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| From Santarem we headed South to Cuiaba along the BR163, more than 500 miles of which is unpaved. We knew it would be tough as we were told it was a road for 4-wheel drive vehicles. Another indicator of the difficulties which lay ahead was that one section is closed to all vehicles for most of the rainy season and had opened only one week before. |
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| 98 km out of Santarem the asphalt runs out. |
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| There were still heavy rains on most days which left the road extremely slippery. We changed our tyres for off road type but progress was still very slow. |
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| Often the safest course to take is straight through the middle of the puddles. Sometimes the water reached up to our knees. |
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| The rain had also carved deep ruts in the road. |
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| We were pretty muddy by the end of the day! Fortunately we found places to wash about every other day. |
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| There were a few minor mishaps. Jeremy couldn’t get his feet out of his cleats in time when he skidded. |