After leaving the town of 50km I headed to Tucurui with about 1L of fluids…bad idea. I have found that my perception of the conditions I´d be facing in the Amazon have been quite off so far. This has truly been a desert journey to this point.

I started the day´s ride at 5:30am and left the pavement behind me. Even at this hour I was sweating like a madman as I negotiated the washboard dirt road with my 100+ lb rig. I was right to be nervous the night before.

The ride from Igarape-Miri to Cameta´ was fairly easy going. I started at dawn to beat the absolutely life zapping sun and made it to the river Tocantins where I recieved some daunting news.

Not only is it my birthday but also the day of the Acai Festival in Iagarpe-Miri. This was my first full day of cycling and the Amazon is HOT!

This is my first full day in Belem at the mouth of the Amazon river and at the edge of the jungle. So far I have assembled my bike (with some issues), figured out the land line (SAT phone is having issues) and took a quick ride around this huge city.