Belém

Belém is a large city near the mouth of the Amazon River.

We were supposed to dock at the port outside of the city, but it turned into a tender port to a small dock then an hour long bus ride into the downtown area at Estação das Docas, which are some old warehouses that have redeveloped into restaurants and shops. They left the old loading cranes.

We looked at the Vero Peso market briefly while walking by. This is a market that both locals and tourists use. These photos are from the local’s portion.

We walked by the Cathedral, but didn’t go in, intending to do that on our way back. But we forgot about the afternoon siesta where many things close, including the cathedral, so we didn’t get to see inside.

Our route included a single lane one way road with narrow sidewalks, but had tour buses going down it to get to the park. Along the way I saw this very neatly organized hardware store.

Our target is Mangal das Garças which is about a mile walk from the market. This park was created in 2005 and has a number of captive birds (wings clipped) and others (50+ Great Egrets) that like to hang out here.

We saw this cannonball tree blooming as we entered.

The Egrets were fighting amongst themselves over these roots. I didn’t see one get eaten, but others were attempting to steal it.

Another Egret caught a lizard that put up a bit of a fight to get away. Here it is wrapping itself around the egret’s bill. It didn’t get away.

We got a snack at the open air cafe, an egret flew in and landed on the chest freezer in front of the bar, then started looking over the bar.

A Snowy Egret came around tentatively looking for a handout.

There were numerous Green Iguanas.

Other birds hanging out were

Some of the captive birds

Note that the flamingos get their pink color from eating an algae rich in carotenoids. These may have not eaten much of that recently, so have lost their pink color.