Sorry for the very long delay since my last blog post. Life has been in the way.. changing countries, changing continents!!
Backtracking again to Brazil, this is a post starting from Belem where we disembarked from our 4 day journey on the Amazon River. We met another Brazilian rider on our Amazon boat who will ride with us for a bit and we are now traveling south along the Brazilian coast.
Still close to the equator it is very HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!
I was tempted... very very tempted, to pull this guy over. Do you know why? If you've been to Brazil you'd know..! That's the beer truck (uh hum.. I mean beer bike), SKOL!! I bet it's cold too. How good is that?!
I am so upset to report about the photo below with the horse. I took 4 photos and what was interesting is this young guy was cooling down and bathing his horse. (Which I thought was nice.. yet odd at the same time!) He was quite the naked boy and he wasn't so shy to keep his parts below the water line!! And I had a photo that probably wouldn't be appropriate to show anyway, but it went missing from my camera!!! Urgh!
We desperately needed to pull over for a cool drink and a little break in the shade ourselves. If one of us passes out due to the heat, there are plenty of vultures waiting to finish you off.
This was our shaded part of the break and I didn't realize until we had our drink that it's where the Moto taxi's come to pick up passengers.. I hope we didn't disappoint anyone! ;-)
You know if you can't bear to wear shoes while riding, you'd go for the flip-flops, right? Nah.. the flip-flops are nicely hanging off the mirrors, because they can be a bit hot too (?) So why not ride barefoot. I saw this so often, I finally took a photo of it. But he does get points for the helmet.
After an over night stop, James wanted to attach a little pet tiger to my bike.. too cute!
This is the look of feeling very proud and accomplished of zip-tie work.. ;-)
A big thing you can't avoid in all of Brazil is loud speakers spewing all kinds of things.. If it wasn't for the music, they are being much used to promote the upcoming political election. So we get double speaker duty! And I was most drawn to how innovative the people are with what THEY want us to HEAR!!!!!
The speaker up the post is not so unusual... the big speaker on top of the car is doing the job.. so loud!
The speaker on the bicycle? So important..
A speaker that takes up the entire truck.. now we're listening!!!! Urgh, I wish I didn't have to!!!
We sort of came to the end of the road where we needed to take a ferry to continue on to Sao Luis, Brazil. Here our friend said his goodbye's while James and I boarded the ferry.
Catching the ferry late in the day made for a beautiful sunset.
James donated the black and white photo he took on the ride.. with my new Amazonian $5 sunglasses.
There was a man speaking to me on the boat about motorcycles in Portuguese. I was understanding bits and pieces, but not a full conversation. However, I kept hearing the world "azul", which means blue in Spanish, so I assumed the same for Portuguese. And then he'd mention Tenere. One thing I know, is most of the Yamaha Tenere's I see on the road are blue, so I must be on the right track. And then I think I understood that he has one and want's us to follow him once we get off the ferry. When we arrive Sao Luis, it's quite a large city. So I think he just wants to help us navigate getting out.
And sure enough, when we left the boat there was a blue Tenere waiting for the man (his son driving) and they motioned for us to follow them.
The traffic was ridiculous, so I really appreciated that. They ended up driving us home!
So it turned out this guy was part of a motorcycle club and he just happens to have a spare house across the street from the house he lives in.. He invited us to stay in the spare house as long as we want!
He was so nice and so keen to have us there and encourage us to go explore his city, particularly the historic old town. Sao Luis was founded by the French, taken over by the Dutch and eventually fell under Portuguese rule. With those tiled walls, I would have only guessed Portuguese, not French.
Don't ask me how I'm understanding our Portuguese host enough, but he also told us about a place where we can ride on the beach.. so we went there next!
Don't tell anyone but we did stop at a little table to enjoy sharing a beer with our bikes. Very cool...
As you can see, it's just normal!
Our host is a Professor of Veterinary Medicine. He also happens to enjoy raising the Siamese Fighting Fish for sale.
Early in the morning he takes me through his back garden where all the little ponds are set up for different colors of fighting fish. From the time they are just little specs of moving objects, to the time they are ready to be separated into their own little jar.
Then we head into the garage where he wants to change my front tire for me. I've been carrying a new tire since Cusco Peru, just in case I needed it in the Amazon. My old one wasn't quite ready to change then, but it is now! Going with the TKC 80 again on the front.
Look where they snuck the loud speakers in this time... on a boat! So all of us can be sure to enjoy the same music that they want to hear while we have a look at the river below.. woo hoo!
On our way out to this park area, I heard a loud clank on my bike and a bump which really scared me so I pulled over. What the heck was that?
I'm having a look around the bike, thinking the chain broke, a pannier fell off, I don't know! James said he was following behind me and it was just a piece of trash I ran over, he saw it. I said, "that is so strange. I thoroughly don't remember seeing any trash big enough to cause me to unknowingly hit hard so much that it would startle me!" He said, "Yeah yeah, don't worry about it".. So I got back on my bike and left.
When we were stopped, I was still puzzled and annoyed, and finally figured out what it was. My bash plate was missing! I ride enough rough roads, that I need that thing! I'm going to have to go back and find it. There is no way I want to order another one way down to Brazil. I wish I had trusted my instincts and known that it wasn't just a piece of trash that I hit. Now I have to do my best to figure out where on the road about 30 minutes back did I loose the plate. Everybody in the club wanted to help me look though, so I feel the hope!
And sure enough, a husband and wife in the group eventually saw it after our 3rd swipe over the area.. thank goodness!
The boys got to work straight way on returning home to put it back in the proper shape to protect my engine. They did a great job.. good as new! Thank you!!
I get a chuckle out of the faces men make when hammering. ;-)
See ya!
