The night did not bring any surprises, the morning did; just after sunrise we approached Belem and the activities on board became very quickly very hectic. One hammock after the other disappeared and all passengers were packing up their stuff. I had the time to watch each one; I knew that I would have to wait until all passengers had left the ship before the carriers would have the time to load off my friend the car and before the port authorities would have issued the liberation.

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It was Sunday morning, very, very early Sunday morning and the city of Belem appeared asleep; the captain slowed down the engine and we were floating quietly towards a silent city and an empty dock. The dock was similar to Santarem in a commercial area of the port and I could not see any other ship at all. I remember just 3 days ago the Amazon Star was squeezed in between a good number of ships in the port of Manaus and now here in Belem not a single ship.

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The skyline came closer and closer, we started to pass the first residential towers and I had the feeling that we would be anchoring in one of the noblest areas of Belem. The commercial port was in between the construction of the most modern architectural buildings with square or round shaped and shiny green glass facades and terraces.

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A handful of carriers all dressed in blue were waiting to carry the luggage and boxes of the passengers. The ship had anchored quite a bit away from the exit and most of the passengers had much more luggage than they could carry and all carriers became busy, actually, passengers needed more transport than carriers were available. Each of the carriers would get at least 2 to 3 clients on this quiet Sunday morning.

The deck became empty and I started to pack my backpack and walked down to get an update on the procedure. The commercial manager had taken the documents of the car to the port authorities who had to verify and then liberate the car. He asked me to be patient and wait at least another hour; it was Sunday morning and the port authorities had just arrived, probably had a coffee first and had to start the computers before they may consider starting working.

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All passengers had left within half an hour and only the owner of another car and a family that   had moved house with the Amazon Star were waiting together with me on board. I had to wait exactly 1 hour, maybe 1 or 2 minutes more but then a sign from the commercial manager indicated that the liberation had arrived; he handed me the keys of the car and the document to be present to the security to pass the gate of the port. The security scared me and asked for more documents of the car, which I did not have. However, on a very, very early Sunday morning I could get away with my true story of my robbery in Quito and unfortunately the documents in question had been robbed as well. I passed the gate and drove off.

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Belem is a big city and typical for Brazilian cities with little, confusing or no signboard to show tourist and Gringo’s the way out of town. My natural orientation was working slow but correct; I stopped at the next gas station, filled up the tank and asked for the way and yes, my natural orientation had been correct and I was on my way out of Belem and back to Natal, yes, back to Natal and back to my baby Matilda.

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I listened to one more mix of my friend Albert and drove on, and on, and on, no air condition to save gas, windows open to feel the wind and cool me down. I drove on, and on and reached the village of Bom Jardim; ‘Good Garden’ sounded like a Good Place to stay for a Good Night sleep.

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For a small understanding of the days travel, I have included a Google Earth map. The red pins mark the locations I have stopped and taken pictures. At the bottom of the page you will find a link for all the pictures I have taken. The link will open in a Google+ Album.

Please click on map to enlarge!!!

See map and distances / Siehe Karte und Entfernungen / Ver mapa e distâncias / Ver mapa y distancias

0 km      Belem

70 km    Castanhal

115 km  Santa Maria de Para

165 km  Capanema

210 km  Santa Luzia

255 km  Cachoeira do Piria

305 km  Junco do Maranhao

335 km  Maracaçume

395 km  Santa Luzia do Parua

470 km  Ze Doca

515 km  Bom Jardim

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