Leaving Manaus

 As this page is published we should be completing our clean up in the apartment and we hope to be getting on the road out of here and not a moment too soon.

Layne is doing well, Rusty is doing well and I am doing okay but the road ahead is going to be harsh. The funny thing is the road we’ve driven has such a fearsome reputation overlanders  avoid it and we drove it in our delivery van. The road into Guyana is so rarely traveled by outsiders we only know it’s unpaved and not great. But we’ve got this far and there is no road but forwards.

So I have some butterflies and I freely admit hunkering in an air conditioned apartment is an escape from what must be done. Growth through effort. 

Of course yesterday had its Manaus moment when a piece of blue paper was slipped under the door. It was something to do with the water connection so I went to a faucet, turned it on and nothing came out. 

Layne sent a message to the landlord and they said there must be a misunderstanding as they paid the bill so I’m guessing the problem with the connection was an unpaid bill. 

Our neighbor had also got the blue paper and he showed me where the water faucet had been taped up. In fact I had seen water employees in the complex so I guess a sweep of unpaid bills was the program. Our neighbor showed me where the water connection was taped up, below, for our unit. 

It turns out someone could twist the faucet and let water pass without breaking the tape. Imagine that. Anyway we got on with packing our stuff and repacking GANNET2, the order of the day. 

A dog still has to walk and I enjoyed the signs on the grass one last time “Don’t piss on granma” so I didn’t. I caught Rusty shaking himself which made a weird picture to mirror my grumpy mood. 

It’s been an odd time in Manaus and I’ll be glad to go but the heat is tremendous and perhaps our rooftop a/c really is working okay but is just overwhelmed by the temperatures. I miss being able to talk to people and Layne misses seeing other travelers we are so far off the beaten path. I wish I could be more upbeat but I want to get out of the jungle, see a beach, swim in salt water. That would feel good. 

We are casting off into a bit of a void but then we started doing that when we left Arequipa and came east to the Amazon basin. I need to put my big girls blouse on and get driving and lose the jitters. It will feel better when are under way. First stop a lake and maybe some waterfalls and the main road north toward Venezuela is paved. Yay. 

North to Boa Vista and Lethem, Guyana. And then this: