Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon River, is a surprising city. And a hot one! Our bus arrived around 9am, and a friendly security guard at the bus station got us a map and helped us with which bus to take to our hostel.

Fortunately, though we arrived way before check in time, we were let into our room and we able to wash off the sweat from our day of roaming São Luís, before going out for some sight seeing.

We went first to the shores of the river to Estação das Docas, where old port warehouses have been fixed up into shops and restaurants. We checked out a few for lunch but they weren't really in our price range.

Mercado Ver-o-Peso was a bit further along the foreshore, and while there were plenty of places to eat there, we weren't sure of the standard. The markets also had various other items for sale, including Amazonian medicines, bottled up and labelled by the women selling them. If only we could have worked out what they were all for!

We settled on a coffee shop for lunch that had sandwiches and pastries that were all quite average, then walked further along the river to the old fort, Forte do Presépio. It was really nicely restored and contained and interesting archaeological museum with pottery, smoking pipes, urns and other items retrieved from in and around the fort.

From there we wandered back to our hostel via some streets jam packed with shops and market stalls selling mostly clothes. After spending a few hours doing some research and booking a few things for the next stages of the trip, we suddenly realised it was after 8 so we should get some dinner. We had seen a Giraffas that we knew, from São Luís, was a good feed but when we arrived they were closing!

We walked a few blocks and could find nothing open, not even the supermarket! About to give up and dig into our muesli bar stash, we saw some lights on a distant corner and decided to check it out.

A little street side food cart was set up, with a bunch of tables and chairs up against the wall under the awning due to the rain. It was crowded and we actually had to wait a minute or 2 for a seat. We were handed a menu with about 20 different burger options which said the place had been there 40 years! Quite the institution apparently, and the burgers were cheap and delicious!

The next day we had made a small list of sites we wanted to see. First was a conservation and research zoo called Museu Emílio Goeldi. It's 147 years old, and aside from research facilities also contained species that can be found throughout the Amazon. The park is a lovely little pocket of forest in the middle of the city, with pathways that lead you past cages and pens containing birds, small mammals, caiman, turtles, tortoise, monkeys, giant otter, big cats and more.

We had a great time wandering through and spotting all the different creatures we hoped to see in the wild in the next few days, as well as escaping the heat a little in the shady forest. A sad thing was watching one of the jaguars pacing backwards and forwards looking bored and like it wanted to kill us. At least the centre knows that the enclosure is not up to standard and will be constructing a new one soon.

Next we went back to the city centre for a tour of the Teatro da Paz. The theatre is beautifully decorated with wooden parquetry and mosaic tiled flooring, crystal chandeliers, ornate balconies, and a lovely pained ceiling. We heard stories of the first floor balcony and the stairs leading to it being designed especially to receive Dom Pedro, though he never went there to watch a show.

Afterwards we walked to Mangal das Garças, a park with manicured gardens and animals such as ibis and iguanas wandering freely. The park contained some attractions that you could pay to see, and while the ticket was twice the price of what the lonely planet told us, we decided to still see them.

First was an observation tower, that had river and city views from the top, great for some photos. We could also see a flock of flamingos misbehaving from our vantage point in the park below. The aviary contained a variety of bird species including spoon bill ducks and ibis, and a Nautical museum had models of boats from Brazil naval history, Indian boats, nautical equipment etc.

Lindsay's favourite was the butterfly enclosure, containing about 20 different species, though not all of them were around as it was late in the day, they apparently went off to sleep. There were still quite a few flying around and feeding on flowers, some staying still long enough for some close up photos!

We finished the sights at Mangal das Garças just in time to make our way to Estação das Docas, to Amazon Beer. This microbrewery had a selection for about 6 beers including a stout made with Açaí (a delicious Amazonian fruit, usually consumed in the form of juice or icecream). When we ordered our first beers, the waiter put down a piece of paper with 60 little beers on it, marking off the 2 we ordered. It was a great concept, allowing us to track how many we had drunk, but 60 seemed a bit optimistic!

We enjoyed a few delicious beers, pilsner, lager, stout etc. and just some nibbles for dinner since the food was quite expensive. We were extremely jealous as we watched hordes of people line up for the buffet that look incredible!

In the morning we were off to the airport bound for Manaus!

LAPFWT