26/9/2014 Macapá to eucalypt forest camp
D113, T7, Av18.87, Max39, 32730/7200
Hot and fine light breeze
After taking advantage of the complimentary breakfast, especially the fresh sweet, water melon, a ride was taken along the foreshores to Marco Zero. This is the monument that marks the equator 6km from my hotel.
It was an enjoyable ride along hte foreshores with riverboats, many of them lived on, picking up passengers and dropping off goods at the various boat ramps.
At the monument, the guys were telling me only three other cyclists had visited here this year.
The visitors book revealed a similar story, almost all visitors were Brasileiros.
The average traveller, just doesn’t get from between the covers of the various travel guides.
Leaving here Ruta156 took me out of town onto an asphalt road that for the whole day was flat.
It was so nice to be back on the asphalt.
Traveling with me is an unwelcome entourage of bed bugs, which I caught at the hotel in Macapá.
My time in the motel was spent scratching my groin area at night. They drove me crazy. The second night I got them to change the bed and sheets. Still they never let up.
I have spots all over my skin under my boxers. During the the day it was bearable.
New sunglasses were bought, as the other ones, now a year old have scratches on the lenses. $60 was spent on a reasonable pair. New light weight shorts were also bought. The fort was visited and each evening was spent on the promenade in the lovely river breeze.
Down at the wharf I was chatting with boat people, they all knew of the Peter Blake tragedy, he was moored off the passenger ferry port, where we were talking. They were great guys, who owned a cattle ferry.
His yacht was some distance from the shore as the two metre tide requires this. The shots would have hardly been audible had the sea breeze been strong.
I had three brilliant lunches at the restaurant Cristal opposite my hotel. All you can eat for 6 dollars and great food. Not too oily. If ever in Macapá make sure you have at least one lunch here, they are not open for dinner.
On the road, lunch was enjoyed, 50km into the ride at a lanchonette. The country now is flat as mentioned with pasture present and regrowth. It is dry country. Long grasses were growing on the roadside.
They hung into the shoulder which at times made riding difficult. Ambling along, a sign advertising abacaxis (pineapple) for sale. Here I stopped and had a chilled speciman and half a chilled water melon. That they were chilled made the stop so much the better.
The road was still flat and easy progress was made.
I could have easily ridden the 120km to Porto Grande, though decided to camp just short of town.
I needed to a full day in Porto Grande to chill and get rid of these bed bugs.
Nearing town, I needed water. There were Eucalyptus plantations for many kilometres. Most heavy vehicles were carrying pencil thin logs.
A guy was seen down a forestry road. I pulled in and asked for water. They were a crew working in the plantations and had chilled water and potable water in their water truck.
Half an hour was spent with these guys in the shade of hte plantation. My water containers were full for hte night when I said goodbye.
Within 12km of town I needed a camp fast. Another track into the forest was spotted. Here I rode in for a kilometre. The traffic could not be heard, it was great.
Coffee was made and the hammock hung, the ants were too numerous to risk the tent and ticks were also present.
It is amazing how manic they become when they sense a host. One was walking at a rapid pace over my gear towards my ankles.
Dinner was just noodles.
It was stifling hot in the calm natural forest across the track from the tall slender Eucalypts. They are grown for the paper industry, I was told.
Despite the heat and humidity, my long pants and long sleeved shirt were worn to keep the cloud of mosquitoes off me. They were biting through the clothing where it met my skin in a taught sate.
Some cream I had bought was applied to my bites after a wet hand towel was used to cool me off.
The itching had begun, they were on the move and biting in earnest. In the hammock, it was unreal. I took time to spot one, they were about a third the size of a pin head.
I am being careful not to scratch so as to break the skin, the last thing needed is an infection.
I read and think I finally feel to sleep about midnight, in the clammy, still conditions. The forest was as quiet as could be, larger leaves could be heard falling from trees, fireflies flittered about and the odd micro bat whizzed by in a rapidly changing flight path.
My sleeping bag was laid between myself and the hammock, as the mossies were biting through the fabric.
27/9/2014 Eucalypt camp to Porto Grande
D21, T1.23, Av14.65, Max40, 32751/72221
Hot and fine light breeze
Up early and feeling actually reasonable well slept. I slept from midnight till 3 then 4 till 6. So it wasn’t all bad.
Breakfast was had, wet gear was put on, this is not a problem, under these conditions everything is soaked with perspiration within half an hour anyway.
Once out of the forest an access road was ridden till it swung onto the highway.
The early morning heat saw me totally sweat ridden within 20 minutes, it was unusually hot and sticky.
It was a short 10km ride into town. The guys had told me to stay at the Pousada Alagoana.
A ride was taken to check out the river Araguari, that flows alongside the town. There was a park alongside the large waterway that interesting had huge water polished boulder like islands within its flow.
