On the road
30 December 2014 | Brazilië, Florianópolis
Finally I'm on the road. After a few months of dreaming and preparing I'm finally here. The trip from Brussels to Sao Paulo was ridiculously long (28 hours) with a very strange flight path (Brussels, Paris, Ethiopia, Togo, Sao Paulo). Not ideal if you are trying to keep your ecological footprint small. In Sao Paulo I stayed a few days in Déborah's house, a friend of my brother's. Sao Paulo is a huge city, approximately 12 million people. If it wasn't for Deborah's guidance I would certainly have gotten completely lost. It has a good atmosphere for a big city, but I prefer the smaller, quieter ones. Great parks though. Alas, no pictures.
On to Foz do Iguaçu then, a mere 16 hour bus drive from Sao Paulo. The motorcycle I found on the Horizons Unlimited Adventure Motorcycle forum was not what I expected. Very battered and probably in need of a lot of maintenance soon. Rodolpho, who owns the Iguassu Bikers Hostel and stores motorcycles for bikers who have finished their trip, had another one which would be perfect for the trip. A Kawasaki KLR 650, just 3 years old but in perfect condition, and more than suited for this trip. Completely outfitted with a big luggage rack with iron panniers, steel bashplate to protect the engine, crash bars (which have proven their use already, more on that later), handlebar protection, 12-volt socket for GPS and much more. It needed a new battery because it had been in storage for a while, but after installing a new one and fixing a loose wire the motorcycle was good to go. I baptised it Rocinante, named after Don Quixote's mule. Rod was a great help with the paperwork and spare parts. He spent hours of his free time arranging the paperwork and if it wasn't for him I would have been lost in the bureaucratic mess, made even worse by the language barrier. I can speak basic Spanish, but no Portuguese at all. This close to the border with Spanish-speaking countries some people here speak a bit of Spanish, so when trying to engage in conversation I first ask if they speak Spanish. If they don't, I continue in Spanish anyway. They understand most of it, but answer in Portuguese and I'm lost again. I wasn't planning on learning Portuguese because the biggest part of my trip is in Spanish-speaking countries and learning the two together could prove very complicated. So far the Portuguese I have learnt is mostly names of food and traffic signs.
Foz do Iguaçu is a charming little city in South West Brazil, and is famous for one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. They stretch over almost 3 kilometers and the highest drop is 80 meter. It's absolutely breathtaking when you first lay eyes on them. I waited for Ellen, a friend from home, to arrive from Peru to visit them together. The falls lie on the Brazil-Argentina border, so we took one day for each side. The Brazil side offers a nice overview, while the Argentina side lets you walk on walkways over the precipice where the enormous amount of water thunders down. Crossing the border with the bike was no problem at all, but this border is pretty lax do to the fact that so many Brazilians cross it just for the day. Other borders will probably be more challenging.
Ellen will be joining me for the first two weeks of my trip. A smarter man would go two-up on a heavy motorcycle with a lot of luggage after he is used to the bike, but sometimes the timing is difficult and now we happened to be in the same area so we thought we'd give it a try. Packing all our stuff on one bike isn't easy, but after some trail and error we're getting better at it. Luckily she doesn't have too much stuff with her, and with the big panniers and a large roll-top bag on top we can stow everything away safely. It's heavy and a bit cramped, but it's a strong, sturdy bike with enough power to handle the load. For our first leg of the trip we decided to go to Florianopolis, which was about a 1100 kilometers to the east, famous for surfing and a relaxed beach atmosphere. Taking it slow, just a few hundred kilometers a day, and camping on the way to save money on accommodation. We are in the same state of mind when it comes to budgeting, and camping and cooking your own food is a perfect way to do this.
