Alta Floresta

Today (3 March, Saturday) we flew a short (3:30 hour) flight from Manaus to Alta Floresta where our good friend, the `shade-tree´airplane mechanic, Antonio Rossini met us with his usual big smile. (My gosh, he sure looks like a happy Adolfo to me!)

Our flight involved a climb to 13.5 through heavy clouds (me flying instruments again -- I´m getting good at this!) with moderate turbulence which eventually lofted us to 14.5 before beginning our letdown to the 4000 foot airstrip just west of the small city of Alta Floresta.

Tony came out to meet us as we began draining the oil and taking out the spark plugs for inspection, cleaning and regapping. Tony brought some of his homemade equipment out and checked the compression on all four cylinders: all just as good as new! (Bob has over 2000 hours on the engine since last major overhaul and has kept diligent record of the oil burn per hour; he thinks it may be economical -- not safety necessary -- to do the major again in a year or so.)

We went over to Tony´s shop where he sand-blasted the plugs clean, after first removing most of the deposits with a small metal pick (hand made, of course). We would regap the plugs later this night in our hotel room using a tool Tony had previously made for Bob.

Tony took us into town where we checked in the Hotel Pyramide, a place familiar to me since we have stayed there each time I have flown with Bob. I invited Tony and his family (wife Cristina and 13 year-old daughter Aline) to join us for a dinner at the restaurant across the street from the hotel.

The restaurant was situated on a tiled veranda with some tables under a roof in case of rain; we chose a table near the outer perimeter where we could enjoy the tropical breeze and the night sky. Bob chose the menu for tonight which was Picanha (pronounced pick-awn-yah) with lots of steamed vegetables, including one of my favorites, tapioca root (majorca) and rice & beans (this combination is a classical Brazilian dish at every meal except breakfast). The meat came to the table sizzling on a cast-iron platter. The pieces were like steaks with about two big ones for each of us and some left over.

Picanha is what the Brazilians call the beef from their peculiar breed of cattle, the Zebu. Zebu look like Bramha except they are not as big and are extremely docile animals. They originated in India and over perhaps a thousand years of being protected from being eaten, and having to forage for themselves, they get along wonderfully in Brazil where they eat the abundant grass, sugar cane dregs, tin cans and just about anything else that they see! They become big mature beef animals in only about 8-10 months. Picanha is typically fried or barbequed and the Brazilians know how to flavor it to satisfy the taste buds of the spoiled American adventurer.

We bid the Rossini´s good night at about 9:30 and Bob and I retired to our hotel room to begin the final inspection and gapping of the spark plugs, preparatory for tomorrow´s long flight to Ribeirao Preto. The last time I flew this leg it took 7 hours and five minutes -- Bob switched to the reserve tank as I was in the landing pattern. We go to bed at about 10:30, hoping for a tail wind or no wind tomorrow.