Video's shot during our last trip in Brazil towards Argentina

Prologue

    These video's below are taken randomly and published today to get into the mood of our next trip. We have  one way tickets to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the 4th of November and another one way ticket from Lima Peru on the 22nd of December back to Utila, so we have 7 weeks to close the cap, but we have to go south first to touch the bottom of Argentina (Ushuaia), before heading north towards Lima Peru.

The distance to Ushuaia is 3000 km and north to Lima about 8000 km, give or take a 1000 km!

    The first few days in Mar del Plata, we have to tend to Scotty's bike. The engine, we have to take apart and we will carry the parts all ready packed from Honduras such as cylinder, piston, rings and gaskets and hope that will solve the oil problem he had the last 2 weeks ( one liter of oil, for each gas tank fill ) Hope the weather will be OK and even thou it is late spring in November , it still might snow in Patagonia, so I am carrying my ski clothes with me, which are not really waterproof, so no rain please! As well the winds are famous in Patagonia to blow constantly 75 km p/h

    As well to continue my blog, I updated the necessary links, pictures and maps and this post is a good test for me that all is working correctly, because most of the time on the road in the middle of nowhere, there are no good internet connections and if there are, it is usually slow and it is almost impossible to upload video's.

Popping in Brazil again, to see the falls

Day 34 (0) 

     Today, we went back in Brazil again and it was the most chaotic scene I ever saw on a border, thousands of cars, moto and trucks on both side and thousands of pedestrians walking over the bridge to go shopping in Paraguay. It supposed to be the shopping mekka of South America and everything is for sale in Ciudad de Este on the street and shops!

       Soon we walked over the friendship bridge and our passports didn't had to be stamp on both sides as long as we didn't go further as the Foz do Iguacu city limits. Took a few city buses and reached the Brazilian National park where the falls are. It was all set up professional and buses brought you into the park and had different stops to see and do activities around the falls.

        The falls are very impressive and you can not compare it to the Niagara falls in the USA and Canada, everything here is ten times more massive, with hundreds of falls and with very high drop offs, also it was possible to walk to these falls up to 2 meters and had it as a tourist attraction very nice put together. Had an expensive lunch there with a few beers and around five we were back in Paraguay again, tired, cut my hair, because it was getting time to do so, had some more beers and called it the night!

Trying to get in Bolivia on a Sunday

Day 14 (290 km)

        No sleep last night for loud music in a bar across the Hotel, but at least they had the decency to stop 6 am, so we hanged around the a/c room till 11 am and then took off for Caceres to see if we could get our passports stamped out of Brazil, because as was told there are no Brazilian formalities possible at the actual border.
         Left Pocone around 10:30, filled up with gas and hit the road to Caceres, 2 hours later in a few rainstorms, we made it there and looked for the police federales to see if they wanted to stamp us out of Brazil on Sunday and they did, had a bite to eat and took off for the border 100km away on a road only us was driving on.

On the end a military check point, but nobody ask us for papers and basically waved us through, even on the Bolivian side, nobody cared us entering and they did not even tell us where to get entry stamps or moto paperwork done, so we went to next village San Mathias and asked around, but nobody had a clue, checked into an hotel just in time before the rain started. Found an immigration office later, but is closed till Monday 7:30, tomorrow I will look for the aduana office for the bike papers!

There was a sign on the border what says 317 km to San Ignacio and 761 km to Santa Cruz, this will be hard kilometers on red mole dirt road and hope it didn’t rain too much lately, otherwise it will be a hell of a trip. They say there might be gas in San Ignacio; I do not have enough gas to get even there, but will figure this out tomorrow. Also my first impression is that everything is half price compared with Brazil.

I cannot believe I am saying this, but was glad to hear Spanish again, so that they can understand me again and I can explain myself again, if I needed something. Portuguese sounds to me as bad Polish and had trouble the last 2 weeks to get my point across many times

Fishing the Rio Paraguay as a pro!

Day 13 (149 km)

     Mosquitoes had us crazy and no fan and intense heat, I do not understand how these people can live here in 40 Celcius all year, so we got up got some buffet breakfast with all the other fisherman and around 7 arranged a boat with driver and all the gear and bait for a half a day for $ 125.00. which was not bad I think. On the river there was some relieve of the heat and we had the icebox stacked with goodies. The guide took us for at least 45 minutes up the river where all the other boats were drifting to catch fish, after a few pulls, I finally got one, a "Cashara" no idea what it is, but looks like a bottom dweller, catfish!

     
     So after we got back around noon we had lunch and decide to go back to the civilized world and left 1 pm for the 4 hour ride on the dirt road back to Pocone where there was some AC and cheap cold beer. during our return trip, we saw even more animals on the road, even 2 or 3 variety of deer and some other strange animals.                  

It must have rained earlier that day and that turned this road in a sliding mudpool and it became hard to drive faster as 25 km per hour so that caused us to get late in Pocone, I almost had a heatstroke, the sun was unbelievable hot, checked into an hotel with A/C  and took it easy for the rest of the night.

