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7/28/2019 Gringos Across the Amazon - First Chapter by Gareth Morgan
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GRINGOS ACROSS
AmAzon
the
Jo and Gareth
MorGan
IncludesBus dVd
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Jo and Gareth MorGan
with John McCrystal
Public Interest Publishing
GRINGOS ACROSS
aMazon
the
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Designed by ypeace.Printed in Auckland, New Zealand by McCollams Print.First published in 2011 by Te Public Interest Publishing Company Ltd (PiP).
Enquiries to Phantom House Books:Fax: +64 4 384 5451Email: [email protected]
Web: www.phantomhouse.com
Copyright 2011 by Jo and Gareth Morgan.All rights reserved; no part o the contents o this book may bereproduced in any orm without the permission o the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-9864574-5-6
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ROUTE MAP 4
Introduction 8
Chapter 1
Brazil: Nuts 17
Chapter 2
O 31
Chapter 3
On a Tangent 52
Chapter 4
Sure I Am in Suriname 74
Chapter 5
Clear As Mud 90
Chapter 6
Ay Colombia 111
Chapter 7
Ecuador: Bananas 128
Chapter 8
Canal Retentives 149
Chapter 9
You Are in Guatemala Now 166
Chapter 10
Mexican Stando 183
Acknowledgements 204
Author Profles 205
By the same Authors 206
CONTENTS
http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-7/28/2019 Gringos Across the Amazon - First Chapter by Gareth Morgan
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LEG 1/2 (key )Day Night Location Country Kms
1 Mambai Brazil2 Luis Eduardo Brazil 250
3 Barreiras Brazil 474
4 Lenis Brazil 451
5 Lenis Brazil
6 Salvador Brazil 428
7 Salvador Brazil
8 Barra de Sao Miguel Brazil 577
9 Olinda Brazil 243
10 Natal Brazil 284
11 Aracati Brazil 350
12 Sobral Brazil 412
13 Barreirinhas Brazil 463
14 Barreirinhas Brazil
15 So Lus Brazil 26016 Santa Ins Brazil 422
17 Belm Brazil 422
18 Manaus Brazil
19 Mamiraua Res Brazil
20 Mamiraua Res Brazil
21 Mamiraua Res Brazil
22 Mamiraua Res Brazil
23 Manaus Brazil
24 Manaus Brazil
25 Boating across Amazon delta Brazil
26 Belm Brazil
27 At sea Brazil
28 Macap Brazil
29 Caloene Brazil 378
30 Oiapoque Brazil 213
31 Cayenne Fr Guiana 166
32 Kourou Fr Guiana 64
33 Kourou Fr Guiana
34 St Laurent du Maroni Fr Guiana 204
35 Paramaribo Suriname 144
36 Nieuw Nickerie Suriname 260
37 Georgetown Guyana 313
38 Linden Guyana
39 Kurukukari Guyana 270
40 Lethem Guyana 270
41 Boa Vista Brazil 125
42 Santa Elena de Uairen Venezuela 238
43 El Dorado Venezuela 331
44 Ciudad Bolvar Venezuela 36845 Valle de la Pascua Venezuela 352
46 Tinaco Venezuela 298
47 Barquisimeto Venezuela 177
48 Mrida Venezuela 401
49 Mrida Venezuela
50 Pamplona Colombia 321
51 Barbosa Colombia 320
52 Bogot Colombia 211
53 Bogot Colombia
54 Bogot Colombia
55 Bogot Colombia
56 Bogot-Wn
LEG 2/2 (key )Day Night Location Country Kms
1 Houston USA
2 Houston USA
3 Quito Ecuador
4 Quito Ecuador
5 Quito Ecuador
6 Galpagos Ecuador
7 Galpagos Ecuador
8 Galpagos Ecuador
ROUTE MAP
4
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Day Night Location Country Kms
9 Galpagos Ecuador10 Galpagos Ecuador
11 Galpagos Ecuador
12 Galpagos Ecuador
13 Quito Ecuador
14 Melgar Colombia 109
15 Armenia Colombia 150
16 Popayn Colombia 300
17 Pasto Colombia 256
18 Tulcn Ecuador 92
19 Otavalo Ecuador 140
20 Quito Ecuador 84
21 Quito Ecuador
22 Quito Ecuador
23 Panama City Panama24 Panama City Panama
25 Panama City Panama
26 Panama City Panama
27 Panama City Panama
28 Santa Clara Panama 150
29 Boquete Panama 360
30 Almirante Panama 270
31 Puerto Limn Costa Rica 160
32 Arenal Observatory Costa Rica 270
33 Liberia Costa Rica 160
34 Moyogalpa Nicaragua 150
35 Moyogalpa Nicaragua 0
36 Len Nicaragua 260
37 Len Nicaragua 0
38 Managua Nicaragua 0
39 Valle de Angeles Honduras 350
40 Solo Piso Honduras 300
41 Neuva Ocotepeque Honduras 250
42 Suchitoto El Salvador 83
43 Antigua Guatemala 300
44 Antigua Guatemala 0
45 Rio Dulce Guatemala 330
46 Tikal Guatemala 250
47 Belize City Belize 200
48 Belize City Belize 0
49 Corozal Belize 100
50 Piste Mexico 340
51 Mrida Mexico 150
52 Campeche Mexico 18053 Palenque Mexico 350
54 San Cristbal de la Casa Mexico 220
55 Juchitn Mexico 330
56 Oaxaca Mexico 270
57 Puerto Escondido Mexico 250
58 Cuajinicuilapa Mexico 200
59 Acapulco Mexico 250
60 Zihuatanejo Mexico 220
61 Manzanillo Mexico 450
62 Puerta Vallarta Mexico 280
63 Tepic Mexico 175
64 At sea Mexico 260
65 La Paz Mexico 0
66 La Paz Mexico 067 Loreto Mexico 360
68 Loreto Mexico 0
69 Santa Rosalia Mexico 200
70 Guerrero Negro Mexico
71 San Quintin Mexico 420
72 Tijuana Mexico 310
73 San Diego USA 150
74 Perris USA 200
75 LA-Wn USA 50
5
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HAITI
THEBA
HAMAS
CUBA
DOMINIC
AN
REPU
BLIC
GALPA
GOS
SAN
GELE
S
MEXICO
BELIZE
PANA
MA
COSTARICA
ELSALV
ADOR
GUATEM
ALA
NICARA
GUA
HO
NDUR
AS
JAMAICA
23-27
33
47,48
50
4034,35
6-12
31,32
29
43,44
4236
,37
45
54
30
7172
7374
75
7069
64
65,66
67,68
6059
58 57
5655
53
46
51
5239
41
49
63
62 61
28
38
6
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STKITTS
