Bus travel
Below, the final series of five, showing the bus travel from Belo Horizonte to São Luís, via Barreirinhas. A travel of 2700 kilometers that took two full days. Each major image shows one hour. The smaller images were taken within a period of 10 minutes each.
As already mentioned in the previous part, São Luís was not our final destination. Our final destination was Barreirinhas, more 270 kilometers to go. More four hours inside the bus. but why Barreirinhas? This touristic location is the gateway to National Park Lençóis Maranhenses. More about this park in future episodes. The latter two images show a unique color palette during sunset.
However, Barreirinhas was not our final destination that night… The road to Barreirinhas was blocked. A tragic road accident had happened, an 80 years old woman had died. The police and firemen were investigating and clearing the road, and had calculated that the road would be accessible again after midnight. We had no other option than to return a dozen kilometers and to find some location to spend the night. We stopped in Rosário, the nearest village. The majority opted for a dusty loft, for free, and a few preferred a more expensive but much cleaner location. I was one of them, and I spent the night in a very comfortable bed, after having enjoyed a refreshing shower. I had to pay 12 reais (5 euros) for this room in a nearby pousada.
We were about to leave early, and all of us were ready on time. We were all in need for more sleep, thanks to the uncomfortable nights in the bus. The sun shone brightly again, a promise for a warm, even tropical warm day. The image below left shows something that is very uncommon in The Netherlands, but quite common in Brazil. The woman uses an umbrella to protect herself against the sun. The image below right shows two men involved in an animated discussion at the local grocer.
The image upper right shows a different way of indicating road works. They use branches. It is recommended not to ignore it, when considering the width and the depth of the slot. The image center below shows construction workers that have erected the foundations of a new house. Probably, this house would not be made of mud. The image below right shows the Preguiças River, which flows very slowly thanks to its great depth.
We came closer to our final destination. We were on the way for more three hours. Everyone was longing to leave the bus for at least some days. Also the bus drivers were longing to take their rest. We could still enjoy the landscape that we were passing by. A wetland landscape. Not very surprising, because of the presence of the Preguiças River and the Atlantic Ocean. The image upper center shows the carcass of a typical house that will be constructed of branches and mud.
After fifty-five hours, the bus drivers stopped the bus definitely. We were about to stay in Barreirinhas for three days. Then we would return to São Luís, for a stay of another four days. We first would enjoy Barreirinhas, Lençóis Maranhenses, Atins Beach. We quickly found a cheap pousada in the center of Barreirinhas. It was very clean and quiet. Two rooms for six persons. Since I was the only guy of the six, I had to share the room with three girls. It was no problem at all for them. It also was no problem for me. We all took a refreshing shower and we started to discover Barreirinhas….
The bus travel is described in the following episodes:
part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5
By Dr. Adriano Antoine Robbesom
Original text in Dutch, translation with help of Google Translator
Inside Brazil 