December 10, 2008 – Belem, Para, Brazil

It was another warm humid day as we anchored off Belem which is in Brazil’s largest state, Para, and is located on an estuary about 60 miles inland from the mouth of the Amazon River. Belem is across from Marajo Island, an island which is in the center of the mouth of the Amazon and is larger than Switzerland. The mouth is approximately 200 miles wide and pours water at the rate of 7,100,000 cubic feet per second. It’s not the longest river in the world (the Nile is about 40 miles longer) but it is by far the largest in volume with over 2000 tributaries, 10 larger than the Mississippi. Belem originated in the early 1600s and was an important port during the rubber boom up until WWI and now has a population of over 2 million. We took the tender to shore and caught the shuttle bus into the city, about 25 miles away and a 1 hour drive due to traffic. We were deposited at the Hilton hotel and the main attraction was a market about a 20 minute walk away. We walked around a bit and decided not to go to the market since rain looked imminent. There wasn’t anything of interest in the area so we took the shuttle back. The rain began almost immediately as we drove through the city with an eclectic mix of old world Portuguese and new world high rise architecture. There were numerous apartment complexes with guarded and gated entries. The rain was still pouring down when we got back to the dock so we tendered back to the ship for lunch. After lunch the sun returned so we tendered back to shore and explored the town there and found that there were numerous waterfront restaurants that would have been interesting if it weren’t raining. It was our first visit to Belem and the tours didn’t seem too appealing (people on most tours were drenched) and, in hindsight, we would either take a tour or wander around the port town if we visit again. We got back on board in time to join our trivia team and win again and then went to the bridge to watch the sail away. In the Galileo’s Lounge we sat with 2 women we know and ended up joining them for dinner. We were tired and decided to skip the show and go to the room to read before falling asleep early. The ship crossed the Equator into the Northern hemisphere a few seconds before midnight but we were asleep and didn’t even feel the bump.