I talked to dad on the phone last nightand was delighted to hear that he has been reading my blogs, and that Keith delivers a copy to him about once per week, so I will make an extra effort to put useful information in them, so that he and Mum can tell what we have been doing each day. I think Alex reads them too.
We had an early start in good weather to leave the Novotel Hotel (An Accor hotel full of French Tourists) in Copacabana Beach and are now heading almost due west through Brazil over about 1500 km to reach Foz Iguacu in two more days time. Foz of course is right on the border of Brazil with both Paraguay and Argentina and here we will eventually cross back into Argentina and then head further NW to reach the Bolivian Border in about three days time.
We both had a wonderful time in Rio and liked the town very much. Last night in bed we discussed this and said that if we ever come back to South America that we would try to stay in Rio de Janeiro for more days or a week or so. We decided that it is a town that Sian and John would very much like too, as it is "their speed".
Leaving Rio we followed a dual lane expressway, which was very busy by Australian standards, but not so "hectic" as we had been used to in other places, especially coming into Rio. It made the riding free-flow as we weaved in and out of the traffic. Of course we drive on the right side in South America, and the fast lane is on the left, but just as in Australia there are always numpty drivers on the left, so instead of trying to get them to move, we just carve to the right and back into the fast lane. JC (Juan Carlos Torres) was leading the riders and Willy who drives the Ford truck, would bring up the rear, with Sheryle and a passenger. If anyone has a problem like a flat tyre, he stops and assists them.
When the traffic flows well, average speeds are about 120km per hour and we run at about 130, though there were plenty of other bikes overtaking us at higher speeds, with the occasional Audi doing say 185km per hour. The double yellow lines here, have a different meaning - that is they are "advisory" not legally binding so most people just decide for themselves what to do. However as a motorcycle rider we are always looking out for that driver who is about to careen across in front of us. To make matters worse, there are hundreds of trucks and some are travelling very slowly, so I have to be aware and be prepared to slow to a crawl or in a few places, stop all together. In one place, JC who was leading, pulled over and there was a puddle on the left which turned out to be oil, not water and was incredibly slippery, so we had to clean our boots and ride very carefully for a short distance after that. This is an example of the "un-expected" which seems to happen every day!
For Day 40 we were riding to a town called Campinas, which had been a halfway point for Portuguese traders moving slaves and gold to the coast. Around here there are beautiful rolling hills all green and semi tropical much like the hinterland in northern NSW. Now it is a thriving rural area. The temperature was 27 degrees, almost perfect riding weather, as we had been glad to see the back of the rain for a bit. The total distance today was 519km and tomorrow over 600.
So JC's text to us on WhatsApp for Day 41 says "First stop 188km for coffee and fuel, Second stop 131km for fuel and a break, third stop 141 km for fuel and lunch, fourth stop 141 km for fuel and coffee and fifth stop 35km to the hotel." This is fairly typical with the previous note saying "bags in the foyer at 07:45 and leave at 08:00am".
Basically this shows you and us how the day is orgainsed. On "Tineri" which is the overall itineray for every day of the trip, it tells me that we are heading to a town called Presidente Epitacio named after a previous president of Brasil until 1922. It also tells me that Compass Expeditions will supply both breakfast and lunch today. They provide breakfast every day but lunch and dinner on selected days which is very useful. So it will be "transport day" number two with a fairly high distance for our trip west until we get into the more interesting areas in the west of South America.
No comments:
Post a Comment