Argentina to Alaska in a year!

[aurel]

Thank you all for your nice words!

Originally Posted by TK-LA

I believe these are called Capybaras.

And I'm shocked the wall painting of Maradona isn't vandalized after the WC.

Anyway, BEST OF LUCK

I don't know the name of these animals in english. They were really not scared by us! But believe me, they smell...

Originally Posted by AdventurePoser

Fun report with lots of great pix. Thanks for posting, and if you find yourselves in the Los Angeles area, send me a PM!

Steve in So Cal

We won't miss Los Angeles while in the US so we'll probably see you there!

[aurel]

We are now in the South of Brazil! It was not planned at all but that's the advantage of a trip with a path evolving everyday! One morning we wake up and we think "why not going to Brazil?" Brazil is calling!





After crossing the Rio Uruguay on the roll-in roll-out from Argentina to Brazil we discover that customs officers have left for lunch; time is time!

So we have to wait more than 2h in the village at the border and we sit in the only cafe to eat empanadas (actually it's called "pastel" in Portuguese"!)



Surprise, we don't get any stamp on our passeports when the customs officers get back.

The customs officer: "You have to go to Santo Angelo to stamp your passeport, 200km away from here. Here we don't have a stamp".

Me: "OK but what do we do if we get arrested between here and Santo Angelo?"

The customs officer:"You''ll be considered as entered illegaly on the territory!"

Me: "alright..."

Then we should better be discreet and not get arrested!



So our first step in Brazil is already decided! Let's go to Santo Angelo's federal police station.

But before that we stop for the night. Our GPS map of Brazil is very basic, less than 30% of the roads are showing and no campsite... and we don't speak a word of Portuguese! Thanksfully we meet someone who talks a bit of English and who indicates a campsite to us!



We finally reach Santo Angelo the next day and we don't have any trouble finding the police station.



We don't have any worries with our passeports at the station and we are actually quite happy to have stopped in this small town.



Christmas decorations are all over the place. It's 25°, strange feeling.... we can't really believe it's December!



We take the opportunity of stopping here to download a new Brazil GPS map. And we find a campsite 10 km away!

There we meet Esther and Friedberg, a German couple who works in a kids house in a favela of Santo Angelo. They invite us to spend the day with them.

We take the bus with them in the morning. Not very wise to go to a favela with the bike... Rodrigo who also works in the kids house picks us up at the bus terminus. No taxi accepts to drive to this favela and there is no public transport.

We discover the kids house which is not really a school but which allows the kids to be safe, to have enough to eat and to take a shower instead of hanging around in the street.

The youngest kids come in the morning when the oldest are at school and vice versa in the afternoon.

Esther and Friedberg tell us about the kids' tough lives. The neighbourhood they live in is not great. Poverty, violence, murders, alcoholism...

They have the help of young German girls who spend some time here and also from young Brazilian girls who came to this kids house when they were younger.









We don't speak a word of Portuguese but we still get along well with the kids.









This day makes us come back to childhood when we are back at the campsite :)





After this 2 day step we take the road again (the track actually) toward the Ocean. We have in mind of getting a tan on Brazilian nice beaches!





We end a long day on a rutted track where the GPS has indicated a campsite. No luck the campsite has been closed for years. A bit tired we find by chance a very charming and heavenly place hold by Sandra and her family. They warmly welcome us. They show us around, a large property full of small lakes, flowers and animals. A place where we could easily spend a week to read, walk around, take naps...!











Sandra offers us her home made cheese, her bread just out of the oven and plums picked in the garden the same morning. Thanks it was delicious!



The next day Sandra and her daughter make us discover the surroundings of the property and very nice falls.





We reluctantly leave this great place and very kind people and we head toward the coast. The landscape varies between large monotonous plains and small vales where rivers wind.







We make breaks every 30 or 50km in small villages. Sometimes we find stalls with local products.



Marion: impossible to choose, I want to try them all!



In the end this is our choice (the second one is absolutely delicious!):





Not far from this stall we find a place to have lunch on the river side. There as well it's the paradise. Sun, water, and... cakes for Marion!



We take the road, again. We only a have few kms left and we'll have our feet in the Ocean!



