Day 52 - A Final Day of Leisure Before Flying Home

Today was a leisurely day to just walk around Manaus and get to know the city a little before taking our flights out tonight.

Walked around the Centro and got to see the real Manaus on a normal day ... lots of energy ... lots of sidewalk businesses and markets ... with the typical loud music everywhere spewing into the streets from all the businesses trying to attract customers ... lots of Venezuelans selling juices ... people everywhere ... all used to the incredible heat and humidity.

As I was walking passed the Manaus Cathedral, I decided to go in and cool off a little in the shade and I wrote the following:

"

I cannot stop thinking about a higher force.

I am sitting at the Manaus cathedral just observing people. 

I constantly notice things that happen to me that everybody around me considers lucky or something more. Most of the good things that happen to me I would consider a result of observation and anticipation which results in mutiple potential successful outcomes to any situation. But sometimes this is not the case.

So sitting here and seeing people all around me praying with such devotion and faith on something bigger than themselves makes me wonder why certain things keep happening to me.

Is it a message or assistance of preservation for some unknown purpose or mission in this life? Or Is it really just coincidences?

Recently, after the Guyana-Brasil border, we were heading straight into what looked like a nasty storm and at the last minute, the road took a 45 degree turn to the right and we missed what I discovered later was a massive storm that caused one of our most experience riders to wipe out when the road flooded.

Or, riding alone in the remotest jungle for hours with no support, a weak front tire and challenging terrain, one small thing could have ended badly, but managed to reach safety exactly as dark was descending.

Or, just finding people around me that provide the last minute advice or information that shortly after prove critical. Why were they there? Why did I talk to them? Why did we talk about what we talked about?

Or, arriving at the hard to catch ferry as it was leaving the shore with 15 seconds to spare after a 2 hour hard ride full or random events?

Or, why do I meet people all over that rattle my worldview back to center. When I begin to forget?

Why do I tear up so much more easily as time goes by when I see human suffering? Specially innocent children.

Is all of this pointing somewhere? Am I not paying attention hard enough? Am I supposed to do something different? I need more.

This church has a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary as its center piece over the altar. It is in a niche with little child angels in clouds painted all around her.  Why are angels always children? Is it because children are the closest creation to what the universe is? Then I see older people in the pews on their knees and their hands raised praying. What is the purpose of taking a child and layer it over and over with life’s experiences until the end. To create different roles in a grand evolutionary scheme? Or is it just to bring in more god-like children to this world to continue an evolutionary mission that we don’t know anything about?

So for now, until I know why or what my mission is, I will continue to observe and love and smile and hopefully make people feel a little better after they meet me.

A call is coming in on my phone even though I have no signal in Brasil.  It is 2 angels, Alex and Pichi ... Is this a sign? Why this call specifically from them this very moment? 

"

At night, we lucked out. We were able to go to a live concert with the Manaus Philharmonic as a farewell as we were all getting ready to head back to our respective homes late tonight.  For me, it is a flight to Panama at 3am, then Houston, then Dallas.

The monument in the Plaza of Sao Sebastiao

Inside the Church of Sao Sebastiao

Street vending going corporate ... uniforms?!

An old building at the port

The passenger boats plowing the Amazon River in Manaus

The Cathedral of Manaus

Inside the Cathedral

An old abandoned but partly in use building

The fish and meat market

1882!

Amazonas fish ... strange but absolutely delicious

Commerce everywhere ... lots of energy in this city even with the crazy heat

In the line to get into the Opera House for a Philarmonic Concert

The group inside the theater

The Manaus Symphony Orchestra

Drinks after the concert and before taking our taxis to the airport back home!

 

Day 51 - Mission Accomplished in the Land of the Waterfalls

Today, we decided to have a late start, enjoy the pool, have a leisurely breakfast, go visit some waterfalls and then get to Manaus in the early afternoon.