Back in town, 3 chilled cocos were drunk and the flesh eaten. $2 each, some garlic was also bought at the little market.
I booked the Alagoana., at 35R for the night it was good honest lodgings, large room, common shower and a ceiling fan.
Washing, to hopefully rid myself of these bugs was done. My hammock was aired, along with the sleeping bag.
Another cream was bought this time a parasiticide.
My rear rack is cracking again at a previous weld.
This was repaired by a guy that really gave it a good working over with the oxy.
Back at the room, on inspecting the bike it was found the cable for the rear derailleur had starting fraying where it goes through the plastic guide under the crank. This now explains the occasional slow response when changing gears. I carry a spare cable.
I have never changed one of these before so I referred to the Bike Book, I have on my phone.
The tricky part is dismantling the lever housing at the handle bar. It took some time to put this back together do so the indicator worked.
Anyway, during this process, upon flipping the bike over, I put my back out.
Never to know what lies ahead, I am now sporting a colony of bed bugs and an acutely sore lower back.
The back thing has to be viewed in a positive mind. I hope to will it away.
This evening it is a lot worse. After sitting down I can hardly walk. My posture is stooped, coupled with a face that shows pain with each step, things could be alot better. This, the first time this has happened for over two years.
I know time is the greatest healer of this problem, that and rest. The former I have plenty of and the later, will be great.
This may see me stop here for another day.
Things could be worse, I have good lodgings, people are really friendly, there is a good cafe, and supermarket across the road and a fresh fruit stall alongside it .
Dinner tonight was just the most delicious fish called Dorado, a very popular sport fish in rivers from Paraguay north.
Hopefully, a night in a bed will see it improve overnight. Care needs to be taken as this is the last sizeable town till nearly French Guyana. I don’t want it to get worse and camping won’t help things. Especially not having to sleep in the hammock.
28-29/9/2014 Porto Grande
Nursing a sore lower back.
Well, on getting up yesterday morning, things were really no better. It’s amazing how one little twist during a light lift can cause so much prolonged pain. It could have happened at a campsite, miles from the next pousada. This I am grateful for.
This lower back issue has occasionally bothered over the years.
Really, I should be thankful.
My room was changed to one that had AC, it was next door so moving was a 2m walk.
It has two singles firm beds on wooden slats. Hopefully, this rigidity will help things improve.
The morning was spent watching movies.
The bed bugs have been slayed, though just a bit of scratching continues.
The cream is still being applied, just to be safe.
Whilst in Missionies in AR, some good local liniment was bought and kept, it has been a great help, with the odd Panadol in the evening.
There is no internet in the hotel or with my telephone number so it is reading, sleeping and dreaming for me with the odd Spanish study added.
I have found an internet store.
A couple of coconuts were enjoyed yesterday. Pineapples are 50c, but it is so hard to pick a good one. At 50c, it is a good place to gain skills in this seemingly impossible task. I pick green ones and the bases are partly black inside. Orange ones are often sweet but glassy inside. So it seems somewhere in between is the trick.
Bread rolls are provided for breakfast, which is a bonus, so at 45R a night, I can afford to stay here as long as need be.
It is just the nicest little community, not to busy just people going about their day and all are friendly.
Whilst eating dinner across the road last night, an itch on my back turned out to be a tick embedded, Scatching it out was difficult, unfortunately the mouth parts are still in
An interesting, and for me, a positive way to look at this back problem that has halted my passage comes from the Buddhist way of finding meaning in pain and suffering, to shift the perspective. Giving and recieveing.
Quote from Victor Frankal, a Jewish Psychiatrist imprisoned by the Nazis in WW2: “Man is ready and willing to shoulder any suffering, as soon and as long as he can see meaning in it”
I am thinking..............
May my suffering act as a substitute for others, who are suffering from a similar problem. I can visualise taking on their suffering and giving them my good health.
This is not to suggest ignoring my own health. However, this practice makes a significant difference to how I am responding to the situation.
Practicing this meditation may not succeed in alleviating my real physical pain or lead to a physical cure but it can protect me from additional unnecessary physiological pain, suffering and anguish.
I think that by experiencing this pain and suffering, I am able to help other people and save others who have to go through the same experience.
Then my suffering takes on a new meaning.
As it used for the basis of a spiritual practice. Instead of being sorry and saddened by the experience, I can see it as a kind of privilege, a kind of opportunity and be joyful because this particular experience has made me richer.
For me, Buddhist practice is so relevant to everyday life. Put simply my sore back is just another experience to be enjoyed on this journey.
After all, it is great just relaxing in my cool room and sauntering over for a chilled coco drink or pineapple, listening to music, reading, watching a movie or just good ol’ sleeping in the afternoon sun!!
