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Live the adventures of Dan Walker's travels through reading his travel journal. The travel journals are listed below in descending order of date. To search the travel journals, use the keyword search at the bottom of the page.

Journal Entry:

Sunday, May 19, 2002 16:23:49

Amazon 2002: 6 - Belem, Brazil to San Jose, Costa Rica via Rio de Janeiro

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 On our last night on board we were moored at the dock in Belem. After dinner there was a fun quiz about things we had seen and learned during the trip where teams of players worked together on their answers. The winners were awarded champagne and wines. We failed to be among the winners in spite of cheating mercilessly, but as unlimited booze was included in the price it wasn't that great a loss!

Our group stayed on in the bar; and gradually one by one headed off to bed. Other than officers and staff we were the only ones there. Marilynn headed off about 3 AM, but Roger and I carried on with the captain and a couple of others until nearly 5 AM. At this point we finally had to concede that we would be unable to drink the ship dry, and headed for bed. The 6:30 AM wakeup call ensured that there wasn't enough sleeping time to become hung over, so it worked out well.

We were bussed to the Hilton hotel, where rooms were booked for us all. The six of us set out on a walking tour of town, heading first for the market where we were able to get into some early morning cold beer, believing at this point that maintaining a certain glow would avoid what otherwise would be an inevitable hangover.

The market in Belem is quite large, and very interesting. It is located right on the arm of the Amazon that goes past Belem, and offers just about anything you might want to buy. Just past the market is the fisherman's cove, which looks like it is out of a movie depicting a pirate's hang out. Lots of weird and wonderful looking fish species were for sale along the jetty. Past that we walked through some of the historic old city of Belem, circling through the back streets to return to the Hilton.

In spite of unbelievably bad service we got through lunch at the hotel, and saw John and Lee off as they embarked upon a long set of flights back to Vancouver, starting with the flight in the wrong direction to Sao Paulo. It is one of the enigmas of this area that to fly north one must first fly south!

Once we had waved them off Roger and I opted for a siesta while Marilynn and Sally headed off for more shopping. We met later in the bar for a drink, where we ran into a few of the staff and crew from the Explorer. They recommended a riverfront café in what used to be a warehouse and ferry terminal area for dinner, so we taxied there to try it. It was a great recommendation. The situation was beautiful on the riverbank, and the food and service was the best we had found in Belem - a city not noted for its restaurants.

On return to the hotel we bid farewell to Roger and Sally who did not leave for their gruelling trip back to England until later the next day, while Marilynn and I required a very dreaded 4 AM wake up call.

The morning went as well as anything at that ungodly hour could, and we arrived at the airport in time to be assigned seats that allowed space for my long legs. We actually arrived about an hour and a half before the first of the rest of the passengers for our flight. It seems showing up half an hour before domestic flights is quite OK in Brazil. At any rate, the flight was comfortable, but cold. The strong air conditioning got Marilynn's allergies going very well.

We were met in Rio by the Sheraton's car as promised, and whisked off on the half hour drive across town to the hotel, which is totally on the opposite side of the city. We were met upon check in by a representative of the sales department, and given a beautiful corner suite on the 23rd floor, which overlooked the beach and the coast. There were three sets of sliding glass doors opening out onto our wrap around balcony, from which the view was spectacular.

Marilynn headed down for the pool area while I had a guided tour of the property, which is really a full facilities resort. It is a beautiful hotel, with white sand beaches running along the front of it.

After doing the tour we took the free hotel shuttle bus to Copocabana Beach, where there is a daily market from 7 PM until midnight down the boulevard in the centre of the street. We strolled down the beach, stopping at sidewalk cafes along the way for drinks. We decided to have something light to eat, so sat at a sidewalk café and ordered snacks. Prices on food and drinks here are very reasonable, although taxies are relatively expensive.

I really didn't feel like eating much, so just ordered a dish of olives, some meat filled pastries and quail eggs. We knew we were in trouble when another table was added to ours to hold the massive amount of breads and plates of food which accompanied our order. The low prices had deceive me into thinks we'd receive sparse quantities! The food was delicious, but there was no way I could wade through it, so ended up having about half of it packaged to take away with us.

We walked back to the market area, where Marilynn was in her glory shopping. We located a young fellow who was trying to sell some small items. He said he was hungry, so we gave him the balance of our meal. We didn't wait for the free shuttle back to the hotel, and I was dead tired, so we took a taxi back.

In the morning we stayed in bed until late in the morning, then went down to the ocean for a refreshing dip. The water is crystal clear here. The temperature is about the same as the northern Costa Rican beaches on the Pacific side. We then found an English speaking taxi driver and hired him by the hour (about $12 per hour) to tour us around. We hit the regular spots such as the Corcovado, the Laguna and drove through various districts of Rio ending up in the centre of town where the pedestrian shopping streets are. Before leaving our taxi we made arrangements for him to pick us up and take us to the airport on Saturday.

