The Road to Rio…

I left Sao Bento do Sol at 11.oo am, much later than I would usually be on the road, and with over 700 km to cover to get to Sao Sebastiao, I knew that I was in for a very long ride to get to where Roger was waiting for me…

Katia, Timo, Sven and Lisa were there to see me off... It had been a short and entertaining stay with friends whom I had not seen for many years...

An new addition to my traveling wardrobe...!! Sven's Dakar Challenge of 2010...!!

Before I left, Sven presented me with a t-shirt for the 2010 Dakar Rally which he had participated in, and then the family gathered around the Big Fella to watch me load before I set off..

Sven guided me to the edge of town, whre we said our final goodbye’s and then I headed through the mountain pass that woul;d get me back to the BR 101, the highway that runs north and south from Rio de Janeiro to Porte Alegre…

The pass was shrouded in mist, and occasional rain showers made the going trickier than I would have liked to start the day off with, but by the time I reached the highway and turned north, the sun was out and the road was dry…

I refueled at Pina Grande do Sol and then ran north towards Curitiba… just south of the city, I turned off to take the massive ring-road that runs towards the coast, and before long was caught in a traffic jam that covered over 50 km…!!

Ran into the mother of all traffic jams east of Curitiba...

The highway was clogged with trucks and cars, all crawling along at 20 km/h… I messed around trying to bulldoze my way between the lanes of traffic, but with trucks driving in both lanes, space to get between them was limited…

I eventually followed a few other cars that took to the emergency lane and finally got clear of the mess…

The time I lost at this point had me thinking about finding a place to overnight well short of Sao Sebastiao where I had planned to hook up with Roger…

I still kept the hammer down, riding hard and disregarding all speed limits in an effort to get as close as possible…

The first sign that showed Rio lay up ahead somewhere...!!

I was now on the BR-116 which ran directly to Sao Paulo, and turned off to look for a quieter road that ran parallel to the coast…

We came out at the little coastal town of Peruibe, and then tracked along the coast on a good open road, all the way to Guaruja, where I refueled again…

I had managed to skirt the city of Santos by hugging the coastline, and avoided Sao Paulo altogether, which would have been a nightmare to ride through this late in the afternoon…

It was just going on 5.00pm, and I decided to make the run to Sao Sebastiao, rather than look for a place to overnight…!!

I sent Roger a text message saying “Put the kettle on Bro’…!! I’ll be there in an hour or so…!!”… His reply was one of disbelief, amazed that I had ridden so far so quickly, and was still planning to reach him that same night…!!

The light was fading fast and I was still an hour from Sao Sebastiao...!!

In hindsight, had I known what the last 180 km consisted of, I would not have attempted to go on… I had covered barely half that distance when the sun’s last rays faded away, and in complete darkness, rode the final 100 km along a torturous, twisting mountain road, that had more sharp bends than you can shake a stick at…!!

Sheer stubborness and adrenaline kept me going, as by now, the heat that I had been riding in and the fact that I had not stopped for eat anything, had my energy levels plummeting… During the day’s ride, I had ridden “from tank to tank”, which means riding from one full tank of petrol until it was empty, to the next, without stopping…!! Almost four hours in the saddle without a break…!!

Breakfast at the Hotel Arrastao was a sumptuous affair...!!

I reached Sao Sebastiao at 7.00pm, having covered 750 km in just eight hours…!! After locating Roger’s hotel, I had a quick shower and then we went out to dinner… I could have eaten a horse, but instead settled for a huge plate of spaghetti, washed down by a number of cold ones….!! I forget the exact number, but I wasn’t thirsty afterward…!!

The following morning we set out for Rio, following the picturesque route along the coast…

On our left for most of the ride was a low range of cloud covered mountains and on our right, an island studded Atlantic Ocean..

We passed through many coastal towns that have grown up around popular beaches, and gritted our teeth as we bumped over hundreds of large speed humps in these areas…

We passed this nutter on his VW Beetle powered trike...

If you want a Brazilian beach holiday without the hassles of Rio, go to Atatuba...!!

Pedestrians in their bathing costumes clogged the main roads that ran through these resort towns, and some of the sights had us shaking our heads in amazement and bewilderment… So much so that I almost ran into the back of a car, when a particularly buxom woman, wearing very little in the way of clothing, sauntered across the road in front of us…!! Thank heavens for ABS…!!

The coastline south of Rio is littered with popular beaches like this one north of Atatuba...

We stopped at Paraty to have our customary mid-morning coffee....

We stopped in Paraty to refuel before making our final run into Rio de Janeiro, and sat at a roadside cafe, sipping coffee and discussing our strategies for finding a hotel in the city… We wanted to be withing walking distance of the beach, but not close enough where prices would be prohibitive…!!

Before getting back onto the highway, we rode down into the little harbour town of Paraty itself, bumping along cobble-stoned roads, and then along the coast where we found many back-packers lounging on the pavements across from the beach…

Finding nothing of interest, we headed back to the highway and took off towards our final destination for the day…

We arrived on the outskirts of Rio after a leisurely ride up the coast...

Like all tourists, we headed for the places that fire up people's imagination...

The city itself lies draped around a series of mountains, and getting from one side of it to the other, is by way of a series of tunnels that have been blasted through the mountainsides…

We found our way to Ipanema, where we parked across from a very busy restaurant… While I looked after the bikes, Roger made his first foray to seek a hotel…

He was back after 15 minutes, having tried three or four places and found them all full…!!

Our bikes drew heaps of attention and before long we were surrounded by the curious and those that wanted to wish us well… We met and spoke to tourists and local alike, all interested in where we had come from and where we were going…!!

We left Ipanema and rode over a steep hill and came down into Copacabana, where we were told we were more likely to find a place to stay…

Dinner would have made vegetarians the world over cringe...!! But I did add a few veggies for colour...!!

We cruised the main street two blocks up from the beach, and then the narrow street that separated the main Copacabana road from the next main road, and finally after two hours of getting off and back onto the bike, in the heat and humidty, we came across the Toledo Hotel, which suited our needs and our pockets perfectly…!!

Later that evening, we strolled to a nearby restaurant, where the food you select from the huge buffet, is weighed and sold by the kilo…!! Roger and I both chose about a kilo’s worth, and sat down to enjoy what was a very good meal, one of the best we had had since we started our ride together…

“Right…!!” said Roger, “Let’s go down to the beach and see where all the murderers are hiding…!!”

We had both been advised to stay well clear of Brazil, and especially Rio, as the possibility of being robbed and/or murdered was rather high…!!

We had laughed at this, and whenever we saw a cagey looking character, whoul not to each other, and say, “Murderer…!!”

On Copacabana Beach, crowds of people either walked or jogged, or rode their bicycles on the dedicated lanes sectioned off for them…

Down on Copacabana Beach, we stopped to watch a game of volleyball... This was at about 11.00 pm...!! Rio hardly sleeps...!!

Castles in the sand, Copacabana Beach...

On the beach itself, numerous volleyball games were in progress, despite the late hour… Pavement cafes selling snacks and drinks were still open well after midnight…!!

Every few hundred metres, sand sculptures reared up off the beach, and their creators stood cap in hand waiting for donations from passersby…

We trudged wearily back to our hotel after a very long walk down the beachfront…

“Well that was disappointing…!!” exclaimed Roger as we shut our door behind us…. “We weren’t murdered even once…!!”

“Never mind, we still have a few days ahead of us here…!! Maybe we’ll get lucky…!!” I said with a laugh…

Little did I know, that in the end, the thieves of Rio would have the last laugh…!!

©GBWT 2012