Ok, time for a Portuguese lesson. Portuguese is very simple as they use many of same words we use in English. For example, a picnic, in Portuguese is called a “peekie neekie.” Just add an e or ie onto each syllable and you’re golden. The TV sit com, Big Bang Theory, is call “Biggie Bangie Theory.” A place in Belém called the Old School Rock bar is pronounced “Old Schoolie Rockie Bar,” in Portuguese.
So what how do you think they say “walkie talkie?” …………………………. Of course, they say “walk talk.”
When I rolled into Belém I stopped at a place called Moto Mania. Its a shop owned by a very nice guy named Alex.
Alex was extremely helpful with anything I needed. He put me in touch with a group of guys, who put me in touch with a guy that could help me get my bike to Macapá, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon delta.
While in Belém I took a couple rides around the area. I was up at a little beach town north of the city, stopped for a coffee and this guy walks up to me and introduces himself as Michael Jackson, seriously. Michael is still alive, living near Belém, but is now his skin is completely white like his hair, and has started a new business washing bikes and cars, and has not aged very well in the last few years. He seems about 99 percent off of his rocker and very happy and friendly all the time.
Michael told me that my bike needed a wash and did such a good sales pitch that I accepted his services. The pitch was simple. He told me that no girls would get on the back of my bike because it was too dirty. Sold.
Of course about 5 minutes after Michael finished washing my bike, it starts pouring down rain, again. Well it was clean for a while. No chicas for me I guess.
Here are another couple of characters that were from the garage where I parked my bike while in Belém. These guys were a joke a minute, of course I never understood a single word they were saying, but they sure were funny.
This is the Belém moto crew that Alex put me in touch with, great guys. They wouldn’t let my pay for a drink or a meal while I was with them. These guys more or less adopted me while I was in town. I hung around with this crew for a few days, had some laughs and learned a little more Portuguese. I spent some time riding around town with them as well.
As I mentioned, Belém is where you need to catch a boat if you want to continue north in Brazil to the French Guiana border. There is a ferry that goes a few times a week from Belém to Macapá but one of the local riders here, Eddie, had a much better idea. He actually owns a river transport company and offered the space on one of his barges, for free. How cool is that!
For some reason Eddie reminded me of Tony Soprano. I started calling him “T” but I think the joke was kind of lost on everyone. One of their buddies nickname was “face of pooping dog.” That guy really did have a face like a dog pooping. I cant even remember his real name. Nothing was sacred with that crew. I wasnt around long enough to get good nickname though.
So anyway, I headed off to the river docks and pulled up at Tony Soprano’s transport company. Lots of barges around as everything headed north or inland towards Santarem goes by river barge.
I rode the bike down onto the barge.
T, in the blue shirt here, supervised the loading.
Secured and covered up.
The barge is loaded and its time for the overnight journey to Macapá on the Amazon Delta. Free transport to Macapá, courtesy of T. Thanks Eddie!
So ends my stay in Belém. There are a great bunch of riders there and if you go to Moto Mania and meet Alex, he will hook you up with the local crew. Another fantastic experience with the Brazilian riders.
Next stop, Macapá on the Amazon Delta. This is where I depart from the normal tourist route. Most riders seem to prefer the Amazon river boats to Manaus instead of riding the obvious loop up through northern Amapá state and into the Guyanas. Why, I do not understand because the route through the Guyanas is worthwhile.
Macapá is a rather sizable town complete with old colonial structures.
From here you can take river boats to Belém, Santarem, or all the way to Manaus. Also, since you are now on the north side of the delta, you can take the one and only road to Oiapoque, the northernmost point of Brazil. This was my plan. Several overland travelers have posted information about taking this route and because of their efforts I was able to glean information that would proved valuable and time saving with regard to logistical and bureaucratic obstacles.
I once again cross the Equator just outside of Macapá on my journey to the north. I’m not exactly sure why, but I felt it was kind of a significant moment in my trip, so I lingered around the monument a while and took a few photos.
BR-156 is the road that goes from Macapá to Oiapoque. Most of it is paved, but from Calçeone there starts a 200 km stretch of dirt that has the reputation of being quite muddy in the wet season. When I arrived in February it was supposed to be in the middle of a “little dry season” until the end of March when the rains return. May is the when the rains return with a vengeance and they typically dont let up until August. If you plan on doing this route, keep that in mind. However, It had been raining non-stop in the region for several weeks prior to my arrival so I was not expecting anything resembling dry conditions.
So, as I hit the dirt section of the route, I was greeted with scenes like this. Deep mud is the most difficult type of terrain to negotiate on a large loaded down motorcycle.
Some parts were wetter than others and were the consistency of a soupy slop, almost knee deep in places.
However, these sections were never more than a couple hundred meters in length, and usually, staying in the deep ruts made by passing trucks would see you through. Although, there were times when the side of the ruts were so tall that they would grab my panniers and pull me down to wallow around in the mud. That is exactly what happened in the video clip.
The muddy sections were scattered throughout the route and would sometimes get my attention as I would come flying around a curve at 60 mph then suddenly have to execute a panic stop as one of these bogs jumped out of nowhere.
The day I did this route the rain had stopped in the mid morning, the sun came out, and things quickly started drying out, so I had encountered sections of road that were merely damp and had excellent traction. However, if it is pouring down rain while you are on this route, (which is a real probability) the whole thing will be slicker than owl droppings, and the muddy bogs could be particularly nasty. Thankfully, I hit it on a good day.
At some of the bogs, you will see trucks stuck in the mud. When one truck gets stuck, he simply waits for another truck to come along and try to pull him out. When the truck doing the pulling gets stuck, they both wait for a third truck to come along, then they cable all three trucks together and try pull each other through the bogs. Its pretty good entertainment if you dont mind sitting around in the oppressive jungle heat to watch the show.
There were numerous long wooden bridges and most of them were in good condition like this one. At times bridges will wash away and you will be forced to wait while repairs are made.
After 200 kms of dirt and mud, the pavement returns for the last 50 kms into Oiapoque and the border with French Guiana.
Saludos.