Belem, Brazil

The Amazon is so long, that it takes at least 2 days to get from one city to another. This gives us time to relax. Instead of getting into a new port every day, we arrive every other day. The next stop for us was the city of Belem.

Nowadays, this place is famous for it's large waterfront market (supposedly the largest in the country). As always, things are relative. Compared to most of the places that we have visited, it was big. Compared to the Eaton Center (or any shopping mall in Toronto), it is small.

After walking through the many stalls and the smelly fish market, I headed for the city's central square. As usual, there was large cathedral on one side of the square. However, I couldn't take a look inside because it was closed for siesta. In this part of the world, at least half of the shops, churches and offices are closed between 11:45 am and 3:00 pm. (You really have keep this in mind when you are travelling around.) It also didn't help that we were visiting Belem on a Monday because it meant that almost all the museums in town were closed.

Undeterred, I headed off to the art museum. It was located in a former rubber baron's home. Yes, this one blue building used to be someone's house! Back in the day, the industry that put Belem on the map was rubber. Rubber tree plantations were everywhere. Plantations made the slaves lives miserable while they made a few people, like Antonio Lemos, rich beyond words.

As a result, Belem is sprinkled with many huge, old mansions that are now used for other purposes (like museums and offices).

The rich needed a place to relax and unwind (after counting all their money), so they engineered the construction of some beautiful parks. Nowadays, the fountains and statues are covered in graffiti and the park benches are covered with homeless people and bums.

What would the Amazon be without piranha fish? Probably a good deal safer I would imagine. Supposedly their vicious reputation is overstated. We saw many locals in the water and they didn't look like they were being chewed on. Some tours allowed you to go fishing for piranhas, but most passengers decided that the easiest way to get a hold of one was to buy a stuffed one in the marketplace!