swamp riding
at the equator (someone forgot Gretzky´s hockey stick)
one of the larger Amazonas turtles
Amazon rainforest - this about says it all
Fellow biker Felix rides from Austria thru Africe over to SA and finally is stopped in a parking lot in Brasil
Foz de Igauzu from the Brasilian side
One of hundreds of bridges we crossed on our dirt excursions through the Pantanal
The most common resident of Brasil`s fantastic Pantanal is the Caiman
We found at least one tree that the cattle ranchers forgot to cut down!
A very docile Giant Anteater!
Gruta do Lago Azul...a really neat lake in the middle of a huge cave near the beautiful town of Bonito, Brasil
Grand or Toco Toucan. It still seems strange to see these gorgeous birds flying around in the wild!
Iguazu Falls (the Devils Throat) from the Brasil side
You don´t want to fall over on this road! Actually our smiles kind of faded when the road turned to red mud a few km´s later!
Blue fronted parrot...strangely enough beautiful parrots are one of the more common birds in S America and can be found in the largest cities, deserts and of course jungles.
This used to be jungle. Riding through Brasil (and many other S American countries) has made us really dislike what man has done to the environment in order to raise cattle! For literally thousands of km´s the jungle has been cut and burned to support a few cows!
July 15th, 2007 and time to enter Brasil and start the long road North! S America border crossings are a pleasure and our first taste of Brasil is with a very friendly border crossing official who had to spend over two hours trying to get our temporary import permit on the computer.
After spending some time on the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls it is time to check out the Brasil side and unlike some folks who said the Brasil side was not worth while viewing, we had a great time. The gorgeous blue sky weather and rainbows around the Falls along with a fantastic hostel (camping because Brasil is really expensive!) sure helped out. We also had time to check out a fantastic bird aviary...definitely the nicest one that I have ever visited and had a fantastic collection of Brasil´s rare and endangered birds.
One thing sure became apparent very quickly...Brasil is one large country and a 30 day visa is not going to allow a lot of time to explore! Not only that but it is expensive to ride as fuel is running about 1.60 a litre and is total crap fuel...needless to say the Hondogs are NOT happy running on Brasil crude! (Every fuel station has alcohol for vehicles for sale and it is cheap...but it would be interesting to compare the environmental costs as huge areas of jungle have been cut to produce corn and sugar cane which is then rendered into alcohol for cars (no doubt subsidized by the government).
July 19, 2007 Our first stop is the beautiful town of Bonito on the famous Pantanal swamps some 3 days riding north of Foz de Iguazu (where we visited the falls). After checking our some interesting caves we hit some dirt roads in and around the southern Pantanal...by far the most wildlife we have seen in our travels this trip and in one hour we saw a Giant Anteater, 2 Mangay cats (rare!!), Cabyberras (largest rodents in the world and can hide in swamps underwater for very long periods of time...believe me!), caimans (American crocodiles). Our bush camp was awesome as I have never seen so many species of birds in my life and a walk around the pond next to our tent revealed 3 crocs!!! However the next day was another story as our road of a hundred bad bridges turned into a silt bed...literally axle deep silt with ruts that sent Lori to the ground several times. After struggling for 6 hrs to cover 100 km´s (and seeing lots more wildlife including a pair of Tyra´s) it was a pleasure to hit blacktop. Now we have 1000 kms to cover to our next stop at the north end of the Pantanal and all we can say..."Wheres the Jungle?" One long boring ride of three days through corn, sugarcane and cattle fields...every once in a while a small block of the original forest remains intact and they are beautiful! A local rancher stopped and invited us to his place to see how he lives and we had a wonderful lunch with him and the ranch hands before hitting the blacktop again!
Now its "road trip" time as we try and pack on the km's! Travelling this main road north is pretty easy as the traffic is light, and the truck stops serve up good grub (usually a smorg (all you can eat) or pay by the kg!) Not a lot to mention in terms of scenery except the long downhill decent into the large city of Cuiba that crosses through impressive jungle scenery. Out of money and needing some MC parts we ventured into the city...3 separate and serious looking MC accidents had us looking for a quick exit and by mid morning we were on the side road to the small town of Pocone where Lori took a break and I headed out on a quick trip down the Trans Pantanal, a famous dirt road that bisects most of the famous Pantanal swamp. An fantastic ride and the "croc hole" was great...picture well over 200 Caiman in a patch of water about 200 by 400 metres and laying up to three deep in places. Way too many birds to even mention and some Capybara with young hi-light the afternoon ride.
