Day 62 - 12/07/23 - Alter do Chão, Brazil

 Alter do Chão is located on the Rio Tapajós which is a tributary feeding the Amazon.  With the drought, the water level on this river was very low and there were a series of barges moored end to end which served as a dock for our tender.  We got Tender #1 tickets in the Wajang as part of our Mariner 5 Star status.  The water in the Tapajós is quite clear but extremely low..  From the tender barges, it was a 100 yard walk up a very sandy beach to what would normally be the dock area where we were greeted by a small band and a dancer.  Across a little boardwalk and past a covered archway, there were a number of vendors and we found some cool hand painted T-shirts with the Amazon River portrayed on them.


Angela's goal was to find some fish scales (finger nail files) and possibly a dress, while my objective was to find a barber.  With all of those objectives in mind, we walked up the Main Street to the town square and began looking for a barber.  Finally I looked in Google Maps, and found a nearby barber.  While I was getting my hair cut, Angela found a dress she liked.  The hair cut was $6 but I gave the young barber $20 as that's what I typically pay at home.  We continued our stroll and eventually found ourselves back in the town square where we bought a few things at the Mercado "supermarket" and visited the church.  After resting in the shade sipping our Coke Zeros, we found a little place that sold Açaí and the lady also made us a tapioca sandwich which had goat cheese and tomatoes.  It's a Brazilian item that was recommended to us by a tour guide.  Both were quite good.  We enjoyed the items and conversed with another couple that we persuaded to try the sandwiches.  

Barbershop 

Artist painting a new mural

Church Exterior

Church interior

Lunch 

With the little lunch in our bellies, we headed off to walk to the end of the promenade and visit the remaining shops before walking back along the promenade to the tender area.  It was blazing hot and we relaxed in the pop-up tent shade before boarding an equally blazing hot tender for the two mile ride out to the Zaandam.

We showered and enjoyed a Pinnacle dinner with Solange and Bill before attending both performances of Luca Lattanzio, an Italian tenor who could really belt out the tunes.  Afterwards on our nightly bug walk, we encountered a very large moth as big as Angela's hand.

When we retuned to our stateroom there was an invitation to an Officer's Dinner Table in the Main Dining Room tomorrow hosted by Florian. It's our first invitation of this type ever in over 800 cruise days.  Unfortunately I had to cancel another dinner invitation, but the person was understanding and we rescheduled it for another evening.


Tomorrow is the first of two sea days before we are out of the Amazon and into the open Atlantic Ocean.


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