Time to reflect over the happenings in Brasil, easy peasy cos we were only there for two weeks give or take 5 months.
What started as less than ideal got better quickly, with the warm hearts of Brasilians helping us at Ponto Pora amidst 6 degrees and rain to get our stator etc out of Paraguay.
Also Wagners workshop after buying an oil cooler for Maya and meeting lots of new faces there.
The only two motor fails we have had and both were in Brasil where KTM is literally non existent, that being our stator and waterpump.
The stator made worse by the introduction of lying Bolivianos and the water pump, no worries we had a spare on board so were prepared, was a 50000 km shaft with 60000 kms on it
.60000 km, never left standing on the side of the road, one water pump, one stator I consider than to be pretty good given where we have been.
It soon got even better, the weather picked up and we soon fell into the groove, every new country there is always the butterflies and not knowing WTF you are getting in for and after Bolivia we were ready for some sanity.
Where the hell to start, I am honestly struggling to write this up as my heart wants to go back and I am having to write about saying goodbye.
When things go wrong you need to make the best of it, in most countries you will get by and get things sorted by one way or another, in Brasil it will be sorted, in style, with a bar b q, with Guarana, with more help that you ever imagined, with wide open arms from everyone who gets involved.
For me, Kiwis are open and friendly but Brasilians step that up a notch, after coming from Bolivia it was almost opposite overload with people going to unreal lengths to help knowing you are a foreigner and needing that little extra help, language barriers and all, it did not matter, the funny thing is that in some cases the less we spoke the more the help was stepped up.
For me, Rio De Janeiro was spectacular for a city, abrupt rock formations were outstanding, meeting Paulo was a God send and having access to Moto Buis workshop unbelievable.
It just became easier and better and we soon learnt that Brasilians are extremely warm hearted people that love meat and motos ….I like the way these guys think.
Bahia in the mid of Brasil was very nice, Chapada Diamontina still the nicest place and for me the best photo I took/have/seen etc.
My favourite picture of a place I cannot describe so you will just have to go there
IMG_1401 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrLencois a beautiful wee town, slightly touristy but far enough away from the big smokes to be quiet and very nice and one I say is a must do.
Making our way back down we really hit top gear meeting the Brasil Riders, each one very interested in motos and travel and we very interested in being on the ground level with locals which changed our experience, also Brasil is wealthier in the south so to be fair our comfort level was up as well.
Every time we were moving along they would ask where we were going, if they had amigos in that town a phone call was made, directions given and we were welcomed in and accommodated, as travellers on a budget Brasil is VERY expensive so to be set up with like minded people and hosted is a double plus and bonus, this allowed us to spend money on booze and other essential items.
We reciprocated with (Ellen) making sushi, dumplings, Chinese pies and me helping out, fixing, adjusting etc to be helpful and appreciative for our hosts. The Brasilians love to drink, eat and talk travel, motos etc and love foreigners so I was as happy as a sandboy.
A highlight for us was Cascavel meeting Sandro, Marcos and crew, also Star News BMW welcoming us in knowing full well we were not buying a bike but let me take a R Nine T for a ride, sorry for slobbering over it Berto.
IMG_2171 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrNon Brasil riders (normal humans) came up to us on a daily basis curious and inquisitive ALWAYS with a huge welcoming and friendliness enough to drag any resistant hermit out of his shell, we of course didn’t need any training to open up to them straight away and they thought this was well cool.
They also love stickers as I do to so Maya has a few more now, lots of places we bought stickers now we have moto clube stickers with all the destinations on them so that is cool (traded for TMK stickers
),
they also covered up a lot of accident damage, unfortunately the don’t
make structural stickers to straighten the hit and run accident.The Heart Speaks
While we try to keep things in a positive light sometimes shit IS worth writing about, why? ... because I am a fucken Kiwi and we tell it how it ACTUALLY is with no sugar coatings and shinning white teeth pretending everything is perfect, too much for you to read about the truth then stop here and read something else, no apologies.
