Sherri Jo's Because I Can World Tour: On the road to Iguazu Falls

After getting the big bike breakdown fixed up in Itajuba Brazil, we ride through the back roads heading south because I'd like to meet Evandro Dalben. He along with Roney Podda in Sao Paolo, were always helping me by phone or computer when I needed Portuguese Translation. A lot! It was such a massive project trying to organize a KTM fix up in a country that doesn't deal with KTM - both mechanic and parts! So when I wanted to make darn sure I was understood (and we knew that google translator only sort of does the job), I talk to them. Evandro invited us to stay at his place and it was an easy stop along our route south in Campinas.

When we met him, he told us about his business and passion for motorcycle adventures.. www.pisteiros.com.br (If you are traveling to Brazil, you can rent motorcycles as well as plan your whole adventure through Evandro and his website) Plus he gave me a really cool new shirt! Really cool, and I mean cool like in keeping me cool! It is so hot and this is one of those mesh shirts... Thanks Evandro!

We stayed the night at his house and then he rode us out for a few km's in the morning. We are headed to Florianopolis on the south coast.

Ciao Evandro!

Riding into Florianopolis..

To be quite honest, Florianopolis was just a touristy coastal town. It didn't do much for me or James. It was nice, but we didn't see the point to stay two nights. I've got my bike photo on the beach.. we're done! ;-)

Down the road a bit, we head inland. As we passed this sign, I had a bit of a chuckle.. but it was worthwhile to James that we turn around to get a photo.. ha!

We'd learned early on about riding a really pretty section of road, called the "Serra do Rio do Rasto".. or SC-438. So we didn't waste our travel to Florianopolis as this road was a treat in itself! And we can ride straight on from there to the Foz do Iguazu (Iguazu Falls).

How pretty is this!!??

At the top of this road is a look out.. with some very furry friends!

Don't feed the wild animals.. the sign says so little one, can't you read??? ;-) He's pretending he can't by squinting his eyes..

NO! You're cute, but don't you need to go eat some ants, or something...

After leaving the look-out point, the road got a bit misty.. another beautiful day in Brazil!

Then it turned to full on rain, we stopped for the night in a little no-name town and their only little hotel. This one is worth mentioning, because the old lady who ran it was such a sweetheart. James and I are terrors to the internet and whenever we stay in a place with wi-fi we quite often can't log on. I'm still not sure why it is a constant problem in this country, but we tend to get around it. We go immediately to the ceilings or walls, following the wires to the router and go about resetting it. For me, I pull out ALL the wires, to guarantee a reset. And it almost always works! Not this time. Never mind, we can do without internet. But the lady wouldn't let up, so she called over her grandaughter, who tried, and then the older grandson came along and finally fixed it. I kept telling her don't worry (nao se preocupe) we don't need it! She wouldn't sleep until the foreigners had their internet.

After the rain last night, it's a bright and early morning!

Also worth mentioning is a Brazilian breakfast.. No eggs, just cake! Lots and lots of cake.. with icing! That's the plus side. The negative side, is neither of those jugs have tea.. Only coffee in one and hot milk in the other.. This is not a tea drinking country...!

A quick photo of her after pulling out of the garage.. It was more like we just stayed in Grandmas house! I really liked her..

The ride started off clear, but it's getting cloudy all ready. Understandable for how hot and humid it is.

We pulled in for fuel and I found a familiar friend!!

Hey.. what are you doing here?? No.. what are YOU doing here??

Now these guys in the red chairs are at the gas station too. Shall we mention that huge tube of beer on the table... AT the gas station??!! Anyone here consider the drinking and driving concept?

Now, hopefully those guys stay put and well off my road..on to Iguazu Falls! I've been looking forward to this for a VERY long time!

We arrived Iguazu town just as it started raining for the afternoon and found a good campground. It was raining hard enough, with few visitors so the lady let us set up our tents under an outdoor seating area that had a roof.. it was great! James went to the grocery straight away. As I was setting up my tent, this massive storm hit so fast and so hard I was scared enough to run into a little brick building and crouch down. Then it was over, just like that! It must have been a small tornado.. When I came out, all the electricity in the area was out and a super large tree went down and hit the house on the property next door...yep, I'd say mini tornado. Hopefully James is safely inside the grocery and not riding!

The rain never stopped, so we went to the Falls the next day regardless. You gotta do what you gotta do!

Now these are... proper.... falls!!

Even on a rainy day, these falls are beyond spectacular. The walkway is close enough that you'd get wet anyway, so what does it matter if it comes from the sky or the river?

We went back to the same campground that night, the rain finished thank goodness.

The next day, we planned to leave the country to Paraguay. James visa expires one day earlier than mine, so we have to go. Because it's such a sunny beautiful day, we wished we could see Iguazu Falls on a day like this. The man at the Brazil border gave him a 10 day extension, no problem!

Check out the curl they put in the motorcycle lane. Easy on the little bikes, but a little harder for us!

This is what the border from Brazil to Paraguay looks like.. Can't wait until tomorrow! Not.. ;-(

We went back to the falls.. bought another ticket and did it again! Woo hoo!

And they do look different.. I'm glad we came back already!

This is a view to the people on the Argentinian side of the falls, and their flag. They look really crowded at that view platform, but it would be fun to see the falls from above like that. However, I think being close to where they crash down is an even better viewpoint.. Not sure, maybe we should go to Argentina to check them out from there first. Well, first we have to go to Paraguay actually.. ha!

This being our second visit, we wandered on to the walking trails a bit. Lots more falls to see, but what I really enjoyed more I didn't expect... butterflies! Lazy ones too, they're hitching a ride on me!