red dust and fun!

My aim today was to use Google directions to get me to Pocone at the start of the Pantanal. Unbelievably I got there without a hitch and ate lunch in cafe situated in a supermarket. I now know where Tecos and Morrisons got the idea from. From just outside Pocone the road turned to red dust but it was easy riding and I was soon inside the park. The terrain was very different from that which I remember from further south in the Pantanal and the land was still very much under water. Boy it was really hot and I needed to find some shade to cool down. The thing is that all flat land lay about 2 feet below the water so when I did find a spot after 20km I decided I would make my camp there and since there was not a cloud in the sky I pitched the tent without the fly. How much was I going to regret that decision! As I looked up from my chores a local just appeared out of the bush and then disappeared in to the undergrowth about 10m from my tent and then reappeared with a bicycle. My observation skills are wearing off!! Anyway he agreed to pose with some of his fish before he started his 25km cycle home. In that heat!!! The fish were not piranah but they had bloody big teath.
This place is a mecca for 'twitchers'. Heron, egret, hornbill, vultures etc etc. The ground is just a maze of paw prints all from the cat family though there are some that are handlike possibly from a possum or something. I should have got a photo of one so those of you from Downunder could identify it for me.
The great thing about the inner of the tent is that it is just netting. Perfect for keeping out the muderous swarms of mosquitos and great for looking at the Southern Cross.

trucks, lorrries, camiones, wagons, big smelly noisy things

Whatever you call them they had a starring roll today. This morning I passed through some stunning canyon scenery with bright red rocks you can see where the soil gets its colour from. It was marred by the quality of the roads and it was just like I had been transported back to Kazakhstan the land of terrible roads. The potholes were huge and so numerous they seemed to merge into one. All caused by the unbelievable volume of heavy trucks. It would be verging on the low side if I was to say that for evey car there were at least 30 lorries. They all tended to bunch up so that at times there would be a convoy of 10 wagons all dodging the potholes they were creating and tail gating the one in front so there was no room to pull in after an overtake. In the end I just gave up and travelled at their speed which was at least 100kmh going downhill and 30kmh going up. I eventually reached cuiaba around dusk and found a hotel quite quickly. I even had a chat with a tour guide who has told me how to get out of the city and to the Pantanal tomorrow so that I can try out my new tent. I have no idea ref the condition of the road so it might be a shorter trip than expected. Outside the hotel there is what looks like a greasy spoon cafe but the food was great and they even had live music.

What no near death experiences!!!!!!

A really dull ride today that lacked the excitement of the last couple of days. That said I am sure this dog was thinking 'what would happen if I ran out in front of that motorcycle'. Fortunately I think he had more interest in sleeping.

A Trying Day - trying not to get lost, trying not to ride after dark and trying not to get shot

