Thursday, September 8, 2022

Day 31 - Water, Friends, and the Art of Keeping Things Moving

After trying to find an ATM in town that worked, we headed to Tucurui, our destination for today.  400 kms and we hear. that only 80 or so are dirt.  Yeah!

Another beautiful day in paradise. This eastern part of the Amazon seems more lived in.  No fires (they probably happened 50-100 years ago), the farms and ranches and towns seem more established and more developed.  It certainly feels like we are getting back to civilization slowly.

As we got closer to Tucurui, there was water everywhere.  Rivers, lakes, in every nook and cranny between the hills.  This is a big delta.  Beautiful.

After arriving to the hotel, got a message that Wouter had hit a car in town 1km from the hotel ... so I went back to see if I could help talk to the police who wanted to take Wouter to the station.  At the end, got all the parties to calm down and walk away and go home ... with a smile : )  Actually, the 3 policemen where nice, helpful, and happy to make this thing go away.  All good, fixed Wouter's motorcycle front end misalignment and we are now ready for tomorrow's ride. 

Tomorrow, we head to the big city of Belem on the Atlantic coast to celebrate our crossing from one ocean to the other! 

A big hydroelectric plant (Usina Hidroelectrica de Belo Monte) about 30km from Altamira

Met Stephanie and Arun at the only pontoon boat crossing today - they were riding a Honda 300, two up from Rondonia State (3,000+ km away) on their way to Parque Nacional dos Lencois Maranhenses (look it up, wow!)

And the red dirt continues

Water everywhere now

Quick stop for morning snack of cafe com laite and pao de queijo

Stunning - that is our road way down there

More water

A healthy lunch of chocolate cake and fresh suco de laranja

Getting close to Tucurui

The bridge into Tucurui - yeah!

Wouter and I after his accident in town having a beer and a cappuccino

Ronaldo taught himself English from an English-Portuguese dictionary his mother brought home in the 1980's and he wanted to practice.

Yes we are in Tucurui

The Tocantins River from Tucurui's shore

A lighthouse on the river?

A view down below from the Tucurui bridge

Tucurui's party bus

Two injured legs sharing a cushion at dinner

We are almost there! We should reach the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow

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