Wednesday, April 25, 2007
17 April, 07
Belem is the economic centre of the Amazon and the state capital of Para. It is a big city with the largest port in the Amazon and it is known as the “gateway to the Amazon”. It is rich historically and culturally but the city is big and ugly and dirty and they have only recently started to clean it up for tourism. We arrived here in Belem at about midday and we caught another local bus into the city. This was very easy but finding accommodation wasn’t. We eventually happened to fall upon Machado Plaza Hotel and thank goodness we did because I was ready to get on the next flight out of here. We settled in the room and for some stupid reason we decided to ask the reception where they recommend for us to eat. We were starving and I guess our brains were not functioning properly. Our golden rule is generally to eat in the restaurants recommended in the guide book and we had already decided where we were heading to. Anyway, I am emphasizing this whole matter because this meal would change a lot of things for the next couple of days- not in a good way either! After a terrible lunch we walked around a little like zombies through the market and we were on our way to book a ferry for tomorrow when we arrived at the central tourist information office. They were so helpful and polite and they advised us to take a tour rather than try to do Isla Marajo (an island nearby) on our own. For some reason we actually believed them and instead of buying the ferry tickets we got back to another agency to organize our trip. At this stage I was exhausted and ill from the food so I went back to the hotel room. I was shaking and feeling really bad and nauseas and I slept whilst Rich organized the tour for the next three days. We were both asleep by 19h00 since we had to wake up for the ferry at 4h30am. And, we didn’t really sleep last night so we needed as much sleep as possible. From what we saw of the city, besides the tourist sights i.e. museums and buildings, it is an ugly, dirty and poor city with spurts of greenery and parks lurking in between.
Belem is the economic centre of the Amazon and the state capital of Para. It is a big city with the largest port in the Amazon and it is known as the “gateway to the Amazon”. It is rich historically and culturally but the city is big and ugly and dirty and they have only recently started to clean it up for tourism. We arrived here in Belem at about midday and we caught another local bus into the city. This was very easy but finding accommodation wasn’t. We eventually happened to fall upon Machado Plaza Hotel and thank goodness we did because I was ready to get on the next flight out of here. We settled in the room and for some stupid reason we decided to ask the reception where they recommend for us to eat. We were starving and I guess our brains were not functioning properly. Our golden rule is generally to eat in the restaurants recommended in the guide book and we had already decided where we were heading to. Anyway, I am emphasizing this whole matter because this meal would change a lot of things for the next couple of days- not in a good way either! After a terrible lunch we walked around a little like zombies through the market and we were on our way to book a ferry for tomorrow when we arrived at the central tourist information office. They were so helpful and polite and they advised us to take a tour rather than try to do Isla Marajo (an island nearby) on our own. For some reason we actually believed them and instead of buying the ferry tickets we got back to another agency to organize our trip. At this stage I was exhausted and ill from the food so I went back to the hotel room. I was shaking and feeling really bad and nauseas and I slept whilst Rich organized the tour for the next three days. We were both asleep by 19h00 since we had to wake up for the ferry at 4h30am. And, we didn’t really sleep last night so we needed as much sleep as possible. From what we saw of the city, besides the tourist sights i.e. museums and buildings, it is an ugly, dirty and poor city with spurts of greenery and parks lurking in between.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 4:11 PM 
