As we were packing up the Caranex, we almost packed up an unwelcome stowaway. He had to be evicted, but was reluctant to go. It was Dennis’s turn this morning to find frogs in the toilet bowl, which jumped straight out at him.
Trying to stow away!
We are getting further away from the built up areas and more into the countryside, which is quite jungly where it hasn’t been cultivated, and are coming across more wildlife. After lunch a big, black monkey loped across the road in front of us and we saw a toucan, a colourful macaw and a group of rheas.
Tyres
For some reason our progress today wasn’t easy. Shortly after leaving the camp we stopped at a tyre place to change the tyres around and put the spare we bought from Patrick, yesterday, onto the rear spare wheel. The tyre we had hoped to repair, has so many holes it isn’t repairable. It’s now on the bonnet as a second spare. They are small holes and it could be used in an emergency as it deflates slowly.
Missing….BR070!
It had been our plan, after consulting our paper map, to take the BR 070 which appears to run due west from Brasilia to Cuiba. However, after we set off from the tyre shop, the Sat-Nav showed us no longer being on the BR070 but being on the BR 414. We thought we must have missed a turning, so retraced our steps, but could find no BR070. It had just disappeared. Our mapping Apps and Sat-Nav couldn’t be programmed to take us via the BR070 either.
So initially travelling south of the elusive BR070, we eventually turned north and expected to intercept the BR 070. It didn’t happen. We finished up further north of the BR070, but parallel with it. Eventually several hours later, we did return to the BR070. Why we could not have followed it all the way, was a mystery.
The roads today have been hilly and the scenery dominated by farms. Many cattle and the most common crop, soy beans, although we have seen bananas and some citrus orchards as well.
As the day progressed the temperature climbed. We are lower now. Tonight we are at 365 meters. There is little camping along this road. Most overlanders with self contained vehicles park at fuel stations overnight. Most fuel stations have large car parks for trucks and facilities for truck drivers, like showers and a cafeteria. We don’t like to use them as we cannot usually put up the tent in these places, but if we have to, we can manage without the tent.
No camping available
Tonight we thought we may have to do this, but then found the Relevo Hotel in Itapirapua. It’s basic, but we can park Poki outside our door and it has everything we need. Air conditioning, clean sheets and a hot shower, and it includes breakfast. All for 180 BRL. Last night we paid 140 BRL for camping, with only a cold shower, so it’s not a bad deal.
We cooked dinner in Poki and had just cleared up when a gentleman stopped to talk. He spoke reasonable English, having lived in Dallas for 5 years. He was involved in auctioning cattle and showed us photographs of herds of cattle and bulls being auctioned. We thought they were mainly Brahmin cattle, but he said they’re not. They look similar but are a Brazilian breed.
Hopefully, we’ll get a good night’s sleep with the air con. going. It would have been a very hot night in Poki.
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