Team Lost Loses The Ferry

We left the Amazonas Hotel after shaking hands and using Google Translate to thank them for putting up with us…

…while they in turn directed us to the tourism bureau after I said I was sorry we couldn’t communicate very well.

No one spoke a recognizable language but one woman volunteered to take us round town and we followed her on her scooter  with us following. What I thought was a lost cause turned into a moment to remember.

She first stopped by a vegetable patch with manioc plants.  These are the tubers that they cook and grate in some manner to create the yellow powder they eat on their food and that we use to blend in. Yup, eating manioc makes us look like locals. Believe that…

Lisa in the sunglasses introduced us to her cousin at her cousins home. They must be tight if she felt comfortable showing up with us in tow without warning. 

Rusty guarded GANNET2 in the shade. 

Lisa has a Robinson Crusoe uncle who lives on an island in the Castanho (Brown) River. 

Actually he has a job in town and a canoe to paddle home. There was a cool breeze blowing and the scenery was at last, Amazonian, I liked this.

And look at these river boats like you see in movies, with the big wooden superstructure. 

Master of all I surveyed from the deck. 

Well, not quite.

Lisa asked what we needed and led us to a car wash where we said goodbye.

The plan was to take a back road ferry to the north from the village of Manaquiri across the river which would let us drive to Manaus from a different direction that usual. It was a  45 minute drive  through ranches and greenery and was quite pleasant in an easy suburban way after the highway dirt. 

It was far from being a happy place on Friday as downtown was a massive traffic jam on the only street through town.

We nudged in and sat there surrounded by a rip tide of motorcycles, and we continued to sit like a rock until the flow got moving properly and took us with it, a matter of ten minutes and very little horn honking surprisingly.

We stopped at a store to buy drinking water and amused the store keeper by giving her a tour of our home. Meanwhile Layne checked out the barber shop across the street and got a $1:88 haircut in the time it took me to siphon 15 gallons into our tank. 

Then we found our way to the car ferry dock. They call car ferries “balsas” or rafts because they use tugs and barges to transport vehicles. It arrived two hours late from Bela Vista across the river. 

The problem became apparent as we watched the cars trying to get off and getting stuck on the ramp. The angle was too acute despite putting down some planks and getting passengers to get out and walk. I suspect the criteria lower than usual and the tug can’t get any closer to the bank. We decided we didn’t need to ding the van again after we got it repaired and we chose not to take the Manaquiri boat. It was 3 pm and we needed a new plan. 

Here’s the layout. We followed the red line and after the first failure to board the ferry at Manaquiri we doubled back and took the highway to the main ferry which crosses the Amazon to Manaus. 

We looked for potential stopping places or hostels along the 30 miles of road but nothing looked appealing. By the way  Brazil built VW vans and bugs for years after they ceased production in Germany. The vans are still in use as taxis around here:

It was sunny annd over 100 degrees but we could see dark clouds and lightning in the horizon. Rain fell eventually but we were snug on hard pavement and enjoyed watching the temperature drop to the 70s. 

A Florida style home I thought, and  I’ve always liked the broad overhangs. 

Night was closing in and we had nowhere to sleep but we’ve been living like this for years so we knew something would come up.

We thought about spending the night on a pull out by this wetland but we figured the insects would be unbearable. We found a gas station near the ferry terminal and as we lined up for gas we asked about spending the night, speaking as always through Google Translate and they said no problem so we parked.

Loud music and barking dogs were our portion. It was a hot sticky night and insects weren’t too awful but all in all it was not a great nights sleep before we took the ferry to Manaus the next morning, Saturday.

Pavement At Last

 The pavement came ten miles later than shown on Google Street view which is years old. However the new pavement is much better quality than I expected, so I got grumpy because the last miles of dirt were rough but I cheered up considerably when I saw the smooth ribbon of asphalt the promised land after 280 miles of dirt: 

The morning started slow but the restaurant where we spent the night boasted a beautiful clean bathroom with a cold shower with  a shelf to put your things, those small details that one learns to appreciate on the road.

Vito the owners ten year old son showed me a piece of Amazonia a giant beetle which I might have squashed backing up so I picked it up and put it in the grass, my fingers for a size comparison: 

Then back to the road with more dirt dust and roadworks. 

Like a sailor in a storm I was ready for it all to end.

The surveyor waved cheerfully. I wondered if they are surveying to plan a paved road but despite the gravel bed we saw laid down, despite the surveying we saw no signs of paving. 

This section was rocky and bouncy and slow, and thus doubly frustrating as we knew we we’re close to the end. 

The firm gray gravel did kick up less dust but it was rough we barely made 10 mph, until finally…

Pavement in 200 meters.

Up next: put sit back in the tires. To create a less harsh ride on the dirt I let the front tires down to 50psi from 65 and in back I went from 80 to 55psi. I was afraid if I went any lower the bottom of the van would be too close to the ground and as it was we got one bad ding. 

I pretty soon figured out if we were going to spend 40 minutes inflating the tires I’d better put out a triangle for oncoming traffic. 

And then we were on our way and you can see that the jungle has been cut back and replaced by ranch land. 

There were some patches and potholes so I settled into our safe cruising speed of 40 mph which gives me time to react to problems in the roadway but the miles sure rolled by compared to 12mph on dirt.

And then we arrived at  Careiro,a town whose full name is Careiro Castanho which in English means Brown Tree. 

First order of business was to repair the second alternator belt. That’s the alternator that charges our house batteries. When we dinged the skid plate it bent back the plastic cover under the engine and that sliced the belt. 

It took two hours to find the replacement belt and install it and they charged $30 for the work and two belts as I bought a spare. Gilberto also installed a spacer, an old nut I carried to keep the skid plate away from the alternator belt. 

Great work and easily done. So so lucky. Then we went to find a hotel, the nicest in town, The Amazonas.

We didn’t expect them to say yes to Rusty but the lady receptionist went to talk to her dad and we were in. A shower, a/c and a chance to stretch out away from all the dust. 

We love our home but it’s been a tough four days and everything is coated in red dust. Tomorrow a car wash and then a laundry and we will be back on track. The shy receptionist started speaking English with Layne and pretty soon they ordered dinner for delivery. Brazilians will give you the shirt off their backs. 

The rice beans and pasta and salad cane in a styrofoam bowl there was a packet of dried tapioca powder and a stick grilled meat skewer. Excellent dinner and ten bucks for both of us. 

Rusty loves hotels and he couldn’t wait to get to the room. Nor could we. Sleep, tired nature’s sweet restorer.