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Brazil:
Oiapoque, Macapa, Belem and mother earth’s chronic disease.
Oct. 22, 2008
Onboard a small barge, powered by two tiny outboard motorboats, we made new friends and said goodbye to French Guiana. After a 25 minute ride along the Oiapoque River we arrived in the small, but happening town of Oiapoque, Brazil. For the first time since Central America, the border formalities were again complicated. Not knowing any Portuguese made it that much harder. However, our new friends from the barge, Jose and Artheur made it their mission to help us. Both live in Cayenne with their families, but Jose and Artheur’s wife are from a small town in Brazil. They were on their way to Amapa for a weekend with the family. Jose’s little comprehension of Spanish and Artheur’s attempts with English finally did get us through all the red tape. I don’t know why entering Brazil for the second time was even more difficult than it was when we arrived from Venezuela. By 11:00AM we were sitting in a Churrascaria, a Brazilian pay by the kilo barbeque and buffet. Soon after we were the middle vehicle in a convoy to Amapa, some 350kms to the south.
We were forewarned that the road from Oiapoque to Macapa was in poor condition and also frequented by armed bandits. We all benefited from driving together. With Jose in the lead, we left about half a kilometer between vehicles as it was very dusty. We caught up to Jose, who would pull over and wait for us. I decided to take the time to inspect the tires and found one going flat. In the sweltering heat, I did a quick tire change and crossed my fingers that it would be our last flat. We carry two spares, but I never like the feeling of “last resort”. By nightfall we were camped in front of Artheur’s mother-in-law’s house. Early in the morning we said farewell to our new friends and hit the road for Macapa.
About 3 hours into our drive the right rear tire blew out and shredded into bits and pieces. It was the most violent flat tire experience we’ve ever had, We’re just happy it wasn’t a front tire. I tried my hand at a tire patch on yesterday’s flat, but couldn’t make it hold air. For the first time on the trip we used the spare mounted on the front grill. We proceeded to drive very, very slowly into Macapa. We got the old flat patched and then found the shipping broker’s offices near the port, which is actually in the nearby town of Santana.
In Santana we made arrangements to ship our van to Belem, 700 or so kilometers away, via the Amazon River. Amapa, Roraima, and parts of Para and Amazonas states are essentially cut off from the rest of Brazil by the Amazon River. It is too wide to make a bridge across, so ferry or barge is the only option. For more on shipping in the Amazon see our Shipping page. We paid R$500.00 to be loaded onto a vehicle transport trailer and sent down the Amazon to Belem. The barge wouldn’t sail until the following day in the evening, so we spent the day visiting the Fort of Sao Jose in Macapa. Back in Santana at a truck stop near the shipping brokers we met Carbino, a friendly truck driver from Sao Paulo. He joined us for dinner, spending a lot of time and patience talking with us in a mix of Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.
Once loaded onto the transporter we had a wild ride to the docks. Before being loaded onto the barge with 23 other trailers and containers, we were told to hide. It was unclear why, but we spent a few tense hours cooped up in the back of the Westy. On the barge we made good friends with some of the truckers. We also found Carbino again, he was ecstatic to see us. He took on the roll of our guide and spokesman, or “barge father”. He proudly introduced us to the other truckers and they eagerly listened to tales from our trip. He showed us how things are done onboard and kept an eye out for us. Over the next two days we got to eat, drink and joke around with the truckers. They were all great guys, like big kids in a way. Few of them had ever met before, but you would never guess it. Each one jokes about how the other one’s state is inferior to his own and that the men in that state are not real men. The joking, telling stories, drinking beer and eating dried shrimp and palmito carried on day and night until our arrival in Belem. Some of the truckers insisted we convoy with them, others gave directions to their homes in cities all over Brazil. Carbino even got a little choked up when we said goodbye.
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| Driving our van onto the transporter which will then be loaded on a barge that will cross the Amazon River. |
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| Where we would sleep for the next 3 days |
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| Some of the truckers we met on the barge |
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| A local jumping aboard the barge to sell beer and dried shrimp |
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Belem:
In Belem, we had a very wild ride on top of the transport trailer. Our driver sped through the city and many times the roof of the Westy came into contact with overhead wires. It felt like an amusement park ride, several times I found myself hitting the brakes or steering as is it would make a difference. Finally we stopped at a truck stop about 30kms outside the city and unloaded. To our amazement and with all the truck stops to stop at, we were right there next to Carbino. He hugged me and kissed Ash as if we were his long lost children. After some discussion we decided to drive back to Belem rather than press on to Brasilia. We parted ways again and found the way back to the center.
The next day we toured around the historic center of Belem. It’s a very nice city, home to South America’s largest outdoor market and numerous 18th and 19th century architecture. Late that day we left Belem and pulled into a random truck stop for fuel and snacks. Then we saw it, Bertussi, the name on Carbino’s truck. We fueled up and parked next to his rig, honked the horn and watched his face light up. He jumped down and more hugs and kisses followed. He explained that he was waiting for cargo to be assigned; sometimes it can take a week to find a load. He gave us a tour of his rig and showed us a DVD slide show of his 1 year old daughter. He noticed we still had the shredded tire on the front of the van, so he hopped in with us and we drove to a few tire shops, but unfortunately we could not find the right size. However he did help us find a new scissor jack which he negotiated for us a better price. Recording his address down, we said a final goodbye. We drove well into the night before stopping at a truck stop to sleep.