The first day we did 317 kms, which doesn't sound like a lot compared to travelling in Europe on the motorway, but we try to avoid the highways and prefer the small roads with as much bends as possible. The roads were perfect and traffic was about the same as in Europe. The landscape resembled some parts of France, rolling hillsides with a tropical touch. With darkness closing in on us we started looking for a place to camp. On my Gps I noticed a camp-site logo and we checked it out. Turned out it was a huge deserted camp-site with hundreds of spaces to pitch a tent, Eucalyptus trees and fire pits everywhere, close to a river. At a building which looked like a reception five men were drinking beers. I prepared some Portuguese phrases to ask if we could camp and one of the guys showed us around. An overhanging roof gave enough shelter so there was no use pitching the tent. They even turned on power and water so we could cook and wash. Not bad for our first camping experience.
The next morning packing took quite a while, but we'll get better at it. Fantastic day of driving again, we manage to do about 350 kms. In the evening we see signs for thermal baths and make a detour to stay the night in a German-style village. Between 1824 and 1972, about 260,000 Germans settled in Brazil, the fourth largest nationality to immigrate here, which results in small villages with a lot of German architecture. It's so strange to see a typical mountain lodge in tropical surroundings. The Christmas decorations don't help, either. The thermal bath is invigorating, though.
The third day begins really good with a perfect road winding it's way through the mountains. These are the Santa Catarina mountains, and the highest mountains of Brazil. Not very high, the highest peak is about 1300 meters, but still great fun. We accidentally did our first off-roading. I had been looking forward to this, apparently off-roading with a motorcycle is one the best things there is, but I wasn't planning on doing it two-up. The KLR 650 is a Dual Sport, which means it's designed for both on and off-road use. The gravel looks good though, and it's too far to backtrack, so we decide to give it a go. It's a lot of fun, but you have to stay very focused. I'll try to avoid off-roading for the moment, and keep it for when I'm solo again. We advance slower, but still manage to do about 350 kms. Somewhere I see a tree completely covered in hanging moss, something I'm very fond of. I want to make picture of it and I try to make a u-turn on a less-than-ideal slope. I drop the bike because it's just so heavy. No damage to the bike thanks to the crash bars and the panniers, but something better avoided altogether. Ellen says the tree wasn't worth the drop and I'm afraid she might be right. Anywho...
In the evening we reach the small town of Urubiçi where we have Christmas fondue in Restaurant Müller. The mix of ethnicities in Brazil is fascinating. On the spectrum there's white, black and everything in between, with a hint of German here or a touch of Japanese there. It's fantastic.
After dinner we start to look for a place to wild camp. Wild camping with a motorcycle is really fun. You need to start looking about an hour before it gets dark, you start setting up the tent at nightfall and be ready just before it's completely dark. We're driving along a road when I see a small steep road heading up the mountain. I've got a good feeling about it and I follow it up. It's very steep and twists and turns it's way up the mountainside. We climb higher quickly and before we know it we're in the clouds, the visibility getting less and less as we advance. On the right we see a small dirt road with a fence and try our luck. Our first wild camp site couldn't have been better. A more or less flat patch of grass, the motorcycle out of sight from the main road, just before dusk. We pitch the tent, have some tea, enjoy the fireflies and fall asleep to the sound of bullfrogs all around us.
The 4th day of riding was a difficult one. It started perfect, we weren't discovered while wild camping and the road started out good, but after some time the road was under construction. This was worse than gravel because of the big chunks of rocks and the huge potholes. We laboured through at least 60 kms of construction area, the blistering sun beating down on us. Fully outfitted with riding gear, close to a boiling engine, temperatures can rise dramatically. Some parts are partly mud and I barely manage to keep the heavy bike upright. The bad road gives way to beautiful tarmac, for just a few kms, before it turns off-road again. But good off-road this time. Then luckily back to tarmac, the last stretch towards Floripa is an hour of perfect bends surrounded by lush tropical jungle. One can become euphoric driving like this, choosing the perfect riding line and speed. Too bad this joyful feeling evaporates quickly upon entering Florianopolis, our destination. The streets are packed with cars and for my wide motorcycle it's difficult to squeeze through. After 2 hours navigating through hot and humid chaos we're able to find a hostel to stay for the night. Everything's ridiculously expensive because of the holidays so I'm guessing we're not going to stay until after new year's. We'll see what comes our way.
