Wednesday 27 March 2024

Day 34 - The Long Road East to Campo Largo

Trucks, trucks and more trucks to pass, and to avoid.

We were heading due east towards Rio de Janeiro, with our stopover being at a town called Campo Largo (a large field it means). Over 620 km of good road and driving that required the most care and judgement, was required. The Brazilian roads are in far better state than the Argentinian ones, with few potholes or gravel sections. The challenge is that this is the main road west and south to the productive areas of Brazil for agriculture and the area looked much like country NSW with the rolling hills and green in every direction. There were also huge factories for grain processing and others for poultry management. 

We road sections with stops for coffee and lunch. Lunch today was "included" that is paid for by Compass as part of our deal, but I was not aware of that and chose a light sandwich at our stop, which I am actually glad I did as I wanted to keep the quantity of food manageable. There is plenty of food available in Argentina and Brazil, but overall it is pretty average - never cordon bleu!

We rode sections of 140km and one of 212 km, but these are manageable given the higher quality of the road. In some sections there were passing lanes and even double carriageway for sections, but in those areas where this did not apply, it was slow with hundreds of trucks. The challenge is to pass them safely, especially where there are two, three or more in a row. This requires a long straight road or a risky manoeuvre that may require a quick pull-in between vehicles - easier on a bike, but still more risky riding, especially if you are tired. I was glad of all the stops for coffee and fuel, as this gave us good time to recover our attention. 

At two sections, there were road workers cutting grass or repairing the broken fencing barriers, and the queues were about five kilometres long - we overtook, undertook and lane split to get to the front of the queues regularly, although I have no idea how Willy managed this in the van, but he was rarely more than ten minutes behind us.  

Tomorrow we reach the coast. 



Monday 25 March 2024

Day 33 - Itaipu Hydro Scheme, Paraguay Shopping and Bike Maintenance a Pico

My whole life I have been a worrier. 

I guess it comes from being the eldest child - my aim was always to do better, be fairer, to win. Sometimes that was a good thing to do, but mostly not. Right now, with 33 days or one third of this trip done,  I have plenty of time for thought and reflecction and I dont want the ride to either hurry up or finish. Moreover, I am not too concerned where it goes or how fast it will be - I will know I am in that delightful zone when I dont mind being the last bike or riding really slow.

Today we took a very touristy bus trip inside the closed area of the Itaipu Dam and Hydro Electric Scheme. It is huge and was started in 1973, to be the largest in the world. Right now it ranks 3rd after two others in China, one being the Three Gorges Dam. Nonetheless it is huge at 1400 Mega Watt Hours. We drove around the diversion tunnel, then under the face of the dam, then up to the top to see the huge over-flow channels, where the water flows at 140km/hour! While we say most from the top deck of an open bus, they stopped three times for photos which are excellent given the sheer scale of the thing.

But to me, the most interesting fact is that it is Bi-National. Paraguay and Brazil agreed to split everything 50/50 in terms of cost and getting the power from it, which really helped both countries that sit either side of the river. This included an animal thoroughfare and we saw Tapirs walking with their kids along the side of the canal!

In the afternoon we did a "Shenny" after Shenzen shopping in China, but just across the border in Paraguay. It is an "open border" - you just drive through, but the car queue took 1 hour 10 minutes to get past "immigration". Our driver took us to "Shopping Paris" a six story building totally full with stores selling just about any thing, but cosmetics, clothes, technology and alcohol were top sellers. I was DELIGHTED to buy a bright red suitcase with rolling wheels to replace my awkward softbag provided by Compass. This one was cheap and has all the right zips, pockets and expansion options. It also wheels along with ease. I also replaced my very scratched sun glassed with a smick pair of Tommy Hilfiger ones for about $100, probably a quarter of the price in Australia.

The last thing for the day was to pick up our bikes from the Service Centre at Pico Motors (a Yamaha dealer) who did a truly outstanding job on my bike - two new tyres and an oil service, but nothing wasted on brake pads of air filter which were "fine" they said. Very glad to save that little bit, so the service was 40% cheaper than in Australia and the tyres were 30% more expensive!

Dinner was at a superb Bistro Buffet which was paid for by Compass.  I tried not to eat too much.










