Brazil Day 3: Exploring

Today, Sunday, we had the opportunity to explore Belem before boarding the boat on Monday. Us 5 met up with Bill, Patsy and Glynn. We went to an open market with vendors lining a wide sidewalk, a band was playing, and a protest congested traffic in the parallel street. Trees created shade which made the temperature pleasant. We saw lots of jewelry, cloths, cute sandals, and other crafty items. I loved it!

This young lady made the jewelry that we bought.

Handmade sandals! They were all so amazing. I resisted and didn't buy any, but they were amazingly crafted.

Some sweet hand made instruments.

A protest near by.

You could rent these little cars for the kids to ride by the market. What a cute idea.

After spending some time and money at the market we walked about 25 minutes to a restaurant. 

On our walk Dad noticed the correctional facility.

Lots of graffiti throughout the city.

The type restaurant we went to is well known in Brazil. Its like a buffet on steroids. They bring different meats and all different cuts to the table the entire time plus there is a line of sides to choose from. It was delicious and definitely filling! It was fun to experience too since Brazil is known for this type of restaurant.

Pineapple cooked with cinnamon....brilliant!

This is the pineapple, but this is how they would come around with all the different meats.

 Then we went to the Belem port to explore.

Mom and Julie couldn't help but dance to the great music.

Uncle Fred and his fedora taking a brake from the heat.

We met a Brazilian family who spoke Portuguese all except for the son-in-law. Fortunately Bill, a man with our USA team who studied Portuguese, was there and did a lot of translating. This 16-year old, Marie, asked for a picture with me so I took one with her too. They thought I was beautiful with my pale skin so apparently when my self-esteem is low all I need to do is visit Brazil! :)

This building had trees growing on it.

Julie, Fred, and I ventured down the road from the port.

Brazilian nuts. This lady was shaving them with a machete looking knife!

The market beside the port had already shut down for the day with only a few stand left open.

Beans and nuts drying.

Julie, Fred, and I reached a certain point beyond the market where we were stopped by a group of police who signaled to us to not go any further down the street. They pointed at Fred's camera and then the bum that they had in custody and then pointed to their watch indicating that we might get robbed and that it was a bad time of day to go beyond that point.

We came back to the main port to watch the sunset on the amazon but it ended up pouring rain so we enjoyed each other's company under a roof by the water instead.