August 3,

We awoke and got around leisurely – no plans and most sights we were interested in are closed today. We had our Javas- which was the last of my coffee, Jeff still has lots of hot chocolate. Breakfast was oatmeal, and yogurt. I started blogging and getting everything caught up in my calendar book. Yesterday’s blog was involved and took me quite a long time to produce. Jeff took a load of clothes to a self serve laundrette that is fairly close by. The apartment doesn’t have a washer.

For lunch we had crackers & cheese, and the last of our peanuts. Jeff had communicated with our friend S. We went out to meet up with him at 1600 for drinks and a bite to eat. We let him choose where as he has been in Belem before and he is a vegetarian, which is not in our wheelhouse. He chose Capone Restaurante, which was right on the dock and we all arrived at the same time. We first sat outside but it was in the sun, so we went back into the refurbished dock warehouse. I had shrimp in a Gorgonzola cream sauce with broccoli risotto and two caipirinha’s; Jeff had penne pasta in a four cheese bolognese sauce and three beers; and S had vegan croquettes of chickpeas, sun-dried tomato, chili, cumin, and paprika with a pesto sauce – which sounded very good – and a caipirinha and two beers. The bill came to 325.54 BRL with a 10% tip, or $63.10. Jeff paid for it all. It was great to see him again and carry on like we were old friends! We stayed and talked for almost three hours. We will be leaving Wednesday and he will be leaving Thursday. We wished him well and safe travels as he did us…Godspeed S. When we left we stopped at a little stand and bought small packages of cashews and brazil nuts for 15 BRL or $2.91. Then we walked back to our place, and cooled off. It was a good day of connecting!

     August 4,

Both of us awoke around six and readied. I had a combo of instant caramel coffee and instant hot chocolate that was provided in our place by our host. She had also left us three-1.5 L bottles of water that were in the refrigerator. It is these little things that make a host super. We had a breakfast of oatmeal with cashews, and yogurt. We finished and headed out by 0940.

We had an agenda today. It was already a hot, humid day- 87° with a “feels-like” of 95° & 65% humility! We walked to the newly appointed or designated UNESCO site…Theatro da Paz. Just on July 29, six days ago, this teatro and the one in Manaus had been added to this prestigious list!!! It was July 25th we visited the Manaus Teatro- four days before it was a UNESCO Heritage site and today, we visited this one as a newly inaugurated site. We both found this fascinating. The first teatro didn’t mention the distinction! Anyway Jeff bought our tickets, costing 10 BRL each ($1.94) for a 1000 tour. I asked if it was in English and the cashier shook her head “no,” but called someone and she said one minute. She came back with a man, Elder, who became our private tour guide. He started asking where we were from. We told him the USA and he inquired which state. We told him Kansas and he asked which city. Jeff said Wichita, but he did not seem to recognize that, so I said Kansas City. He said he only knew of one city in Kansas… Lawrence – of all places – due to a “Supernatural” show.😂  Anyway the tour commenced. This “Theatro” was built in 1879. Again “Rubber Barons,” as Elder called them, played a role in the development of the place. He led us from the front hall to the show area. It was designed in the big “U” shape like Manaus’ with four sweeping layers of rowed balconies. But the prestigious here were seated in the chairs on the floor with the first layer balconies. As you went up each tier became less prominent with the last layer – at the very top – being for slaves. Jeff and I both thought the interior was not as beautiful as the other “Teatro.” But the painting on the ceiling was original from 1905 and has not ever been restored! The boxes off the sides of the stage were where young ladies were shown off for potential marriage to gentlemen, with approval only done by the fathers of the women. Elder did a great job explaining it all. He showed us the “mushroom discs” under the first, front rows of chairs… they were ‘AC’ vents!! We left and Elder took us through a hallway explaining the parquet flooring and different patterns symbolized different Amazon images: one the meeting of rivers, one water lilies. We went into the concert hall, which had only original furniture pieces. The painted ceiling in here had fallen and what was there now was placed in the 1960’s. Lastly we passed by a “mirror” but Elder said it was French. The tour ended here. We thanked him and left.

We walked to the Mangal das Garcas Zoo and Botanical Garden. This was free. We walked around. Lovely landscaped garden and water features. There was a butterfly house, many large pens of various birds: Herons, various Parrots & Parakeets, Scarlet Ibises, Belem Curassow, White-throated Toucans, and Flamingos, to name a few. There was even an Iguana strolling across some grass. We walked to a “lighthouse” tower, paying 9 BRL ($1.75) each to take the elevator up for a great view point of the city. There was a derrick displayed and some anchors also, as the gardens were located close to the waterfront of the Amazon.

I could have spent more time there but it was so hot and humid. We left and walked to the Lider grocery store, found what we needed, and went back to our place. We had a ready made salad – that we’d just bought with cheese and wine. Then we vegged out and just snacked on bread, cheese & crackers. I blogged and Jeff started packing as we leave Belem early tomorrow morning.