Altamira, Pará – The Trans-Amazonian highway is a symbol of the time of the "Great Brazil", in the early 1970s, when the country was living a military dictatorship. However, different from other icons of that period, like Itaipu hydroelectric power plant, on the frontier with Paraguay, and Rio-Niterói bridge, in Rio de Janeiro, beacons of Brazilian engineering, the BR-230 became a symbol of the failure of that model.
Travelling the road today is probably not much different from 40 years ago, when it was built. In Pará, for example, the road is almost all earth, with few stretches tarmacked. In the Amazon winter, the road becomes practically unsurpassable. In the summer, however, the drought makes it possible to travel it in passenger cars, despite the interminable holes and dust capable of coating all the hair on your head, even travelling with the windows closed.
In the Amazon, winter is the rainy season, from the end of one year to the middle of the next year. Summer is the dry season, which has not yet ended this year.
Last weekend, ANBA travelled the 520 kilometres of the Trans-Amazonian highway, from Marabá to Altamira, two important cities in the interior of the state of Pará, as part of the E.torQ Amazon Journey, a car trip organized by the Foreign Correspondent Association of the state of São Paulo and sponsored by FPT, a maker of Fiat engines.
Apart from the holes and dust, some areas of bush are still standing, with villages and small cities of wooden houses, inhabited by locals with many stories to tell.
That is the case with fisherman Zézim, the owner of Peixe Frito restaurant, at the end of the bridge that crosses Arataú river, in the city of Novo Repartimento. Born in the region, he has been there for 20 years, where he and his wife serve lorry drivers travelling the region.
Smiling, he talks to everybody and proudly shows a picture of the area surrounding his restaurant in the wet season. “I paid 600 reals (US$ 358),” he said. He cleans and fries fish in his stilt house, aided by an assistant who is embarrassed to be photographed.
At the counter at the front of the restaurant, the woman explains that a trip from Marabá to Altamira, covered in just over a day by the news crew, with several stops, including a night stay, may take a month in winter, due to the mud patches.
Italian from the south (of Brazil)
The fact of the matter is that in the region, known for its violence, it is easy to find hospitable people who like to chat. Another example is that of Gelásio Pacher, from Rodeio, in Itajaí Valley, who owns restaurant Telhadinho and a saw mill in Anapu.
On receiving the group of foreign journalists, the Italian descendant started speaking about unique characteristics of the site and about how he ended up there, so far from his homeland. He arrived in Anapu five years ago, after having lived in other parts of the north of the country. He always worked in the lumber sector, even in Santa Catarina. He complains of the bureaucracy imposed on the sector and also of the lack of management of local woods. "The point of view here is very immediate," he said, defending sustainable production.
Seeing outlanders, he offered a Gomes de Sá style "trairão", shredded fish prepared following the famous cod recipe, and a fish fillet with Belle Meunière sauce, made with butter and capers. According to Pacher, few natives appreciate these dishes, which he described with pleasure.
After lunch, Pacher got his car and drove around the area showing the site where North American nun Dorothy Stang is buried. The nun, naturalized Brazilian, was murdered in 2005 for defending social and environmental causes. The murder was committed at the order of a farmer, recently condemned to 30 years in prison.
He passed the group onto a boy named Robson, born in the city, on reaching a fragile bridge over Anapu river, which cannot be crossed by car. The bridge leads to the woods where the nun was buried. It is a peaceful place, full of native trees, with a hall for meetings, pilgrimage and prayer. A family lives nearby. The couple proceeded with their work while one of their grandchildren, aged two, entertained himself with the visitors.
On the way back, Robson spoke about his daily life, saying that he is currently taking the seventh and eighth grades of primary schooling, and also spoke about his surroundings. He spoke about the babassu nuts, piled close to his family’s house, from which milk is extracted to make oil. He explained that sometimes the fruit is attacked by larvae. "They are great for fishing," he added. He also showed local plants, like wild passion fruit, which grows close to the ground and local kids like to eat. "It’s very good," he said.
Heading on to Altamira, the Trans-Amazonian is suddenly interrupted at the crossing of the Xingu river, in Belo Monte, the city that naming the hydroelectric power plant scheduled to be built in the vicinity.
To cross, it is necessary to take a ferry. On the other side, the team got back onto the road at night, with the dark worsening visibility amidst the holes and dust, further hindered by the fact that there are several detours due to works on the road.
Many people travel the road in a precarious manner. Alongside four wheel trucks and large lorries, you find old cars and motorcycles, by far the most common means of land transport in the region. It is admirable to see the people crossing all that with no helmet.
Altamira, at the end of the route, surprises due to being the cleanest and most organized city the group has visited since arriving in Pará. There, however, some of the local peculiarities are repeated: the many motorcycles and the habit of listening to country music (sertanejo), or electronic music, at full blast.
*Translated by Mark Ament
