We arrived to Belem yesterday (Sunday, 29.11.). It is located at the delta of the Amazon, therefore a good starting point for boat trips upstream the mighty river. Strange enough it does not seem to be a good day for tourists around here, because strolling on the streets other than the main avenue and the pimped up waterfront area is supposed to be dangerous. At least according to the guide books and the receptionist at the hostel. So we obeyed.... and thus had a relaxing day. Actually there might had been something in those advices because the streets were quite deserted, almost nobody walking around in the side streets and only few people on the main avenue. The waterfront area was however much busier. There is a big building complex which used to be docks (Estacao das Docas). The architects simply gave it a face lift, so it looks very modern and fancy but preserved the atmosphere of the docks by leaving the ca dozen of cranes in front of the building and not disguising its basic iron and glass constructions. Inside there is a theater, a few restaurants, ice cream booths offering exotic Amazonian fruit treats, souvenir shops, travel agencies and alike. This is where we had the first glimpse at the Amazon. It is really huge!!! Although we only saw an island on the other "bank" it seemed to be at least 5 km away. The water was quite rough with big waves and light brown.
Finally Monday (30.11.) has arrived and we were free to move around in town. So we asked around for the boat tickets to Santarem, our next destination, located 4 days of boat ride away upstream (it is supposed to have gorgeous white sandy beaches along the turquoise waters of the Tapajos river and untouched primary rain-forest). Finally we bought our tickets at a shabby "office" of Macamazon where people did not speak English. So our Portuguese must be getting better... Later it turned out that we should had been pretty teenage girls to get the tickets 20 reais cheaper, as such girls staying in our hostel got the very same tickets for that lower price. I guess it was not because of me, but rather Kaarel should finally shave and comb his hair... Actually in his swimming pants and flip flops the officers might have thought that he cannot be such a wealthy guy, and maybe the 20 reais discount we have received was due to this... Concerning the boat tickets, the big stories in the guide books about how to get them seem to be quite unrealistic. They suggest e.g. going directly to the docks and talking to the captains. I do not quite see how that would be possible because the docks at the city centre where the boats to Manaus and Santarem should be waiting (again according to the guide books) are fenced off and it did not seem to be allowed just to walk in there. On the other hand our boat will not even depart from these docks but from another one on the other side of the peninsula. So I do not see how one could approach the captain and negotiate with him...
Anyhow, now that we bought the tickets we started the actual sight seeing tour of the city. I would say it is another colonial city, similar to the ones we have visited so far, but in a much better shape. The houses are not that run down, in downtown there are wide avenues besides the narrow cobble stone streets and there are many well-preserved or restored buildings and many well-kept parks. The similarities are the amount of trash on the streets and the smell... Here I have seen the most impressive churches as well, the Catedral de Se and the Basilica de Nossa Senhora de Nazare. Btw here in Brazil most of the churches have such a long name and most of them are dedicated to some sort of nossa senhora (our lady of ...).
So as I said these churches were really worth a visit even though we wrote before that we were getting a bit fed up with the churches. They were very tastefully decorated, not just stuffed full of golden carvings like e.g. in Ouro Preto, which was also impressive but in a way already too much, pretty much just showing off. Particularly the Basilica was a good experience. Not only because of the beauty of the church itself, but also because in front of it in the park there we have seen hundreds of parrots chirping deafeningly loud and flying around in big swarms. I have never seen so many parrots at the same spot!!! and that all in downtown!!! quite weird.
That reminds me of the other weird experience of today. At the port we saw a dead dog on the shore and big black vulture-like birds were picking on it. It was like in a horror movie when one of them picked out the eye-ball....
Finally Monday (30.11.) has arrived and we were free to move around in town. So we asked around for the boat tickets to Santarem, our next destination, located 4 days of boat ride away upstream (it is supposed to have gorgeous white sandy beaches along the turquoise waters of the Tapajos river and untouched primary rain-forest). Finally we bought our tickets at a shabby "office" of Macamazon where people did not speak English. So our Portuguese must be getting better... Later it turned out that we should had been pretty teenage girls to get the tickets 20 reais cheaper, as such girls staying in our hostel got the very same tickets for that lower price. I guess it was not because of me, but rather Kaarel should finally shave and comb his hair... Actually in his swimming pants and flip flops the officers might have thought that he cannot be such a wealthy guy, and maybe the 20 reais discount we have received was due to this... Concerning the boat tickets, the big stories in the guide books about how to get them seem to be quite unrealistic. They suggest e.g. going directly to the docks and talking to the captains. I do not quite see how that would be possible because the docks at the city centre where the boats to Manaus and Santarem should be waiting (again according to the guide books) are fenced off and it did not seem to be allowed just to walk in there. On the other hand our boat will not even depart from these docks but from another one on the other side of the peninsula. So I do not see how one could approach the captain and negotiate with him...
Anyhow, now that we bought the tickets we started the actual sight seeing tour of the city. I would say it is another colonial city, similar to the ones we have visited so far, but in a much better shape. The houses are not that run down, in downtown there are wide avenues besides the narrow cobble stone streets and there are many well-preserved or restored buildings and many well-kept parks. The similarities are the amount of trash on the streets and the smell... Here I have seen the most impressive churches as well, the Catedral de Se and the Basilica de Nossa Senhora de Nazare. Btw here in Brazil most of the churches have such a long name and most of them are dedicated to some sort of nossa senhora (our lady of ...).
So as I said these churches were really worth a visit even though we wrote before that we were getting a bit fed up with the churches. They were very tastefully decorated, not just stuffed full of golden carvings like e.g. in Ouro Preto, which was also impressive but in a way already too much, pretty much just showing off. Particularly the Basilica was a good experience. Not only because of the beauty of the church itself, but also because in front of it in the park there we have seen hundreds of parrots chirping deafeningly loud and flying around in big swarms. I have never seen so many parrots at the same spot!!! and that all in downtown!!! quite weird.
That reminds me of the other weird experience of today. At the port we saw a dead dog on the shore and big black vulture-like birds were picking on it. It was like in a horror movie when one of them picked out the eye-ball....
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