EQUILIBRIUM AT LAST

Araguaia – Aragarças – Pontal – Barra do Garças – Ouro Fino

Friday, coming from Araguari, preparing stuff, expectations in the air longing for water. A plenty of water from Araguaia and Garças. But before that, a lot of asphalt. To be true 603 km still separated us from our liquid dream. To confirm the style, we left at 3 pm driving the automatic, hydramatic, first world Alcides Toyota, not before Neres’ increase our breathless waiting with one hour and a half delay. Better so, it gave us a lot more of ammunition to bother him. And what a trip!

I drove the machine up to Iporá. My left leg was always looking for the inexistent clutch pedal. Finally when leaving Goiânia, that leg succeeded taking my foot up suddenly pressing the brake and an elderly man almost hit us at the transom with his prow. He was much educated; he just greeted us with his medium straight upward finger as if wishing us a good fishing trip with our sticks.

Dry Law! We were dry! 5 hours later we were at Iporá GO. We were allowed to have some beers, only Alcides and I for, Neres, that Sunday driver, would drive up to Aragarças.

Two hours later, already at the boarder between Goiás and Mato Grosso, at the eco edge of Araguaia, we could taste our first fried cachara, soon identified as Abotoado and disguisedly nicknamed Armal.

Some beers, very tired, few space, sweat tennis smell, snores, dreams and rain, much rain. Breakfast, shopping, crossing Araguaia heading to Pontal, Barra do Garças and Ouro Fino. (Fine Gold). Finally the fishing place. First checking the area.

Promptly I had my day made: I caught the first jurupecém. I am the one! Then we caught many of them until the candiru gang arrived. It is a grown up cousin of that candiru which invades human bladders at Amazon region. We fished about 100. Some weighting 600 gr. Much beer, much whisky, much cachaça and 4 bottles of dry red wine of excellent origin. Once having the douradas, jurupecéns, mandis and other fishes, we started the cooking. I made a work of art in shape of rice colored with saffron, seasoned with garlic and onions.

Neres fried fish, Tião, drunkman, made a sauce of pacus and Alcides provided sauce for the dourada and barbecue. More beer and wine. Mr José visited us and we talked a lot. We set Alcides’ tent and Neres’ nets inside the pavilion . At this very time we were visited by a lacraia, a poisonous centipede with those exposed queliceras, hundred legs and threatening looking. Not friendly.

The only solution for a Dionysian drunkenness is a Morpheus sleeping. Praised Baco and fell in a net. I slept until 5 a. m. and then I heard one of the fellows calling a certain Huuuuugo though I never knew who he was, he must be deaf because even being called a lot he never answered. After we gave him some medicines this great fisher reacted and survived swearing he would never drink alcohol ever again in his life. He kept the promise until 11:15 p m when he started it all over.

We still fished a bit more. Brown water, few fishes but again a show of mine. Much efficiency. Saturday, Sunday and Monday just flew away. Time to go home.

Before going a festival of nicknames: Chaves, Elmer Fudd, Toothless, Parrot-feet, Kicking-mule, Pinocchio, Ears and Drunkman were the nicknames that we dedicated to our neighbors and sailors.

Because of Neres, we had to come back on Tuesday morning. We left Aragarças at 6 a m and arrived at Jerivá at 10 thirty for a heavy coffee and got to Brasília and to Guará at 1 p m tired bodies and easy minds. New friendships were built following the refreshment process. Old friendships were met again and re-checked for tightening laces. A lot of alcohol were used to make the car go and to turn away the swine flue. We were already planning to return when we were coming.