We decided to visit Irazema Falls which were the closest ... a perfect spot to enjoy the Amazon ... a nice dirt road to get there ... a nice walk through the jungle ... with animals all around us ... and then the falls ... just like you would imagine Mowgli finding a place in the jungle to play with Baloo.

Communicating in português is doable most of the time but it is not simple.  I decided to go into the falls and the natural pools wearing my motorcycle clothes ... maybe they could get clean somehow : )

Met a family from Manaus and had a long conversation with David, a 10 year old boy who was autistic and had learned perfect English by watching TV.  He told me about his life and his family ... and then he leans over that asks if he can tell me a secret ... he tells me about his family, some good, some bad, no filters. 

All in all a great setting to play, swim, meet people, frolic, and just enjoy the jungle, the birds, and being alive. A great way to end the trip ... deep in the jungle having fun.

The last 100 kms flew by.  Manaus is a big city.  After hitting the outskirts of the city, it was still 20 kms of densely populated industrial and residential areas ... 3 million people ,,, and the heat! ... 120 degrees indexed ... through traffic ... it was a mad dash to get to our hotel.

Manaus is way hotter than any other place we have been for some reason.

After settling in and having lunch, we decided to go see the famous Amazon Theatre, an opera house built in 1896 with fortunes made in the rubber boom and with all the standards and detail of any European opera house at the time.

It was already closed but managed to convince the head of guides to let us in and give us a tour.  Wow. A quick way to go back in time and think about all that has happened here over the years. 

Tomorrow, we are coming back to a symphony orchestra show right before the plane to Panama leaves as I begin to make my way back to Dallas.

This was a landmark I have always wanted to visit since I was a boy and read a National Geographic article about the Amazon that talked about this opera house.

Looking back at this amazing adventure I can truly say that my worldview, my horizons, my perspectives, my understanding of this world, its peoples, and the universe ... have all expanded! What an experience. 

Late departure so we made use of the pool

This pants are so dirty they could stand on their own

Our motorcycles at the hotel this morning surrounded by waterfalls

Caves close to Irazema Falls

Irazema Falls close to Presidente-Figueiredo

David learned perfect English in YouTube

David's family from Manaus enjoy a day out

A nice easy way to wash my motorcycle pants and shirt

Kissing the ground in front of our hotel in Manaus - 12,000 kms of riding and still in one piece

The dirty and beaten up motorcycles at the front of our hotel - no more riding!

The Plaza de Sao Sebastiao in Manaus with a tile pattern just like in Lisbon

The opera house

Nice staircases to get up to the entrance

The inside of the theatre

A view of the chairs on the floor

And the balconies

1896

A view at sunset of the Parroquia de Sao Sebastiao

Mmmm!

The ceiling of the opera house

The group's last dinner together

What an epic adventure ... 12,000 km ... my horizons have definitely broaden!

Day 50 - The Equator and the Paved Road That Wasn't

The plan was to leave Boa Vista late and then do an easy 200 kms to Rorainopolis as our final night stop before Manaus.

At breakfast, had to change plans because there were no hotels available in Rorainopolis so we decided to go to the next stop on the road to Manaus 600 kms away. So, we had to go.

It was supposed to be all paved ... it wasn’t!  Pavement interspersed with dirt and potholes that can swallow a motorcycle if you blink .... plus the few cars and double long trucks on the road are swerving wildly right and left to avoid the holes ... interesting.  

Had my 3rd flat tire of the trip ... had to ride on a flat tire for 10km to what looked like a small village with 3 houses on the map hoping they would have a place to fix a tire ... they did!

This whole area is a big beautiful wetland all the way to the horizon. Water everywhere on both sides of the road.

We got to ride through a very large indigenous reservation for 1-2 hours. As soon as we entered the area, the thick jungle closed in creating tunnels of greenery.  No businesses, no people, just wilderness and a lot of swampy fields beyond the thicket of trees, palms, and vines.

Hypnotic. The trees all welcoming you and cheering you on as you went by.  Your soul absorbing all the energy around you.  Very special.

And, then, the Equator line again ... third time we cross it on this trip ... Ecuador, Macapa, and now just south of Boa Vista.