Being Mister Organised I got a good early start because I am fed up with arriving at my destination with only an hour or so of daylight remaining leaving no time to look around. I was hoping to make Rio Verde 484km away and across country using Google directions. Even at the start the directions I had did not seem to tie in with the situation on the ground. It was 20km further than I had expected before I found the road I was looking for. As I turned onto it I am sure I heard Daisy squeal with delight. Her first Ripio. It was not the best introduction firm under wheel but very very bumpy. The road had been churned to a mire in the rainy season and now it was baked solid. I was so busy I forgot to take a picture of the roughest bit and only remembered 1km from the end of the road where it was now in good condition.
Riding cross country on minor roads with only Google directions was proving to be a nightmare. After many wrong turns I finally reached Pires de Rio, a place that I will not easily forget. It was here that I longed for a GPS and decided to take a detour north to Goiania but it would put me on decent roads again. The problem was that I could not even find my way out of town so I had to employ the services of a friendly local to lead the way. He left me on the outskirts and I decided to readjust some of my luggage. I was just finishing when I heard a vehicle pull up smartly behind me. It was a black SUV with blacked out windows and out jumped 4 combat wearing individuals modelling those stupid baggy black berets made popular by Rambo’s Commanding Officer. These guys were properly tooled up as well. Each carried a side arm and 2 had assault rifles and they knew what they were doing. They split into 2 groups and positioned themselves so that they were 90 degrees apart and out of each others field of fire. No need to worry it said Police Militaire on the side of the vehicle so imagine my surprise when Mr T a bbmf drew his weapon and pointed it at me. Naturally I began to back away since having been shot at once in my life I did not fancy trying it again. He just said ‘tranquilo’ (be calm) it was all very well for him to say ‘tranquilo’ but it was not him that had a 9mm pistol pointing at the centre of his body mass. It then occurred to them that perhaps they should try to communicate with me rather than try to scare me half to death. The boss man tried his very best Portuguese which I answered in my very best English so clearly we were not getting very far. But I did suss out that he wanted to know where I was going so I said Goiania they then got back in the vehicle a drove off. What the f**k was that all about? Clearly in this part of Brazil they must be overrun with terrorists/drugs dealers/arms smugglers and I bet they all have blonde hair, blue eyes, pasty white skin and all ride Triumph Tigers that have UK plates. This is a picture of me for those of you that cannot remember. Do I fit their description?
So with the SWAT team disappearing over the hill I continued on my way. I reached the G place and took 2 hours to find my way through it. I must have asked for directions from 20 different people and the number of maps that were drawn for me must have doubled the deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. There were also loads of road works with numerous muddy detours so Daisy got some beauty treatment. With all of the delays it was clear that I was not going to make Rio Verde so I stopped 70km short at a place called Acreuria where I found an OK hotel where I bartered him down from 80 to 55 Reals but no doubt I was still paying Gringo prices. In Brazil nearly every restaurant is a Lanchonetta which serves a buffet of really good salad and vegetables and a BBQ of various meats which they continuously bring round to your table to carve fresh meat onto your plate. It is very cheap and very healthy and seems to be keeping MacDonalds at bay. THANK GOD!!!!!!

So what to do on the way to Buenos Aires

I have decided to visit the Pantanal on the way south. It is the most bio diverse area in South America and floods in the rainy season. In this way it is a bit like the Okavango Delta and I visited it many years ago with my sister. So I continued to ride north and arrived at Cristolina. Carlos who we met in Buzios told us to look up a friend of his who works in the tyre shop at a local garage. He was very pleased to see me and called over all of his mates to have a look at Daisy. The hotel in Cristolina is very dirty, run down and expensive. On the ride here I had bird strike at 110kmh. The potential assassin was a crow and it nearly took my head off with a glancing blow above the peak. Thank goodness it did not hit me 6" lower otherwise it would have done me a lot of damage. As it is my neck has been aching since the event.

Rest

Had a day off today. Not much to talk about but met Ral whilst having dinner. He is from Montreal and is working for the Canadian company that operates the big gold mine just down the road.

So the 3 that had become 2 now became 1

Overnight I had a long hard think and decided that I would put the ride on hold and head for Buenos Aires. Trying to do the amount of km per day that Ian was looking at doing would have been no fun for me and my tiredness the previous day put me against doing a long, fast and tiring ride. That said I headed for and made Paracatu which was a 610km ride. I checked into a nice hotel and headed out for food which I had in a sort off static burger van. Not bad for a greasy spoon. Whilst munching on my Brazilian style MacDonalds I heard a lot of cheering and clapping coming from a nearby building. On investigation it was a 5 a-side football match between 2 teams of local 'older than kids' but 'younger than grown ups'. They are passionate in Brazil about football no matter who is playing or the quality of play. After matches all you can hear are car horns. That said it is better than the boy racers who drive around with music blaring on their massive sound systems. Boy racers at home are not nearly as anti social as these. I asked one of them if he had an ASBO and he just looked at me blankly. I think it is because he did not speak English!! or he had just gone deaf.