Chapter 18Rio to Rainforest
Arthur Bryant, sweating profusely, stepped from Giles Pearce's Gulfstream aircraft into the searing heat at the airport of Várzea Grande, one of the twin cities that make up the Brazilian boomtown of Cuiabá, the other being Old Cuiabá and separated by the Rio Cuiabá.
The Gulfstream had enjoyed a strong tailwind, arriving almost an hour ahead of schedule in Rio de Janeiro, the usual twelve hour flight being completed in just over eleven hours. Pearce instructed Bryant to put his watch back four hours to compensate for the time difference. After refuelling, the Gulfstream headed off into the air once more for the 984 mile flight to Várzea Grande, in the state of Matto Grosso, from where they would head off into the Amazonian Rainforest.
Capital city of the stat