ANDNE
VIS
GUYANA
VENE
ZUEL
A
COLO
MBIA
BOLIVIA
BRA
ZIL
ARGENT
INA
URUG
UAY
SURINA
ME
C
H
I
L
E
PARA
GUAY
ECUA
DOR
PERU
FREN
CH
GUIANA
SO U
TH
AM
ER I
CA
1716
1514
52-56
50
48,49
40
30
2
27,28
37
38
3943
44
45
47
42
36
3534
32,33
18
51
3,4,5/
13/20
-22
3
9
4,5
1
19-22
46
18/
23,24
41
8
6,7
10
11
12
1513
,14
16
17/
25,26
3129
19
7
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INTROdUCTION
Jo will tell you she knew what was on Gareths mind even beorewe stopped. Wed just ridden eortlessly across the borderbetween Paraguay and Brazil or the ourth time in the last week
or so. Troughout the planning stages o that trip and the next one,
wed assumed getting into and out o Brazil with motorbikes would
be too hard to bother contemplating, a morass o bureaucracy and
extortionate customs and immigration charges.And yet there we were, in Brazil. In Brazil on our bikes. What the?
I know what were going to do, Gareth said as soon as we stopped,
his ace alight with revelation.
Were going to leave the bikes in Brazil, said Jo.
Were going to leave the bloody bikes in Brazil! Gareth enthused.
We can do the second hal o the trip rom here.
All that pre-trip email bluster rom Brazilian ocials on how
their country wouldnt allow this, wouldnt allow that, how wed
never get approvals or our bikes to enter or leave. What a load o
baloney out here on the ront line theres not an ocial in sight,
you just ride in not even an immigration stamp. Te slackest border
weve ever seen.
Tat epiphany came only a ew months beore, at the end o our
epic Up the Andes ride, our traverse o the western edge o South
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America, rom Lima in Peru down to Ushuaia in the uttermost south,
and the long ride up through Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay andinto Brazil. Te plan had been to nish the ride back on the western
side o the Andes, and to resume the journey around the continent
rom Colombia.
But the ease with which we slipped into Brazil changed everything.
In the end, we nished at a arm in which we have a stake, up
near the village o Mamba in West Bahia, a 400 km or so north o
Brasilia. We put the bikes into storage there while we went back toacquaint ourselves with our grandson Oscar, the latest addition to our
amily, and to cast an eye over our real lives back in New Zealand.
We were, however, prisoners o our own rhetoric. I wed called our
grand motorcycling project Bits o the World by Bike, or Selected
Foreign Destinations Motorcycled, or something like that, wed have
had some wiggle room. But World by Bike it is, and has remained
since we rst dreamed the concept up on the home straight to thenishing line on our Silk Road adventure in 2005. It had long nagged
at us that wed only done a tiny bit o South America in our trip to the
Bolivian highlands in 2002; we knew that i we called it quits ater
Up the Andes let the continent hal-biked wed be haunted by
the same sense o unnished business.
When we were planning Up the Andes, we looked at the bits o
South America that awaited our tyre tracks, and decided that the
geography suggested two trips, a sot ride and a hard one. Up the
Andes, or all its hardships and gnarly moments the rugged roads,
the altitude, the climatic variations was the sot ride. We had ew
illusions about how hard the second trip would be.
One o the rst things you do when putting together an expedition
like this is gather as much intelligence as you can about the routeyoure planning to take. We read guidebooks, consulted blogs, talked
to people who had been there, done that. We studied Google Earth
and we contacted embassies and consulates. We tried to acquire as
intimate a knowledge o the terrain and the road conditions as its
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possible to get without actually riding them. We noted the bureaucratic
requirements o each o the borders wed be crossing. We sought outdispassionate assessments o the risks wed be running animal,
vegetable and mineral and worked out what was reasonable or
granny and grandpa bikers to expose themselves to. And once wed
done that, we worked out who wed invite along to share all that risk.
Weve always considered the ideal number o people to take
along on a motorcycle expedition to be six. Six people observing the
requisite etiquette represents quite a high degree o security in the
event o misadventure, mishap or mechanical meltdown. Choose
your team members wisely, and you can take quite a range o spare
parts, tools and skills along. Six can be unwieldy: getting everyone
on the road in the morning can be an exercise in rustration, and itheres the slightest lapse in riding etiquette someone doesnt mark
a corner, or ails to ensure theyre in regular visual contact with the
person behind them you can spend ridiculous amounts o time
trying to get everyone back on the same page again. And needless to
say, unless you know everyone really well, the more people you add,
the greater the chance youll introduce those niggling interpersonal
incompatibilities to the already potentially volatile mix.
