By the time you read this we will I hope be on the road to Bonfim, a village 70 miles away in the border with Guyana. I cannot say I am thrilled to leaving the comfort of our hotel but we have a job to do and it’s time. It’s going to be a tough drive for the next few days and I know we will miss the comfort of Villa Roraima. Nevertheless we have prepared as best we can for the unknown that is the road to Georgetown, the capital on the coast 430 miles away.
Yesterday we visited another self serve laundry, this time without Rusty who stayed home in the cool air.
The owner was there and he said he owned three laundries. He makes US$50,000 each every year and spends about $5000 on soap for each laundry. I was slightly astonished. He also exports food to Venezuela and he had just got home from a trip to Tampa and Orlando to visit some relatives.
His car cover for his Porsche (of course) was dry and we said goodbye, all in Spanish which was easier for him than English he said. Interesting guy, maybe 40 or 45 years old and full of energy. It was great to talking him and see his world. He uses social media too:
No employees, just a woman to come by and keep it clean. Do you think the US is ready for this?
Onward to the supermarket to get supplies for the road ahead. This Novo Tempo had covered parking which is excellent in this equatorial sunshine.
Check out some weird Brazilian packaged foods we saw (but didn’t buy):
Some weird soda:
2.2 pounds of flavorless tapioca flour for a buck twenty five. Yum, I don’t think.
One guy we met told us to buy chocolate to sweeten officials in Guyana so we did. Hope it works.
Various potato chips. The only familiar fast food chain we’ve seen is a couple of Subways since we’ve been in Brazil. I like peanuts but they only sell them here in very small very expensive bags. Bummer.
No idea what is in this aisle:
They also had pickle flavored ketchup. Layne didn’t buy any because she said they had too much sugar. So much for cultural research:
One other strange thing we’ve seen here is the traffic lights. They use two lights then the top light scales down to the bottom light and then it changes.
About ten seconds to a green turn arrow:
Below it’s green for go. About thirty seconds before it will change the top light goes out and green rectangles appear slowly going down to the bottom.
It’s not a bad system but I’ve never seen it anywhere else. And so back to the hotel, a swim a steak dinner and a little light packing. 
We will miss this place.
The borders 70 miles away, then once in the town of Lethem (pronounced “Let'em”) we’ll buy some Guyanese dollars (200 buy 1 US dollar) and some Chinese food to go, then we’ll get on the dirt road to Linden 275 miles away. I hope.
