Back in Belem

The rainy season has arrived.

Hi everyone! So here's what I've been up to the past two weeks in Belem. As you can see above, we got back from our trip just in time to see the rainy season roll around here - and to see the mosquitos come with it... At school we've divided our time between Portuguese class and figuring out our final research project that starts next month, but outside of class I decided to explore the city a little more. First I decided to revisit Ver-O-Peso, the downtown market where you can get virtually anything leaving the Amazon: fish, fruit, nuts, grains, vegetables, medicines, plants, you name it. After getting over the fear of having my camera stolen, I decided to poke around the market a bit with it.

The first stalls I passed through here were in brazil nut section (yes, a whole section for one type of nut). The process is really something. Only two animals have proven able to break open brazil nut shells: a small rodent that lives in the Amazon and the machete-wielding human. The vendors in this area would take several small, precise hacks at each nut at just the right spot to break it open. Sometimes they'd talk to me without paying any attention to where their machete was even landing. Also, they're a lot better here than back in the U.S. I really couldn't say why.

Next I visited the manioc section. The tuber is processed - whether by hacking, cooking, or beating - into at least a dozen or so different forms of food from what I've seen. Normally its made into some variety of farinha (above) and sprinkled on just about any meal people eat here. People also eat the tuber like potatoes, use the small fruits the plant produces to make pastry-like edibles, or cook the plant's leaves for 5-10 days to make jambu. I had jambu for the first time two weekends ago. Turns out that very small traces of cyanide in the leaf actually numb your tongue when you eat it, and the reason they cook it so long is to reduce the levels of cyanide...

Next up I passed the shrimp stands. They dry their shrimp before adding them to dishes, and then eat them without shelling them. Then I arrived at the fish market and saw the fish above. The fish was an aruana, and grows more than a meter long by jumping out of the water to snag large insects and birds (!) from branches hanging over the water. This one was huge by normal standards, and was selling for about $18/kilo. Supposedly its great when fried and served with açaí.

After leaving the stink of the fish market I headed along the boardwalk to the spices section. Most spices come in the form of bright, cherry-sized peppers native to the Amazon. Vendors had been offering samples of their foods to me throughout the market, but I decided to skip the free samples in this section. The color itself though was incredible. Most of the spices were either mashed into powder form or bottled in plastic water/coke bottles, if not just sold raw like the man above was doing.

Next up was Medicine Row. I wasn't sure about all the labeling, but the vendors assured me that they could fix any/all of the ailments they could just knew I had. Some of their claims seemed a bit of a stretch to me, but it was really cool to see how many different concoctions came out of the Amazon. Many times these were simply the medicines we have back home, just without a flashy product name or big pharmaceutical company to back them up.

The next day I met up with my friend Joe and visited a few museums near Ver-O-Peso. Above was the Palace of Eleven Windows, an 18th century palace that later functioned as a military hospital. They had some interesting photography exhibits there, but the view from the second floor over the Amazon basin was awesome. I learned the other day that the river passing Belem is only 1% of the Amazon's total outflow into the Atlantic. In other words, imagine 100 of those rivers flowing out to the Amazon simultaneously and you'll get a picture of the Amazon's collective mouth.

That night I came back to the colonial district once more for dinnner. Several of the city's old docks had been converted recently into As Docas (literally "The Docks" - sure is creative isn't it?) a dining/shopping destination for Belem's tourists and well-off residents, but they kept the port infrastructure and refurbished the buildings to keep the industrial feel. That night was the first time I enjoyed the Paraense gelato flavor: açaí mixed with tapioca (a form of manioc). Ben and Jerry's should seriously consider adding a new flavor...
Also, I've tried both ox liver (yes, ox liver) and bacuri beer in the past week. I don't know how, but the people at As Docas somehow brew fruit into their beer.