We arrived at the Santarém Airport in the middle of the night and luckily a driver was waiting to take us on our hour-long drive to Alter do Chão. Lillian had suggested this resort town on the Tapajos River instead of Boa Vista as a welcome change from our residency’s stark quarters… I was already familiar with the Tapajos River because of the research that went into my painting “Roads to Ruin,” and my research on the Munduruku. Thanks to journalist Terrence McCoy’s great Washington Post article called “Utopia to blight: surviving in Henry Ford’s lost jungle town,” I also knew that Ford’s storied rubber plantations “Fordlandia” and “Belterra” were located just a few hours south.
The main difference between being in the jungles in Alter do Chão as compared to the Reserve where I spent my residency was the density of the forest (on the reserve) and the ubiquity of water (in Alter do Chão). Actually, the temperature was also different. Of course we were still experiencing the heat of the equator, but here there was a constant breeze and the air was lighter.
Thanks to a friend of Rogerio Assis, Caetano Scanavino, we were directed to the coastal port to look set up a tour for the next day with ATUFA – a collective of local boat drivers and tour guides.
We found a friendly boat pilot who didn’t speak English. But Jerry was clever enough to go on WhatsApp and have me speak to someone who could. That person connected me with Maira Irigaray, whose interests dovetailed with my own. Aside from having lived in Florida and Denver and speaking English fluently, her focus was on environmental justice, and she was very familiar with the Munduruku people. She reinforced an important lesson I learned on my residency from fellow artist Sidouhi: Indigenous people don’t want to be objectified and used to demonstrate western sympathies. Too often, outsiders talk about them without real awareness or understanding. Maira argued it was best to celebrate the power, wisdom and sustainability of indigenous peoples rather than report on their abuse. We made plans to spend the next day with her on the river visiting a number of communities.
Our first day in Alter do Chau was devoted to recovering from our all night trip, organizing and working on some blog writing. After connecting with Maira, we wandered in town looking for a place for coffee. Ella spied a ACAÍ sign up the road where we settled at a table hosted by lovely Rosa.
From there we walked back to Ella’s place nearby, stopping to explore along the way.
Then Richard figured out how to walk along the water back to our hotel from there which was about a 10-minute walk in the sand along the surf.
I was mesmerized by everything around me and beneath my feet.
After we stopped at our hotel, we changed into bathing suits and went back to the beach. Towards dinner time we all walked back to the beach town and found a lovely restaurant, facing the river.