This road trip starts on water. That's because the road known as BR-319 begins on the opposite bank of the Amazon River from the Brazilian city of Manaus, and there's no bridge. So, we drive a pickup aboard a ferry for an hour-long journey.
The lack of bridges, towns and fuel stations along the road — the pickup is loaded with cans of diesel in case it runs empty — is because 319 remains a work in progress.
The 550-mile-long road was built in the 1970s by the military dictatorship that then ruled Brazil in a campaign to "tame" the jungle by bringing more settlers and development to the Amazon. Although the road brought thousands of homesteaders to the region, it gradually fell into disrepair due to heavy rains and the high cost of maintenance.
BR-319 aids and abets deforestation when we need to be preserving what little rainforest is left. BR-319 should NEVER be paved!
