ALTER DO CHAO

ALTER DO CHAO

This small island town is located on the Rio Tapajos and is a destination for populations of large Brazilian cities because of its white sand beaches. Because the Rio Tapajos is a major tributary of the Amazon, we experienced the "meeting of the waters" where the muddy waters of the Amazon meet the clear waters of the Rio Tapajos. But first, to catch you up, Norma's sore throat wasn't getting much better so we decided once again to eat in the room and enjoy the movie, The Danish Girl. It was a little strange but extremely well acted. The main actor gave an Oscar performance in my opinion. Yesterday's weather was much cooler, very humid, and misty. Not much to see from the ship. We ended up in our cabin passing the time by doing a small jigsaw puzzle. We went to the medical facility this morning and picked up some cough drops for Norma - $10 US doubled what we'd pay back home in Canadian dollars. At noon, we went to the upper deck to hear the lecturer's presentation on what we were seeing while entering the "meeting of the waters".
After lunch, we decided to take the tender to Alter do Chao. Walked along the beach and waded in the water before heading into the town. After a half hour we decided we'd had enough of the heat and sun (which is unusual for this time of year as we are here in the rainy season). Temperature was 95 degrees with very high humidity. We just missed the tender back so waited in the hot sun for 15 minutes for the next one. It was packed and it took about 15 minutes to unload it. Twenty people got on and then one gentleman collapsed from the heat. That was it. He got on and the rest of us got to wait another 15 minutes for the next one. As it was unloaded, another woman collapsed. This time, logic prevailed and they allowed a full complement of 150 to get on. By this time most of us had run out of water and were in danger of collapsing ourselves. Never have I been so glad to get back to air conditioning. I should mention that one woman who can hardly walk - we've seen her with her walker on the ship - got off the tender. It took her at least 10 minutes to get off the tender - she had to be lifted - carried down the pier to get to her walker in the sand. She was on the same tender as we were coming back. I can understand that you want to do these things but there was no way she should have been permitted ashore. There was at least 50 yards of soft sand to navigate and a rickety stair case to a wooden boardwalk that I had trouble navigating, before getting to the town proper. That, and at least 200 people in line in the hot sun waiting to get onto the tender. The dock and steps reminded me of some of the landings Nicole and I had on our Southeast Asia cruise. We met the husband of a couple who were on the Baltic cruise with us and enjoyed reminiscing with him.
Once back, we poured ourselves a glass of wine before a shower, laundry, and lunch at the specialty French restaurant, Signatures.
Tomorrow it is supposed to be 95 degrees and very humid. The same tendering process and small village is on the agenda. We will have to think long and hard about participating.