http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Par-/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Brazil , Par en-us Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:13:17 BST Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:13:17 BST A week later...The last 7 days have been mainly occupied by different persons we met and spent time with until today in So Luis.English speakers dont hesitate to give your comments For the moment mainly french have reacted. End of Jerricoacoara CearaThe first night was crazy cf. previous article as you remember. The followings were very interesting as well. It all started in a restauran http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-330837.html This place is like a bloody oven The temperature floats around 37 degrees but it's the humidity that is unrelenting From sunrise to sunrise the intensity is unreal. We have found the retreat of the shopping centre a huge relief and I have made 3 visits to the place and I'm due for a follow up dose tomorrow. It reminds me of the Fishergate Centre in Preston. I know it's so tragic to nest near to http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-318759.html Alright. I've bought the oneway plane ticket. The backpack is out and clothes are strewn all over the room. Camera and accessories are being cleaned and checked. Checklists full of crucial action items are being made. ... Action items are being subjected to severe procrastination. But the lists look nice and professional Theme music from The ATeam is being played on an aroundtheclock basis. http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/blog-310922.html BackgroundHi. For reference on everything that comes after here is a brief summary of everything that came before Big Bang etc. 1978 I was born into an average middle class family in the Midwestern United States. First 23 years Social and spiritual psychosis of suburban boredom ensues. Computer programming skills are somehow acquired along the way. 2001 2007 A successful and rewarding car http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/blog-307343.html Hey everyoneSurvived the 6 day boat trip up the Amazon and finally have internet again so will get up to date on my blogs first of all.... BelemFinally got to Belem after a 36hour coach trip was quite boring but OK Michi suggested eating the whole way there so the journey would be more comfortable on my extra padded bottom which i gladly did Although my first pit stop to get sweets didnt http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-301580.html hola amigos e familia.Now we are gonna travel to belem in two hours its off to the amazones.. the bus ride is gonna take 35 hours but its cool cos i can read draw and listen to music.. im gonna put some more pictures on the blog now so you can see my new tattoo and other stuff.. I start feeling more and more relaxed over here.. and im looking forward too see some nature and im also looking fo http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-301467.html Our one and only night we stayed in the city of Belem we got mugged at knifepoint. Belem is the big ugly city at the end of the Amazon River on the far north east coast of Brazil. I would like to gloss it up and say Belem isnt actually that bad but I cant.. I really hate the place. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone as a must see but it is a place you often go through to get from the Amazon R http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-254363.html Manaus era stata in un certo senso una delusione. Succede sempre cos uno va in un luogo sul quale ha fantasticato tanto grazie all'aiuto di un eroe d'infanzia e finisce inevitabilmente per trarne una delusione. Le atmosfere da far west sudamericano sembrano aver abbandonato Manaus secoli f pi o meno quando quelle nordamericane abbandonarono il Texas o l'Oregon immagino.Ma a ogni rovescio s http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-253495.html Our last morning in Paraty was an early start after which we were divided into 3 separate groups to head into Rio our trusty truck Jack was in need of some TLC so was sadly unable to transport us split between another Tucan truck and 2 Budget Trucks. Enjoying a pub quiz along the way several hours later we hit the outskirts of Brazils biggest city signalling the end of the road for many of http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-251105.html The Santarem as the boat is called leaves Port at Belem and proceeds up waterways that are not always called the Amazon. A myriad of channels and tributaries are encountered as the Captain and his crew steer the ship lsquoup the Amazonrsquo. The two story metal ferry boat can carry up to 400 passengers. The majority of these people would be sleeping in hammocks in the two decks below the tw http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-247744.html Sorry about the amount of photos. Please continue onto Page 2 to see the rest of themWe expected great things of Belem. It didnrsquot disappoint but neither did it really live up to expectations. Arriving on a Sunday morning it is like a ghost town. The taxi drivers as always asked far too high a price and we ended up walking 20 minutes to our hostel. There was a wonderful market in town but http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-246305.html Arriving late at night I saw very little of the Belem and definitely saw no mango trees. The mangoes in the market are huge but there are few trees to be seen even in daylight.The taxi woman who went thru all the red lights drove at break neck speed. I thought she was in a hurry to get back to the airport to meet another flight. Have since discovered everyone drives fast.The Hotel Itoaca is a quit http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-245353.html Sunday 16th DecemberIts been a whistle stop flight journey over the last few days in my efforts to get back to Belem. As I couldnt get a flight from Cuzco into Brazil I went first to Lima Perus international Airport. However the only flights into Brazil from there went to the south of the country. This Meant I had to fly down to Sao Paulo first before I could get a domestic flight north to http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-228057.html We are in Belem right now a city in the north of Brazil where the Amazon meets the ocean sortof I think I don't know for sure though because geography is not my favorite but that is what it looks like on the map. We leave tonight at 6pm for our trip through the Amazon River up to Manaus. The trip is supposed to take 5 days ... and we are taking one of the boats the locals would take ... it c http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-213987.html HelloWe leave Belem today for a five day trip on the Amazone river to reach Manaus. We will be in contact there.HalloWe varen van Belem naar Manaus op de Amazone rivier en zijn weg voor vijf dagen. Als we kunnen zenden we nieuw bericht.Marijke en Luc http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-211803.html Fri 21st SeptAfter another noisy night in hotel 'met up with Diego and Georgette and visited Indigenous Museum the market and the Zoo the latter was v. interesing set out in typical tropical forest with wide range of animals birds and plant life. However the humidity was almost unbearable the sudden heavy downpours did not help retreated to an AC Cafe where we had traditional tapioca wrap http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-205450.html Thurs 20th SeptExcessive noise from main road and faulty AC meant little sleep turned off AC and with the help of ear plugs essentail items here got a few hours sleep. 