Brazil

After having spent so much time looking for wild animals in the beautiful african bush as a safari tour guide, it’s time for me to hit the road again. I flew to Sao Paulo and took a bus to Rio de Janeiro where I meet friends. I want to start my south American chapter from Rio de Janeiro, a name who always make me dreaming. South African Airways lost a luggage, the biggest one of course (including my tent, sleeping bag, clothes, papers, etc….) so I just enjoy Copacabana and Ipanema’s beaches and of course the view of the beautiful girls, the wild jungle and amazing mountains mixing themselves in the city, having parties while meeting a lots of people. I’m simply enjoying my time.

I have to go again but it’s hard to leave the modern comfort of the society for the unknown and the insecure life. I cannot wait to go but in the same time, I feel nervous, almost afraid. It’s a normal sensation, I always got it before the departure but as soon I’m on my saddle,  I feel the sensation of freedom again, the coastal wind cherishing my hair, the big open road in the front of me, my eyes get wet and inside my I feel confident and impatient for more adventures. All my fears, doubts, got washed in a few seconds.

I try to leave Rio de Janeiro but of course, I took the wrong road and find myself in a deep jungle in the front of a big mountain. I don’t care, I’m happy and nothing can change my mental state, even when I have to cross my first favella and meet some fellah watching at me with the gun on the belt. Slowly I leave the city, just about 3 hours later (Rio is definitively a big city) and think that I’m going to be quiet for now. I learn quickly that my biggest problem in Brazil, along the coast, is the traffic. The cars are modern and they drive

very fast. I will see a lot of accidents and one time I give some first aid to a lady. For one time, nobody even looked at me…. What more normal than a a guy on a over-loaded bicycle who stop in a accident’s scene, take off his first-aid kit and treat a injured person ? Fortunately she’s wasn’t that much injured but all day long, I think about my own security, cars, buses and trucks overtaking me within a few centimeters at more than 100 km/h.

In Brazil, the most difficult is to find a place where to sleep. The accommodation are way to expensive, the cheapest one cost around 10-15 USD but can easily cost much more. In a way, thanks to that, I end up in funny and weird situations. Mostly I sleep in petrol station, the one for the truck driver. Security, free showers and toilets, those are the best place for a poor cyclist. One day I sleep in the truck of a guy who saw me a few days ago. Often I sleep in fire or police station, sleeping in a corner of the office. One time I sleep in…prison. My own private cell, a bed, my own bathroom (well, in fact just a hole, but it doesn’t matter, it’s just for myself) and my own lavabo. I had 2 neighbors this day and we chat a bit but in fact, they were a bit jealous: my door stayed open all night long….  I slept. The free night included even the breakfast and free electricity to recharge my Ipod and batteries….

Along the way, I get washed by the rain, a heavy tropical rain. I learn that the place I’m cycling through is called the Costa Verde, the green coast and now, I know why. But again it doesn’t really matter. I’m too happy to start cycling again, all the way, there is natural falls, people are nice a lot of them are talking to me, offer me a drink, even a free pizza one time, fruits or simply give me encouragements. And often, is the poor one.
After Curitiba, a big city where I’ve to cross another favella, I arrive in strange places. A place called Joinville tells me that it has some French influence and after that the people talk to me in German! The entire south is very European. I meet here a lot of different colonies such as German of course, French, Italian, polish and much more.

Just before Florianopolis, a drunken lady crosses the road with a baby in her hands. I try to avoid her but panicked when she see me and went back at the last moment. I have to crash on the gravels to avoid her, well to avoid the baby because I didn’t really minded to crash her... My hands, knees and feet are bleeding. It’s happen just when I was thinking how nice it will be to go surfing. Florianopolis is one of the surf’s Mecca. Well, not for me for sure but anyway I will have a great time in Floripa. I stay in the Tucano House Backpacker where I feel like at home. South African Airways deliver my “lost” luggage and after having a lot of parties, I manage to leave. I cycle along the coast again and now, around Porto Alegre, it’s finally starts to be less populated and more traditional. I cycled fast, I want to meet my friend Thierry in Buenos Aires and spent most of the time of the day, cycling like crazy. I cross small fishermen’s villages and kind of swamp where I can spot a lot of birds. The plants and birds I see often make me thinking to the Namibian one I enjoy during my safari’s life. Normal, Namibia is exactly facing this part of Brazil, across the sea. There were together “just” 270 millions of years ago before the super-continent of Gondwana finally split in the actual form. Not much happened to me during my brazilian journey because I stayed all the time on this very busy asphalt coastal road and like I already said, all the area is very populated. But I really enjoyed the typical Brazilian atmosphere, the music and “alegria” (joy) in the air. The safety was a major problem and everybody warned me all the time but never I found myself in a bad situation or simply felt insecurity. The food, the climate, the bikinis, the football, Brazil is definitively a great place to be. I love it in here and later on I will seek for more adventure in the north where it’s wilder. But for sure, I’m not yet done with Brazil.