March 19: Alter do Chão, Brazil

Alter do Chão is a village 33 km west (or a 45 minute bus ride) from the Amazon port City of Santerem along one of the only roads in the state of Pará, Brazil.

Alter do Chão has for many years been a popular tourist destination for locals and with increasing numbers of tourists making trips along the Amazon River this village is becoming a well-known international destination.

The small village is located on the Tapajós River and next to Lago Verde. Opposite the village and between these two bodies of water there is a sand bank, which grows as the Amazon recedes in summer and fills with bars and visitors.

[source: Wikipedia]

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TOUR:  Eco Walk through Santa Lucia Arboretum

Description

From the pier in Alter do Chão, you’ll travel by local coach on the one-hour journey to Bosque Santa Lucia (the Santa Lucia Arboretum). Upon arrival at this woodland treasure, set out with your guide to explore its natural wonders on foot. This area boasts more than 200 species of trees including the rubber tree. Brazil introduced the world to the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, and although the natural rubber trade no longer plays a significant part in the economy, it is forever linked to Brazil’s past. Discover the different species of trees and their seeds, such as the Brazil nut and hardwood. Following your one-hour stroll, return to Alter de Chão, where free time is afforded to browse at the pier area before re-boarding the ship.

 [source:  MAASDAM cruise website]

Experience

We awoke to rain.  When we alighted from our tender on shore, it was still raining.  We boarded our bus in the rain.  It was mostly rainy during the one-hour ride to the arboretum. 

The bus did not have air conditioning.  The challenge was to open the windows enough to let in some air without too much water.  The bus also had very poor shock absorbers.  Part of our trip was over roads that repeatedly proved the inadequacy of the shock absorbers.  If the entire tour was divided into three parts – trip to arboretum, arboretum walk and trip back to Alter do Chao – this bus ride was the second best part of the tour.  I will not keep you in suspense; the ride back was the best part. 

We had been told that upon our arrival we would meet the man who founded the arboretum in the 1970’s, but he was not there.  Our walking tour therefore began with an explanation of how tapioca is produced.  We had already learned this at the EcoPark in Manaus which was fortunate because our guide’s explanation was poor and a key prop was missing from the demonstration.  Those of us who knew this smiled knowingly at each other letting the other members of our group bask in the guide's deception.

We moved to the office building where we saw a three nice plants, an interesting sign (albeit having nothing to do with botany) and the husk of a Brazil nut. 

Led by our arboretum guide, a man who spoke no English and in any event seemed disinclined to be helpful, we walked along a trail.  The guide carried an unsheathed machete the entire time, perhaps symbolically cutting off questions.  Our tour guide Paulo did on occasion ask a question and translate the answer for us.  Machete-man hacked at a rubber tree to make it ooze latex and thumped it on a dead tree to annoy a colony of poisonous Bull Ants.  Paulo pointed out an Ipe tree which was of interest to me because Ipe was the sustainable hardwood used to build the Beverly Yacht Club pier.  Our eco-walk was then over.  It might have been more enjoyable if it had not rained through most of it, but probably not. 

The trail ended on a muddy road.  The mud was the heavy, clay type that clings to your shoes, constantly trying to suck them off.  The further we walked, the more mud got on our shoes making them noticeably heavier.  When we finally reached firmer ground, getting the mud off was difficult and dirty.  What fun!

Our group having almost sprinted through the forest, the other group from our bus demonstrated no similar alacrity.  The rain had stopped.  The bus was in direct sun and wrapped in a blanket of heavy humidity.  We sat and waited, opening every window on the bus in the hope of catching any bit of intermittent breeze. 

Once everyone was back on the bus, we retraced of route to Alter do Chao.  Along the way we past a “social housing” project.  Doesn’t it look inviting? 2,000 units - all exactly alike.

As we approached Alter do Chao, Paulo again expressed his sincere hope that we had enjoyed our “execution”.  Presumably he meant “excursion”. 

   

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Alter do Chao is known for its beaches.  Pam had planned to go swimming after our tour.  Her plan was thwarted by two things.  The first was the water height of the Tapajos.

The second was that our guide had mentioned during our tour that the high water brought a variety of creatures into swimming areas.  He noted that some of these creatures were capable of inflicting pain and suffering.  Recognizing that the odds of such an occurrence were very low, when combined with the lack of beach Pam opted to just put her feet in the water.

We wandered along the waterfront and around the center of town, taking a quick peek inside the local church and glancing at a number of shops and stalls.  

Finding nothing that caught our interest and a bit put off by some of the street vendors who were hippie / seedy / drug culture types from North America and Europe, we decided to return aboard MAASDAM.  

Departing Alter do Chao, the ship cruised down the Tapajos and into the Amazon at Santorem.  About 90 minutes later, the Captain announced that there was aboard a passenger with a serious medical condition who needed to be evacuated from the ship.  MAASDAM turned around, returning to Santorem where the passenger, rumored to have suffered a compound fracture to one leg from a fall, was taken ashore by tender. 

Turning around again, the ship continued its passage down the Amazon towards open sea.   

It will take over a day to get into the Atlantic, after which MAASDAM will turn to a northwest heading for a two day passage to Barbados.