'Asked for a room at the back of the hotel for the rest of my stay but hotel full and would have to put up with it for another night.After typical Brazilian breakfast slice of melon roll with ham and cheese and an expresso coff http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-204726.html Tues 18th SeptCompleted tightfitted packing dispensing with nonessential but still a lot to carry. Drove down the Florida Turnpike to Miami and dropped off the rental car just made the plane for Belem.Took off on interesting flight at 720 pm on TAM aiways 'trying to sleep when around 1100 there was a lot of screaming from one of the passengers a lady screaming hysterically in Spanish tha http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-203964.html Belem About a 12hr overnight bus ride arriving at 7 am we were finally in a big city around 2 million people. Craziness. Belem is a land of street vendors and entrepreneurism right on the Amazon river. You can see its charm with the old Port still loading like it once did a hundred years earlier and a central market nextdoor with all the fish meat and fruit vegetables you desire interestin http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-172384.html Sitting here now in the city of Belem all the way up at the mouth of the Amazon and thinking back on all thatrsquos happened in the last month and everything wersquove done it seems all too much to fit on one entry. Cruising the beautiful coastline of northeast Brazil we have experienced several new things seen countless picturesque beaches and met many wonderful people all the while ta http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-158851.html The city of Anapu lies rougly 140km east of the river Xing along the Transamazonic Highway. The city is literally spread out along the road the commerce and hotels scattered over a paved section of the infamous dirt highway that stretches across the Amazon. There are roughly 20000 people living here almost everyone is from somewhere else. Thirty years ago the city was no more then a small vi http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Altamira/blog-144487.html In Belm I've booked a hotel straight out the Lonely Planet guidebook. It's justly full of tourists from every corner of the world that all speak English. The hotel staff is like the Adam's family but if they were really indescrivable monsters and not family friendly comedians with a laugh track the old woman a stout ball of anger the shape of a stool her grey haired giant son lurks clad onl http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/blog-140567.html A quick update of the following months from which I seemingly vanishedI leave Pernambuco and head North into Paraba traveling throughsmall dusty towns of the deep interior and into the state of Cear.Greeted as a curiousity as always I recieve loads of stories aboutwhatever person from another country once passed through. I never oncemeet another foreigner or tourist. I make a beeline to Forta http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-134661.html Once again i have defied the odds and managed to navagate from my last blog destination in Forteleza to Belem... running low on funds as everything was shut during carnival i jumped on a bus to belem a 24hour bus ride from fortaleza hoping when i got there the banks would still be open. Yes the race against time was on once again... firstly the likelyhood of a brazilian bus being on time was extre http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-132137.html . http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-103336.html Fernando and I recently went for a three day trip with our neighbors Mary and Ricardo to Santarem Para state Brasil. It is an hour flight from Manaus by airplane. We spent most of our days relaxing in the sun nibbling on garlic olive oil shrimp and other seafood treats. We sipped bottled coke and beer and lounged in the Amazon river. We rented a room in a little pousada right on the beach with http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/blog-97634.html sodeli nochere sehr abentuerliche fahrt vo so luis uf belem simmer etz endlich do. mir hend ues gluecklicherwiis fuer dtagesfahrt entschiede well schlofe hettmer do eh noed choene. e stross wo zwueschedure loecher het wommer e halbs auto choend dristelle. eifach zkrass und i mein belem isch noed gad wuerkli en unwichtige ort isches doch smuul vom amazonas und i nimm mol ah en wichtige hafe fue http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-77251.html So we left Rio and headed inland briefly to Ouro Preto an old mining town set in the hills. Its a pretty place surrounded by lots of greenery with cobbled streets and lots of coloured colonial style buildings. We found some very friendly locals who went out of their way to meet our weird gringo requests... at the local restaurant myself and a couple of others asked for wine but they didnt have http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-48353.html Ok all I am not dead oer missing I am just in Brazil where nothing seems to work very well and nobody really cares. So far I am not over all impressed with this country so I will move on to Argentina soon. I will start with the best story of the trip firstThings to concider when you go Piranha fishing1 dont go with a spaz2 dont park your boat directly under a tree3 piranhas on average are 3to 4 http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-45482.html I spent this WE on Ilha de Marajo where the buffalos are wild and stroll around the streets. It is a very primitive island with few cars but many bikes. On the somewhat scary trip to the island there were big waves not a very stable boat people were screaming bags were flying everywhere and I think that the life wests were hanging there more for decoration than for other purposes o I met a http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Par-/Bel-m/blog-40946.html