Belem was founded by the Portuguese in 1616 and is strategically located on the Amazon River estuary close to the mouth of the Rio Tocantins. It remains the economic centre of the north and the chief port of the Amazon – however, it did not have space to moor us…We anchored off a small town about 40 minutes drive from the centre of Belem. When we first arrived, the dock was full of local boats and so there was no room to dock the ship’s tender, to pick up the local authorities needed to clear us in…
Once ashore the ship had organised a shuttle to Belem – however it was a little confusing, as the ship never informed most people about it. Just Charlotte and I went ashore - it rained a lot of the day (we have to remember we are in the rainy season in the rain forest). As in many of the town’s here, it was pretty dirty and run down (quite ironic how we are keeping things so clean and sanitizing all the time on the boat, when we would probably catch many more diseases ashore in the towns!)
We visited the enormous Mercado Ver o Peso (a.k.a. local market) that sprawls across several city blocks, on the waterfront. We were there on a Sunday – which meant most of the shops were closed but the market area was very busy, mainly with locals eating and drinking at the different stands. After not too long, we decided to catch the shuttle back to the comfort of the ship!