We reach Torres, a small town of the Brazilian coast. The campsite is not great, we are 5 meters away from the ocean but we can't see it! One more reason to go for a walk on the cliffs. 30°C and it's snowing in Paris!











We stay there 2 days. It's nice not to be on the bike every single day; it gives us time to enjoy places we visit.

Letting Torres behind us we ride South along the coast towards Uruguay. But I smell something burning...



The bag that Marion had cinched on the back of the bike has slided down and melted against the exhaust pipe!

This bag was fine for 5 months in Africa and it does not even survive 3 weeks with Marion...!

What did we loose? My towel, the CamelBack, the second camera's battery, the compass and the bag. Congratulations Marion!

And it starts to rain, it's not our day... waiting for the rain to stop in a gas station is no fun.



Marion: Unless Aurel offers me an ice cream! Suddenly everything is fine!



1kg of chocolate and 2 showers later we leave the gas station to find a campsite. It's really not nice but there is a shelter where we can pitch the tent. The Brazilian coast is not what we had imagined so far.



The next day we don't ride fast. 10km and we stop because of the rain. We leave when the shower ends and we stop again 20 km later... During one of our stops Aurel is allowed to take his bike inside the café! It's the first time...

But it has to be said that I met a big fan of my bike!



We reach Sao Rose on the edge of a river when the sun appears.



The only solution to reach Rio Grande on the other side is the roll-in roll-out. We wait for it for a couple of hours with a nice Brazilian couple and German travellers who have been on the road for 11 years!











Here it finally comes! A few dogs get out of it at the same time of cars. Apparently they leave everyday for Rio Grand in the morning and get back to Sao Jose every evening.



It's our turn!



We stay the night in Rio Grande before entering Uruguay. Nice beaches that we have not found in Brazil are waiting for us!

To be followed...

[TK-LA]

Originally Posted by aurel

Thank you all for your nice words!



I don't know the name of these animals in english. They were really not scared by us! But believe me, they smell...

"...they smell..." Aahahhahahaa.

I too am in Los Angeles. I've lots of nice canyon and moutains rides for you. Let me know and we'll even fire up the bbq for you.

[TK-LA]

My wife is from there (Sao Paulo) and her frere is in Salvador. If you need any suggestions, let me know.

BTW, if you want a true adventure, seek out Tamburil, Bahia, north of Salvador by Banzae.

Banzae is a "Funai" village. That's a village that was taken away from westerners and given back to the Natives. Very cool seeing real Brazilian indians walking around in native dress.

Tamburil is a tiny village 20 miles down dirt roads, (not even on Google maps) near Banzae where my wife's father lives. When we visited in March I was told by a village elder that I was the first American to ever visit there, so I assume if you went you'd be the first French. That was REALLY cool.

Also, another good friend owns a cute hotel in Guarajuba (and they speak perfect English), 30 minutes north of Salvador, right near the ocean, with secure parking.


Things to do in Brasil:

Eat at a Churascaria (All you can eat BBQ)
Have fried cheese on the beach in Bahia
Have Acaraje (shrimp dish)
Have Pastil
See a Capoeira troop perform
Stop at Pria do Forte and see the TAMAR Sea Turtle Project and Museum
Stop at Ipanema Beach in Rio De Janeiro
Eat at Pavao Azul on R. Hilario de Gouveia and R. Barata Ribeiro in the Copacabana section of Rio de Janeiro. Best food!

Some of my photos from my first trip:
http://losangelesmode.timkennard.com/salvador.html



Yes, they have beaches!!

[aurel]

Thank you for all the informations, sadly we already left Brazil, we're back in Argentina on our way to Tierra del Fuego

See you in the US!

[TK-LA]

Originally Posted by aurel

Thank you for all the informations, sadly we already left Brazil, we're back in Argentina on our way to Tierra del Fuego

See you in the US!

You're heading south again back to Tierra del Fuego?

[aurel]

Yes, we left Brazil for Uruguay! Here are some pictures

Who knows Uruguay? Not a very famous destination. This is a small country wedged between Argentina and Brazil. We do not have a guide and our GPS map is a bit vague...