I will stay here in Porto Grande, as long as necessary.
D113, T7, Av18.87, Max39, 32730/7200
Hot and fine light breeze
After taking advantage of the complimentary breakfast, especially the fresh sweet, water melon, a ride was taken along the foreshores to Marco Zero. This is the monument that marks the equator 6km from my hotel.
It was an enjoyable ride along hte foreshores with riverboats, many of them lived on, picking up passengers and dropping off goods at the various boat ramps.
At the monument, the guys were telling me only three other cyclists had visited here this year.
The visitors book revealed a similar story, almost all visitors were Brasileiros.
The average traveller, just doesn’t get from between the covers of the various travel guides.
Leaving here Ruta156 took me out of town onto an asphalt road that for the whole day was flat.
It was so nice to be back on the asphalt.
Traveling with me is an unwelcome entourage of bed bugs, which I caught at the hotel in Macapá.
My time in the motel was spent scratching my groin area at night. They drove me crazy. The second night I got them to change the bed and sheets. Still they never let up.
I have spots all over my skin under my boxers. During the the day it was bearable.
New sunglasses were bought, as the other ones, now a year old have scratches on the lenses. $60 was spent on a reasonable pair. New light weight shorts were also bought. The fort was visited and each evening was spent on the promenade in the lovely river breeze.
Down at the wharf I was chatting with boat people, they all knew of the Peter Blake tragedy, he was moored off the passenger ferry port, where we were talking. They were great guys, who owned a cattle ferry.
His yacht was some distance from the shore as the two metre tide requires this. The shots would have hardly been audible had the sea breeze been strong.
I had three brilliant lunches at the restaurant Cristal opposite my hotel. All you can eat for 6 dollars and great food. Not too oily. If ever in Macapá make sure you have at least one lunch here, they are not open for dinner.
On the road, lunch was enjoyed, 50km into the ride at a lanchonette. The country now is flat as mentioned with pasture present and regrowth. It is dry country. Long grasses were growing on the roadside.
They hung into the shoulder which at times made riding difficult. Ambling along, a sign advertising abacaxis (pineapple) for sale. Here I stopped and had a chilled speciman and half a chilled water melon. That they were chilled made the stop so much the better.
The road was still flat and easy progress was made.
I could have easily ridden the 120km to Porto Grande, though decided to camp just short of town.
I needed to a full day in Porto Grande to chill and get rid of these bed bugs.
Nearing town, I needed water. There were Eucalyptus plantations for many kilometres. Most heavy vehicles were carrying pencil thin logs.
A guy was seen down a forestry road. I pulled in and asked for water. They were a crew working in the plantations and had chilled water and potable water in their water truck.
Half an hour was spent with these guys in the shade of hte plantation. My water containers were full for hte night when I said goodbye.
Within 12km of town I needed a camp fast. Another track into the forest was spotted. Here I rode in for a kilometre. The traffic could not be heard, it was great.
Coffee was made and the hammock hung, the ants were too numerous to risk the tent and ticks were also present.
It is amazing how manic they become when they sense a host. One was walking at a rapid pace over my gear towards my ankles.
Dinner was just noodles.
It was stifling hot in the calm natural forest across the track from the tall slender Eucalypts. They are grown for the paper industry, I was told.
Despite the heat and humidity, my long pants and long sleeved shirt were worn to keep the cloud of mosquitoes off me. They were biting through the clothing where it met my skin in a taught sate.
Some cream I had bought was applied to my bites after a wet hand towel was used to cool me off.
The itching had begun, they were on the move and biting in earnest. In the hammock, it was unreal. I took time to spot one, they were about a third the size of a pin head.
I am being careful not to scratch so as to break the skin, the last thing needed is an infection.
I read and think I finally feel to sleep about midnight, in the clammy, still conditions. The forest was as quiet as could be, larger leaves could be heard falling from trees, fireflies flittered about and the odd micro bat whizzed by in a rapidly changing flight path.
My sleeping bag was laid between myself and the hammock, as the mossies were biting through the fabric.
27/9/2014 Eucalypt camp to Porto Grande
D21, T1.23, Av14.65, Max40, 32751/72221
Hot and fine light breeze
Up early and feeling actually reasonable well slept. I slept from midnight till 3 then 4 till 6. So it wasn’t all bad.
Breakfast was had, wet gear was put on, this is not a problem, under these conditions everything is soaked with perspiration within half an hour anyway.
Once out of the forest an access road was ridden till it swung onto the highway.
The early morning heat saw me totally sweat ridden within 20 minutes, it was unusually hot and sticky.
It was a short 10km ride into town. The guys had told me to stay at the Pousada Alagoana.
A ride was taken to check out the river Araguari, that flows alongside the town. There was a park alongside the large waterway that interesting had huge water polished boulder like islands within its flow.
