Heading to Santarem

Inbound to the airport - good first sign there is sand!
see all photos »

Saturday 19 July 2008 came early. Seems that 12 pack I had planned to take to the woods got broken into last night. Thanks for the text messages that you guys send. It keeps me going.

Back to San Quinton for lockdown!!

After a quick breakfast I was off to the airport by 9 AM. Smooth sailing all the way to Santarem. You can see this place is not too big. About 400 miles west of Belem.  ( the map on this site is bogus) Here is the link to see the location:

Gate 1 at the Airport
see all photos »

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=-2.439983~-54.731716&style=r&lvl=11&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=Santarem%2C%20Brazil&encType=1

It is pronounced San-ta-ring
see all photos »

Frankly no one comes here. No reason! Even the locals laughed at me when I told them I was going. Not a word of English from the airport to the hotel. I am in the big leagues now. Too bad I am a “little leaguer” in Portuguese. Thank God these people have a good sense of humor.

The ride to Alter Do Chao (ADC) was about 15 miles over rolling poorly paved roads with about four barely surviving villages in between but man I was into it!! We arrived at my prearranged hotel, Aqua Linda at 1:00 PM. Oh my God- rough boy Nick was even taken back. I am thankful my family was not with me. After a ten minute no communication with a young clerk I made it to my room. Wow San Quinton has it on this place. No lamps just light bulbs in the ceiling. TV with two channels. Finally wifi connected at 50 KB/sec- slowww!

Ride to ADC Tough Biking leg with the 200 lb bag
see all photos »

I unpacked and headed down the dirt road to the town. I was  depressed wondering what the hell I had done. The locals were right!!

The dirt road lasted about five minutes on poverty row. I was wondering what the hell the travel blogs were talking about. Why was this place  so good? Then I rounded the corner and bang! I was there. This place is great!!! A small village about 1 mile across and 1 mile deep. They have built a seawall with a walk that leads about 8oo yards into a center court yard with church and all. Across a ½ mile water channel laid a sandbar about 1 mile long with about 20 boats and 200 people under palm huts chilling. As I made my way into town I found about five great seawall restaurants with tables on the seawall. It was like Venice - twenty small boats were rowing people to and from the sandbar.

Hit the town center and found this great looking motel. Pulled out the book and brushed up on my Portuguese and went in. An older lady was working the desk. Not a word of English was spoken. Ok here we go. I pulled out Nick’s  3 by 5 card of little helpers and we made it through the fact she had a room over looking the river and sandbar on the second floor at the same price I was paying now. Done deal. We worked our way though the dates, times, and costs and I was on my way.I was feeling better already.

Next door I went to meet Claudio who was my front man on arranging some day trips. Great guy! He made feel at home. We discussed options and left it open for now.

I made way to the end of the village where there is a small village beach. About 100 folks under tiki huts with music and food. So I camped out to catch some rays and soak it all in until six o’clock. Did some texting to Rich who was doing the same just he was at a pool in the Hamptons. Isn’t technology great?

Showered, had dinner, and meet Claudio for a beer to finalize the plan. Tomorrow we are off by boat to Green Lake that is supposed to be clear. We will see. Monday is a solo full day trip into the national forest.

Sorry no pictures of the village I will post a bunch tomorrow.

Back to San Quinton for lockdown. My release is set for 10 AM