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August 2001
 I had now made contact with American farmers in Brazil. The new
“Hotspot” was Querência, Mato Grosso. This is a region in the
Northeast corner of Mato Grosso. In August 2001 land was selling
for $25 dollars/acre. Could this be true? Is it the same quality
as central Mato Grosso? How do we get there? We did not have
time on this trip to go and check it out. This trip was now
over, but on our way back to airport our van overheated. We
missed our flight from Goiânia to Sao Paulo. We decided to stay
an extra night in the city and get ready for our international
flight the following night. This all seems like irrelevant
information to you right now. But this is how one day can change
the rest of your life. This is the night I met Maria (my future
wife). She became my Brazilian Sacagawea (Indian Guide). Without
her help on future trips to Brazil, I would not be here today to
write this stuff and put it on the web for you to read. On July
1, 2003 I was blessed when Maria gave birth to my son David here
in Brazil.
Within 48 hours of our returning to the USA, 9/11 occurred. Due
to this tragedy, airfares became extremely cheap. In November of
2001, I returned to Goiânia, rented a Blazer (SUV) and made the
long drive to Querência with help from a local realtor. The 10
hour drive to Canerana, Mato Grosso is on an asphalt road;
however, it is filled with potholes and speed bumps. The next
day we continued to Querência which is another 2 hours by
vehicle. It was a dirt road that had turned to MUD after a heavy
rain the night before. We finally arrived at a small frontier
town whose electricity was powered by 6 diesel generators. We
were welcomed by the local American that had been there several
years already. We toured a local farm and elevator. Later the
same day one of my travel partners decided to take a ride, by
pick-up truck, out to another American's farm for the evening.
Approximately a two hour drive. Two of us decided to stay in the
village for the evening at the hotel. We made plans to FLY out
to the farm and pick up our friend the following day.
The following morning was overcast and rainy. Our pilot did not
want to take off in such conditions. After a wait of several
hours, we finally took off in a nice twin-engine Seneca. Where
do we find our friend? We are flying over the tree tops and
below the cloud ceiling. The forest is steaming with vapor from
the evaporating rain. It reminded me of the movie Jurassic park.
We arrived at the GPS coordinates that had been given to us. We
learned that our friend had taken off in search of us. So we
took off again following small channels of roads cut out of the
rain forest.
We spot a blue pick up truck splashing through the water
puddles. We BUZZ it and then make some circles looking for a
place to land. Our plane landed in a small patch of pasture, and
we all laughed at our rescue mission. As I flew away from the
region looking over this ocean of trees, I asked myself; “Can I
live here?” I told myself it is too early. Maybe look at this
region again in five years when there is more infrastructure. I
was 100% WRONG. In the following two years, land rose by 600% in
this region. |