Made it to the hotel for the night at Presidente-Figueiredo as dark fell.  Had to ride the last 5kms In the dark … at 20mph to make sure I wasn’t swallowed by one of the sudden huge potholes that kept showing up out of nowhere.

Wouter was at the hotel. He drove from Manaus to rejoin the group after three weeks when he lost his passport. Good to see him again. We caught up on our stories and his. He got COVID while away from us. Oops.

Again, it was just Chuck, Wouter, and I for dinner by the pool while we waited for the rest of the group which had to ride for 2 hours in the dark before arriving.

Tomorrow, we will visit some waterfalls around this area before making it to Manaus.  The end of this crazy adventure.

A view of the Rio Branco in front of Boa Vista as we were leaving

Part of the playground in Boa Vista - very cool!

The whole playground

Had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and Ronaldo helped me fixed it

Ronaldo's garage where we fixed my flat

Stop for lunch in Rorainopolis ... Diego spoke Spanish

The third time we cross the Equator line on this trip

Mesmerizing wet lands

Our destination for the night is in the middle of an area full of waterfalls and caves

Day 49 - The Last Nasty Road

It rain cats and dogs last night for a long time … a very bad thing when you are in the middle of dirt roads that turn to mud and muck at the slightest provocation.

After a nice breakfast with Colin, we waited for the others to arrive. Through Colin's contacts, we knew the rest of the group spent the night at the river in Kurupukari and did indeed take the 6am ferry.  

With these roads and last night's rain, it took them 4 hours to get to the lodge which included dealing with a few falls, a flat tire, and a broken motorcycle.  

The lodge has a very interesting story. Collin began building it 30 years ago. He is a British expat that came to Brasil in the 1970's to help build the trans-Amazonian highway, fell in love with this region and never left.  Some of his children live and work at the lodge, his wife, a native of the region, helps him run things, and now there are some grandchildren too. 

After the rest of the group rested, ate, and washed, we all left the lodge around noon hoping that the rain had not done too much damage to the road.  Right our of the gate, water, mud, muck, potholes ... full mayhem.

After 2 hours later, we made it to the Guyana-Brasil border where the dirt road ended.  The easiest crossing yet.  15 minutes in Guyana and 15 minutes in Brasil and we were on our way.

This whole area is a vast savannah with wetlands everywhere (like Brasil's Pantanal in the south) and agriculture as far as the eye can see. 

After a quick Brazilian lunch at the border, we headed to Boa Vista, our destination for the night, on a magnificent paved road all the way.

A huge storm was raging in front of us as we left the border, but for some reason, as we were about to enter the deluge, the rode turned right and the we managed to get through it with very little rain. Apparently we dodged a bullet.  The rest of the group got caught in the storm and it was not pretty .. flooding, one fall, strong winds, very low visibility.

Chuck and I made it to the hotel around 5pm and the rest of the group a few hours later as they battled the storm.

Went for a walk to visit Orla Taumanan, Boa Vista's boardwalk by the river.  Boa Vista is a surprisingly well planned and managed city.  The boardwalk is an incredible facility for the whole town to enjoy ... a very tall observation tower, a very unique amusement park for children with huge animals, restaurants, decks, piers, beaches.

Tomorrow, we begin our 2 day journey to Manaus, our final destination.

The Rock Creek Lodge, our stay for last night

One of the lodge's pet monkeys

Chilling outside my room in the lodge waiting for the rest of the group to arrive

The rest of the group finally made it at around 10:30am after 4 hours in the muck

More nasty roads after a huge storm last night

Right before the Brasilian border in the Guyana savannah ... a road to infinity

Everybody kissing the pavement after 2 grueling days on dirt

After the Guyana-Brasil border, a deluge approaching

Made it to beautiful Boa Vista in Brasil

Amazing children's park with huge animal shaped games

The observation tower by the river in Boa Vista's Orla Taumanan (riverwalk)

Fishing in Orla Taumanan