explored by Europeans and was only
opened as part of rubber plantation
settlement.
“Today was a good day! Life is
amazing!”, explained Gilles, as he de-
scribed the roads as a charm while he
made his way to Brazil.
Reaching Assis Brasil, the corner
of the borders of Brazil, Bolivia and
Peru, Gilles found he was missing vi-
tal papers.
“No papers! No exit!”, the customs
officials stated.
The mix up was quickly cleared
and with it came a warning, “be care-
ful, the roads are very dangerous”.
Once in Brazil, Gilles found the
conditions changed dramatically,
roads deteriorated, poverty was at ex-
treme levels. It was a struggle made
easier by the people. The ride had
been averaging around 70 kilometres
per hour; slow, long days.
Control stations along the route
gave differing opinions, road con-
ditions became very good, allowing
Gilles to race through some of the
most impressive jungle and farm
land – 130km/h wasn’t uncommon.
“The north of Amazonia is much
better,” smiled Gilles. “There’s a lot
of beef farms, just like the west of
Canada.”
“There’s two classes (of people)
there; the rich and the poor,” he went
on.
In this region Gilles was quickly
told he could no longer continue, the
roads were only for trucks, and so
took to the ‘real’ jungle for a 1000km
detour.
The jungle adventure had begun,
the roads were dirt and deteriorating,
yet never too far from people; ferries
and propane transport, in all forms,
were ever present. Humaita the des-
tination.
“There is dust everywhere! It is
really dangerous,” explained Gilles.
“That's not even talking about the
bridges!”
“The sand makes the motorcycle
slide. You need to know your motor-
cycle and drive slow with precaution.”
Stopping in a small village, not
even on the map, Gilles was again
warned to be careful of the road con-
ditions. Plenty of sand and trucks
that don’t stop. He did fall a few times
and quickly discovered the issue with
TRAVERSE 72
the trucks.
Almost 500km of relative straight
road took Gilles through Apui and
Sucunduri before picking up the Rio
Tapajos and following it to Itaituba.
The bike, full of sand, now needed to
be serviced. A Honda dealer came to
the rescue.
Road conditions continued to be
‘bad’ evidenced by the number of ve-
hicles abandoned roadside after leav-
ing the track or numerous bridges.
“Another tough day,” is how Gilles
described the seven and half hours
to 225km. The sand, holes and bridg-
es all posing a great challenge. The
wooden bridges often saw the planks
of the roadway flick up and hit the
BMW.
“The route I have been using is
1,500km long and only 500km of it is
on asphalt,” wrote Gilles.
“I can’t understand how my motor-
cycle is still holding strong while my
body is hurting everywhere.”
Respite came in Altamira where
Gilles was able to visit the world's
third largest dam, Belo Monte Dam.
Describing the infrastructure as
dumbfounding, 40,000 men worked