Wed always been lucky in the people wed taken along on our
adventures. Te crew o ve wed had on Up the Andeshad worked
like a charm. But although were never short o people who are keen
to come along, you nd the realities soon sort out those who are
serious rom those who imagine the whole things nothing more than
an extended cappuccino canter. Tese trips are demanding. Tey taketime were on the road or up to three months and they cost
money. Increasingly, while our own passion or doing the World by
Bike has only increased, others have allen by the wayside. Other
commitments and priorities have progressively robbed us o our trusty
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team members. By time we turned the bikes around at Ushuaia at
the hal-way stage oUp the Andes, our group o ve had dwindledto three. Soon enough, our nal companion peeled away to keep his
own appointments, too, leaving just the two o us, Joanne and Gareth
Morgan, to complete the itinerary.
By the time our plans or the second hal o the South American
ride had rmed up, we pretty much knew that when we looked at
each other across the breakast table, we were looking at the whole
team. Tere was plenty to be nervous about in that prospect. Weboth respect one anothers riding abilities and, crucially, know one
anothers limitations intimately. We can muster some handy skills
between us: Jo is an accomplished bush nurse, more than useul with
a spanner, and handy with languages. Youre glad youve got Gareth
along when you need to work out exchange rates, or i a bureaucrat
needs to be shouted at. But we were well short o the critical mass wed
previously considered ideal, and having others around can provide abit o a pressure valve when things are getting a bit raught. It was
ortunate, rom this perspective, that wed each already ridden in our
dearly beloveds exclusive company or those last ew weeks at the end
oUp the Andes: that seemed to lessen the risk that our latest venture
would take the orm o a 25,000-kilometre domestic incident.
But we were delighted, as things came together, to learn that or
much o the second hal o the orthcoming trip we would have the
company o original and legendary World by Biker, Dave Wallace:
he would join us or our traverse o Central America, as ar north as
a marlin shing competition in Baja Caliornia that or him was a
must do. And just as welcome was our younger daughter Rubys wish
to join us or some o Central America, too. Te pleasure o their
company was certainly something to look orward to.
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In the meantime, though, it was to be just the two o us, Kemosabe
and onto (we never did quite agree who was who). Another advantageo our pruned back team was that it vastly streamlined the process o
settling the itinerary. Instead o trying to please six people, we only
had to please ourselves.
Well, that could have been the beginning o the end, right there!
But geography and climate determined the route, or the most
part. We wanted to ride up through Brazil to the Amazon, where we
both agreed it would be pretty cool to make a side-trip up the river.Ten wed take a erry across the delta o the great river itsel, and
head up through the Guyanas, o which there used to be ve: the
ormer Portuguese Guiana (now the Brazilian state o Amap), French
Guiana, the ormer Dutch Guiana (now known as Suriname), British
Guyana (the Guyana these days) and the ormer Spanish Guiana
(now Venezuela). Riding rom Guyana to Venezuela would entail a
long trek south, because the two countries are barely on speakingterms, and wed have to re-enter Brazil beore entering Venezuela.
And the key point here is that the road rom Georgetown, capital
o Guyana, to Lethem on the Brazilian border is marginal. It closes
or the entire rainy season, and whenever theres a passing shower,
so the need to time our traverse to maximise our chances o getting
through would necessarily set the agenda or the rst part o the ride,
too. From the arm, wed collect the bikes and head or northeastern
Brazil, sticking to the coast wherever possible. Wed need to do big
days while the going was good in the prosperous regions south o the
Amazon. We each pencilled in points o interest along the way and
as much as possible, chose the route so that these were strung along
it like beads, but it was clear wed mostly be doing transit days in this
part o proceedings.From the Amazon, it was a matter o polishing o Brazil, doing
French Guiana, hitting Suriname, bisecting Guyana, crossing the
northern tip o Brazil again, scribing a sweeping arc across Venezuela
and dropping over the Andes into Colombia.
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Ater a Christmas break rom the bikes, wed pick up again in
Colombia, ride down into Ecuador (perhaps even squeezing in a sidetrip to the Galpagos Islands), then head up Central America via
Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Belize and on to Los Angeles via Mexico.
We looked at the map and the spreadsheet into which Gareth
had entered our projected waypoints, distances and timings. Ten we
looked at each other.
Man, what a ride! We couldnt wait.
Apart rom our very early expeditions, where our bikes were hired,
weve ridden our own BMWs on all o our World by Bike adventures.
While the results have been very good, apart rom triing niggles here
and there, weve studied the alternatives careully each time. Nothinghas appealed to us as quite so well suited to the demands we place on
our machines on these rides as the BMWs. Ideally, wed probably have
gone or the 650-cc machines we used on the Silk Road, but BMW
were no longer making them when we were tooling up or Up the
Andes. Te best and nearest was the F800GS a little heavier and
taller than absolutely ideal or sot conditions (mud, sand or shingle),
but with a decent power-to-weight ratio and a strong subrame to
hang lots o gear o. Tese bikes had perormed with aplomb up and
down the Andes: the only problems wed had with them had been the
result o mishaps apart, crucially rom Gareths rear wheel bearing,
which had become sloppy towards the end o the Up the Andesleg o
the adventure. Wed had it replaced in Sao Paulo, where wed also
asked about the wisdom o having Jos replaced. No, they said. It wasne. We shouldnt have listened. We had condence in them to see us
through the rest o the continent and through Central America, too.
