Waking up at Chez Elismar my headache was gone and the Brazil sun was shining brightly. A good day to be alive. Time to wash the BR-319 mud off the bikes. Elismar set a generous price with the bike washing service, to ensure a thorough cleaning. My traveling companions, Beebee & Octane, got a bath as well.

Taking an Amazon jungle tour wasn’t in the cards. I couldn’t miss a visit to the famous Theatre Amazonia. The only logical activity while waiting for the English language tour is to have a Caipirinha. Cachaça, fresh lime juice, and crushed ice prepared from a street cart. Perfect. The tour of the theatre was good too. 

Elismar buys huge blocks of head cheese, the size of an ice chest, cuts it into slabs, and then sells it to meat & cheese stalls in markets. In the morning I followed him to make a delivery. Afterward, we went to a motorcycle repair shop. The pannier rank developed another crack and Elismar knew of a motorcycle repair shop that could fix it. I asked that the crack be re-enforced. The welder only repaired the crack, which reappeared a week later and less than 800 km later. New brake pads, an oil change, and the bike was ready to hit the road. 

Back at Chez Elismar, his wife made a lovely lunch of Feijoada (stewed meat), onions, greens, oranges, and farofa (toasted cassava, found on every table in Brazil, sprinkled generously on meat and black beans.) Their niece and boyfriend join us for a run to the dockside bars in eastern Manaus. Taking a taxi signaled the potential for serious drinking. Ice-cold beer, live music, swimming, and amazing local bar food. 

In the morning I went to the ferry terminal to reserve passage for me and the motorcycle to Santarém and pay for a ticket, The ticket cost R$300 or $60.00 USD, with meals. The next ferry would leave the following day near noon. The trip would take roughly 36 hours. Nothing left to do but wait until the next day for the ferry to leave.