Well, I made it to Belem and, having spent two days in this likeable little city with another lovely Couchsurfer (this time, Ana, a 33 year old English and Portuguese literature teacher originally from Rio), I’m now heading off further around the coast to Sao Luis. Belem was a welcome break and I really enjoyed its gentle pace and European-style elegance (it was a city similar to Manaus in its rubber-boom hey-day era, but now seems progressive in a newer sense with lots of tall buildings, businesses and smart shops). It has left me suitably revived after my Amazon river-boat experience (and the ensuing rush to the airport at Santarem for that early morning Thursday flight!) and now I’m ready to meet Brazil’s ‘nordeste’ (north eastern) region, where African rhythms, flavours and general influences are said to be more pronounced.
Having looked at my map and my time-scales again, and having not heard any more from the Couchsurfer in Rio who originally said he’d host me during Carnaval (he seems to have dropped off the radar and hasn’t responded to any of my recent messages), it now looks as if I won’t actually be passing the festivities in the ‘Cidade Maravilhosa’ (‘marvellous city’, as Rio is known). I’m not too upset about this now, though, as I’ll catch up with Rio later (perhaps even overlapping with Mum and Dad who arrive there on 1st March) - and I’m sure I’ll be able to make the most of it then.
Instead, for Carnaval, with the help of Luciana (who is going to put me in touch with a friend of hers), I should be heading to Salvador de Bahia. Word amongst Brazilians is that Carnaval is actually a lot more fun there in that you get to participate more and join in with the celebrations (as opposed to just watching them). It is supposed to be quite crazy and wild, however, and Luciana and her sister squealed with excitement when they talked to me about how I was going to ‘kiss so many guys’ (it seems a bit terrifying and orgiastic, actually – apparently everyone just goes around kissing and groping each other!)! It all sounds a bit like the New Year’s Eves that I used to spend at The Hard in Portsmouth when I was a teenager. Oosh, will I be able to keep up with that?! I hope so...
Carnaval actually makes me think of New Years Eve in many senses, in that there is immense pressure to figure out what you are going to do, where you are going to go, who you are going to spend it with, what (often hugely expensive) tickets you are going to buy. I’m sure you can imagine what it’s like. I’ve been feeling a bit stressed out about it over the past few weeks, but now I have decided to just let it float. I’ll be in Brazil (a country that I am really coming to love – principally on account of the wonderful warmth of its people), so I’m confident that I’ll have a good time wherever I end up.
I’ve entitled this entry ‘Tapioca Tales’ (and I’ll try to keep it brief) as that is the principal food that I’ve been tucking into here in Belem. In fact tapioca is something of a passion in this part of Brazil… It’s not tapioca as we know it, though - not the school dinner sloppy stuff that my brother and I used to call ‘bubble pudding’ when we were kids. Instead, over here, tapioca is pounded into a kind of gummy paste and flipped over in a heated pan to make a white chewy type of pancake. I first tried it when Luciana’s Mum served it up to me with butter for breakfast in Manaus. Here in Belem, though, there are restaurants and cafes where you can get tapioca rolled up and filled with almost anything you care to imagine.
Last night when Ana and her friend Derek (I’m not sure how authentically Brazilian that name is, but that’s how he introduced himself!) took me out to a ‘tapiocaria’ for dinner, they ordered tapioca with ‘queijo e doce de cupacu’ on my behalf when I requested something typical and authentic. This meant I got a tapioca pancake filled with cheese and a very sweet jam made out of cupacu - a uniquely Amazonic fruit that I don’t really know how to describe as it is so unlike anything we have back in the UK. To drink I had a can of the fizzy guarana stuff that I am now becoming quite fond of. Sometimes called ‘guarana champagne’ (although it is not alcoholic), it is made out of a fruit that is supposed to have great health and energy giving qualities. In that respect it is a bit like ‘acai’, the dark purple berry that I was taken off to try today at the ‘Ver O Peso’ market. I can’t say I was quite so taken with that (it is slurped from a bowl in puree form, and has a peculiar muddy taste and texture). I’m sure I am going to be a vitamin filled picture of health by the time I leave the Amazon region though- what with all these new fruits that I am trying!