A lot o what gets called the un o expedition motorcycling has
been taken out o it by modern navigational aids, most notably the
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GPS. Both o our bikes were equipped with units that could plot a
route or you according to how ast you wanted to get rom point Ato point B, and what kind o experience you wanted on the way in
theory. In practice, the maps loaded on to them or the less well-
traversed corners o the globe tend to bear little resemblance to on-
the-ground reality, but theyre an essential tool nonetheless. And one
that does oer heaps more opportunities to do circuitous and less
predictable routes when you have a day with time up your sleeve. Its
only when you discover side roads marked on your GPS turn intopaper roads ater 50 miles, that you curse their temptations. But a big
positive is were able to eortlessly head to the dead centre o every
populous town we encounter i thats where we want to spend the
night. No more avoiding the towns through ear o spending hours
getting in and out.
We also had Spidertracks technology aboard, so that others could
keep tabs on our whereabouts. Tis wasnt just or the sake o idlecuriosity: its a prudent saety precaution, and when its combined
with Google Earth, it makes or an amazing virtual interpretation
o the roads youve travelled, too. But more seriously, Spidertracks
enables you to locate your machine should it get nicked, or nd your
wie i shes ridden o with a Latino.
We swear by Icebreaker merino clothing under our riding gear.
Not only does it keep you warm in cool conditions (unlikely to be
a consideration or much o this trip, given how much time wed be
spending within ten degrees either side o the Equator), but when
soaked with water and worn under jackets and overtrousers, it can
keep you miraculously cool. And wed come to appreciate its ability
to do all o this while wearing well, looking good and hardly ever
reaching the point where it pongs.Jo took along a pretty ancy rst aid kit, and Gareth a whole
battery o communications equipment. Te Immarsat modem to meet
his incessant need to be online ulltime; his Iridium voice satphone
in case the local phone network is down or non-existent as was
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the case last year in earthquake-torn Chile; and a plethora o gadgets
he thought hed just test en route. Now you see why these bikes needstrong subrames.
We tend to avoid media reports o incidents in the countries
were due to traverse on these trips. Teres a pretty well-established
convention in news circles these days that i it bleeds, it leads, andits common, once youve acquired an interest in any given country
in the world, to hear about all the awul things that are happening
there. You never hear about the peaceul lives led by the majority o its
population, but as soon as theres a riot, a kidnapping, a particularly
grisly murder, an attack by a wild animal, a crash involving a helicopter
or light plane ull o tourists or what have you, your phone runs red
hot with pleas to renounce your irresponsible intentions to ride tocertain death and thats just Gareths mum. Its air to say that
the countries were planning to ride through on this leg o our grand
tour, claim more than their air share o the ront page o the worlds
daily newspapers. Political stability hasnt taken strong root in South
American soil. Most o these countries (outside Brazil) are either
bankrupt, used to be, or are heading that way, and the South and
Central American interpretation o democracy the power o the
people has traditionally been that the most powerul people win.
Unlike most o the rest o the commodities produced in the region,
drugs are in heavy demand, but that industry hardly contributes to
social harmony and prosperity. Some o the areas well be travelling
through are lawless; others are irremediably corrupt. Its hard to tell
whether its more dangerous to be around when the crooks conrontthe cops, or when theyre on the same side.
Te roading, by all accounts, is pretty primitive in places, and the
driving is, shall we say, idiosyncratic or the most part (quite apart rom
the occasional need to change which side o the road youre driving
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he temperature in the oce is rising, despite the aircon.Te heat seems to be emanating rom beneath Garethscollar. His eyes are blazing and his moustache is bristlingdangerously, but the woman on the other side o the desk doesnt seem
to be able to read the signs.
Alex urnbull ellow shareholder in the Brazil arm, solid
Fonterra man who has spent his lie negotiating deals in Portuguesewith Brazils hard men knows how things get done here. Shouting
doesnt get you ar, and shouting in Inglse just gets you urther down
the queue. A little decorum please, Gareth, there are certain protocols
and rituals to be observed.
Alex catches Jos attention, jerks his head at Gareth and rolls his
eyes. He signals to her that it would help our cause immeasurably i
Gareth were taken out o the game. Jo agrees. ime or Gareth to go
or a walk in a nice, orderly Brasilia street and chill.
As soon as hes gone, Alexs eatures become suused with a sugary
charisma. He lights a dazzling smile, and turns it like a blowtorch on
the sour-aced bureaucrat. At rst, theres little change, but Alex is
tall, dark and determined and his Portuguese is impeccable. A
ew orid gestures o his hands, a sigh or two, ollowed up hard witha tragic, puppy-dog expression o pure supplication and she visibly
sotens melts even, is putty in his hands.
Chapter 1
BRAzIl: NUTS
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Tis, Jo supposes, is what you call a charm oensive. Gareths idea
o a charm oensive is to og obstructive ocials with their own StChristophers medal.
Te lightest brush o his ngertips on her orearm as he shares
a piece o inormation with her, a irtatious utter o his eyelashes
and the bureaucrat goes aintly pink, and non-verbally declares a
willingness to eat out o Alexs hand. He cocks a rakish eyebrow at our
visa applications, lying all but orgotten on the desktop. She applies
hersel to them with a dreamy hal-smile. Paper starts to shufe, andstamps to thump. Its been a masterul display. Tanks to Alex, we
have our Suriname visas.
Alex drives us through the extraordinary spectacle o Brasilia.
Although its completely at, its visually striking, with man-madeeatures accentuated by the absence o physical ones. Te whole
thing was planned and purpose-built rom 1956, and in 1960 took
over rom Rio de Janeiro as Brazilian capital. It was originally shaped
like a stylised aircrat, with dierent areas designated or dierent
civic unctions, although the purity o the planners vision has been
somewhat compromised by urban sprawl. Te buildings associated
with the administrative centre are clustered in the cockpit area (Te
Suriname embassy is relegated to the jetstream however, indicative o
the regard that country o a mere hal a million people is held in by
South Americas behemoth economy). And as or its look and eel
i you can picture Canberra as executed by a cadre o municipal artists
reed at last o budget restraints, youd have it about right.