The adventure starts on the other side of the bridge. There again, as for the entree, the exit of Brazil is a bit complicated.



But we finally enter Uruguay after 1h of back and forth between custom offices.



Once there we are looking for a place to stay for the night. But it seems there are few campsites around here. So we decide to camp rough on a river edge.



The river is cold but it feels good after a long day in the sun.





The place is in the middle of the pampas, only gauchos cross the river and great us.



They go get their herd while we pitch the tent and then bring the cows back to the farm.



Our objective is to ride along the coast. Before reaching the Ocean we have 200 kms of a landscape similar to the one in Argentina, where we can easily find a calm place to eat or pitch the tent.



It's flat, flat, flat... nothing as far as our eyes can see!



The landscape suddenly changes a couple of kilometers before reaching the Ocean. Palm-trees appear everywhere!







Villages are scattered along the coast in the North and Center. We find a campsite unknown from our GPS in one of them, Barra de Vizelas. An unexpected surprise!



It's a paradise so we decide to stay here a few days to do... well, nothting! We pitch the tent under palm-trees and pines, we take naps, sort our pictures, write the Brazil article, walk around... we take some good time! :)



We don't have many neighbours but a small cat that we feed with canned tuna from the village's grocery store.



We make friends with the owners. Their little boy is fan of the bike!



They get the campsite ready for the touristic season, do up the garden, build small cabins for the showers etc.



There is no hyppopotamus like in Africa around the tent at night but strange butterflies... Spider, butterfly or both?



The village is pretty, there is a relaxing atmosphere with its small wooden houses, gardens full of flowers, unpaved roads and fine sand beaches. Time seems to slip by more slowly than elsewhere.



















We spend evenings by the fire while the meat is slowly cooking. Hard to find fish here close to the ocean, that beats everything! So we resign ourselves to eat beef, again...!



Tomorrow we'll go for a walk in the dunes (no motorcycles allowed...) and then we'll get back on the road for some more riding !

[TK-LA]

Uruguay is very famous for beef and the bbq. Montevideo has a lot of French influence, even in some of the architecture.

[pdedse]

Superb! You've got a good eye for close-ups, landscape and fun photos. Nice thematic balance that makes for an inviting report.

[trailtrick]

You are 60 km from my home town La Paloma
I be there next monday

[dziner]

Amazing trip and lots of photos! I know it's early in your trip, but once you get to the north-east of the United States I have a place for both of you to stay for the night in Pennsylvania before you finish in New York.

Enjoy your trip and ride safe!

[robram]

if you need some maps for garmin, you can get http://www.tracksource.org.br for brazilian routes and http://www.proyectomapear.com.ar/ for Argentina, Chile and Uruguai.

[aurel]

Originally Posted by dziner

Amazing trip and lots of photos! I know it's early in your trip, but once you get to the north-east of the United States I have a place for both of you to stay for the night in Pennsylvania before you finish in New York.

Enjoy your trip and ride safe!

It's funny that you offer us a place to stay in Pennsylvania... We got a package coming from the US by DHL this morning with some camping gear. The sender is from Pennsylvania

Btw the package I got was the wrong one with Christmas gift for a family in New Zealand. There is a family in New Zealand that is going to offer their kids some camping gear for Christmas!

Originally Posted by robram

if you need some maps for garmin, you can get http://www.tracksource.org.br for brazilian routes and http://www.proyectomapear.com.ar/ for Argentina, Chile and Uruguai.

Thank you for these links

[SCflyer]

Aurel,
Awesome report as all the other comments...just one question. What happened to make you put "SIDESTAND!!!" on the inside of your windshield? Of course someone forgot to put it down but there's gotta be a good story behind it.

Safe journey to you and your wife

[aurel]

Originally Posted by SCflyer

Aurel,
Awesome report as all the other comments...just one question. What happened to make you put "SIDESTAND!!!" on the inside of your windshield? Of course someone forgot to put it down but there's gotta be a good story behind it.

Safe journey to you and your wife

I took out the sidestand sensor because once a friend of mine stayed stuck on a track when he lost the magnet. I installed the KTM bypass. But soon after I took it off I saw a guy crashing in front of me because of a forgotten sidestand so I put this sticker