20 September – Petropolis, Teresopolis and Ouro Preto
So, our great trek begins. We
need to cross Brazil and get to what feels like the other side of the world:
Peru. It has been quite hot since we got to Paraty. Luckily there are some
interesting places along the way. We are taking a journey through not only the
vast jungle landscapes of central Brazil, but also through history. Over the
last couple of days we visited some old colonial towns that was founded in the
Portuguese gold rush era. Think cobbled streets, two hundred year old churches,
grand mansions, and horse and carriage rides.
Also, because we like to get ourselves
into all kinds of trouble along the way, we had to go and get Ithaca stuck in
an old covered-up well. The owner of the campsite we were staying at was nice
enough to direct us to the best spot to park Ithaca – on a flat grassy spot
right next to the camp kitchen. We turned around and backed in, and then…
crash! Ithaca tilts over and there she sits. Under the grass was a well that
was covered up who knows how long ago. Now it was not covered up any more.
Ithaca’s back wheels opened it all up – a great archeological discovery. We got
a local man to come out with his winch, put Ithaca in low range, and hopped out
of the whole with no trouble. It was great excitement at the end of a nice
Sunday.
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| Colonial buildings in Petropolis |
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| The Crystal Palace, Petropolis |
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| Cathedral |
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| Horse carts |
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| Stuck in Teresopolis |
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| Our resident musician, Frank |
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| Camp |
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| Ouro Preto |
23 September – Super Bush Camp
I think by now you must have
realized that things don’t always go to plan when traveling in the
lesser-developed countries. Well, here is another example. We had some distance
to cover to get to Brasilia, so the plan was to do a bush camp somewhere en
route. As you know the weather has been super hot the last week or so, and
today was no exception (the truck said thirty six degrees Celsius around one in
the afternoon). Some days before, Brooke and I had a look at the map and saw a
big lake right about halfway to Brasilia, and what looked like a campsite.
We drove a whole lot of brand new
highway and got to the lake just after lunch, checked out the campsite and
discovered The Best Bush Camp in the World! (See pictures.) I’m not writing any
more, because I’m going to the pool!
24 September – Brasilia
We are staying in a very basic
campsite in Brasilia for two nights. The truck is off to a fancy Volvo workshop
to get some upgrades, and we are going on a city tour. In 1956 Juscelino Kubitschek, then the president
of Brazil, started constructing a city in the middle of Brazil. The idea was to
bring economic wealth to more of the population. He used an architect to design
the centre of town and many of the buildings there. The result is quite
interesting. The city is designed to look like an airplane with a cockpit,
fuselage and wings, and there seems to be more churches than people.
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| Echo Monument |
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| David & Jan |
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| Church |
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| JK and JFK |
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| Monkeys |
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| View from the Media Tower |
27 September – Jaciara
From Brasilia it was another
two-day drive to get to Jaciara. We did a bush camp en route. When we got to
the campsite outside the little town, we were all happy to jump in the swimming
pool to cool off. We are staying here for two nights, and this morning we went
white water rafting. It was good to spend the day on and in the waters of the
Corrego Saia Branca. Once you get to the river there are almost no signs of
civilization and you can forget about all the cities and busy roads.
29 September – Chapada dos Guimaraes
Chapada is a little town not far
form Jaciara. We got here before lunch. It is on the edge of the Chapada dos
Guimaraes National Park. The park is known for its many waterfalls. We are
staying here for two nights, and on our full day we went on a hike to go for a
swim in one of the waterfall pools.
1 October – Vila Bela de Santissima
It was another not-so-long drive
to get to Vila Bela. It is a very small town close to the border of Bolivia and
sits (or rather sleeps) on the banks of the Rio Guapore. We are staying here
for three nights in a strange little house with a small back yard. The owner is
a photographer and his pictures are framed all over the house. Some of us are
camping, and some are staying in rooms. There are not enough rooms for all of
us, and also not enough camping for 9 tents. We are really venturing into the
areas of Brazil that does not see a lot of travellers. I like it. We are the
only tourists in town, and for how long? I wonder…
Today we went on a boat ride up
the river. We saw a lot of interesting things, like massive hornets nests, palm
tree forests, lots of birds, a stork breeding colony, Jabiru, caiman, and some
other long-nosed critters with impossible names.
Tomorrow we are going on a hike
to a waterfall with a big swimming pool.
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| Vila Bela town |
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| Jan & Jan |
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| Hornet's nest |
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| Jabiru |
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| Waterfall hike |
4 October – Cacoal, Porto Velho and Rio Branco
We did a quick six hundred
kilometre drive today. We are heading towards a jungle eco lodge in Peru, and
it will take us about three days to get there. Cacoal is our first stop. We are
staying in a hotel! WiFi! Air-conditioned rooms! Good showers! We are being spoilt…
Porto Velho and Rio Branco are
also transit stops. We are putting in some kilometres. They are both big towns
with nice hotels – just what we need after a long hot day in the truck.
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| Julie's birthday |
7 October – Xapuri
Xapuri is our last stop in Brazil.
It is not far from Rio Branco, and we got here just after lunch – enough time
to go and explore this interesting little town. It has some history behind it.
Chico Mendes, a famous environmentalist and anti-deforestation activist, grew
up and was assassinated here. The men responsible for his death have finished
their jail terms some years ago and are still living in the town!
We had a look at his house and
went for cold beers at one of the bars on the riverbank. The barkeep showed us
the flood line that destroyed part of the town a year ago. It must have been
more than twenty metres above the normal river level.
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| Chico Mendes' house |
Tomorrow we hit Peru!
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| Peru! |
