Sunday, November 06, 2005

Algodoal

This past weekend’s beach pick was Algodoal, which is reached by a 3 ½ hour bus ride east from Belém to Marudá and then a 30 minute boat ride to the Atlantic island. There is not a lot to do on Algodoal except go to the beach, which is exactly what I wanted. The island is very quiet with only a few thousand inhabitants and no cars. To get around, you either walk, as I did, or ride in horse-drawn two wheeled carts. The windswept beaches have dunes created by the constant winds and white, crunchy sand.

Praia Princessa

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Algodoal sounds amazing! I'm guessing the name has something to do with cotton, right? I'm off to Ilha Grande (off of the Rio coastline) this week, hopefully for some similarly good backpacking/beachcombing.
By the way, when are your finals?

blogazon said...

I don’t know the origin of Algodoal’s name; I didn’t see any algodão growing there.

Ilha Grande is awesome. I spent 5 days there in 2003. You can walk to Lopez Mendez (one of the top three beaches in Brazil, imho) along a rainforest trail from Abraão in about two hours and beat the morning boat’s arrival. You can take the afternoon boat back to Abraão.

Finals? What are those? Things are a bit different here in Belém…I leave the city on Dec. 17th and will be in SP for two days before heading to Uruguay. If you’re still there, we can go in search of the cheesy picanha. If you want to come up north before then, you and D have a place to stay.

blogazon said...

No, but I have been to several beaches with students who should be studying and writing papers.