Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso – After covering over 1,000 kilometres on the Trans-Amazonian, from Marabá, at the meeting of the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers, to Itaituba, on the bank of Tapajós River, in western Pará, the journalists of the E.torQ Amazon Journey, including the ANBA, headed onto the BR-163, Cuiabá-Santarém, on the way south, to the state of Mato Grosso, entering the last week, of the original three, in the trip that began in the city of São Paulo.
The route still reserves adventures. The 723 kilometres of the BR-163 covered over the weekend, from Itaituba to Guarantã do Norte, in the state of Mato Grosso, are worse than the Trans-Amazonian. The highway is practically being rebuilt, which adds uncountable detours to the expected holes, dirt and, at some points, mud, created by the rains that fell on Sunday (17).
The Cuiabá-Santarém stretch is the least populated and it is possible to see hundreds of scenes from the distant past, with cowboys driving huge herds of cattle from one farm to the other, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away from each other. Alaor, from Paraná state, for example, headed one of these herds, from Novo Progresso, in Pará, to a farm in Mato Grosso.
The 400-kilometre trip, according to him, should take at least 60 days, with stops for the animals to graze and rest. Alaor, who recently purchased a piece of land in southeastern Pará, drove over 1,000 heads of cattle with his companions.
Both southern Pará and Mato Grosso received many settlers from the states of southern Brazil in the 1960s, when the government of Brazil started providing incentives for the occupation of regions in the North and Midwest of the country. Construction of the BR-163 and the BR-230, the Trans-Amazonian, occurred simultaneously, in the 1970s.
Good humoured and chatty, as is the case with most inhabitants of the region, Alaor said that this is the first time he does the trip taking a herd. He soon noticed that he was in the company of journalists and made use of the opportunity to inquire about opinions regarding the runoff presidential elections, to take place on the last Sunday of the month, between Dilma Roussef and José Serra.
"The small farmers here are supporting Dilma," he said. "But all [candidates] are of the same fabric, only the colour changes," he said.
Hard route
But most of the cattle transport in the region is done on lorries, the largest share of the vehicles on this stretch of the BR-163. It is a difficult route, covered slowly.
There are few passenger cars on the highway. The most common vehicles are four-wheel-drive trucks, better for the condition of the road, and the traditional motorcycles, which seem to have replaced horses in the Amazon.
Apart from livestock farming, the region also includes saw mills and mining. The search for gold is still in progress in this region of Pará. Some cities and villages are true support bases to gold diggers and have shops that sell all kind of equipment for the activity. There is a feeling of "Old West" in some of these places.
The route also presents some surprises, like the beautiful Curuá waterfall, where one of the cars taking the group of journalists got stuck for the first time and needed to be towed out of the mud by a lorry, and the beautiful landscapes of Cachimbo Mountain Range, on the border between Pará and Mato Grosso.
In Guarantã do Norte (Mato Grosso state), part of the team stayed at Hotel Torres, managed by a pleasant couple from Minas Gerais, Ernesto and Neuza. On Monday morning, the journalists headed to Alta Floresta, crossing Cristalino National Park, an area of preserved forests, crossing Teles Pires river on a ferry. The trip is organised by the Association of Foreign Correspondents and sponsored by FPT, a producer of Fiat engines.
*Translated by Mark Ament
