Bus to Santarem (Day 1) - Day 74

Trip Start Jan 31, 2008

233

254

Trip End Ongoing

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On the Bus

Flag of Brazil Sinop, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil
Sunday, March 22, 2009

Swapped buses this morning after a smooth and comfortable 12 hour bus ride on smooth tarmac. There's going to be no tarmac for the next 800km! The new bus looks like a supped-up 4x4 "Superbus" with a big winch bolted on the front. This must be an indication of the dire road conditions ahead. With our new "Superbus" I think we're now ready for some crazy, muddy potholed roads through the Amazon. I'm actually quite excited at the prospect of this Amazonian road trip. The journey is 1768 kilometres according to Google maps and should take 40 hours in total, but who knows, we're driving through the Amazon in the rainy season, anything could happen.

Shortly after setting off in our "Superbus" the tarmac soon turned to dirt track. We were motoring along for a few kilometres on the mud before grinding to a sudden halt to manoeuvre around some obstacles blocking the road. I suspect this will be the nature of the rest of the journey, will be a stop and start affair. My seat on the bus is knackered and doesn't go back all the way, everytime I recline, it just pops back-up to the vertical position over a period of 5 minutes, great! It's going be a long, and uncomfortable couple of days. It's all character building stuff though.