The tapioca experience was a nice way to round off yesterday evening (we followed it with an ice-cream and some beers at the loveliest ramshackle little wooden bar on the edge of the docks looking out onto the Amazon). Earlier in the day Ana was working so, after catching up on some missed sleep in the morning at her flat, I spent the afternoon wandering around her neighbourhood here on the edge of Belem. I visited a local zoological park, where I was actually able to see a little more Amazon wildlife than I had done on the boat-trip. It’s a shame my photos of the wonderfully colourful tropical birds and funny banana munching monkeys didn’t come out famously due to the poor light under the dense green foliage. Nevermind, though, I can’t capture everything I am encountering on this trip on film.
It was particularly pleasant yesterday, after being cooped up so long on the boat and in the airport beforehand, just to get out exploring on the streets again – even though the early afternoon heat was punishing and the standard late afternoon tropical showers in Belem torrential. Luckily, just as the rain started I found myself near to the famous Nossa Senhora de Nazare church where I was able to take refuge. One of the most decorative and much visited churches in South America (especially in October when pilgrims flock here to see - yep, you’ve guessed it – another effegy of the Virgin Mary!), it really was a place of peace and beauty where, in spite of not being a conventionally religious person, I felt able to rest, take stock and, once again, thank whoever or whatever makes the world tick for all the wonderful experiences I have been having lately.
My final memories of Belem will be of this afternoon when, as mentioned, I went to the bustling waterfront market with Ana and another Couchsurfing friend, Bruno (as in Maracaibo, there is quite a Couchsurfing community here in Belem and I’ve even bought a ‘Couchsurfers of Belem’ T-shirt from Ana which Bruno designed!). After acai and freshly fried Amazon river fish for lunch, Ana had to go off and work. Therefore Bruno became my tour guide for the afternoon. He was full of energy and fun (and funny turns of phrase – although his English was generally great!) and he took me around a few museums before we returned to the riverfront bar from last night for late afternoon beers. Bruno was characteristically relaxed (Brazilian style!) and told me that I had plenty of time to get back to Ana’s flat, shower, change and get to the ‘rodoviaria’ for my 7.00pm coach to Sao Luis. Come about 6.00pm I was getting a bit anxious, though, with my British time-fretful characteristics coming to the fore (I knew it took quite a while for us to get, by bus, to the docks from Ana’s house on the way down there, and then I knew that the rodoviaria was another 20 minutes away).
Just to spice things up (as usual - I don’t think I’m ever going to have a completely smooth experience in a new city on my travels!), today ended with a mad dash to the bus station, with me chewing my nails, and with my stomach tied in knots because I was convinced I had missed my coach. “Don’t worry, breathe!” (his favourite expression!), Bruno assured me as the digital clock display on the taxi dashboard beamed 7.11pm . “This is Brazil, and that bus won’t leave on time”. Remembering my boat travels earlier in the week I should have realised that and, sure enough, the bus didn’t pull out of the rodoviaria until about 8.00pm.
So, another travel-related panic over, here I am, recomposing myself, as I sit next to a church minister (who I’ve actually been able to have a reasonable conversation with in ‘Spanuguese’ – my new invented and rather bungled language!). I’m not sure if he will have converted me by the time we get to Sao Luis (actually I shouldn’t say that – he seems like a very pleasant and non-proselytising guy), but I am generally feeling very ‘blessed’ and in a good frame of mind at present. I’m missing my hammock now I’m back on an overnight bus, but, weighing up the coach versus Amazon boat travel, it does feel good to be back hurtling down a motorway with air-conditioning, as opposed to being stranded on the banks of the river sweating. I certainly won’t be missing my 6.00am stale bread roll and margarine, or those boat toilets either!
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