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An arbitrary border, a line on paper through the forest, divides the state of Para from the western Amazon. Encompassing the states of Amazonas , Rondonia , Acre and Roraima , the western Amazon is dominated even more than the east by the Amazon and Solimoes rivers and their tributaries. In the north, the forest is centred on the Negro and Branco rivers, before phasing into the wooded savannas of Roraima. To the south, the Madeira, Purus and Jurua rivers meander through the forests from the prime rubber region of Acre and the recently colonized state of Rondonia. The hub of this area is Manaus , more or less at the junction of three great rivers - the Solimoes/Amazonas, the Negro and the Madeira - which between them support the world's greatest surviving forest. There are few other settlements of any real size. In the north, Boa Vista , capital of Roraima, lies on an overland route to Venezuela by bus. South of the Rio Amazonas there's Porto Velho , capital of Rondonia, and, further west, Rio Branco , the main town in the relatively unexplored rubber-growing state of Acre - where the now famous Chico Mendes lived and died, fighting for a sustainable future for the forest. Travel is never easy or particularly comfortable in the western Amazon. From Manaus it's possible to go by bus to Boa Vista and Venezuela: currently just twelve hours or so to Boa Vista on the recently tarmacked BR-174 through the stunning tropical forest zone of the Waimiris tribe, with over fifty rickety wooden bridges en route. You can also head east to the Amazon river settlement of Itacoatiara, but the road south to join the Transamazonica at Humaita for the connection to Porto Velho is no longer open, having been repossessed by the rains and vegetation for most of its length. From Porto Velho the Transamazonica continues, newly paved, into Acre and Rio Branco , from where the route on to Peru is possible, although only in the dry season; alternatively the paved BR-364 offers quick access south to Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, Brasilia and the rest of Brazil. The rivers are an equally important if not dominant means of communication. Entering from the east, the first places beyond Obidos are the small ports of Parintins and Itacoatiara - which has bus connections with Manaus if you're really fed up with the boat, though the roads, too, are often very hard going in the rainy season, between December and April. From here it's a matter of hours till Manaus appears near the confluence of the rivers Negro and Solimoes. It takes another five to eight days by boat to reach the Peruvian frontier - and even here the river is several kilometres wide, and still big enough for ocean-going ships. It rains a lot in the western Amazon - up to 375cm a year in the extreme west and about 175cm around Manaus. The humidity rarely falls much below eighty percent, and the temperature in the month of December can reach well above 40°C. This takes a few days to get used to: until you do it's like being stuck in a sauna with only air-conditioning or cool drinks to help you escape. The heaviest rains fall in January and February most years, with a relatively dry season from June to October
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