Rio Trombetas is a tributary of the Amazon and the reason for going there is not the place itself which is just a village and a bauxite terminal for the export of aluminium ore, but rather the journey it takes to get there. To pass by Santarem, Oriximina and Obidos in the afternoon sunlight with the rows of wooden boats all along the quayside is a joy – as well as the tiny hamlets on the banks of the Amazon with a single family and their canoes. Quite incredible to see another way of life utterly divorced from the rat race.