I checked last night and we are 183 miles from Brasilia the artificially created capital of this vast country and our destination for this leg.
The drive from the Amazon to the capital has been what you have seen, a highway of varying qualitythrough countryside of no great account touristically speaking among Brazilians who are not used to seeing foreigners in their midst.
Yesterday was more of the same as we continue to balance making miles with not wearing out our travel companion.
The day started with the usual extraordinary breakfast buffet in the hotel. In Brazil breakfast is called cafe de manhá, which literally means “morning coffee” and is a lavish spread.
We usually see scrambled and fried eggs, hot dogs in tomato sauce, cold cuts, cheese breads, sandwiches, cakes, pastries, fruits and juices and elaborate selections of cakes.
It sets you up for a day of driving if you stick to proteins and avoid a carb coma I find. Lunch is a snack when we buy dinner to go so we can collapse in our room in the evening.
I know foreign travel is always exciting and remarkable but unfortunately we are on a mission to get to the capital to get our second alternator, the one that charges our house batteries repaired or replaced which we hope to do in Brasilia. If we succeed we will drive for the coast and spend December at the beach. If we fail - unthinkable- we will have to plow on to Uruguay where we eventually want to rebuild GANNET2’s well worn electrical system.
Besides all that we had to get away from equatorial Brazil and try to find our way back to more interesting destinations in this vast country. As it is these are the agricultural flat lands of Brazil. Imagine driving I-80 across the Midwest.
This, folks, was the reality of our Saturday.
And of course the ever present random speed bumps:
And unstaffed Federal Highway Police Checkpoints.
The parade of trucks northbound was endless.
Huge doubles hauling I can’t imagine what fill the highway.
This is not the Brazil you hear about and the locals who prove to be quite friendly under the surface are perplexed by our presence in their self contained world. Gas pumps covered in protective plastic…Regular with 30% ethanol is about $4:20 a gallon.
Exempt vehicles and motorcycles use manual booths I think is the meaning of the road sign as we approach the toll booth.
Not speaking Portuguese has been a lesson for me struggling with Spanish and Italian to understand rapid fire gibberish. A $1:75 toll seems like an insult on these stretches of poorly maintained highway.
If you think Spanish and Portuguese are similar check this warning not to toss trash roadside:
Three bucks? Daylight robbery. Grrr.
No clue what this means:
We saw no more tropical vegetation.
All good things come to an end and just after five we arrived at our reserved hotel, pet friendly with off street parking.
We fit… just about at the Rio de Ouro (“River of Gold”) hotel parking lot.
I will start the final leg to Brasilia by reversing out of this narrow lot, round the corner and into the street.
Walk Rusty, unload the luggage and turn up the a/c as in Porangatu, this odd little stop astride the highway we find it unnaturally hot and humid once again.
For dinner it so happens a man is grilling meat right outside the hotel and it was delicious.
Our hotel clerk looked like a movie extra.
And can any engineer explain why the a/c controls have 15 buttons? I had to get the clerk’s help to get the room cool.
For evening entertainment they put on a parade for us.
The town of Porangatu rang to the sounds of fire crackers horns and yelling, none of which disturbed our dog fast asleep on Layne’s side of the bed.
Actually it was in celebration of a soccer victory.
How banal; did no one tell them there were foreigners in town?
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