Sunday 24 March 2024

Day 32 - Iguasu Falls & the Bird Sanctuary from Brazil

We are staying three nights at Foz, Brazil which is literally a short walk to the Paraguay border! Here they have a cross-border shopping experience like they have at Shenzen in China (from HK), so we will take advantage of that and I will buy a rolly suitcase (at long last!).

No one at this hotel speaks English. They also don't speak Spanish (or very little), for which I know a few hundred words now, so trying to explain what I want is a pain, however they are patient so lots of hand signals usually sorts it out. This morning I was trying to find the Cambio (money exchanger) to get some Brazilian Reales and it was right next door - as in RIGHT next door and I walked past, much to the amusement of the desk staff. I also asked for the laundry price list which was hidden under the desk - no wonder the prices were incredible at US$100 to get a few items done! I will walk elsewhere or do a few things in my room. 

Ditto for a plug for the sink (one of my "is this a reasonable hotel" tests), as there is none here - so be it, the shower cap will do the job for my shave. Similarly for the power adapter - they have the normal three thin pin plugs as seen elsewhere in SA, but the middle one is offset somewhat, so none of my (many) adapters works - photo below.

I have upgraded my iPhone to the next software release last night, which has caused all sorts of issues today with my GoPro camera software called QUIK. Some extra time this morning is required to work that out.

The tour was supposed to start at 09:45 but there are too many busess going as it is Sunday, so we will wait until 10:30am! Anyway we head off in a van with Daniel the driver, to what turns out to be a big day. Drive 17km to the National Park of Iguasu and buy a ticket, which in our case was a ViP one so that we avoided a kilometre long queue to get in. Then walk almost a kilometre on a concrete track with hundreds of others and wait patiently at the best lookouts to take video and photos. It is truly spectacular and earns the title for the widest falls in the world (with Niagra having the most water and Victoria being the highest). The track is quite different to my memory to handle the number of people and to get you right up under the main fall. After that I walked up the track to the top, but you can catch an elevator to a restaurant which is marvelous but expensive. 

We had a considerable buffet lunch and looked out to the Argentinian side where a long board-walk collapsed under heavy rain last week and killed a few people. Though I cannot get confirmation of that. 

We were quite hot, but determined to go to the Bird Park a few kilometres up the road, and it was well worth it, with a two k track winding in and out of cages with double doors, so that the parrots and mccaws dont get out. There were also some animals and a butterfly cage. Overall it exceeded my expectations and was beautifully built and managed. And I got to see some birds that I had never heard of at all.




Saturday 23 March 2024

Day 31 - Obera to Foz in Brazil.

This day was not a huge distance, being 280 km, but did involve a complicated border crossing from Argentina into Brazil near the falls. 

The early part of the ride was through winding hills in a tropic forest which was unique and quite brilliant. It also had signs to Uruguay which was literally "just over there" to the right.

As we were so close to Iguasu Falls (widest in the world and crossing the borders of three countries), the tourist coaches and tours were obviously increasing, as was the sheer scale of the border crossing infrastructure with individual boothes on the Argentinian side. There, the people were very efficient both for immigration and for customs. The six of us were through in 20 minutes. 

We drove across the bridge to Brazil, and the immigration persons were also prompt. I did not need my new visa, as they had delayed introducing the mandatory one for Australia until April which was a blessing for Rahn who did not have one anyway! However the importation of all our bikes and the truck was a totally different process taking more than four hours and a pile of paperwork for each vehicle, rather than just an inspection of our Registrations! We were fairly tired by the time we made it to the hotel, and had a great "lunch" here with a full-on smorgasbord of everthing. 

The hotel people had our keys ready when we arrived and parked in their secure compound across the street, but my room had a single bed and was so tiny that there was little room to even put my bag down. So I objected and they sent me to another room that had been alread rejected by one of my fellow travellers. It had a double bed, but no light as the window looked onto a wall about 2m away. Anyway I finally accepted room three with a larger space and bed, but it looks directly onto the pool deck at eye level which is not ideal either given that we are here three days! Lets see how it goes. Right now there is loud music coming from the deck!



Day 30 - Chajari to Obera

 This was slated to be a fairly long day, but I work feeling great .

