Post 113: At the mouth of the Amazon

Fellow adventurers,

Waking up at 5:30 this morning gave us the opportunity to watch the sun rise, presenting silhouettes of the city and the mountains of Rio that lie on the coast. We had a bus to catch to the airport, but met an Argentinean woman who asked if we'd split the cost of a taxi with her. Our taxi driver sped to nearly 100 kph at times, winding past traffic and pointing out favelas and the Carnaval grandstand. Our seat belts were fastened tight and our hearts were in our stomachs, but luckily we safely made it to the airport.

After a 3 1/2 hour flight, we landed in the humid city of Belem, which lies at the mouth of the Amazon river. We managed to find a bus to our hotel, and after settling in we set off to the port to arrange transport for our 5 day boat ride down the Amazon towards Manaus. Surprisingly, the offices at the port were closed but that didn't prevent the ticket hawkers from trying to sell to us. We headed to the local market to buy hammocks, assuming we'd be riding hammock class and would need them for our journey on the boat. Along the way, there were many street vendors selling Brazil nuts, tropical fruits, wooden toys carved from the trees of the rainforest, and my favorite; ice cold coconut milk straight out of the fruit.

Our hotel receptionist insisted we try the local ice cream down on the river, inside a new shopping and restaurant complex. There were many different exotic flavors to choose from, most unheard of.  A popular variety though is of the acai fruit, which originates in this region and is more internationally known as a super food filled with antioxidants. The area serves acai as a street dish, whether served as itself, sweetened or as a dipping sauce for meats and such. Otherwise, it's typically used in smoothies. While I've had it at home, everyone urges me to try it while I'm here, which I still have yet to do. Though the ice cream we shared this afternoon was certainly thicker then what we've had elsewhere in South America, and some of the best yet, so maybe I will listen to the locals when they insist on acai fruit.

It's unlike me to say that Gavin and I were rather apprehensive on riding hammock class as the locals do down the river for 5 days, considering we're ones whom like to immerse ourselves. Sleeping in a hammock after 1 night gets rather uncomfortable, especially when you're crammed on a deck with 100 others in the humidity. Not to mention the lack of privacy or place to safely store your baggage while your in the dining hall. With all this in mind, we wanted to try for a cabin on the boat and decided to put our negotiating skills on the table. All in all, we managed to barter the cabin down from 900 Brl (about $510 usd) to 650 Brl's (about $368 usd) for the both of us in an air conditioned cabin, or a tiny narrow room with a bunk bed. Certainly not cheap, but a significant discount from the original price none the less, and the only means of getting to our flight from this point.

We awarded our negotiating skills with a beer from the Amazon Beer company down in the river complex with the sound of some live jazz behind us. On our walk back, we passed a kiosk selling  'sandwiches,' which really means burgers, hot dogs, pork, bacon and egg or a combo of all in one loaded with varieties of toppings. It smelled delicious and we hadn't eaten any Brazilian food as of yet, so we took a seat on one of the plastic chairs laid out on the side of street (but still in the street.)  We ordered a pork sandwich, served hot with lettuce, tomato, onion, fried egg, and ham topped with a slaw and shoestring potatoes. Those are the moments you have in common with the locals; the enjoyment of something delicious, where you sit and chew and smile at one another although your lives are world's apart. It's very ingenious how vendors come at certain time of day, choose a spot in the street to set up their food cart, lay out some simple chairs and little tables, hand out menus and serve decent food at a good price to a mass of hungry people. If only in America people were so free to do that without all the unnecessary bureaucracy involved. It's something I really like about South America, and travel in general, learning the many different ways one makes the means to survive.

It sounds unpleasant, but sitting in the street with the locals while the trash lies about and the noisy traffic drives by you, feeling the thick humidity in the air, hanging about and eating as locals do is something I never knew I'd miss. It's the unfamiliar that begins to feel more familiar. It's what feels like real travel, real experiences; the feelings you get from somewhere are the places you'll remember most. A young lady on the radio began singing a Bossa Nova version of "Fly me to the Moon" in Portugeuse when Gavin and I began to feel a little sad; we realized we hadn't the time we wanted in Brazil, and also that we were almost home. During our little time we've had in Brazil, we both determined it's someplace we'd like to return and spend more time in.

June e Gavin