Driving out on one o the main thoroughares, the hinterlandarrives without warning. Like Brasilia, this too is at. All that
sculpted concrete and glittering glass gives way to crops that stretch
to hazy innity over the Planalto Central.
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Ater one and a hal hours in a light plane, leaving the lakes
and greenery o Brasilia in our wake, passing over the valleys andescarpments o north-eastern Goias province, we cross into the south-
west corner o Bahia and there, up ahead, we can see the arm, a suite
o verdant green irrigation pivots standing out amidst the dry, almost
arid surround o thousands o hectares o soybean stubble that shrouds
this elevated plateau a little slice o the Waikato here in the middle
o the Brazilian high plains. Its a venture initiated by a bunch o Kiwis
a ew years back, intended to bring the best o New Zealand dairyingtechniques to this uniquely suitable bit o South American landscape.
Because were 900-odd metres above sea level here, its cool enough
or grass to grow, even though were only about 14 degrees south o
the Equator. And while the vegetation is naturally that o the semi-
humid savannah (the Brazilians call it cerrado, pronounced suharto
just like the erstwhile President o Indonesia), it just happens to sit
pretty tens o metres above South Americas second largest aquier.Te sand that we struggled to ride through on our way in here at the
end o the last trip seemed pretty deep as we slithered, wallowed.
Its actually 50-odd metres deep no wonder we couldnt get any
traction! Besides making skilled bikers look untidy, all that sand
completely lters the water o impurities, so when you drop a bore
into the water table, you tap into some o the purest aguaon earth. So
with water aplenty and the whole set-up lying just beautiully to the
non-stop tropical sun, you can grow anything here, including grass.
In the better bits o the Waikato, you can grow about 18 tonnes o dry
matter per hectare a year in pasture; on our patch at azenda Leite
Verde, you can grow 50.
Te manager is Simon Wallace, the son o prominent Waikato
dairy armer, David. Simon is there to greet us as we put down,beginning to eel the eects o the long ight. Beore we tackle dinner
and call it quits or the night, we lit the covers on the bikes that
have sat on Simons back porch these last ew months, careul not to
disturb any inoensive snakes that have decided to use the seats in our
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absence. Snake bites are not unknown in Simons house, although so
ar its only his dad who has allen oul o their venomous reactions.Tey look none the worse or having been stored, and once the
batteries are hooked up, we press the starter buttons and they utter
smoothly into lie. Not bad ater six months idle. Te uting putter
o the motors and the smell the distinctive smell o our-stroke
exhaust, with a certain tang deriving rom the bioethanol content o
Brazilian petrol reminds us, in case any reminder is needed, o
just what were about to do. We go to sleep that night dreaming othe road, and the challenges and the rewards o expedition riding
awaiting us to the north.
Junior is a genius. Hes one o the arms nds, a jack o all trades
and master o pretty much all he tackles whether its building amilking shed, hooking electricity up or the actory, or sorting the
packaging line out that produces the continuous stream o bottles
lled with UH or our supermarket customers in Bahia. Teres
one thing hes not so hot at, though, and thats taking direction rom
a woman.
Jos keeping an eagle eye on him as he assists in changing the
chains and sprockets on the bikes. Hes det with the tools, and
seems to possess an intuitive sense o how these products o precision
German engineering t together, even though hes never sighted such
sophisticated motorbikes beore. Indeed, bikes arent allowed on the
arm, lest they disturb Daisy and the rest o the herd that produce our
livelihood. But he cant quite keep rom assuming a pained air when
Jo steps in to correct him on a detail.Ater some initial pung and pouting, and ew words (since
theres no common language), they establish a reasonable working
relationship, and beore theyve nished, Jos glad o this. Shes
eeling pretty light-headed and everish, and knows with that sense
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o inevitability you get that shes coming down with something.
Gareth is attending a meeting o the arms board o directors, sowithout Junior, Jo would have taken at least twice as long to do
the maintenance.
By the time shes admitted deeat and gone to lie down, Jo and
Junior have nished the jobs and Jos managed to wire her GPS in, too.
Jo hits the hay and sleeps or the next two days, only intermittently
aware o her surroundings, including the moment on the second
aternoon when Simon Wallace comes into her room and strokesher hair. Another voice is heard saying: shes not going to be t to
ride tomorrow.
Tis, she thinks, must be what its like to be dying. Friends pat
your head. Mmm, rather nice.
Around midnight, she wakes again. Te pain behind her eyes
has gone. Te room has stopped pulsing and spinning. She eels
almost normal or as normal as youd eel i youd been run over bysomething heavy.
She decides to take a chance, and stumbles to the door onto the
porch. Teres a hammock strung between the verandah posts, and
she slumps into it with a sigh o gratitude.
Tats where Gareth nds her in the morning.
What the hell are you doing out here? he asks.
Dont know, she replies. But theres your rst photo.
As her eyes have settled down in the morning light and agreed
to ocus, the strange, amorphous red blob in the green o the oliage
beyond the verandah has resolved itsel into a group o about a dozen
birds, each around the size o a bantam, crowded onto a branch, all
eyeing Jo. Occasionally, one o them will apparently grow dissatised
with its vantage, and will scuttle over the backs o its companions tosee i anything looks dierent rom that end o the perch. Teyre
pretty sort o uy and with impressive red crests and orange
bills but the gleam in their eyes is aintly unsettling to Jo, who
wonders whether theyve been sizing her up or breakast.