It was interesting to walk around town, although a little slow as Marilynn could not pass a purse shop without buying one. She ended up with three. There were, of course, grandchildren to consider as well, so it was slow going. Our taxi driver had recommended Colombo's for lunch, and it was a great recommendation. Eventually, we caught another cab and headed back to the hotel.

After having a rest, we caught a taxi and instructed him to take us to a restaurant near La Platforma, a night club with a floor show to which we had tickets. There was a bit of a communications breakdown, and we were dropped at the restaurant in the Platforma, which turned out to be just fine. We passed two hours there snacking and drinking, finishing up with crepes Suzette just before the performance.

The show was good, but not up to the standards of others we had seen. It was a history of Brazil in dance, and featured some very talented acrobats and jugglers. The price of the drinks in the show was surprisingly low, so the bar bill at the end was not an unpleasant surprise. We'd planned to make a night of it, hitting some Samba dance places, but by the time the show ended at midnight we were both ready for the hotel and bed. Could this be an indication of age creeping in?

It was another late morning on Friday, and another splash in the ocean first thing. I'd wanted to introduce Marilynn to one of Rio's famous BBQ restaurants, so we decided it would be better that we do that at lunch rather than at dinner, as the volume of food available is unlimited.

At about 1:30 PM we headed off by taxi to Porcau Restaurant and were quickly shown to a table. I should mention that Rio is the opposite to Belem when it comes to eating, or most of life's pleasures for that matter. There are a vast number of excellent restaurants with fine food and good service in Rio. No matter how humble the place, we never experienced a bad meal or snack.

In the BBQ restaurants there is no menu, and one price. To say you can have all you can eat would be a bit of an understatement. There was an enormous "salad bar" with everything from a large sushi selection to quail eggs to entire huge cheeses on display. Every imaginable type of salad was offered. There was a buffet of hot entries as well, but this was only the dressing. The main attraction was the unending series of waiters who came by with various meats skewered on swords. There were 22 different items available, including various types of beef, pork, chicken, lamb, salmon, sausages and wursts. Each diner is provided with a round disk, green on one side with "yes" on it in Portuguese, and red on the other side with "no". When overloaded, you put the "no" side facing up for awhile so the swordsmen will pass you by. Each diner also is provided a set of tongs, with which to take the meat as the waiter carves it off the sword in thin slices.

We ate and drink for two hours before finally running up the white flag and signalling for the desert and liqueur cart. After settling the bill we waddled from the restaurant, and walked the few miles back to the hotel. This wasn't quite as easy as it sounds, as it involved more shopping streets in downtown Ipanema, but after various stops along the way, we made it to the hotel. There was no question of going out for dinner that night, or for anything else for that matter! We were stuffed and right out of it! It was early to bed.

Saturday, May 18, 2002 We were both up well before the wake-up call and ready for the taxi to the airport. When we boarded the flight we were delighted to meet up again the Susanna, our former expedition leader on the Explorer, and with Carol and Guiermo - two of the naturalists from the ship. They had spent a few days on an island in the Amazon off Belem, and were flying home from there. As I mentioned early, everyone must go south first to go north!

The flight to Sao Paulo is only forty minutes from Rio, and we had exit row seats, so that went well. The only problem was that the baggage could not be check through; it had to be picked up in Sao Paulo and checked back in at the COPA airline check in counter.

We received bad directions from an information person in the baggage area of the airport in Sao Paulo, and went to the totally wrong end of the huge terminal with our four suitcases and carry on bags. We finally got directed to the other end of the terminal, and found COPA, the last check in counter. The flight was due to leave in one hour and ten minutes according to our schedule, so I said to Marilynn that it must be a light flight, as there was no one in line for it. Wrong. When we got up to check in we were informed the flight had been advanced one hour and would be leaving in ten minutes. We did a rapid check in and a fast dash and made the plane, but had no expectations of seeing our luggage for a while.

Once on board I showed my elite status card and got bumped up to first class, which was nice as it is a six and a half hour flight to Panama City and this gave me room for my legs. It went well. Our connection in Panama was only half and hour, and again I got an upgrade on the flight to Costa Rica. We were soon home in Costa Rica, where miraculously our baggage not only arrived but was some of the first unloaded. We were just waved through customs and straight to a taxi home. It sure makes a difference when the aviation gods are on ones side!

The house was still standing, and all appeared well on the home front. A very excited Maya dog greeted us, and thus ended a really great trip with wonderful friends.