When I reached the Tapajos River and the ferry to Itaituba there was a makeshift road block and a protest taking place. Evidentially cyclists were immune from the protest and I crossed with some minor harassment from a very tactile Tranny on the ferry boat. I don´t think spandex shorts are common in rural northern Brazil and maybe I´ve been giving off the wrong impression!
*Correction: He wore semi-permanent facial paint, not tattoos. This is typical among Indians of the Amazon, usually a skilled learned by the females of the tribe.

From the fires and horse battles of Ruropolis I headed further west into more hills. I think the most memorable part of my journey will be the endless hills of the TransAm. I passed a hunter during the day with the creature that had woken me in a naked frenzy many nights earlier. He had bagged two and called them Pacas. In the photo we see the white underbelly of one, both were beheaded.

I spent three days from Placas to reach Itaituba on the Tapajos river. The road did not improve of course and everyday seems to add a new element to my riding misery. It starts with heat, then dust, then hills, then washboard surface and potholes, then traffic, then immense road construction and angry road greedy drivers all mixed together into the beatiful mess that is the TransAm!

With only 37 miles on my agenda for today I had time to take it easy. I tested my new Brazilian light weight woven cowboy hat, cracked open a Schin lager on the road, and watched the trucks roll past.

I left Medicilandia about an hour before sunrise for two reasons: I was sleeping above a rooster and the dogs in this town like to start fighting at 4:00am.

I left Altamira, X-Tudos, icecream, and beer behind me and hit the road again towards Medicilandia. I entered cacau farmland which is at least visually more appealing than cattle fazenda. While resting in a roadside hut I had the chance to speak to one of these farmers.

I packed my gear up from my first night out in the bush and took my sweet time pedaling the last kilometers to Altamira. After 9 straight days of cycling I was tired, almost 15lbs lighter, and needed food and rest.

A steep long climb welcomed me back to the road the morning I left Anapu. After an hour or so I couldn´t believe my eyes…nearly flat road all the way to the horizon. I sat back and cruised at over 10mph for the first half of the day.

As I left Pacaja for Anapu I gave the bike a rinse, pumped the tires, oiled the chain, and realized my rear rack was cracked. I wasn´t surprised considering the weight I was carrying in water and supplies and the bone jarring washboard roads and viscious decents.

My first days on the real TransAm started in Novo Repartimento. Even though the official Transamazonica project was abandoned by the government the highway is definately still in use. Trucks speed by at break neck speeds on the average of 1 per minute on this section of the TransAm, and the hills nearly wipe me out.