27.10.2013
Route: Medicilandia – Uruara – Placas – Ruropolis – Divinopolis (316 km).
In the morning, the sky is clear, light blue, and not a cloud in sight. And most important - the ground is dry again.
The gas station in the morning light. The Cafe-bar-dining desk is opened, there is a fresh pie and coffee to be enjoyed before you continue your journey.
This is the place where last night would have been almost spent, even the wheel tracks are still visible.
Next, the nice morning is over and the sky is changing cloudy again.
On two sides of the road there should be an impenetrable rain forest, but the reality is quite different, there is more bare land than forest, and so for hours.
In dry weather, there is no problem, but with slippery road- it would have been quite another thing.
The weather gets warmer again, and the road turns dustier and farther away some kind of vehicle in the middle of the road catches the eye.
A Trailer
And something has happened to the next vehicle as well, and exactly in the middle of the road.
The white color is no longer distinguished, the sides of the car turn more redder with each passing day.
Also here is the dust. Everywhere.
Down the hill and up the hill, down the hill again and again, and again.
And right now a new cloud of dust.
And in the meantime there are several parts of non-dusty road.
A typical sight that particularly does not invite to take pictures. I can still understand that forests are being cut down but just to burn ?
The initial plan has been to widen the road and there are half-finished bridges in many places, road construction works, however, have not reached here yet.
The last dusty image.
Next, it so happens that a small Sony HX20V camera refuses to work, the dust has done its job, and the camera lens move back and forth only a few millimeters. The camera is usually on the passenger seat that would be handy when something interesting catches eye, and covered with a t- shirt to protect from the dust, but this time the dust won.
Shortly before sunset I found the next small village, and here you can sleep next to the gas station. The sky is covered with clouds, the weather is especially stifling, and the day ends with rain. It pours all night and the temperature outside is much more reasonable, so +25 degrees.
During this day more than 300 kilometers were covered, and half of the road has now been passed. It is 1000 kilometers to Humaita. Everything is relative, and we cannot say whether this is much or little. From Estonia – it is the same distance as to Moscow, but less than to Berlin.
Only these roads belong to a completely different category, and all the future depends on the weather and the weather only. If it does not rain, it will take three or four days.
28.10.2013, Day 4
Route: Divinopolis - Itaituba, and a hundred kilometers more, a total of 267 km
In the morning it's not raining any more, but yet not so dry that could start driving. The sky is still cloudy.
The layer of the dust has become even the layer of mud, and the road is rather slippery.
It takes less than one hour and all is dry again.
In Rio Tapajo, another river-crossing before the city of Itaituba
In Itaituba I have the opportunity to complement the food and water supplies, as it is still a small town with a population of 100 thousand.
Then the asphalt ends and the road further from Itaituba is practically empty. Almost no traffic at all, and no sign of roads being under construction.
Wikipedia: The road has been left untouched however at points further west of Itaituba, at times narrowing to roughly 2 meters wide.
Next the road takes through the national park.
Then again it begins to rain and the dirt sticks around the wheels and the layer looks even some centimeters thick.
That's good that beside the road there was a wider and more horizontal place where to make a stop in order to wait until the rain stops. And also one has to wait until the road dries out.
On the road the mud layer is only of two centimeters thick and somehow strange to wait because of that, but if you have still seen how on a straight road, a car sinks into a ditch, then thereś nothing else to do, but wait for the road to dry out. I have no wish to overnight here.
Firstly it is only 100 kilometers to Itaituba, and secondly, the local area is completely wild, untouched nature, except the road. Together with all the animals, including Onca, ie the jaguar. To sleep in the car, of course, is much more secure than in a tent, but the dark it is not a very smart thing to get out of the car.
I am waiting. The rain is more sparse. I am waiting, waiting.
So at last the rain is over and the road dries out quickly here in this warm climate. But still have to wait before getting moving. Some more waiting and then on the road again.
At first the speed is about 10 km per hour, and further on - twice as fast
Nature, of course, is fantastically cool and green.
Along wheel tracks it is easy to drive, but over a long period of time a bigger truck comes, turning aside you stop the car and it happens again that slowly the car begins to sink towards the ditch.
Anyway - the situation will be resolved, and we can pass each other.
At least no checking of the bridges before crossing them as the big truck came from that way.
Have seen worse than that
Until the end of the day the weather is dry.
No gas stations for several hundred kilometers, but the road builders have left by the road side some wider places, some are bigger and some are smaller. This site is bigger, and an deal place for an overnight stay. In the long run the greater amount of dust has been cleaned out from the bus, luckily there is enough water even to pour over myself.
Jaguar has not been heard or seen either, but there are ants and mosquitoes here. As to ants – the bus must be removed from their path, the mosquitoes can be treated with OFF, or other similar lubricants.
Summary of the first four days - 1,270kilometers along the dusty and muddy road of Transamazonica is left behind and because of the rain - there were two compulsory stops.
730 kilometers are waiting ahead. Is it going to last for two or four days is no longer important, the main thing is to be on the Road.
More pictures are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarmotamming/sets/72157637855939403/
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