So we hammered out sections from 124km to 180km with ease. There were some sections with all vehicles running at 140km/hr, and I was very concious of taking care with overtaking all the trucks at speed.  Bascially you need a lot more room! I was also very well aware of the police road-blocks every hundred kilometres, and was actaully pulled up at one. 

We ended up in a nice hotel in an obviously wealthy town.  The road had followed the river and boundary with Uruguay and when I asked JC why we had not visited that country, he indicated there was not much to see! I need to research that as the scenery has been changing by the hour and becoming more lush and almost tropical. 

The Hotel had both a cinema and a bowling alley within, and my room was huge, with a great view. I enjoyed it immensely and slept soundly after a long shower.

The bikes were parked securely about 1.5km away in the hotel shed which happened to work out well as it happened. I walked across the street and bought some water in the evening then had dinner in the hotel restaurant at 8pm with the others. It didnt open until then!



Thursday 21 March 2024

Day 29 A Hectic Exit to BA, then Thermal Pools at Chajari

I was woken about 5am, not knowing why, but was later told that there had been a small earthquake in Buenos Aires so that probably explained it! Any way, it gave me good time to get well organised.

Our accommodation was at the EFE Hotel in Paraguay St, right in the centre of Buenos Aires and we were advised to be careful with out belongings and valuables. Specifically we were to meet downstairs at 08:45 with our bags but NOT to leave them un-attended in the foyer, for Willy to collect and load into our van. As it happened the place was a zoo, with hundreds of people there for the traditional Argentinian breakfast which I am not a great fan of. It normally consists of re-constituted juices, lots of fruit (good), weird liquid yoghurt, large numbers of pastries most of them sweet and sometimes scrambled eggs - which I do enjoy and were offered. 

As it happened Willy arrived in perfect time but had to block the single lane street, so we loaded it VERY quickly and he drove off! Then we went to the basement to get the bikes, where I drove off first and made a real hash of the very steep drive and very low concrete beam at the start, then a hard left hand turn. I needed assistance, but we all got out alive in the end!

Leaving Buenos Aires in peak hour was chaotic, and JC lead us a different way to that indicated by our pre-planned GPS routes. He zigged and zagged and at one point on the five lane expressway, suddenly turned right, just as a car pulled between the two of us, so I almost missed the exit. Anyway, care and consideration worked and I did make it ok as did everyone else.  After that, we had to go through two Peage's (toll gates) where sometimes we paid and sometimes we knicked around the barrier - I have no idea how he worked out what to do when. 

On the last one, everyone headed off before me, but three guys in a Toyota stopped me before the toll gate, and we had a very funny conversation, both of us using our shitty Spanish. It dawned on me and I just said "how about we try English" and they all laughed and launched into an extended conversation in the middle of the expressway! As it happened they had no Pesos to pay, but did have a US $1 note, which I happily exchanged for 350 pesos - a very good rate for me. They were delighted and asked me where I was from - Australia was met with "Austria" from them - wow.

The speed limit on the expressway was generally 120 km/hour, but with a few police stations as usual, and this time they actually stopped me! This is rare as moto's generally get waved through. At high speed we rapidly made the town of Chajari, where our hotel is linked to a group of thermal pools, all eleven of them - so  I had a good swim. Although 39 degrees is not that hot, still it was enjoyable none the less. 



Day 28 - Just Hanging About

This morning dawned with pouring rain as had been forecast. We were glad we were not going to be riding this day, especially as the TV was saying "Urgent Warning" regarding the storm around Buenos Aires.

We all just relaxed and did our own thing. I woke late, and then watched the various videos on YouTube, from "Itchy Boots" (Noraly Shoenmaker) on how to make short compelling videos using  my GoPro. They were simple but very useful, not withstanding her huge investment in GoPro and DJI Drones (neither of whom pay her for her "advertisement" or provide free goods!) - unlike the clothing and motorcycle gear companies who fully understand that having 2.3 million followes on YouTube has some value!

After the rain eased at lunch time, I decided to do a long walk in a loop up our street and right to Park St Martin (pronounced Martine) then down the 9 July main boulevard (which is over 100m wide) to the famous Obelisk that forms the centre of Buenos Aires then back up one of the shopping malls to try to find a "gaucho berret" without success, but I did manage to find a small Japanese sushi shop for lunch then went to an Italian place for dinner. 

All in all, a very relaxing day.