Belem

Here begins my third and final entry of my trip to the Amazon!

Nov 21 Where I left off in the last part of the story was getting off the boat once we arrived to Belem. We got a cab to our hotel which we were extremely surprised about! We had heard a lot of things about Belem being a high violence city and for the three of us to be very careful while we were there so I was not expecting to be staying in such a nice hotel - especially since it was cheaper than the one we stayed in while in Manaus. We felt very weird walking in there with our huge backpacks on and carrying around our hammocks all crazy looking from our boat trip; a lot can change in a person when the showers are generally something to avoid and you don't look at yourself in a mirror - or rather care what you look like - for five days.

I think the first thing that each of us did when we got into our room was lie on each of our beds and marvel at the feeling of a flat, steady surface to sleep on. The next most exciting thing was a clean bathroom with toilet paper and a seat - what a luxury! We were so giddy, you would think it was our first times staying in a hotel in our lives. Right across the street from us was this little market and we had decided to check it out before showering and going for lunch. So we didn't stay in the room long and we were out the door again! This market had pretty much everything you could imagine in it: sunglasses, dresses, t-shirts, earings, necklaces, toys, crafts, paintings, clothes for your dogs, clothes for your dolls, magnets, knick knacks, mice, guinnea pigs, rabbits, fish, aquariums, you name it they had it! Once we had gotten our fill of the market and bought some really awesome souvenirs we went back to the hotel. Again, it wasn't for long.

We just went in there long enough to drop off our purchases and then headed out the door again! This time we went to the mall to get some food (something other than rice, beans, beef, and salad). So many options I could hardly decide, although anything probably would have tasted like a delicacy at that point. Once fully satisfied we jumped into another cab and headed for a museum that everyone had told us to check out. As we walked up to buy our tickets and I was reading some signs it seemed like it focused more on animals than museums normally do. Sure enough it was a zoo! They have exhibitions there at certain times and different buildings that you could go into when it was the right time but for us it was a lovely walk with lots of animals. It seemed like parts of it were under construction and we hit a lot of dead ends but it was a nice way to spend our afternoon. Oh! and it only cost 2 Reals... that's about $1.40 CDN! Awesome.

Afterwards when we were finally feeling like it was time to shower and rest we headed back to the hotel for the night. We ordered food from outside of the hotel and they deliver it up right to our door! Room service! I don't know if we have anything like that at home, but it was the first time I had done it and I was pretty excited that I didn't need to do a thing. Showered, fed, and feeling good we all hit the hay and were gone until morning.

Nov 22 We had made a rough plan for the day to check out the times of the boats that take you across the river to beaches on the other side and then to look around at the bigger market near by once we had bought our tickets. Once knowing the times that it leaves and returns and knowing we didn't want to come back when it was starting to get dark we decided to take the 11 O'clock boat there giving us a little over an hour at the market. This one was more food based than the one close to our hotel but it had lots of weird things too. They had lots of flours, nuts, spices, key chains, masks, oils, and of course an animal section as well. It was tons of fun looking around at everything and the time went quickly while we were there.

Next was our boat trip to Barcarena which was so beautiful and interesting. It went fairly slow through a fairly narrow river that went through a whole community of houses. Between the trees, water, and unknown wildlife that was all around were the classic houses on stilts. I wish we had brought our cameras to take some pictures but because of all the warnings we had we thought it would be better to leave all valuable things at the hotel. When the boat arrived at Barcarena we took a bus (aka large van) to praia caripi. It was a pretty long trip but once we got there it was really nice. We got all settled in and then did what any person does at the beach - relaxes. The trip back took a bit longer because the tide was lower and we needed to leave by going around the community instead of going through it. Could you imagine living in a place that part of the day you can walk around and the other part you need to take your boat? So strange to think about how their days must be like.

Back on our side of the water we decided to go to Docas. It's an old part of the city that has been preserved in a sense but also has really nice restaurants and shops in the stores along there. It was the most touristy place we saw while in Belem and also one of the places where we felt the safest. Even though it was getting to be dark out the walk was lit up and there were security people all over. Other than the three of us it was either groups of people out for dinner or couples there on dates. We decided to go inside and check out an ice cream store they had inside and ohhh man was it ever delicious. I think we talked about it for the rest of the night!

Another cab and another evening of food, tv, and showers and then it was bed before another day of adventures.

Nov 23 This was our last day in Belem so we checked out of our hotel that morning but left our things at the front desk until we came back later. We had planned for another beach day only at a beach even further away than caripi was. To get there we needed to take a bus to Icoaraci and then a boat to Cotijuba and then some sort of a trolly that would take you to all the different beaches they had there. So off we went. The bus and the boat took a while but it all went smoothly. Once we got to Cotijuba we realized that it wasn't any sort of trolly that would take us to the beaches. Our choices were either splitting up and going by moto-taxi or going by horse and buggie. We took a look at the horses and talked to some of the drivers to see what the best deal was we could get. One of the horses was so skinny and sick looking that we didn't even consider taking that one. When we decided on a horse that looked like it was taken care of and a nice driver we were on our way. There were lots of beaches there to choose from but we were on route to go to praia do vai-quem-quer. As we were riding down the road we realized that the beach was a lot further away than we had thought. It was so hot out and their horse was just small pulling a wagon with 5 people in it. We were all feeling very guilty about the mode of transportation that we were taking. Every time he would make their horse canter I wanted to tell him that I didn't care how long it took us to get there but to not make him work so hard. We had made a deal with them to drive us back to the boat at about 3PM and I was worried that they would keep working their horse while we were at the beach. But to our very pleasant surprise we saw the cutest thing down the beach from us a little after we arrived; there was our driver, stripped down to his underwear, with his horse in just his bridle being let into the river. He had brought his horse down to the water and took him totally in for a swim and a drink to cool down. We had some snacks with us again and decided to feed the horse a couple of our bananas while he was cooled enough. I didn't feel so guilty going back knowing that he truly did care about his horse. This beach, again, had very few people on it. I loved feeling like we had the beaches all to ourselves, it was great! I read a bit of my book, went for a swim, had a little nap... it's a tough life but someone has to do it right?

The way back was going pretty much the way that the way there had gone, and then all of a sudden our wagon tipped to the right and then quickly tipped to the left. I thought we had hit a bad pot hole and lost one of our wheels or something. Well it wasn't quite that, but it was close; one of the bolts that connects the horse to the wagon just broke off. They didn't have a took kit or anything like that with them and so they used what they had to fix it: string. On the sides of the wagon are some plastic flaps in case it rains and they were being held up with some string. He snapped off enough of it to tie the cart together I suppose (I didn't look too closely because honestly I didn't want to see what he had done to "fix" it) that we made it back to the boat. The whole time from then on however our driver was so concerned with the broken part that he barely watched the road. It was very interesting to say the least.

The boat back to Icoaraci was more adventurous going back as well. The water was a lot more rough and it made for a lot bumpier of a ride. Older ladies on the boat were even starting to get frightened - we all thought it was fun! We took a bus that would take us to Docas (the tourist area) again so that we could try a dessert made with Acai as well as to get some more of that delicious ice cream. Two desserts later and 3 happy ladies we went back to the hotel to grab our things and head to the airport.

Our flight home left at 3AM and we arrived at the airport aroun 7PM because we had checked out of the hotel to avoid paying a night that we didn't need. It was a long time to be there but we survived the boredom. The rest of the story is just typical plane rides and then arriving back to Florianopolis safe and sound.

The End