Hello São Paulo

I had hoped to run into Salvador Carlucci or Dale & Sandy while in Brazil. But Salvador is now in Belem and soon will be riding down the Amazon River — well on a boat. And Dale & Sandy have left Rio and are moving north. I was fortunate, however, to chat over Yahoo! with […]

Morrettes & Curitiba to São Paulo

After about ten days just enjoying the laid back coolness of Floripa I headed to the Brazillian state of Paraná and the tiny enclave of Morrettes, a small town in the jungle between Curitiba, on the high plains and Paranagua on the Atlantic Ocean. Getting there is rather fun as I take the Ruta Graciosa […]

Florianopolis: Paradise?

Ihla de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina Island) is home to the capital of the Brazillian state that bears its name. Florianopolis, or Floripa as the locals call it, is really Santa Catarina island, though the city spreads to the mainland (the continent). The island has something for everyone. Beaches and bays shielded from the Atlantic […]

Itaipu Dam and Ciudad del Este.

The madness of crossing the Ponte da Amizade to get to Paraguay and Ciudade del Este is boggling. This is a border crossing between Paraguay and Brazil that is barely policed. Rift with crime, drugs and illegal exchange of goods, one wonders what’s going on here. Apparantly the joint venture between Paraguay and Brazil that […]

Argentina Again: Hostels, Hassles & Iguazú Falls Revisited

The border crossing from Brazil into Argentina is efficient and well-organized. I created a bit of a fuss when I pulled over, got off the bike and searched for an Aduana officer to pitch my plight about my temporary import permit. Shaking his head while waving a fellow officer over I was a bit concerned […]

São Miguel to Foz do Iguaçu

The next morning I wandered the grounds of the old church taking photographs before moving on and logging about 250 miles to São Miguel D’Oeste in Santa Catarina state, arriving just before nightfall. A tiny enclave and barely a dot on my map, I rode around town twice without spotting a hotel. A guy on […]

Leaving Porto Alegre

The City Hotel here in Porto Alegre turns out to be a bit more expensive than I’m budgeted for, they offer me a much better deal after some haggling, but it’s still too high. I’m too tired to go anywhere else and I’ve got a lot of business to take care of: 1) Laundry 2) […]

Customs, Immigrations and the leaving the Devil

Today would be a long day. In order to make time and miles I’d have to leave earlier than the 9 or 10am departures which, no matter my efforts, seem to be consistent on this trip. The 6:30am alarm was slammed to snooze until 7am when I jumped out of bed to perhaps the coldest […]

Ruta 9 Uruguay: La Paloma to Punta del Diablo.

I bid farewell to the nearly ghost town of La Paloma and headed northeast toward Punta del Diablo. With two destinations on my mind, I figured I could check out the infamous dunes of one of Uruguay’s few national parks, Cabo Polonia, and to walk in the shadowy history of one of the legendary Spanish […]

Jose Ignacio to La Paloma. The sandy dirt track.

I got off pronto the following morning winding my way along the coast, past beautiful homes and the roaring Atlantic Ocean. Things were more tranquil after crossing this unique if not wacky bridge that represented, I think, the rolling waves, and found myself rolling into El Barro. Nice quaint, toned down. El Barro Bridge from […]