I recently made two trips to communities along the river, Autazes and Comunidade Três Unidos. I have been to Autazes before, but the trip had a slight change because of some bridges that collapsed recently. The other community was a new experience for me. Taking a public boat to a community several hours up the river.
Collapsed Bridges
I have made several trips to Autazes over the past few years. Sometimes by boat with the mission team, some times by car, and sometime via public transportation. Normally there are two river trips. There are public boats or semi-private boats, just as there are busses or taxis for the road portions of the trip. When going by private car, you must drive your car onto a ferry for the river sections.
The road is not in good condition as there is much ground instability, so there are potholes and washed out sections along the way. This year they have had 2 bridges collapse. The first bridge that collapsed had already been replaced with a temporary bridge while they work to rebuild. The second bridge had collapsed within the past week, so they didn’t have a temporary bridge in place yet. We had to leave our taxi and take a small boat to the other side where we got another taxi.
Traveling by Public Boat
This is an indigenous community about 5 hours by boat up the Rio Negro river. A friend does a project there, and I am considering setting up some computer training in this community. This was my first trip to this community, and also my first time taking a large public boat. We had been talking about the possibility of this trip for a couple of weeks, but actual plans finally came together last minute. In fact, shortly after I woke Friday morning, Renato texted:
I have the information.
Are you ready?
That sounded a little ominous. He quickly add, “for the information”
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