I am one long days ride from Rio de Janiero and the dream that started this trip is almost over. It has been almost 9 months and I have seen so much, I am trying to work out what the core motivation to do this was and now that I will have achieved it, what it means. I think life had just lost any challenge to be honest. I don´t know if I chose this route to prove to myself I could do it, to prove to others I could do it, but eventually I just stopped making excuses. It has been a lot of time and money and I´m very aware that without much help and support on the road I never would have made it. Hell, with the state of Brazil´s roads it is still touch and go.

Uruguay is a strange country, similar in appearance to rural Argentina except the locals are even more addicted to mate than the Argentines and ponce around in berets making them look like quaint French revolutionaries. They don´t sell maps in the service stations, everyone tends to know the way in a country so small. The customs officer with yellow eyes and a hand molded in the shape of a bottle had me fill in the entry paperwork and didn´t check any document. I asked him to sign it. ´What for?`. After coercing him he stamps it twice.

I decided to explore the coast of Uruguay with its friendly feel but the road I went down had no exit and I was dodging cow shit for 15 kilometres. The following day I went to the beach but it was raining. I gave up, and went to Brazil.

I was surprised and put out that once crossing the Brazilian border there was no where to buy reais. I always like to have a stash and Brazil is notorious for fickle ATMs. I needed gas. The first station after 40km reassuringly had VISA signs so I pulled in. They had no gas. The next station another 38km has gas, but you guessed it no VISA. I begged some locals to change $20US and paid the highest amount of commission so far on the trip. Oh well, thanks ladies. Ironically I worked out that I would have exactly exhausted a tank to the next station. I got some lunch and tried my hand at Portuguese unsuccessfully. The waitress asked me what I wanted but I had to give up and point at the pastries. A man tried to explain that the ocean was over there, just past the ´pee-nees`. Excuse me? After an hour I figured it to be peninsula. Otherwise I am doing pretty well, I have only had to make noises once, to check what I ordered really was chicken. It is frustrating as I am pretty close to understanding things. Give me another month!

I was determined to explore the coast roads of Brazil and took a ferry across from Rio Grande to San Jaoa do Norte across a bay. The locals had warned me of rivio, an unpaved stretch of about 10km. I felt I could make it – rivio in Spanish is beat-up gravel. Well, rivio in Brazil turned into a 50km sandpit. It was quite a surprise, particularly when it was deep and wet. I got tired in the heat as there was nowhere to stop even for a moment. In one of my lapses the front wheel got sideways, I realized I was in trouble and like any brave motorcyclist should when it´s too late, jumped clear of my motorcycle into deep sand. It gave me a chance for a photo at least. I realized apart from dropping the bike twice being stupid, I haven´t fallen off the bike since my accident in Peru. It was a softer landing this time. I later was told this stretch was called, ´the Devil´s road` so perhaps a better map would be in order.

I spent a couple of days getting sleep in Florianopolis, home of beach-god surfers and beach-goddess tans. After a couple of beers on Friday night, it was hard to leave.

Approaching Sao Paolo, the heavy traffic intensifies and the road deteriorates. The mountains have been tamed by Brasilian engineers but I wish there was a scenic route. However, the coast is contained in a national park so I suppose it is environmentally sound, even if I can´t enjoy it. It is difficult to enjoy the scenery when an SUV threatens to sandwich you to a semi, the more tranquilo roads don´t lead very far.

So here I am, 738km from Rio de Janiero. Back in the tropics. Go the All Blacks.

Posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 12:31 am in Josh's Journal.
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