Days 12-16 Monkeys, Jaguars & Snakes Oh My! By CS

  Belem, Brazil
Friday, December 14, 2007

We're back in Belem now, just chilling and relaxing.  Spending time with my grandfather, eating delicious foods (at least 2 bowls of açai per day), working out, swimming/sunbathing at the pool, playing beach soccer with the neighborhood boys. Açai, by the way, is my favorite fruit in the whole wide world.  It grows on palm trees, and the pulp from the little berries is removed and mixed with a little water to create a delicious purple pudding like substance that's super rich in iron.  Generally, I like to eat it with tapioca for a splendid CRUNCH.

I've also gotten a chance to show Erin some of the sights in Belem.  I wanted to take her to the botanical garden (Bosque) and zoo (Museu) to get her ready for the trip to Macapá and the Amazon this weekend.  We took lots of pictures.  The macaws were her fav.

The Life of a Leaf Cutter Ant.

 

Sounds of the Amazon.

Pretty Biiiirrrd

Pink Biiiirrrd

Gator

That's One Big Leaf

Macaw Triplets

Extra from Pirates of the Caribbean?

Who's a Rubber Necker Now?

Chillin' in a Cave

Chillin' in a Cave 2

Manitee Eating Grass

He's a Chubby One

Drove my Chevy to the Levy in GR (ignore the I)

Has anybody seen Outbreak?

Toucan Sam!

Can you find the Giant Snake?

Giant Snake Skin

Jeepers Creepers!

TMNT 4 LIFE!

Cutia (aka Brazilian Rabbit)

That's One Giant Alligator

 

That's One Big Leaf

That's One Giant Tree!

We got around Belem using the buses so that Erin could get up close and personal with the locals.

Tuesday evening, my Aunt Tatiana took us to Estação das Docas, which is the new hot location in Belem.  The city renovated the old docks and shipping yard and turned them into a series of restaurants and shops right on the water.  We sampled some of the beer from the microbrewery, ate a meter long cheese filled sausage, duck in tucupi dumplings, and beef pastels.  The place was packed even on a Tuesday night, and Erin enjoyed the live music, which is on a mobile stage above our heads that moves up and down the length of the building.  (Here's a video she took she thought Grandma Clyne would like)

This ones for you Grandma Clyne.

Chompin' on the 1 meter sausage

Erin has been trying all of the new foods and fruits we set before her, including tacaca (spicy soup served on the roadside with tucupi, jambu - a leaf that has some anesthetic properties that makes your tongue tingle, salty shrimp, and spicy pepper sauce), filhote no tucupi (catfish with the same tucupi, jambu, and pepper sauce over rice), lots of churrasco (bbq), different fresh water and ocean fishes, cajá, mangos, papayas.  We've also been sampling different ice creams - coconut, açai, tapioca, muruci, passion fruit, bacuri, graviola, and cupuaçu... And no stomach problems so far, so we're happy about that.

Upside Down Xmas Trees... Weird