The highway to the capital of Brasilia is over 2000kms and mostly very good pavement. On a map it looks like the highways, BR010 and BR153 go right through the Amazon rainforest. Well maybe it once did, but there’s nothing resembling a forest now. For the entire 2000kms and beyond, we drove through a thick blanket of smoke. Every time we asked, we got the same answer. “Smoke from burning down the forest to make pastures or farmland.” We couldn’t believe we would cover so much distance without seeing a single grouping of trees. The Amazon is often referred to as “the lungs of the earth”. If that’s the case, I’d say Mother Earth is dying of lung cancer. It was very sad to witness such a destruction of the planet. The only natural thing we saw was a family of toucans perched in a dead tree near Brasilia. Perhaps they didn’t recognize the area anymore.
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Brasilia:
The capitol of Brazil was moved from Rio de Janeiro to the planned city of Brasilia in 1960. The city is located at the geographic center of the country and was built rapidly to be a model city for the third millennium. From the sky it looks like an airplane. From street level it looks like it came from the imagination of a 1950’s science fiction writer. It’s a city of monumental buildings with a futuristic, but outdated appearance. Picture ancient Rome meets the film Total Recall. It has a triumphant central boulevard lined with government ministries and crowned with the twin towers of the parliament building. We spent some time snapping up photos of the city and walking it’s ridiculously wide (almost one kilometer) avenues. Today almost 3 million people live in this “instant” city, but traffic flows smoothly, so smoothly we never heard a single horn honk. In fact the city was eerily quiet. For anyone interested, Brasilia is worth a day or two but no more.
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Presidente Prudente:
Last January Ashley met and was befriended by a little Brazilian girl named Franciele. Fran was in Vancouver to study English. I don’t think Fran thought we were serious when we told her we were driving to South America and we would stop by her city. Ten months later we arrived at her door step. Through the internet and www.facebook.com, where Fran is our number one fan, she excitedly greeted us with open arms . She has been eagerly keeping track of our route on our way from Canada, but couldn’t hide her surprise when we honked and said “ola”. Her entire family has been very hospitable to us and has generously allowed us to stay with them in their house until our car parts arrive from Canada. In Presidente Prudente we also made acquaintances with Igor and Elaine, English speaking travel agents who found us cheap bus tickets to Rio de Janeiro.
Rio de Janeiro:
We arrived in Rio after a 16 hour bus ride. We decided to leave the Westy with Fran. We have a suspension problem so we decided it best not to drive the van to Rio. We found a cheap apartment for rent right on Copacabana beach. We spent a week cruising Ipanema, Copacabana and Leblon beaches, drinking caipirihnas and mojitos and just chilling out like a Carioca (Rio local). Sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation.
Botocatu:
Some years ago a long lost cousin of mine on my mother’s side, Carlos, traced his great grandfather back to Maser, Italy. He journeyed to the province of Treviso and reestablished the connection between our Italian family and the Brazilian one. I met Carlos, wife Cristina and daughter Lais in 2005 when they visited Vancouver. Once in Brazil we contacted him and he put together a DeZen family reunion on his ranch near the city of Botocatu in Sao Paulo state. We spent the weekend telling stories, playing with his many animals and meeting more of the DeZen family. Cousin Beto is a hobby artist, who we think should go pro. He showed us some of his work. Both Beto and Carlos are big time jokers and there was never a dull moment with them or their families. The only unfortunate thing was Ashley got sick and lost her voice completely for the whole weekend and so lost her opportunity to speak English.
Back in Presidente Prudente:
We are making preparations for a Brazilian theme party to be held in our honor at Fran’s house and the following night we are all going to a Hawaiian themed Ball. Can’t wait to get our groove on.
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| Botacatu |
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| Copacabana Beach |
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FOZ DO IGUACU (the Brazilian side )
Located on a three way border between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, Iguazu Falls, is the widest set of waterfalls in the world at over 2.7kms. Iguazu National Park was created in 1934, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site 50 years later. One third of the falls is within Brazilian territory, which is where we will start. After spending the previous night at a campground nearby to the entrance of the park, we had only a 5 minute drive ahead of us. After entering the park, we followed a pathway amongst many other tourists, and within 5 mins we had our first glimpse of the gigantic falls. Which started as a view of just a few individual waterfalls developed into a mesmerizing sight of the entire waterfall system. We ran ahead to beat the crowds and snapped as many photos as we could before our view became enveloped by the masses of people pushing in to get the best angle.
We sauntered along the path that followed the river, stopping every so often to dab our foreheads in an attempt to control the perspiration that was persistently trying to gather. The combination of heat and humidity was high. At the end of the walkway there was a viewing tower to provide a new perspective to the immensity of the falls, as well as a walkway which gives you a misty, close up view of a few massive falls. The Brazilian side provided us with a remarkable, panoramic view of the entire waterfall system. As well as the great views, we also encountered many species of wildlife including exotic, colorful butterflies, large lizards and tropical birds.
We were finished exploring the park in about 3 hours, which gave us plenty of time to attempt to cross the border into Argentina. We sighed in relief as the border procedures went smoothly. After about 40 mins we entered Argentina for the first time. We spent the night at a large campground which included hot showers, a pool and WI-FI.
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