Pará (Brazil)

Pará, the second largest state in Brazil by area. It is located in the north of Brazil, and encompasses the mouth of the Amazon River.



Cities

 * — the capital and terminus for a trip down the Amazon
 * — a coastal city on the island of Maiandeua
 * — home to one of the most beautiful freshwater beaches in the world, leading to it being popularly known as the Brazilian Caribbean
 * — Henry Ford moved his rubber cultivation project here after he failed in Fordlândia
 * — an agricultural town on the way to Salinópolis
 * — a regional center for education and trade
 * — a historic city where Henry Ford once tried to cultivate rubber
 * — a small city near the end of navigable part of the Tapajós river
 * — famous for some nearby ancient rock paintings
 * — the main city of southeast Pará
 * — this city was founded in the 1980s to support the world's largest iron ore mine, and still has an air of pioneers and adventurers
 * (also known as Salinas) — a beach resort some 300 km from Belém
 * — a small city located where the Tapajós river pours into the Amazon River

Other destinations

 * — claimed to be the world's largest fresh water island (larger than Switzerland), it has a distinct birdlife and also huge water buffalo farms
 * — an island with 17 km of beaches with freshwater tides just outside Belém, which draw vacationers primarily in the dry season
 * — 8,600 km² of very biodiverse habitat with a wide range of animals and plants (a bit smaller than Cyprus)
 * — 8,600 km² of very biodiverse habitat with a wide range of animals and plants (a bit smaller than Cyprus)

Understand
While the east is densely populated, the west is a barely developed rainforest wilderness that is being pushed back further and further by deforestation. It is home to about 40 indigenous groups.

Climate
It has a tropical climate in which there is no dry season — all months have mean precipitation values of at least 60 millimetres (2.4 in).

Get in

 * Val de Cans International Airport in Belém
 * Santarém-Maestro Wilson Fonseca Airport

See
The Port of Belém has restaurants, art galleries, a small brewery, ice-cream shops, artisan stands, regional food kiosks, coffee houses, and a touristic harbour.

Fans on industrial-urban planning may be interested in visiting Fordlândia, a prefabricated industrial town built by Henry Ford to be inhabited by 10,000 people.

Do
Every October, Belém receives tens of thousands of tourists for the year's most important religious celebration: the procession of the Círio de Nazaré.

Enjoy the beaches in Salinópolis, Alter do Chão or Ilha do Mosqueiro.

Buy
In Belém look for the Marajó-style ceramics, based on the vanished Marajoara culture, which developed on an island in the Amazon River.

Eat
Among all the Brazilian states Pará has by far the heaviest influence of indigenous cooking. Many of these dishes will taste strange to an average European, but all are quite worth a try
 * Tucupí: A yellow gravy boiled from manioc, quite bitter, goes in many dishes.
 * Maniçoba: A distant cousin of the all-Brazilian Feijoada, easily shortlisted for worst-ever-looking-food. Mostly pork and manioc, served with rice.
 * Pato no Tucupí: duck with jambú (vegetable) cooked in tucupí.
 * Tacacá: soup with tucupí, dried shrimps and jambú.
 * Açaí: soup-like dessert made from the Açaí fruit.
 * Brazil Nuts: A nut native to the region.