Porto Joffrey, a fish camp on the rio Paraguay in the Patanal

Day 12 (334 km)

2 days in Chapada do Guimareas gave us a lot of scenery in a relative cool weather at 800 meters altitude and we left early to go to the end of the road in the Patanal, We had to go through a big city Cuiaba, where we got lost, but around noon we found the road to Pocone, which was a good paved road a 100km more south. There we had some bites to eat, filled up on water for the 4 hour dirt road into the famous “Transpantaneira” road with their more as 200 plank bridges.

Good for us the road was dry even thou it was the rainy season and the wetlands were flooded and were making good process, passed some cattle ranchers with 1000 of cows and we were in the middle, even saw a herd of water buffalo’s, Capi baras were sitting on the side of the road by the hundred’s and crocks (freshwater ones) were sunbathing or running cross the road. Scotty used one for a speed bump and ran over him, but it seemed didn't bother it. Thousands of birds and reptiles covered the road as well. If we saw 5 cars in the whole road in this heat 40 C, it would have been a lie! 4:30 pm we reach the settlement on the Paraguay river, which was not more as a fish camp without any hotels, just camping the rough way in the middle  of millions of mosquitos, which were ferocious.

There were maybe a 100 rednecks in their pick-ups camping out and cleaning fish and drinking beer. They charged us $ 60.00 US each for camping with 3 meals and a dollar for every 100 cc of beer. Surprisingly, I slept pretty well and around 4am next morning most of them got up, started their engines and went fishing.

Playing the tourist in the rain, looking @ Waterfalls and Rocks

Day 11 ( 57 km)

      Woke up and it was raining, did some good internet work, had breakfast and we were waiting for the rain to stop. Around 10 am it started to clear up and took our chances and went with the bikes without bags for a tour in the vicinity and entered the national park! I t was actually the main road to Cuiaba and after 30 km we turned back and made some stops at the waterfalls, drank a beer, scotty took a swim and around 2 pm we had lunch in town. tomorrow we will go further south in the Patanal



                                           

Chapada dos Guimaraes, Motto Grosso

Day 10 (448 km)

     Ready to go, but another flat tire spoiled our efforts, cannot believe after changing all tires and inner tubes, bad luck still follows me. Took the wheel off 6 am and went with Scotty’s bike back to the place to fix it again, returned at 7 am and had the wheel mounted again, it was the new inner tube, which was dry rotten and a seam was letting a go! Few minute later we took off for Chapada dos Guimaraes, what supposed to be a cool touristic place about 600 meters high and has lots of rock formations and  waterfalls and was a 6 hour drive away in an intense heat. 

     Brazil must have the most farm land in the world and that was all we saw for 6 hours as far as your eyes could see, nice were the Emu's sitting freely in the fields, 

they were all over the place. we rolled 4 pm in Chapada went to look for a decent hotel with internet and found one for 50.00 a night between the 2 of us with a/c and of course the Brazilian breakfast in the morning,  paid for 2 nights and it seems there is a Chinese restaurant in town, which we will visit after having had for 10 days meat meals!

Rest day and Maintenance in Barro do Garcas

Day 9 (20 km)

          Went town early to buy a rear tire so that my bike has now 2 brand new tires, what set me back $ 125.00, Scotty wanted a new front tire as well and then we went to the first taller around the corner to install them for $ 5.00 each , fixed all the inner tubes that had pinch holes in it and after that to another taller to take care of all the other little issues, my brakes, Scotty’s speeding cables and brake pads and around noon all was fixed, so now we have 2 spare old tires (front and back) and I believe 6 inner tubes in 2 sizes and 2 sets of old brake pads for the front wheel! 

    Paid another night in the same hotel, so we made a rest day out of it! Tried to do some laundry, but on the end we made a beer session out of it.

The ending of the BR-158 in sight, after 2500 km.

Day 8 (415 km)

        

          Today we decided to leave around noon and it was still raining anyway, so we could catch up reorganizing our luggage and enjoy our good internet access. After we left, we passed a few nice rock formations on our way to the BR 070, which is the main road to Cuiaba and of course just before we reached in Barra do Garcas, where we had to make the right turn, I had a front tire blow out and after looking at the tire, we realized it is beyond repair and Scotty went to Barra to see if he could find a new one and meanwhile I was taking off the front wheel. Then I saw I needed to change my brake pads as well.

An hour later Scotty came back with the right size tire for only $ 65.00 and after putting it all together again, I had an issue with the new brake pads. Probably I did something wrong and we have to tend to that tomorrow because it was getting 6 pm and decided to look for a nice hotel for 2 days and do laundry and tend to both our bikes. Scotty now wanted a new front tire as spare and a new 2^nd speeding cable and I had to tend to the front brake issue (binding a little bit and the front disk is getting red hot!)

Br 158, looks like it never comes to an end!

