Belem and onwards

We were expected to arrive at 9.00am but overnight we had lost an engine and were plodding along on just one. This brought a surprising reaction from some of the passengers who decided to vent their frustration on the Captain - they didn't throw him overboard but they looked like they wanted to.

The time delay was a little frustrating and was exacerbated when we finally go to the dock - we had missed high tide by a few hours and there is no way we would get the bikes off - the jetty being 2 meters above the cargo deck.

Belem is a big city!

We sat around on the bike some more whilst the foot passengers disembarked, we also got a taxi in to town to find an hotel with parking for 4 bikes.

Eventually the plank of wood was put across from the boat to the jetty and we wobbled our way off. At this point Wing's bike decided not to start and we could not get it going. We towed him to the hotel.and hoped that there would be somewhere in town to sort it.

Next day we found a Yamaha dealership and they collected Wing's bike with a Truck. A few hours later the problem was still unknown and would be another day at least so Wing told us to go on.

 We wanted to get to Santa Inez but we just ran out of daylight..I am sorry to say that the scenery is not that attractive, it is almost desert. With it being the dry season the bush is either on fire, was on fire or about to be on fire. Smoke fills the air and the countryside looks pretty desperate.

 I assume it looks better after the rainy season which should start in October.

We made it as far as Piripiri - a nice town and for all I know the originator of the hot chicken dish.  It was a fleeting visit and we were off early the next day. The stops for fuel were expensive compared to Venezuela but the attendants were nice!

You quickly learn just how big Brazil is, the distances to cover are huge. Catchya had a Brazilian friend who was riding up to meet us in a nice small beach town near Fortaleza. Half way to our target Wing had caught up with us. He had done over 800kms yesterday and would do about the same again today - he had left at 4:00am!!!