Immediately after my last post, I went to the hostel in Curitiba to get warmer clothes. By the time I returned, all of the buffet places were closed. I ended up eating 2 moderately nasty street hot dogs. Then I was directed towards one of the nightlife areas. As I walked up the hill, I came across an Italian place and thought it might be a good idea to load up on pasta as there was a small place in my stomach for more food. I somehow ordered a spaghetti-like dish for two people and killed it. I ruined myself this night and waddled back to the hostel. For the first time of this trip, I was the first in the room to be in bed.
Some cool building in Curitiba
When I get up in the morning, both of my tires are flat. They are able to hold air so I just head out and hope for the best.
I see this on my way out of town. I am not sure if this is inspired by Tron or what.
These guys were on the freeway. They basically played leapfrog and slowly crawled over each other. I have no idea what they are, but they were clearly on a mission.
This is an easy decision.
When truck are flipping over, it is clear that the road is not an easy one to ride.
I took BR-277 from Iguaçu to Curitiba. I am now taking BR-116 to São Paulo. The road is more mountainous, but I feel that it is actually less difficult because the road is dynamited. After 4 refills of air for the rear tire, I decide to replace the tube and tire. This is the last of my supplies as well. About midday, I am thinking, ´it is so cool that it is overcast all the time and does not rain.´ About an hour later, I get some drizzle. 10 minutes of drizzle later, I am thinking, ´it is so cool that it does not pour.´ About 15 seconds later, it begins to pour. I put on my pancho that was acquired in Iguaçu and continue. I am pretty much soaked, but the weather is warm and humid so I am not cold like the time in Mexico. I start to climb up a mountain and the rain stopped. I take the time to nicely fold up my pancho and put it back in my bag. As I am drying off ascending up the mountain, I ponder where is the Southbound lane.
Oh, there you are. Nice and low.
As I decend out of the mountain the pouring rain comes again. I stop at the toll booth to re-put on my pancho. As I am in this process, a bus comes though the via facil lane http://www.viafacil.com.br/. A large water puddle has accumulated and the bus relieved the puddle in a huge splash that completely covered me from my waist down. Sometimes I get frustrated during this trip, but this time I can´t help but laugh.
I ride until sundown and end up in a tiny pueblo. There is no hotel, but I end up spending enough time at the buffet that I make some friends and am offered a place to sleep. It is one of the most terrible places I have stayed, and I was sure the Blair Witch was going to come find me in there.
As I am climbing a mountain the next day, I came across this banana stand. For all of my life, I have been undecided where or not I like bananas. After eating 5 of these, I am official a fan of bananas. They are small and sweet. As Drake says, ´The best I ever had.´
I have never actually seen bananas grow on a tree, but here is what they look like. There are about 40 or 50 of them growing at once with a long phallic tentical with a red bulb at the end. I walked in there and pulled one off the tree. After having the best experience with bananas, I just had the worst by putting this foul pasty thing in my mouth. You really do have to wait until they are ripe.
Huge expanse of banana trees. Even the moutains a few miles back that you can barely make out are covered in banana trees.
I rode right up til nightfall and stopped at some town 120km from São Paulo. This town actually had a hotel. I use the term hotel very loosely here. I am the only person that is staying there and probably the only one in a month. The hotel is basically a huge floor with rooms and beds all over the place. It was built to house 30 or so people. There is no key so I had to leave my bike unsecure when I went out for dinner and in search of an internet cafe. When I went to use the shower, I was electrocuted by the knobs. Worst than the electricity running up my arms was that I got shocked for no reason because the heater was shorting out. I managed to leave my towel in Curitiba so I end up drying myself with dirty clothes and a fan that is surely going to swivel itself out of its socket and crash into the wall. As I stroll around town in search of food, water, and the internet, I figure 2 out of 3 ain´t bad. The internet cafe does not open until 1 the next afternoon, and I plan on arriving in SP around that time.
Some more scenery on my last day into São Paulo
Coming down Faira Lima which is one of the major thoroughfares in SP. The Google office is on this street. I also manage to drop my camera immediately after taking this photo, and I literally drop my bike in the middle of the street and sprint back to swipe my camera before it is crushed by the speeding cars or stolen by a theiving hand.
It turns out that I arrived in SP on the last Friday of the month. This is the day for Critical Mass in San Francisco and SP as well. I´m in!
Getting ready to ride with Jackie.
SP has amazing street art
La massa critica
The largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan reside in SP. This Japanese girl takes biking to the next level.
Lunch the next day was even more amazing. This is a traditional dish called feijoada, pronouced like fesh-watta. It´s similar to Jambalaya but better (sorry if this is blasphemous to my Louisiana brethern).
Random Samba practice. Also they do have sports of than futebol in Brasil; however, you can see that the court is being used for their primary sport.
More amazing street art
Sunday futebol match between São Paulo and Corinthians. On the car ride there, I was informed that the Goalie of São Paulo was sitting on 99 career gols. I thought I misunderstood.
Home team crowd
Some of their typical chants
I did not misunderstand. The goalie goes on to score his 100th career gol. This is monumental, and I and my camera were witness. The post gol celebration went on 15 to 20 minutes even when play had resumed.
Some very proud SP fans and my hosts for the day.
The parking lot is total gridlock. Let´s throw a party here. Ok - done.
This bar is called Wall Street. Prices of beer change throughout the night based on demand. Really awesome. SP you rock.
I am riding 20 km through SP after midnight. First, I have no good idea where to go. Second, I don´t speak the language. Third, I am going on streets and tunnels with speeding cars in lanes that have no biking signs. All in all, not very smart, but I made it.
This the world´s second largest bus terminal. There are 75 spaces for buses to park, load, and unload. 81 Reais and 6 hours until Rio.
I have decided to quit riding in South America for several reasons. 1) I ruined my gloves drying them in Curitiba. 2) I have no supplies in terms of Tubes and Tires. 3) I sheared off my air pump shaft so have no way to inflate my tires. 4) My butt is really sore. I rode 22 out of 25 days for 8 to 10 hours a day.
Thank you very much for the hospitality Jackie! São Paulo sort of has a bad reputation, and even I was nervous heading in. Besides the buses that were not gunshy to cut me off, I loved every second of SP. Actually, I do like the aggressive drivers as it motivates me to be even moreso. The food, the people, the weather. Everything was absolutely wonderful.
I am in Rio now, but I will save a post on this amazing place for later.
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