Belem

After surviving the service shelter storm and flooded tents, it was with relief we pulled into Belem. Here, our driver Paul and the truck left us and they had to go board a cargo ferry. This part of Brazil is strewn with huge rivers and waterways – sometimes miles across. There are no roads. The only way to access certain parts of Northern Brazil is to take a ferry crossing. Unfortunately lorries and trucks have to go on different ferries to passengers. So Bob (the truck) left us and we had to wait a few days before the next passenger ferry left. They also travel at different speeds so we were all due to arrive at our destination at roughly the same time.
Belem used to be a thriving city one hundred years ago, unfortunately it is pretty desolate and unloved now. Most of the buildings are crumbling and practically ever surface is covered in graffiti. Our hotel was in such a dodgy neighbourhood that every single taxi driver did not believe we wanted to go there! However, you should never judge a book by its cover and when you entered the crumbling concrete facade of our hotel, you were shocked to discover it backed onto the Amazon river and had a beautiful open dining area not to mention a huge pool with a fake island in the middle of it!
It was here we also found to our cost, how different the biting insects of the Amazon are. They bite through everything and whilst normally, you should re-apply extra strong repellent every 5-6 hours, here it was every 2 hours at the latest. After the first evening, we were all covered with multiple, very painful bites – some which were oozing!
The jewel in Belem’s crown is certainly its theatre. A guided tour showed us the beautifully painted dome ceiling, the original wooden seating and the ornate lighting. The best orchestras from Europe not to mention the best ballet troupes all used to flock here to perform. As well as the theatre, Belem has a thriving market and fish market. The fishmongers were cutting up huge fish and they took a lot of pride in their knife-work, displaying the delicately cut little fish on the counter tops.
After realising we were here a century too late to enjoy Belem, we spent the majority of the time back at the hotel watching the sunset over the Amazon and having the odd drink or two. Before long, it was time to depart for the ferry. The ferry was an overnight hammock ferry to Macapa. The previous day I had bought my hammock in the market for a grand total of $25 reals – that’s approximately £6. The touristy hammocks in Rio were going for $500 reals!
We were due to depart at noon but the ferry didn’t show up till 1pm. Then it was a mad dash to run onto the ferry to string your hammocks up. A couple of people in the group are over 60 – so they got priority boarding. They had also been given all the hammocks so they could try to get as many up before the rest of the crowds rush on. Surprisingly, they had managed to get most of the hammocks up in the same general area. I was not expecting the ferry to be anywhere near as crowded as it was. I had some romantic notion in my head of the 15 of us, alone on the deck of an old wooden steamer, hammocks swaying in the breeze. Turns out there was about 150 people just on our level – there was another level – but that was open sided, our level had glass doors to keep the elements out. Hammocks were strung everywhere, sometimes above or below you, definitely to every side of you. It is not the place to be if you are in anyway claustrophobic.

Danny had brought his inflatable sofa with him (as you do) and a very pleasant afternoon was spent on the top deck of the boat, in the blazing sunshine (around 40 degrees), sat in the sofa, having rum and cokes and talking with the locals.
After weaving myself back to my hammock – very difficult to do when the hammocks are full and there is all the luggage piled up underneath and in every available space on the floor – I tried to settle down for the night. Luckily I had brought a jumper because the air-con was turned on fully making it approximately 5 degrees C! Spent most of the night shivering and had just drifted off to sleep when at 5am an incredibly loud tannoy came on and the captain announced it was time for everyone to get up for breakfast!
I did eat my three pieces of fruit and a square of tapioca cake and then spent the rest of the morning trying to fall asleep again – but to no avail. 27 hours after boarding, we rolled up the hammocks, left the ferry and staggered off to find our hostel. The hammock ferry is an experience I am never going to forget!