I wrote more than I expected, when one starts writing everything comes pouring out. I'll try to keep it more concise next time.
On to Foz do Iguaçu then, a mere 16 hour bus drive from Sao Paulo. The motorcycle I found on the Horizons Unlimited Adventure Motorcycle forum was not what I expected. Very battered and probably in need of a lot of maintenance soon. Rodolpho, who owns the Iguassu Bikers Hostel and stores motorcycles for bikers who have finished their trip, had another one which would be perfect for the trip. A Kawasaki KLR 650, just 3 years old but in perfect condition, and more than suited for this trip. Completely outfitted with a big luggage rack with iron panniers, steel bashplate to protect the engine, crash bars (which have proven their use already, more on that later), handlebar protection, 12-volt socket for GPS and much more. It needed a new battery because it had been in storage for a while, but after installing a new one and fixing a loose wire the motorcycle was good to go. I baptised it Rocinante, named after Don Quixote's mule. Rod was a great help with the paperwork and spare parts. He spent hours of his free time arranging the paperwork and if it wasn't for him I would have been lost in the bureaucratic mess, made even worse by the language barrier. I can speak basic Spanish, but no Portuguese at all. This close to the border with Spanish-speaking countries some people here speak a bit of Spanish, so when trying to engage in conversation I first ask if they speak Spanish. If they don't, I continue in Spanish anyway. They understand most of it, but answer in Portuguese and I'm lost again. I wasn't planning on learning Portuguese because the biggest part of my trip is in Spanish-speaking countries and learning the two together could prove very complicated. So far the Portuguese I have learnt is mostly names of food and traffic signs.
Foz do Iguaçu is a charming little city in South West Brazil, and is famous for one of the biggest waterfalls in the world. They stretch over almost 3 kilometers and the highest drop is 80 meter. It's absolutely breathtaking when you first lay eyes on them. I waited for Ellen, a friend from home, to arrive from Peru to visit them together. The falls lie on the Brazil-Argentina border, so we took one day for each side. The Brazil side offers a nice overview, while the Argentina side lets you walk on walkways over the precipice where the enormous amount of water thunders down. Crossing the border with the bike was no problem at all, but this border is pretty lax do to the fact that so many Brazilians cross it just for the day. Other borders will probably be more challenging.
Ellen will be joining me for the first two weeks of my trip. A smarter man would go two-up on a heavy motorcycle with a lot of luggage after he is used to the bike, but sometimes the timing is difficult and now we happened to be in the same area so we thought we'd give it a try. Packing all our stuff on one bike isn't easy, but after some trail and error we're getting better at it. Luckily she doesn't have too much stuff with her, and with the big panniers and a large roll-top bag on top we can stow everything away safely. It's heavy and a bit cramped, but it's a strong, sturdy bike with enough power to handle the load. For our first leg of the trip we decided to go to Florianopolis, which was about a 1100 kilometers to the east, famous for surfing and a relaxed beach atmosphere. Taking it slow, just a few hundred kilometers a day, and camping on the way to save money on accommodation. We are in the same state of mind when it comes to budgeting, and camping and cooking your own food is a perfect way to do this.
The first day we did 317 kms, which doesn't sound like a lot compared to travelling in Europe on the motorway, but we try to avoid the highways and prefer the small roads with as much bends as possible. The roads were perfect and traffic was about the same as in Europe. The landscape resembled some parts of France, rolling hillsides with a tropical touch. With darkness closing in on us we started looking for a place to camp. On my Gps I noticed a camp-site logo and we checked it out. Turned out it was a huge deserted camp-site with hundreds of spaces to pitch a tent, Eucalyptus trees and fire pits everywhere, close to a river. At a building which looked like a reception five men were drinking beers. I prepared some Portuguese phrases to ask if we could camp and one of the guys showed us around. An overhanging roof gave enough shelter so there was no use pitching the tent. They even turned on power and water so we could cook and wash. Not bad for our first camping experience.