A massive thunder and lightning storm overnight was spectacular but the nice dirt road I travelled over yesterday has turned into a quagmire that kicked our butts! No Trans-Pantanal today and when we were stopped by the police they took one look, laughed and said "Pantanal..No" ha..ha and let us go.
Now we are really on a long road trip as our destination, the rough port city of Porto Velho lies about 1200 km to the north. Pleasant riding but I would guess that less than 100 km of the ride has any jungle left on it...sad but true. However those small patches of jungle that remain are a revelation...beauty beyond description and covered with macaws and parrots. I am sure that most everyone has seen Scarlet Macaws in zoos etc. but to see them flying around in the wild is truly a wonderful sight! They are beautiful in flight and at one bush camp night in the jungle (complete with a fire and no bugs!) we were treated to flocks of scarlet and yellow & blue macaws as well as parrots flying over us constantly. It seems strange but the beautiful and colorful parrots are one of the most common birds in S America...they are extremely adaptable living in large cities to remote jungle areas and are all very colorful and definitely have " an attitude" making them our favorite bird!
We arrived in Porto Velho on July 28th (and the Hondog 650 celebrated its 50,000 km birthday!) and did some exploring around town. The most famous site in this relatively large city is the old train station...it was estimated that almost 20,000 slaves died in the construction of the rail line across the Amazon (to Porto Velho which was a rubber producing city at the time). All that remains of the rail system is the station with its old trains etc.. and it is really interesting if not run down!
You may have read the Amazonas boat ride so we now move to the tough river (Rio Amazonas) port of Manaus where we landed on August 3rd and hooked up with Felix. Felix is an Austrian biker heading on a round the world trip (15 months) and had just ridden through Europe and Africa and landed in Buenos Aires. He is the 2006 world Ultra-Triathlon champion (for those of you that do not know what a ultra-tri is: it consists of 10 iron man marathons run back to back and covers 38 km swimming, 1000 km running and 1800 km biking all done within 9 to 12 days with a max of 2 hrs sleep at night...tough...don't ask!! (However I am happy to report that even Felix was not tough enough to haul his BWM 800 out of a parking lot he got stuck in in northern Brasil...all the way through Africa only to get stuck in a Brasil parking lot...he'll never live that one down!) In Manaus we checked out the conservation Park where officials are trying to breed the rare Amazon Manatees and Giant River Otters and got to see various other Amazon residents including the Amazon Electric eels. (If the electric shock from these 7 foot monsters doesn't kill you their looks will...UGGGLLLY!) We also checked out the local graveyard which is full of very beautiful rock carvings dating back to when Manaus was a "rubber barons" paradise (she has definitely changed a lot over the years and one look at the slum areas puts any thoughts of walking around at night out of ones head!)
The ride north is on..and it is absolutely beautiful as unlike the area south of the Amazon River the area north is relatively untouched save a lone narrow road running due north to the Venezuelan border. The Brasilian authorities have settled some sort of land claims with the indigenous people in this area and our map indicates "indigenous reserves" where one can travel through during daylight hours but cannot stop or take photos etc. These areas are absolutely fantastic...narrow road through a virtual wall of green vegetation. Of course we did stop (virtually no traffic) and take photos and at these stops the sounds of the jungle were intriguing. All sorts of birds calling (mainly those noisy macaws and parrots!) to a background of cicadas. I bet if one were to use a decimal meter the everyday sounds of a morning and evening in the jungle would read in the 80's (during the heat of the day the jungle is a "dead zone". We also had the opportunity to take a few nice refreshing dips in some streams...just the thing one needs on these 30 plus degree days!
Needless to say we had a great ride and after spending a few nights in the northern city of Boa Vista (no we didn't see a single snake (boa included) and in fact saw very little wildlife period save a few monkeys and coati and the birds including toucans. The ride north from Boa Vista reveals a major change in ecosystems to grassland Savannah covered in what appears to be some species of oak tree. The views are panoramic with endless vistas where the bright green grasslands meet a gorgeous blue sky full of white cumulus clouds. The occasional mountain is covered in trees, the traffic is light and there are virtually no people or villages...riding heaven for sure!
Its getting dark (and I do not have headlights or a starter thanks to a short in the Acerbis headlight) as we cross into Venezuela (only could get our immigration stamp and will have to return tomorrow to clear our MC's. Goodbye Brasil (the land of 1.50US/lit (of what is loosely referred to as gas) hello Venezuela (the land of 2 cent/litre fuel!!!)
