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.
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
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