Back in town, 3 chilled cocos were drunk and the flesh eaten. $2 each, some garlic was also bought at the little market.
I booked the Alagoana., at 35R for the night it was good honest lodgings, large room, common shower and a ceiling fan.
Washing, to hopefully rid myself of these bugs was done. My hammock was aired, along with the sleeping bag.
Another cream was bought this time a parasiticide.
My rear rack is cracking again at a previous weld.
This was repaired by a guy that really gave it a good working over with the oxy.
Back at the room, on inspecting the bike it was found the cable for the rear derailleur had starting fraying where it goes through the plastic guide under the crank. This now explains the occasional slow response when changing gears. I carry a spare cable.
I have never changed one of these before so I referred to the Bike Book, I have on my phone.
The tricky part is dismantling the lever housing at the handle bar. It took some time to put this back together do so the indicator worked.
Anyway, during this process, upon flipping the bike over, I put my back out.
Never to know what lies ahead, I am now sporting a colony of bed bugs and an acutely sore lower back.
The back thing has to be viewed in a positive mind. I hope to will it away.
This evening it is a lot worse. After sitting down I can hardly walk. My posture is stooped, coupled with a face that shows pain with each step, things could be alot better. This, the first time this has happened for over two years.
I know time is the greatest healer of this problem, that and rest. The former I have plenty of and the later, will be great.
This may see me stop here for another day.
Things could be worse, I have good lodgings, people are really friendly, there is a good cafe, and supermarket across the road and a fresh fruit stall alongside it .
Dinner tonight was just the most delicious fish called Dorado, a very popular sport fish in rivers from Paraguay north.
Hopefully, a night in a bed will see it improve overnight. Care needs to be taken as this is the last sizeable town till nearly French Guyana. I don’t want it to get worse and camping won’t help things. Especially not having to sleep in the hammock.
28-29/9/2014 Porto Grande
Nursing a sore lower back.
Well, on getting up yesterday morning, things were really no better. It’s amazing how one little twist during a light lift can cause so much prolonged pain. It could have happened at a campsite, miles from the next pousada. This I am grateful for.
This lower back issue has occasionally bothered over the years.
Really, I should be thankful.
My room was changed to one that had AC, it was next door so moving was a 2m walk.
It has two singles firm beds on wooden slats. Hopefully, this rigidity will help things improve.
The morning was spent watching movies.
The bed bugs have been slayed, though just a bit of scratching continues.
The cream is still being applied, just to be safe.
Whilst in Missionies in AR, some good local liniment was bought and kept, it has been a great help, with the odd Panadol in the evening.
There is no internet in the hotel or with my telephone number so it is reading, sleeping and dreaming for me with the odd Spanish study added.
I have found an internet store.
A couple of coconuts were enjoyed yesterday. Pineapples are 50c, but it is so hard to pick a good one. At 50c, it is a good place to gain skills in this seemingly impossible task. I pick green ones and the bases are partly black inside. Orange ones are often sweet but glassy inside. So it seems somewhere in between is the trick.
Bread rolls are provided for breakfast, which is a bonus, so at 45R a night, I can afford to stay here as long as need be.
It is just the nicest little community, not to busy just people going about their day and all are friendly.
Whilst eating dinner across the road last night, an itch on my back turned out to be a tick embedded, Scatching it out was difficult, unfortunately the mouth parts are still in
An interesting, and for me, a positive way to look at this back problem that has halted my passage comes from the Buddhist way of finding meaning in pain and suffering, to shift the perspective. Giving and recieveing.
Quote from Victor Frankal, a Jewish Psychiatrist imprisoned by the Nazis in WW2: “Man is ready and willing to shoulder any suffering, as soon and as long as he can see meaning in it”
I am thinking..............
May my suffering act as a substitute for others, who are suffering from a similar problem. I can visualise taking on their suffering and giving them my good health.
This is not to suggest ignoring my own health. However, this practice makes a significant difference to how I am responding to the situation.
Practicing this meditation may not succeed in alleviating my real physical pain or lead to a physical cure but it can protect me from additional unnecessary physiological pain, suffering and anguish.
I think that by experiencing this pain and suffering, I am able to help other people and save others who have to go through the same experience.
Then my suffering takes on a new meaning.
As it used for the basis of a spiritual practice. Instead of being sorry and saddened by the experience, I can see it as a kind of privilege, a kind of opportunity and be joyful because this particular experience has made me richer.
For me, Buddhist practice is so relevant to everyday life. Put simply my sore back is just another experience to be enjoyed on this journey.
After all, it is great just relaxing in my cool room and sauntering over for a chilled coco drink or pineapple, listening to music, reading, watching a movie or just good ol’ sleeping in the afternoon sun!!
I will stay here in Porto Grande, as long as necessary.
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