the ready, we jumped on yet another friendly Brazilian bus and started our adventure into the Amazon...

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