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You gonna be right to ride today? Gareth asks.
I think so, Jo replies, because even as the word breakast hasoccurred to her, it suddenly seems like a good idea. She must be
eeling better.
Te usual grisly triage o bike gear and belongings ollows. Youd
think wed have the knack o packing or an expedition by now, thisar down the World by Bike track, but every time, the impossibility o
tting your small mountain o gear into piddly panniers, topbags and
tank bags recurs. Amazing how essentials packed in New Zealand
become luxuries to be discarded without a qualm when it comes to
actually stowing everything.
Were also thrown slightly o-kilter by the task o packing or two
instead o dividing everything up amongst our, ve or even six. Weregoing to need to be more sel-reliant than we are when were riding as
part o a team, and were each going to have to carry more spares. Tat
inevitably creates space issues.
Once were organised, Simon trucks both us and the bikes back
out that god awul sand track down to Mamba, the nearest village.
Junior and a couple o others come along or the ride, and ater posing
or the obligatory photos, its time or us to straddle our saddles, hit
the on button and set o or real.
Ater a ew kilometres, your muscle memory comes back. You
notice the way the bike handles. I the balance isnt quite right, you
stop and jiggle gear to get it in trim. I its not too bad, you make
mental notes on how to tweak things. Although we rode most o
the way rom Patagonia to Brazil as a twosome, we both still nd itstrange not seeing a line o headlights in our mirrors on these long,
straight roads. We get along aster ewer stops, and generally
ar less shagging around but we both nd were missing the
crew. We both struggle with the heat and the humidity, especially
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Jo: its getting on or rainy season, so its muggy as hell. Te road
is shimmering with heat mirage as we tool northward. Te tracis mostly agricultural machinery utes branded with agricultural
signage and trucks carrying agricultural produce: the sheer volume
o agricultural activity visible around us makes Gareth happy to
have taken a position in Brazilian agriculture. Te vehicles ahead
oat in the shimmering midspace above the tarmac, descending and
becoming more substantial as we near them and pass them. On either
hand, the low, grey-green oliage o soy stretches away to vanishingpoint in rows, the red earth o the cerrado visible between them. Here
and there, the monotony o the all-soy diet is broken by maize or by
a massive irrigation pivot and some coee plants, but thats about as
exciting as it gets.
Te cerrado was ormerly one o the most biodiverse stretches o
real estate on earth. Its name translates as closed or inaccessible,
and this is how armers ound it or most o Brazils history. It waslargely preserved rom exploitation by its acidic, nutrient-poor soil.
Back when pastoral arming was the main game in town, it was
desultorily grazed by bee cattle, but these didnt really thrive on the
coarse savannah grasses.
From 1960, however, with the Brazilian governments concerted
move to reocus economic attention to the north-west o the country,
work began on nding ways to arm the cerrado. A combination o
ertilisers particularly lime and phosphate dramatically improved
its ability to grow grass, but it was the development o varieties o
soybean, naturally a temperate species, to grow in tropical conditions
that really sealed the deal. Te cerrado region now produces 70% o
Brazils bee, and an increasingly signicant proportion o its soybean
crop. With ew (i any) qualms about genetic modication technology,the Brazilians are only too happy to plant GM varieties that tolerate
herbicides such as RoundUp, simpliying pest control and reducing
its cost in economic terms, at least, even i its come at the price o
a good deal o the cerrados much-vaunted biodiversity.
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Its on the back o the taming o the cerrado that places like our
stop at the end o a 350-km day have sprung up. Luis Eduardo deMagalhaes was built seven years ago with a population o a hundred
or so souls; seven years on, its already a substantial service centre
boasting many thousands o people and, as our research indicates, the
largest John Deere dealership in the world. Its a dusty, bustling place,
a real working town with no rills, and its strange to go rom the
recessionary gloom o New Zealand to such an economic powerhouse.
It cant help but remind you: with its vast resources and its immenseland area, Brazil is like Australia, with the important dierence that
Brazil has water.
No aw in Jo and Juniors workmanship is apparent which is more
than we can say or BMW back in Sao Paulo. Jos just noticed theyve
mounted his rear tyre the wrong way round. We soon nd a motorcycle
shop to put this to rights. We nd tolerably good accommodation
and, better yet, we manage to stumble upon a Japanese restaurant,which is about all that appeals to the still-delicate Jo. Best o all, this
turns out to serve the best Japanese ood weve ever had. Who would
have thought it? Here, as deep as you can get into Brazils cropping
rontierland, the sashimi and tempura is to die or. Ashburton never
had it so good. By the time shes drained the last drop o her miso
soup, Jo declares hersel cured and ready or the rest o South America.
Bikers live or variety or corners and switchbacks, or ups and
downs, or changes in scenery. Well, youre out o luck in West Bahia.
Te only real variation we nd is in the signals that the truckies
make to one another and, we begin to suspect, to us. Its a coupleo hundred kilometres along the straight, hot, soy-lined road east
rom Luis Eduardo beore Gareth decides the complicated signal the
trucks give as you draw up behind them signies a clear road ahead
and an invitation to pass. Even so, its with his heart in his mouth that
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he rst swings out rom the slipstream o an enormous rig to test the
theory that when they indicate theyre about to turn across the road,they actually mean its ne or you to pass.
Phew.
Late in the morning, we see a long line o stationary trucks and a
car or two ahead. We exercise bikers prerogative and cruise past the
hapless stranded, ully three kilometres to where theyre re-marking
the road. As soon as they see us, the workers point to the spaces
between the wet bits and beckon us orward, pleading with us not tosmudge their handiwork. We pick our way through, and then smugly
gun past the long queue waiting in the other direction. Tats one
reason biking is reedom.
