Novo Hamburgo To Porto Alegre

Finally on our way to Porto Alegre we hit the main drag only to find it blocked, an ambulance trying to get through and police cars lined up on top of the bridge with cars at funny angles so we assume their was an accident, we split and turned off to a dirt road taking us parallel +/- to the main road and returned us some 40 - 50 km further down so we made it safe and sound and took the scenic route.

We managed to sneak through the city just before rush hour hit which was a blessing as it was very hot.

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While out in the car to the supermarket we also went up to the lookout not far from their house, nice viewpoint of Porto Alegre.

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Augusto has three push bikes so we took a restful wee ride around and into town and back, very nice indeed.

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Some interesting things around Alegre, apparently this is meant to represent Maté cups from the sculpture subliminally I think the artist was thinking of boobies as they is what I see

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A coloured dumpster with nice artwork

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Augusto rides a white Teneré 12 (moto), I took it for a short ride around the block and he on Maya, I begrudgingly gave the Teneré back …. a little more comfy than the KTM but notably heavier at a stop and back ups etc, the big 12 producing a tonne or torque right off the bottom but I am still a fan of smaller skinnier bikes cos I am not big.

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We also did "pick up the bike" session the Teneré 12 although heavy has a very low C of G so very easy to pick up considering its size.

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Nice

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Maya still easier but only because of the lesser weight even though our tank was full.

Somewhere in Porto Alegre we managed to pick up an old split pin with most of it hidden in our tire...I was sure and certain we would have a flat, we have 4 mm tubes so I thought that would be helping mask the hole

We pulled and pulled and finally it all came out .... we were waiting for the hiss that normally follows such a length of steel but nothing.

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Taking it down to a local shop to fix it we wrestled the tire off (not to bad) and preceeded to pull the tube dunking it in the water tank to find the hole ... but nothing??

More pressure to blow it up higher and recheck ... nothing???? , at this point I realized that I was a lucky guy and the angle of the split pin shallow enough not to hit the tube ....I almost wanted a flatty as I we had everything in our hands ready to go.

Putting her all back together I was appreciative of not having a flatty so my lucky stars bucket has not run dry just yet.

Breakfast one morning ... we will need a 1200 soon at this rate

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Our Mac Charger had died and given we were at a good place and time to change it we took the opportunity, this is about a 7 - 10 day affair here so we turned around and headed for the hills for more of a look around, first stop back to Torres our favorite beach place in Brasil to see Déborah and Humberto ...some place you like, some place you love and some places you just can't leave....the bastid part of travel

5 Star Shell to Novo Hamburgo

That was the plan anyway, we had also planned to meet a guy from Facebook for lunch in Novo Hamburgo on our way through, just for a quick stop.

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We went to a local moto shop who rang Jankiel and he came to the shop to meet us, he then took us to meet Hemi a local rider who has been to Alaska on his XT660R and back.

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Welcomed in with a celebrities welcome we found ourselves admits proud travelers and excited people to see us and our bike and these guys had already been there and done that so pretty nice to have that welcome support.

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Lunch was had and we were TOLD that we were staying, being Wednesday they have a meeting on the Thursday night so that was that, we contacted our host in Porto Alegre (where we were supposed to go) and said see you in two days, it was no problem as they know Hemi anyway so no one was too worried, we were the only ones thinking we were rude and wanted to make sure everyone was cool with the instant change of plans.

We accepted (we had no choice) and unpacked (big day of 23 km) and enjoyed a hot afternoon.

The Thursday night gig was cool with about 30 enthusiastic moto heads coming for a feed, drinks and to watch photos and videos, technology helping us with a big screen.

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Very limited English was spoken so Portugringlish was the winner with photos doing most of the talking.

Luisa (Hemis wife) looked after us very well, a beautiful lady both inside and out with a heart of gold.

The main lady

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Vanessa, niece of Remi works there at the shop, she is an on to chic and knows her stuff, couple with that her warm heart she is a another golden hearted person

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We also seemed to be having our own lunchtime celebrity playoff, a local news paper and TV station both taking great interest in the foreigners that had stopped in their town, this coupled with one of their own Remi who is highly respected.

http://www.jornalnh.com.br/_conteudo...-hamburgo.html

Novo Hamburgo was awesome for us, the hospitality, meeting fello travellers and moto heads

Next where we were meant to be

Torres To Nova Hamburgo

Leaving Torres was hard, such good times despite me wrecking myself.

Came the time to put on the gloves and gingerly I did it with success.

We did not have far to go which was going to make life easy, we had planned our place to stayed and headed of through Parque Nacional da Serra Geral then out to our acccom.

We were wowed going up the zig zag with epic views and a clear day.

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Travelling through Cambara Dol Sul we decided to head to the super market as where we were planning to stay there was no shops or services, Mrs.G kept telling us to turn off but I pulled rank and ignored her heading right into town....ouwh yeah ... such a rebel

That is when our day took a great turn, we knew of Two Kiwis - Thomas and Tina (their blog: tintomkiwi.wordpress.com, YouTube : TinTomKiwi ) sifting around on two BMW’s, they couch surfed at Curitiba at the same place as us the day we left, we thought we might see them on the road but we took different roads.

Approaching the Petro Brasil minding our own business a guy ran out from between the pumps yelling something, I looked over and saw some motos and thought well we will stop anyway …turned out to be the Kiwis …stamping on our territory .. will haf ta sort that out

OUTSTANDING, we stopped and talked for a 5 minute chat for an hour and a half, they decided to come to our accommodation as it was near the end of day.

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Stocking up on tucker and with only 12 km to go we took the road out of town and what a sweet road it was, twisting and up and down, riders dream for tar seal.

Arriving at the Pousada the owners were not there but soon turned up, lucky we had the Kiwis as the cabins were for the 4 people and the cost per cabin so it worked out economical for all of us, we had a home cook tea and a fire to heat the cabin which was cool, for some unknown reason we dipped out on wine which would have finished the night to the end of a perfect day of fishing in the morning at the beach, some back roads and zig zag travel finished with an easy jaunt to the finish line.

Standingaroundtalkingkiwi

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Check it out, a genuine New Zealand number plate, who would have thought our here in Brasil!!! (ouwh and a nice bike)

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Discussions, movie and photos, we had a local travelling on a bicycle join us too, he was camping and did not have access to a shower so we invited him in for a hot shower which he was grateful for, he then joined us for a fire and some chats, good times.

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I am not sure how but we have a photo fail with no more kiwis

When the others set off into the distance the following day we headed out to the Canyon, jaw dropping beauty is the only way to describe it with very abrupt rock faces.

Seeya Kiwis, rubber side down bro and sis

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The Canyon

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A few photos hear and there then back to the Pousada to hit the road to Canela and Gramado but leaving the canyon I noticed our side stand bolt was loosening.

Back at camp a quick tighten with some loctite and we were good to go, the world is a workshop and we had a perfect side stand fixing bank right outside our hut.

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Arriving at Canela it was apparent we were in the wrong place, the cheapest room we could find was $210 Reals so +/- $100 USD …. I don’t think so.

The towns were strewn with christmas decorations and we felt like we had just stepped into the USA, it was a little weird and not really inviting given it is all commercial driven.

We took another back road opting to stay off the main road, this lead us to a small place called Santa Maria Do Hervel.

We inquired at the Shell gas station if there were any Pousadas (hostels) here, the guys at the gas station saying no, we then asked about camping, they told us of a camping place about 1 km away, at that point the owner chimed in and said just stay here.

So, wifi, toilet, shower and undercover place to put the tent we were in, 5 star camping so that was it for the night…too easy.

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