Day 7 (644 km)

    It must have rained all night and after the usual breakfast, packed up the bikes again and took off further south on the Br 158, I think another 3 nights on this road, before we make a right turn towards the Patanal and Bolivia, all the previous hotel had internet, even connected sometimes, but for some reason could not transfer data, so my blog posts and map updates, I can not broadcast.

This Br 158 is a paved road with some sections good, but you have to be careful with the many potholes, bridges and crazy Brazilian drivers, most of them must be on suicide watch! Later today we were faced with a 200 km hard packed dirt road and eventual were making 100 kmph and reached after dark reached a nice hotel with fast internet, so will be busy tonight updating the blog!

                                                        Nice short Video!

Further South into the interior of Brazil

Day 6 (370 km)

        At least the A/C worked last night after 9 pm and woke up in good spirits to get my “Café” breakfast, packed up the bikes again and by 8 am left on the road again to go further south. The Road was paved but everywhere potholes and this is the only type road motorcycles could go faster as cars, but did not succeed the first 200 km to do it less as 4 hours, it is like skiing to avoid all the holes and some are that a SUV could disappear in! Around 1 pm we had some chicken in Redencao and after that we went on the road again, but soon black clouds, thunder and lightning hit us and we took shelter for more as an hour and ended up continuing in a drizzle to Roca-Tapirape and when we checked into the motel all hell broke loose and it started to pour for hours, We just made it in time and all our luggage including ourselves stayed more or less dry. 

     

Crossing the Br 230, Trans Amazonica Highway

 Day 5 (491 km)

        Left around 8 am , after they gave us a very good breakfast and we took off for Maraba. The road was pretty straight and on both sides was mostly pasture with a lot of cattle. Very soon the overcast start to get darker and we were trying to dodge the downpours, which could occur any minute, but were short and mostly in the afternoon.

Pension Eldorado

We received 2 or 3 times a downpour for a minute or so and it was actually refreshing in this intense heat and 100% humidity, and around 2 pm we reached Maraba, which is a crossroad city with the river on one side and the Trans Amazonica Highway, going right through this town. Initially we were going to take this road all the way to Peru, but being this the rainy season, it was almost undoable on a unpaved road and decided to go further south and then make a right turn for Bolivia. 

    Tried to find a hotel in Maraba, but the few it had were overpriced and the heat was so intense, that I quit looking and we decided to go to the next town a 100 km away and try our luck there.

Bridge at Maraba

The place we ended up in was called Eldorado, checked into the “Atlanta” hotel, which said had the only internet in town, but it did not work on the end, and to make things worse lights went off till 9 pm, We had a few beers in town . Had some road food on the side of the street and called it the day. Vegetarians are in bad shape in Brazil, because everything is based on meat and they stuff you with it till you full, so I was in good shape here and the restaurants were losing money, when I walk in!

Fixing bikes and paperwork!

Day 3 & 4 (311 km)

    Woke up after 7 am and after a good "Cafe" breakfast, went to continue to fix the bikes, changed the oil, fixed blinking lights, charges Scotty's battery , but after all that, the bike was stilling running bad, so we ended up late in the afternoon by the Kawasaki place and they cleaned his carburetor and during this process found out that one of his speeding cables was torn as well, but around 7 pm all was fixed and it was time to to get out the wet, dirty clothes, took a bath and went for a good steak dinner with the cold beer what was part of it. It was a very hot day and hopefully it was the last time getting sweaty, maintaining the bikes this trip!

It was very hot!

Motel Paragominas

   Thursday, we start to pack our way too many bags with, parts and clothes and went looking for the "fazienda" to extend our paperwork for the bikes, which had only a few days left on the permit, and after the usual running around, we received an additional 21 days, went back to the hotel, packed up everything and took off south to Paragominas about 300 km south to start our trip and test out the bikes! 

Back on the road again!

Day 1 & 2 (9141 km)

   Left Utila on a Monday morning with 2 suitcases full of motorcycle parts on the Utila Princess to La Ceiba, where a taxi was waiting for us, to make the 2 hour trip to San Pedro Sula to catch our 24 hour long flight back to Belem, Brazil, leaving 11:45 AM with TACA ( Take Another Chance Again). 
    Expecting hassle on the airport with TACA insisting that we needed an onward/return ticket to leave Brazil, before they let us board the plane, I made a fake one last week with a different airline for us, with a scheduled flight from Rio to Buenos Aires, Argentina, which looked better as the one we had to go to Brazil with, all it took was a word processor!  Later sitting in the plane, smiled to myself and I thought, we just past with flying colors the first obstacle in the paper jungle of Latin America. After a quick stop in Salvador, Bogota and Rio, we reached Belem on Tuesday in the afternoon and went to the Hostel to find out if all is still there! Tired we checked a little later the motorcycles and Scotty's did not start  and had a flat tire and a dead battery, but surprisingly mine was working and even changed the exhaust, air filter and all sound tuned up. Tomorrow we going to fix Scotty's I hope, drank a few beers, forgot to eat and had a good first night rest.