Are we there yet? Almost, just a couple more days of
destination type riding and we should be in Belem. For now we will be happy to
make it to Paraiso do Tocantins and although there is nothing special we can
find about this town, we decide it is a good distance to ride and there are a
couple of nice hotels online so that usually means a full services town. The
rolling farmland flanks both sides of the route and there are to many Brahma
cows to count. It is extra hot today and a strong crosswind makes us feel like
turkeys in a convection oven.
We meet a friendly young lady at a gas station
who is very surprised when she realized that there is a woman under all that
gear or maybe it was because Brenda was taking her picture. Either way her
reaction was priceless.
We find Fernando’s Hotel along the highway in town and are pleasantly surprised by a nice pool. Perfect for 34°C and a couple of sweaty bikers. We splash in the pool for a bit and even get to try out some underwater photography. Can we say we were swimming with the dolphins count if they are just painted on the side of the pool? All in all a nice way to spend my Birthday.
 |
| Yes, we are underwater. |
Back into the oven we go as we make our way to Porto Franco
– small town with only a couple of hotels to choose from. The nicest looking one tells us they are
fully booked so we go to the second nicest looking hotel and for R$120 we have
a room, roughly $40CAD. The ladies at the desk are helpful and cheery, parking
the bikes added a unique experience for this and likely any trip. The parking
area at the hotel was under construction so we were directed to park in a
building supply warehouse down the street. I took my bike first and a young
lady escorted me there and gave me a ride back on her little motorcycle. Then
we repeated the process for Brenda’s bike. So I got two rides from the young
lady, on the back of her bike back to the hotel. It turns out she works in the
hardware store connected to the hotel, which also explains the parking
arrangement. After that it was all giggles and smiles from the girls and a big
thumbs up from the guy at the motorcycle shop across the street from the hotel.
Small towns are great. The plan was to go out for supper but a major rain storm
rolled in and we decided to just hang out at the hotel and watch the lightning
show. We were asleep fairly early, like 9pm, partially because we changed time
zones and gained/lost an hour (it felt later than it was).
 |
| Our Hotel/Harware Store. Came in handy for parking and buying an outlet adapter. |
A sunny sky in the morning is always a nice sight and we are
up to watch the sunrise, almost. A small but tasty breakfast and we got to cook
our own eggs, more self serve type of a place. The bikes are safe and dry in
the warehouse and we load up and tackle the oven again. The tropical look is
still prevalent with palm trees and a thousand shades of green but now we also
see very large fields mixed in with the wild jungle and the cattle ranches. The
fields are in fallow so we are not sure what they grow, likely potatoes and
corn.
 |
| Large fields with smokey haze in distance. |
 |
| Friendly locals. This is a bike taxi which is popular here. |
 |
| Diners along the road. |
There is also a heavy haze of smoke in the air, we come across some areas
where the underbrush has been burned off but it seems like far too much smoke
for bit of burnt underbrush. We chaulk it up to wildfires as it seems very dry,
even though it just rained last night. The truck drivers keep us company along
the way and we get to pass some of them a couple of times. Why a couple of
times? Well we can only ride about 2 hrs before we need gas, the trucks can go
a lot farther, so it turns into a bit of a leapfrog game. The wind is very strong
today and the later it gets the stronger the wind, by 2pm we are getting blown
around pretty good and decide to stop for the day at km1670: a huge truck stop,
complete with restaurant, hotel, convenience store, car/truck wash, tire repair
place, and a couple of friendly kids on bicycles. The room is very clean and
the a/c works great, a nice relief from the oven outside. This heat is
exhausting and as there is not much to do we are once again asleep by 9pm.
 |
| Some basic housing along the roadside. |
 |
| Sandstorm blowing through. |