Beyond Barreiras, the landscape changes subtly. Te armland
is noticeably poorer here and there, the main crops seem to be
sand and scrub and theres less soy. Pinus radiata plantations
begin to appear. Beyond the Rio Sao Francisco, everything gets abit more pleated, geologically speaking, and you can see ar more o
the original vegetation o the cerrado mostly low-growing scrub
with the occasional clutch o gnarled trees adjacent to watercourses
or springs.
Te cerrado comes to an abrupt end in the vicinity o the Chapada
Diamantina National Park, where the dreary plains are carved up
into monoliths by sudden, dramatic canyons. We almost cry with
relie when conronted with our rst set o real, actual corners ater
500-odd km o relentless straights. Tey take us down rom the
highlands to the beginnings o the coastal plains, which is where we
nd Lenis.
I the agricultural bounty weve seen on the Planalto Central
is a taste o Brazils uture, Lenis is a window on its past. In theearly eighteenth century, in an eort to try to nd something equal
to or better than Potosi, the legendary silver mine in the Spanish
colony o Bolivia, the Portuguese government o Brazil despatched
prospectors into the interior. Tey soon ound gold in what is now
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known as Minas Gerais (which translates as General Mines). Te
slaves who worked the alluvial goldmines requently picked updistinctive pebbles they ound as they washed the sands, and used
these as counters in games they played in rare, idle moments back
at camp. One day, a Portuguese who had experience in the diamond
mines o India was struck by the similarity o the Brazilian stones to
the diamonds washed rom the rivers around Goa, and he took a ew
back to Lisbon with him. Te secret was out. From roughly 1725 to
the middle o the 19th century, a diamond rush was on. One o theareas in which diamonds were ound was the one weve just entered,
the Chapada Diamantina (Diamond Highlands). Lenis came into
being soon ater the discovery in 1825.
One abled account o the origins o the name o the town is
that the tents o diamond miners and their workers (Arican slaves,
or the most part) were so thick on the ground in the oors o the
canyons that they resembled bed sheets, which is what lenis meansin Portuguese. Another, slightly more plausible version is that it was
named or the at sheets o rock in the riverbeds.
Te diamonds were ound in alluvial deposits, weathered rom the
ancient rock and laid down over the aeons by erosion. Tey occurred
in a crumbly sandstone matrix known locally as cascalho, usually on
ledges along the course o rivers or buried under silt or clay in the
beds o the rivers themselves. Recovering them was a labour-intensive
operation and thats where the slaves came in. Aricans were
imported via the old capital o Portuguese Brazil, Salvador, and put
to work gouging cascalho rom the rivers, and washing diamonds out
o it under the cold gaze o whip-wielding overseers. Many thousands
o slaves were still working in the Chapada Diamantina at the turn o
the twentieth century, despite the ocial abolition o the slave tradein 1888.
Lenis was one o several little towns that sprang up to service
the Chapada Diamantina diamond mines. Te French had a vice-
consulate here to acilitate the purchase o the diamonds or
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use in their contract drilling o the Panama canal and London
Underground, amongst other projects. It has been well preserved, andis now a World Heritage site. Its easy to see why: the buildings are
gorgeous, baroque colonial aairs, with that added dash o colour that
the Arican inuence brings. We spend a very happy night here, and
sleep the sleep o the righteous ater a 550-km day. Wed originally
intended to spend a second night, and do a sidetrip into the reputedly
spectacular interior o the National Park. But weve already lost a day
through Jos incapacitation. Weve got to press on.
Jos missing Dave.
Shes sitting on the balcony o the pousada, having just been
serenaded by a portly gentleman disporting himsel with his
amigos in the pool. He had a ne tenor voice that even an excesso caipirinhas the Brazilian rewater o choice couldnt seem
to blur.
Quite apart rom his value in everyday transactions across cultural
and linguistic divides (Daves exuberant sign language seems to make
itsel understood where Jos smattering o oreign languages and
Gareths volcanic rustration cannot), Dave was always Jos latchkey
on our World by Bike adventures. Long ater Gareth had snuggled up
to his laptop or gone to bed, Dave would always be up or an excursion
into the nightlie o the places we visit.
Without her chaperone, though, Jo is conned to quarters. It
wouldnt be sae to go out alone, or Jo or the locals. Quite apart rom
the obvious dangers o being a diminutive granny abroad ater dark
in a strange place where you dont speak much language or have anintuitive sense o places where a single woman may go, and places
where she may go only at her peril, Jo is nding the Brazilian men
to be disarmingly engaging. Teyre not araid to touch, hug, smile,
kiss, irt. Without Dave to play Jiminy Cricket to her Pinocchio, Jo
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cant swear that she would be immune to the oleaginous charms o
Brazilian masculinity.So she sits on the balcony, sips her caipirinha wistully and listens
to the sound o the party that is Salvador ater dark in ull swing.
We rolled into the old capital o Portuguese America in the
mid-aternoon, ater a hot, uncomortable 400-km day. We were
getting sucked in along the main arterial route toward the towering
skyscrapers o Brazils third largest city when Jo tooted. Had Gareth
noticed the promising-looking pousada shed seen perched on apromontory as wed ridden in? We backtracked to check it out, and it
was clear that in the Pousada da Mangueira, wed struck the jackpot.
