Road to Belem

The road, or rather collection of roads, that lead you to Belem from Salvador, stream you through hills and valleys filled with grazing pastures, small villages, and amazing life...and death.
Here is a short list of what we saw from the road:
Ford factory
excavated forests
naked black boys bathing in a tub
flooded villages
women washing laundry in brown rivers.

Here is a short list of what we saw on the road:
Locals selling fresh fruit, coconut ice, and hammocks
herds of goats, cattle, donkeys, mules, dogs with cowboys
vultures eating the corpses of cows, donkeys, horses, dogs
six foot cobras and other Amazonian snakes jumping at the bikes
lizards racing across
10 inch grasshoppers
three semi-truck accidents
one dead body.

The small villages that sit between Salvador and Belem are filled with warm hearted people and tasty food. They do not see many gringos in this part, and the interest is pure and exciting. This is also the area where you see the real Brasil. An area without money and very little tourism, however, the culture is pure and includes the indigenous peoples, traditional foods, and plenty of truck stops. It was a very pleasant ride, although hot and humid, we rode into Belem with smiles.