Blogs from Pará, Brazil, South America - page 2

In a few hours we get on a boat and head up the Amazon River - somebody pinch me! The output of the Amazon Rvr in one day is enough to provide the whole of New York City for one year! We have experienced a number of logistical problems the last 3 days - a serious lack of space (we now each have a backpack, a bag and some plastic packets) and flights that no longer fly to where we want to go. So, although Belem is a shoppers paradise (clothes at super cheap prices), we had to forego most of the shopping in order to visit all the travel agencies in the area to see if they could organise something. With no luck. We have therefore decided to head half way up the Amazon River ... read more

I’m currently sitting on a boat in the tiny port of Santarem, a town in the state of Para on the banks of the Amazon River, halfway through a 6 day boat journey that is taking me nearly 2000kms from Belem on the coast of Brazil to Manaus in the midst of the jungle. It’s an epic voyage which has challenged every sense I possess … the noise of the constant forrá music blaring out of the distorted speakers for 15 hours a day, the smell of the blocked toilets and full septic tanks, the taste of the daily repetitive meal of chicken, rice, pasta and potatoes – all in one dish.(its carbs all the way to the toilet), the touch of other people as they bang into you lying in your hammock like an anthropoidal ... read more

Hi all! Right, so having not loved Recife and quite liked Olinda (very picturesque, not a whole lot to do there!), I got what was meant to be a 4 hour bus to Natal, and ended up taking 7...fun fun fun! Stayed one night there, then got straight on a bus to Pipa. Pipa is a gorgeous chilled out beachtown 2 hours from Natal and I loved it. Spent 4 days there, lying on a beach, soaking up the sun and recovering from 4 months of screaming kids...if I hadn´t left when i did I would never have dragged myself away. On the 20th I got a bus back to Natal and then got an 8hr overnighter to Fortaleza. Just spent the one day there, on the beach and that was enough for me. On the ... read more

Belém was founded in 1616 by the Portuguese to guard the mouth of the Amazon river from other European powers, mainly French and Dutch. Today it is the capital of the state of Pará, it has about two million inhabitants. We arrived on Monday with a flight from Manaus. What a difference between these two cities. Belem is an attractive city, an important port in Northern Brazil, a city with many colonial and republican architecture jewels. We stayed at 'le Massilia' hotel. When you will be remembered that Massilia is Latin for Marseilles, you will understand we were in French hands and French company. The owner is indeed from Marseilles and having dinner in his restaurant is being in France. French food is served and one is in company of French peolpe, mainly French expats from ... read more

When I said before that we had found a good position on the boat to Santerem I was actually incorrect. We arrived to the ship around 2 hours before it was due to leave port. We were greeted by the sight of around 250 hammocks with ours smack bang in the middle. I had read in the book that they get very busy but I didn´t realise they would have a hammock in every concievable spot so that there is no room to walk around. Anne had a women who didn´t look well and was about 90 years old. Basically you are sleeping on top of each other. Once the boat had left port we decided to walk around and found two English speaking people. They were both from Lithuania and live in Dublin, Valiukas and ... read more