Its close to the Pelhourinho, the historic precinct o Salvador, and
is itsel housed in a character building painted in a cheerul shade
o yellow. Te acilities are great clean, comortable room, nice-
looking pool and (Gareth noted on arrival) WiFi. Its proved to be the
perect base rom which to explore Salvador.Te Portuguese were a little like a kid with a birthday present ater
the signing o the reaty o ordesillas in 1494, which somewhat
immodestly divided the globe between Spain and Portugal. Tey just
couldnt wait to see what theyd got. As ew as six years ater the
treatys promulgation, a Portuguese expedition arrived o the coast
o South America, spyglasses eagerly trained ashore. Te bay upon
which Salvador sits, the Baa de odos os Santos, was named on
(and ater) All Saints Day in 1500, which was when Pedro lvares
Cabral arrived there. Tere were sporadic, small-scale Portuguese
occupations over the next ew years, but it wasnt until the oundation
o Cidade de So Salvador da Bahia de odos os Santos in 1549 that
they came to stay. Te name proved to be a bit o a mouthul, and it
became customary to reer to the town as Bahia, or Salvador. Salvadoris the name that has stuck.
Salvador switly grew to become the hub o Portuguese activity
in the New World, and with booming sugar and mining industries
in its hinterland, it also became the South American centre o slave
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trading. Te area in which our pousada sits, the old colonial portion o
Salvador, is named the Pelhourinho, which translates into English asthe pillory, and into more modern English as the whipping post. Te
grim object ater which it is named still stands in one o the squares,
the Praa da Piedade, where slaves were punished or shortcomings
or wrongdoings.
Salvador was built on a tall escarpment behind the beaches, and
this enabled the city athers to keep the religious and administrative
district aloo rom the Cidade Baixa (Lower own), rom the portand market with their xation on the lthy lucre. Tis separation also
served down through time to preserve the quaint Cidade Alta (Upper
own) rom progress. As Salvador experienced the usual boom and
bust, and as urban renewal swept through the commercial sector in
the latter part o the twentieth century, the old part o town was
allowed to settle into a dignied decrepitude.
Te two sections o the town were connected by a cablecar, theElevador Lacerda, in 1873, and being Wellingtonians, we can hardly
say no to a ride. Te car is a gorgeous old thing o dark wood and
wrought iron retwork, but man, is it steep. We were sort o relieved
when the short trip was over.
Te immediately peculiar thing about Salvador is the extent to
which it reminds us o Zanzibar, which we visited on the Under
African Skiesleg o our motorcycling grand tour in 2007. Te Arican
inuence is plain in the pastel colours o the buildings, in the riotously
colourul artworks or sale in the many, many galleries and, o course,
in the people. Black aces, white grins, colourul clothes, big boobs
and bums over 80% o the population o metropolitan Salvador
is o Arican mostly West Arican descent, so its not hard
while wandering the streets to imagine youre on the other side othe Atlantic.
And man, can these people can move! Te Pelhourinho or the
Pelo, as the locals call it has, since its installation as a Unesco World
Heritage Site in 1985, become a kind o large-scale perormance arts
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centre, and as we strolled about its gorgeous, cobbled streets in the
sultry evening, there was all manner o eye-catching entertainmentaround us. As we were admiring one o the many old colonial
churches, a marching band went by, and the beat galvanised every
bystander, even the ones slouched like hobos in doorways. Shoulders
rolled and eet tapped, until the music crashed and clattered away
down a side street, leaving everyone to subside back into lassitude like
puppets when the puppeteer moves on.
Most eye-catching o all is samba de roda, a dance that entailsall manner o ducking, weaving, tumbling, kicking and striking and
that derives rom capoeira, a martial art developed by the slaves way
back in the day. Tere seemed to be some kind o capoeira estival
on. Sipping a caipirinha and watching these amazing-looking people
doing amazing things with their bodies, Jo ound hersel wondering
whether theres a gene controlling grace and athleticism and sheer
physical exuberance that Europeans somehow missed out upon.Salvador was the Brazilian capital until 1762, when Rio de Janeiro
assumed the mantle. It is still ocially the capital o Bahia province, and
unocially the happiness capital o Brazil. Everything dancing,
eating, drinking, irting is happening to the pulsing, urgent
rhythm o Arican-inuenced music; and now, long ater weve retired
to the pousada, its still there, throbbing through the oor to where
Gareth lies muttering in bed, underpinning the laughter and shouts
rom the streets below the balcony where Jo sits.
It is, she writes home, wonderul to be so surrounded by the vitality
o a oreign place, and to be rocked to sleep by the vibrations o lie.
Teres a mufed curse rom the room behind her.
Gareth, she writes, may well describe it all dierently.
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At Salvador, we turn let or the 5,000 km haul up the north-eastern coast o Brazil to the mouth o the Amazon. Wereleaving happiness or at least, the Brazilian capital oit behind, but its hard to eel too downhearted. Te road out is
lined with coconut palms, and through them, we see the blaze o
white sand and the sparkling Atlantic. Its only nine in the morning,
but the temperature is 34C and climbing. At least up on the cerrado,the altitude kept the humidity down. Here, all that muggy air is
trapped over the coast like a duvet by the high interior. Sweat courses
down our oreheads and between our shoulder blades. aking regular
sucks on the tube rom your Camelback is a must.
We cross a huge river by vehicular erry about 200km north
o Salvador. Soon the tree-lined avenue turns into a shimmering
superhighway, gorgeous surace, liberally inested with huge trucks,
with vast sugar plantations on either hand. Brazil produces a third
o the worlds sugarcane: sugar was Bahia states principal industry
rom the 1700s until the beginning o the 19th century, when British
plantations in India provided a cheaper product and knocked the
bottom out o the world market. In the meantime, o course, Brazil
was a major customer o the slave trade, with 37% o the peoplekidnapped rom West Arica transported to Brazil.
Now, clearly, the sugarcane trade is back, with the bulk o the crop
eeding Brazils bioethanol industry Brazil also produces a third
Chapter 2
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