January 22, 2012:
“Readers have reported armed assaults on the night bus between Sao Luis
and Belem, so consider flying as an alternative” my travel book states. Doing some more research into it on the
internet, I found blogs and travel site postings about the slew of armed
robberies that take place on this road - one driver even claimed to be robbed 6
times. It would be nice if you could
rent a gun at the bus station when traveling through zones such as these. Calculating my options including the risks
and rewards of each…I took my chances last night and chose the night bus.
Between 1:00am to 4:00am in the darkness of the morning,
where nothing man made existed except for the road we were on, I was awaken by
the bus sharply swerving on and off the pavement. Coming to an abrupt stop, I looked out the
window but I was unable to see anything.
At first I thought that perhaps someone was lying in the road or we hit
someone, but then it all “clicked” - we were being set up by bandits to get the
bus to stop. I am not sure how many
brain cells where loosely floating around in the bus drivers head and why he
ever stopped or ran outside the bus in an area that is so prone to armed
assaults.
Happily, I can say that there was nobody with guns, machetes
or spears that entered our bus - perhaps just a few mosquitoes. Maybe I should stay off the movies for a
while and limit my internet searches to strictly porn. When we came rolling into Belem, unscathed, a
smile cracked along my face as we passed the wooden huts along the road and crossed
the small rivers that went under the highway…I made it to the Amazon, but even
better…the Amazon River.
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