Belem to Mexiana Island

Four hour delays are apparantly normal in Brazil, and after extracating ourselves from Sao Paulo, going through Belem to stick our heads in at the local fish market, we boarded a charter for Mexiana Island, smack in the Amazon delta.

After touching down on this waterlogged lump of tidal mud, we set to work trying to lure a giant Arapima from the dark leafy waters along the grassy stretches between the coastal forest. Folks here have actually changed the landscape to aid the proliferation of these giant fish, and before long Scott (our sportfishing guide) had one hooked up. We threw the 54kgs specimen back and the next day while fishing with an old man managed to hook the above lunker. These beautiful fish are, according to Dr Zeb Hogan, really prehistoric in many ways and actually have to gulp air every fifteen minutes or so.

This one also went back overboard, much to our relief, and with this catch our time at Mexiana was done. We packed up and headed back to Belem, and on to Manaus...