The next morning packing took quite a while, but we'll get better at it. Fantastic day of driving again, we manage to do about 350 kms. In the evening we see signs for thermal baths and make a detour to stay the night in a German-style village. Between 1824 and 1972, about 260,000 Germans settled in Brazil, the fourth largest nationality to immigrate here, which results in small villages with a lot of German architecture. It's so strange to see a typical mountain lodge in tropical surroundings. The Christmas decorations don't help, either. The thermal bath is invigorating, though.
The third day begins really good with a perfect road winding it's way through the mountains. These are the Santa Catarina mountains, and the highest mountains of Brazil. Not very high, the highest peak is about 1300 meters, but still great fun. We accidentally did our first off-roading. I had been looking forward to this, apparently off-roading with a motorcycle is one the best things there is, but I wasn't planning on doing it two-up. The KLR 650 is a Dual Sport, which means it's designed for both on and off-road use. The gravel looks good though, and it's too far to backtrack, so we decide to give it a go. It's a lot of fun, but you have to stay very focused. I'll try to avoid off-roading for the moment, and keep it for when I'm solo again. We advance slower, but still manage to do about 350 kms. Somewhere I see a tree completely covered in hanging moss, something I'm very fond of. I want to make picture of it and I try to make a u-turn on a less-than-ideal slope. I drop the bike because it's just so heavy. No damage to the bike thanks to the crash bars and the panniers, but something better avoided altogether. Ellen says the tree wasn't worth the drop and I'm afraid she might be right. Anywho...
In the evening we reach the small town of Urubiçi where we have Christmas fondue in Restaurant Müller. The mix of ethnicities in Brazil is fascinating. On the spectrum there's white, black and everything in between, with a hint of German here or a touch of Japanese there. It's fantastic.
After dinner we start to look for a place to wild camp. Wild camping with a motorcycle is really fun. You need to start looking about an hour before it gets dark, you start setting up the tent at nightfall and be ready just before it's completely dark. We're driving along a road when I see a small steep road heading up the mountain. I've got a good feeling about it and I follow it up. It's very steep and twists and turns it's way up the mountainside. We climb higher quickly and before we know it we're in the clouds, the visibility getting less and less as we advance. On the right we see a small dirt road with a fence and try our luck. Our first wild camp site couldn't have been better. A more or less flat patch of grass, the motorcycle out of sight from the main road, just before dusk. We pitch the tent, have some tea, enjoy the fireflies and fall asleep to the sound of bullfrogs all around us.
The 4th day of riding was a difficult one. It started perfect, we weren't discovered while wild camping and the road started out good, but after some time the road was under construction. This was worse than gravel because of the big chunks of rocks and the huge potholes. We laboured through at least 60 kms of construction area, the blistering sun beating down on us. Fully outfitted with riding gear, close to a boiling engine, temperatures can rise dramatically. Some parts are partly mud and I barely manage to keep the heavy bike upright. The bad road gives way to beautiful tarmac, for just a few kms, before it turns off-road again. But good off-road this time. Then luckily back to tarmac, the last stretch towards Floripa is an hour of perfect bends surrounded by lush tropical jungle. One can become euphoric driving like this, choosing the perfect riding line and speed. Too bad this joyful feeling evaporates quickly upon entering Florianopolis, our destination. The streets are packed with cars and for my wide motorcycle it's difficult to squeeze through. After 2 hours navigating through hot and humid chaos we're able to find a hostel to stay for the night. Everything's ridiculously expensive because of the holidays so I'm guessing we're not going to stay until after new year's. We'll see what comes our way.
I wrote more than I expected, when one starts writing everything comes pouring out. I'll try to keep it more concise next time.
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