It was a long day so I had a lot of time to think. After the diverse and amazing views I encountered while going through the Andes I was a bit put down by the monotonous scenery I saw during the last week. Left and right cattle ranches and endless pastures, with lonely huge trees (mostly badly burned, but still standing) scattered here and there, reminding you that here was once jungle.
As the route is my main interest, going for days on end through the same scenery takes all the fun out of it. The worse lies ahead still – the people I talked to told me that in the Mato Grosso state there is nothing but soy fields for hundreds of kilometers in a row. So I was brewing in my mind the plan B, when I feel that I have a flat tyre. I unload the bike, take one patched tube out and start replacing it. It is not the nicest of jobs at 40 degrees and next to the busy street, so I try to finish quick. When I am almost done and I want to stand up, I make a wrong move and I feel as if a vertebra in my lower spine touched a nerve. Paralysed (literally and because of the pain) I try to stand still and breath. The pain is so strong that I nearly black out, so I reach to the bike and grab some water. It becomes better, so I carefully stand up, and moving slowly I look in the med kit for the knee patch I got in Puerto Maldonado. I fix it on my back and start pedalling slowly, reaching the limit of Acre state and enter Rondônia (and also change the timezone).
It all ended in Nova Califórnia, with a honey-colured sunset and a hearty dinner of Amazon fish.
Leave a Reply