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The municipality of Santarem, which is slightly bigger than Belgium, has just 32km of asphalted road. A good two-thirds of this is accounted for by the road that leads from Santarem to its beach resort of ALTER DO CHAO , and you can't fault their transport priorities. Alter do Chao is a very beautiful bay in the Rio Tapajos overlooked by two easily climbable hills, one the shape of a church altar, giving the place its name. Most of the year the bay is fringed by white sand beaches , which combine with the deep blue of the Tapajos to give it a Mediterranean look. In the dry season a sandbank in the middle of the bay is accessible either by wading or by canoe, and simple stalls provide the fried fish and chilled beer essential to the full enjoyment of the scene. During the week you'll almost have the place to yourself, unless you're unlucky enough to coincide with one of the periodic invasions by hundreds of elderly tourists from a cruise ship docked at Santarem. Weekends see the tranquillity shattered, as Santarenhos head out en masse for the beach - be careful if you're heading back to Santarem on a weekend afternoon as many drivers on the road will be drunk. If the beach is too crowded, get a canoe to drop you on the other side of the bay at the entrance to the path leading up to the higher conical hill. It's a half-hour walk through the forest and finally up above it to the top and a breathtaking view of the meeting of the Tapajos and Amazon rivers. One essential sight is the Centre for the Preservation of Indian Art (daily 9am-noon & 1-5pm; $3.50), a spectacular collection of Indian artefacts from all over the Amazon basin put together by an American and his Indian wife who settled in Alter do Chao. The centre is not difficult to find: it's by some way the largest building in the village, and its painted adobe walls might look more at home in New Mexico, were it not for the Indian masks nodding in the breeze outside. The collection is good and there is the bonus of a gift shop stuffed with far better Indian goods than those in any FUNAI shop, as well as a good range of books. Although prices are in dollars, and can therefore seem expensive, the reason is an honourable one: this shop is unusual in that a fair price is paid to the makers of the goods on sale.
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