Backtracking again to Brazil, this is a post starting from Belem where we disembarked from our 4 day journey on the Amazon River. We met another Brazilian rider on our Amazon boat who will ride with us for a bit and we are now traveling south along the Brazilian coast.
Still close to the equator it is very HOT, HOT, HOT!!!!!
I was tempted... very very tempted, to pull this guy over. Do you know why? If you've been to Brazil you'd know..! That's the beer truck (uh hum.. I mean beer bike), SKOL!! I bet it's cold too. How good is that?!
I am so upset to report about the photo below with the horse. I took 4 photos and what was interesting is this young guy was cooling down and bathing his horse. (Which I thought was nice.. yet odd at the same time!) He was quite the naked boy and he wasn't so shy to keep his parts below the water line!! And I had a photo that probably wouldn't be appropriate to show anyway, but it went missing from my camera!!! Urgh!
We desperately needed to pull over for a cool drink and a little break in the shade ourselves. If one of us passes out due to the heat, there are plenty of vultures waiting to finish you off.
This was our shaded part of the break and I didn't realize until we had our drink that it's where the Moto taxi's come to pick up passengers.. I hope we didn't disappoint anyone! ;-)
You know if you can't bear to wear shoes while riding, you'd go for the flip-flops, right? Nah.. the flip-flops are nicely hanging off the mirrors, because they can be a bit hot too (?) So why not ride barefoot. I saw this so often, I finally took a photo of it. But he does get points for the helmet.
After an over night stop, James wanted to attach a little pet tiger to my bike.. too cute!
This is the look of feeling very proud and accomplished of zip-tie work.. ;-)
A big thing you can't avoid in all of Brazil is loud speakers spewing all kinds of things.. If it wasn't for the music, they are being much used to promote the upcoming political election. So we get double speaker duty! And I was most drawn to how innovative the people are with what THEY want us to HEAR!!!!!
The speaker up the post is not so unusual... the big speaker on top of the car is doing the job.. so loud!
The speaker on the bicycle? So important..
A speaker that takes up the entire truck.. now we're listening!!!! Urgh, I wish I didn't have to!!!
We sort of came to the end of the road where we needed to take a ferry to continue on to Sao Luis, Brazil. Here our friend said his goodbye's while James and I boarded the ferry.
James donated the black and white photo he took on the ride.. with my new Amazonian $5 sunglasses.
There was a man speaking to me on the boat about motorcycles in Portuguese. I was understanding bits and pieces, but not a full conversation. However, I kept hearing the world "azul", which means blue in Spanish, so I assumed the same for Portuguese. And then he'd mention Tenere. One thing I know, is most of the Yamaha Tenere's I see on the road are blue, so I must be on the right track. And then I think I understood that he has one and want's us to follow him once we get off the ferry. When we arrive Sao Luis, it's quite a large city. So I think he just wants to help us navigate getting out.
And sure enough, when we left the boat there was a blue Tenere waiting for the man (his son driving) and they motioned for us to follow them.
The traffic was ridiculous, so I really appreciated that. They ended up driving us home!
So it turned out this guy was part of a motorcycle club and he just happens to have a spare house across the street from the house he lives in.. He invited us to stay in the spare house as long as we want!
He was so nice and so keen to have us there and encourage us to go explore his city, particularly the historic old town. Sao Luis was founded by the French, taken over by the Dutch and eventually fell under Portuguese rule. With those tiled walls, I would have only guessed Portuguese, not French.
Don't ask me how I'm understanding our Portuguese host enough, but he also told us about a place where we can ride on the beach.. so we went there next!
Don't tell anyone but we did stop at a little table to enjoy sharing a beer with our bikes. Very cool...
As you can see, it's just normal!
Our host is a Professor of Veterinary Medicine. He also happens to enjoy raising the Siamese Fighting Fish for sale.
Then we head into the garage where he wants to change my front tire for me. I've been carrying a new tire since Cusco Peru, just in case I needed it in the Amazon. My old one wasn't quite ready to change then, but it is now! Going with the TKC 80 again on the front.
We planned to pack up and leave today but the motorcycle club called Animais do Asfalto (Animals of Asphalt) is gathering and invited us for a day ride. We didn't see any problem to have an extra day out and enjoy Brazilian biker culture, so we said yes!
Look where they snuck the loud speakers in this time... on a boat! So all of us can be sure to enjoy the same music that they want to hear while we have a look at the river below.. woo hoo!
On our way out to this park area, I heard a loud clank on my bike and a bump which really scared me so I pulled over. What the heck was that?
I'm having a look around the bike, thinking the chain broke, a pannier fell off, I don't know! James said he was following behind me and it was just a piece of trash I ran over, he saw it. I said, "that is so strange. I thoroughly don't remember seeing any trash big enough to cause me to unknowingly hit hard so much that it would startle me!" He said, "Yeah yeah, don't worry about it".. So I got back on my bike and left.
When we were stopped, I was still puzzled and annoyed, and finally figured out what it was. My bash plate was missing! I ride enough rough roads, that I need that thing! I'm going to have to go back and find it. There is no way I want to order another one way down to Brazil. I wish I had trusted my instincts and known that it wasn't just a piece of trash that I hit. Now I have to do my best to figure out where on the road about 30 minutes back did I loose the plate. Everybody in the club wanted to help me look though, so I feel the hope!
And sure enough, a husband and wife in the group eventually saw it after our 3rd swipe over the area.. thank goodness!
The boys got to work straight way on returning home to put it back in the proper shape to protect my engine. They did a great job.. good as new! Thank you!!
I get a chuckle out of the faces men make when hammering. ;-)
See ya!
