Alter do Chao - Paradise on the Amazon

We arrived in Santarem ridiculously early in the morning, at around 4am or something. Whilst everyone else was packing up their hammocks and gathering their things together, we decided to stay on the boat until they kicked us off. That occurred at 6, but at least by then the buses were running.

We grabbed a quick minibus into Santarem, then set about trying to get to Alter do Chao ... principally because that's what the Lonely Planet told us to do. To be fair, they weren't far wrong. Alter do Chao is stunning.

In our guide book it describes Alter do Chao as having white sand beaches on the Amazon river. When I read this I was not expecting too much. My idea of a "river beach" is a muddy slippery bank leading down to a small patch of sand, covered in bits of wood and the odd coke can. Nothing could be further from the truth, as you can see from these pictures.



The town itself is very small, and looks out on the picturesque, white sanded Ilha do Amor. It is also situated at the confluence of the Rio Amazonas (the famous Amazon) and two large tributeries - the Rio Tapejós and the Rio Arapiunes. All three of these rivers are enormous, looking more like lakes than rivers. In actual fact the very meeting of these great bodies of water has caused a real lake (Lago Verde) to be formed, also right next to Alter do Chao. The upshot is a lot of water, some lovely beaches, and a beautiful beautiful location.

We spent our first couple of days ooohing and aaahing at the scenery, lying on the beach and enjoying the best value for money room we've come across in Brazil ... it even had air con! We were happy people. Then, on the evening of the second day we thought we would experience the sun setting over the lake ... whilst on the lake. We rented a kayak for this purpose and headed out onto it.

The kayak however, turned out to be pretty unstable. Not only did it threaten to overturn us (complete with non-waterproof camera) at every stage, it also patently refused to go in the direction we paddled in. Even with both of us paddling on the left, the blasted thing would continue to veer over to the left, until we were going round and round in ever more ridiculous looking circles, much to the amusement of the locals watching from the shore. In the end I paddled while Liz steered, and we managed to get at least a little ways out into the lake. We then got tired and retired to a nearby beach ... which also gave fantastic views of the sun set fortunately.


After the sun set, rather than struggle back to the rental place in the dark, we beached the thing at the earliest opportunity and dragged it back. At least it was exercise! We then retired to a restaurant to try Pirarucu - the Amazon river's tasty resident fish.