Time to say good-bye, not so difficult for me but for my friends; they had spent quite some time together during the last month, had known each other actually even longer and had met in different countries at different places throughout their journeys. Christian was ready, Ana not really, so the good-bye ceremony became a little bit emotional and tears of joy mixed with tears of sadness. Time to say good-bye, Christian and Ana entered their van and we all left for the main crossroad at the main street Manaus – Boa Vista. The yellow van had to take the U-turn whereas we had to go straight ahead, for the next 700 kilometers. Time to say good-bye.
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One quick stop, one quick question from Claudio; would it be better to turn around, drive back to Presidente Figueireido and fill up the tank at one of the local gas stations before the indigenous reservation; joined answer from Yonathan and me, “No”. The next gas station appeared after one more hour of driving and the gas was at the same price as in Presidente Figueireido. The driving speed of the vans was around 60 to 70 kilometers per hour, so we had another 9 to 10 hours of driving in front of us.
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The drive through the indigenous reservation was through pure untouched nature for more than 150 kilometers, no city, no village, no indigenous community, no house, no shop, no gas station, nothing, just the asphalted road going straight through the rainforest. Occasionally a pair of parrots appeared in the trees but then suddenly out of nowhere on the road 2 indigenous young girls working on a tree that had fallen onto the street. We all felt that we had seen aliens, strange to us, different in their appearance, different in their dress and their hairstyle, a mystical brief moment, a brief encounter, a brief look back into the past.
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After more than 4 or 5 hours of driving in the rainforest, everybody was getting hungry and Yonathan was searching for the right place and the right place was Rorainopolis, the right place was the last gas station of the village. Betty and I walked back to the main commercial street to the supermarket to do some shopping, easy for her and rather difficult for me with my last 3 Reales. I needed 1 more Real to buy at least 1 liter of Coca Cola, to have at least something to drink. I had to go back to my time as a beggar and right away asked the owner of a rather new 4×4, he reached in his pocket and handed me the missing 1 Real. Back to the supermarket, bought the Coca Cola, back to the gas station and back to the vans.
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Yonathan had prepared a very delicious looking ham and cheese sandwich with tomato and mayonnaise. I refused, he insisted, I refused, he insisted, he won and I had a juicy in the van kitchen made ham and cheese sandwich. He prepared more, different sandwiches, I refused, he insisted, I refused, he insisted, he won again. We left Rorainoplois, another 300 kilometers to Boa Vista, another 5 hours of driving into the sunset and into the night, but with GPS and APP and with another wave of fever and a revolution in my stomach. The little food that I had was already too much for my sensible stomach, he refused food, he insisted and he won.
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We arrived in Boa Vista, the APP indicated a location on the outskirts to the north of Boa Vista, and the APP was right again, a Balneario outside the city limits just 2 kilometers after the shopping ‘Patio Boa Vista’. We had the whole Balneario for us, 1 kilometer of sand beach along a small river, a nice big tree for the 2 vans to park besides. 20 meters from the vans closer to the river 2 more but smaller trees, perfect for my hammock and perfect views to the river.
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For a small understanding of the days travel, I have included a Google Earth map. The red pins mark the locations I have stopped and taken pictures. At the bottom of the page you will find a link for all the pictures I have taken. The link will open in a Google+ Album.
Please click on map to enlarge!!!
See map and distances / Siehe Karte und Entfernungen / Ver mapa e distâncias / Ver mapa y distancias
0 km Presidente Figueiredo
350 km Rorainopolis
505 km Caracarai
650 km Boa Vista
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