While we had superb times we also hit the bottom literally, we found damage done to our bike from a previous service at a reputable KTM Stealership which really pisses me off as we paid real money for bad work, from this point on I have trusted no one to do any work to Maya and I do everything, never again will I let someone else fuck it up ESPECIALLY after we have paid hard earned readies for it.
The hit and run was a bastid, luckily we both stayed out of hospital, Maya not so good and the Jesses needing BIG work, their build quality being their saving grace.
Only in Colonia, Uruguay we got the last of the parts to fix damage however our racks are still tortured and twisted, the grinder and welder will do well when we are home.
I spent a lot of time fixing, adjusting, straightening the damage, at first I did not realize how hard we had gone down until the following days when my body hurt quite badly, also when riding noting things not lining up so it was a case of one thing at a time to realign and fix .... Torres was the final straw.
So after the mop up of the luggage, then straightening our steering, then fixing our bent bolts on the handlebars and finally hurting my finger badly trying to fix it I have decided to put this to print.
Although the finger is not directly his fault it would not have happened if we did not need to fix the damage he did.
The wanker left us on the road, this would have been the same for any of you who were there so to me I view this dimly, for all Brasil Riders who have treated us extremely well I post this as it could have been any of you and that steps it into fighting territory…he who would hurt my friends hurts me.
The driver has left us with about $3500 worth of damage in total and thanks to the Brasilian “system” will not likely get charged for hit and run, his excuse, ......he has no money so that is that.
He said he is sorry (to the Poice NOT to our face), but he is not sorry enough to make good the damage or leave the keys to his car to pay for the damage…fucken shallow arsehole.
To be positive about it so you guys can be aware of him and not to drag it out, the lowest for of life has been found and he is
The arseholes name: Fabio Junior Barbosa
The arsehole address: Rua Telemcao, Borba 409, Tibagi PR
The arseholes FB Page
https://www.facebook.com/fabio.barbo...4%3A1415230892
The arseholes photo.
Screen Shot 2014-11-14 at 1.17.52 PM by twomotokiwis, on FlickrThe arseholes car and rego and photo. MVB-8041
P1200222 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrThe arseholes address
Screen Shot 2014-11-14 at 1.09.41 PM by twomotokiwis, on FlickrThe arsholes house
Screen Shot 2014-11-14 at 1.00.44 PM by twomotokiwis, on FlickrIf in the neighbourhood drop in and say hi or kill him or anything really painful will do.
The other trial we had was extreme heat of 45 plus degrees for days on end, we had learnt from previous experience to keep hydrated so we don’t needlessly chew each others head off and for the most of the time it worked, this still created daily stresses and our 1 and only flat tire was on one of these days, not even a shadow was cool
For me now I am enjoying Argentina after Uruguay was a bit of not a lot and my heart is still looking north to Brasil, the hard part of travelling when you fall in love with a place.
Finishing on a good note, there is SO much to see in Brasil, the distances are bigger due to the size of the place, Brasil IMO is a must do, given we were going to be there two weeks and 5 months later we left that is a fairly good indication, don’t just blow through the place, do it some justice and get into it…you will not regret it.
To all the normal humans who were extremely, good, nice, helpful etc thank you so much for making Brasil a great place to be, to all the Brasil Riders (abnormal aliens we can relate to), I am not sure how to put into words our gratitude for making Brasil simply OUTSTANDING, when we looked up information on the net about Brasil and moto travel it was fairly skinny, I hope now after ADVers, Hubbers, TMKers and FBers have read our ride reports that it has shed some more light into a cool country with cool people (bar 1
) For me, a picture is worth 1000 words, for me, my prize possession is my Brasil Riders good luck charm watching us as we ride from the top of our tank bag, Tailon, thanks man we ride with pride.
P1220319 by twomotokiwis, on FlickrI am not got to name everyone cos I simply can’t but a huge thanks to all, you guys rock, finally we have booked our flights home so after 3 years and two weeks travelling the Americas top to bottom we will be home on May 16th 2015, give us an hour to buy some meat, bear, wine ....our doors are open.
Ouwh ... and bring some Guarana
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