Recife to Teresopolis

We were packed and ready to go early..

Not only was Tacio coming for the ride and one more night with us but so too was Nelson (this one has both arms and eyes) a retired colonel in the Military police. He loves bikes and so does his wife, who is the spitting image of Sarah Palin (could be worse, she could look like Michael Palin), she rides a scary Huyabusa (a seriously quick sports bike).

Tacio was the perfect guide taking us along the coast to see some more wonderful beaches and palm tree plantations.

We even got a short ferry ride across a river.

Arriving at night (seems Tacio likes to get a full day in the saddle) drinks and then a sushi dinner. We said our farewells in the morning and the four of us headed further south whilst Tacio and Nelson returned home.

Again some more beautiful coastline to enjoy as we rode by although the town of Itabuna is not the prettiest town you will see in Brazil (actually probably the worst I have seen on my tour). We had Ayrton Senna's grandfather as a taxi driver to take us to dinner (it didn't look the sort of place to walk around). I would say, him apart, the driving in Brazil is very considerate. The main road from North to South (BR101) is only single carriageway and has a lot of traffic, mostly heavy trucks. The truck drivers try to help by giving an indication of when it is safe to overtake and giving us space to get by. The preferred wave in this part of the world is a clenched fist with little finger and thumb sticking out (it is meant to be a bulls head with horns). They were always appreciative of such a wave. T

I have been travelling through Brazil pretty far already but it gets your attention when you see signposts for Rio still being over 2,500 kms away.

I decided that this would be my last day riding with the others as they were heading in to Vitoria tomorrow to visit another friend of Catcha's. I didn't want to go into another large city and I actually wanted to head inland to see something of the uplands of southern Brazil.

 We had a very windy night in Guriri and there were two Kite surfers in action. I had intended to spend some time doing some more myself but riding with the others it just never seemed the right time to stop and do it. I will have to make another trip!

I wanted to get within spitting distance of Rio so set myself nearly 700kms to do in the day. I crept out of the room at 6:00am, obviously making enough noise to wake Wing in the process.

After a few hours I was happy to turn off the BR101 and onto some quiet back roads. The scenery was of rolling hills, ranches and small towns. some of the roads were fast curves and with road tyres on the bike we were able to zip through them at quite a pace, using the full extent of the rubber. The weather is also noticeably cooler.  Teresopolis is not a pretty town but the hills surrounding it are beautiful. It is a strange name but comes from "Therezopolis", named after Empress Teresa Cristina.

 My first hotel choice was a non starter. They said they had wifi but after unpacking I discovered they didn't. I was a bit hacked off but got my money back, loaded the bike again and found another.

The Palace Hotel is like an old English gentleman's club - dusty and full of leather armchairs and peeling paintwork. No sooner had I arrived than the heavens opened. Within minutes the roads were rivers.You can see two water spouts pouring off the roof and just missing the bike. I haven't seen rain like this since Buenos Aires some 9 months ago.

The other news is that there is no longer a need for Malaria pills. Actually if I had bothered to look at the Malaria map, I could have stopped taking them just after we got off the boat at Belem!!!

Next stop Rio!