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.

P1210264 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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.

IMG_3740 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_3738 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

P1210295 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1210284 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

IMG_3753 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A coloured dumpster with nice artwork

IMG_3743 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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.

P1210269 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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.

IMG_3761 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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.

P1210266 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

IMG_3758 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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