RIO DE JANIERO

The coast road near Paraty.

Cobblestones. I really hate the bastards!

Dirt & fog at the same time?? Give me a break!

Slip sliding away.

Yes, I stayed there! Shutup, I heard that.

The speccy backdrop to Ipanema Beach.

Ipanema. Check the mosaic footpath!

National Park behind Penido.

The Sugarloaf. Dont worry, the cable car was built in Switzerland!

At the Copa, Copacobana.... (sorry).

Almost there.

An enforced wait.

I am now in Rio, & the tour is over. Some of my group has left, & the rest will leave shortly. I am here for the next 3 days to wind down & chill out. This is the first chance I have had to make some sense of it all! As I indicated last time, everything happens fast in Brazil. I feel like I have spent weeks on the motorways just passing trucks & being cut up by all the other traffic. Admittedly, some sections of motorway were pretty exciting to ride, but most of the time it was just bum-numbing & risky. Scariest moment was when Wicki just pulled to the side of the motorway to check the map. Just as I took my helmet off, there was a loud bang from ahead. As I looked up, I saw the back of a semi move a few feet sideways, in a puff of smoke. It looked as though that semi had rearended the one in front of it, but it turned out that that particular semi had blown a rear tyre, causing the trailer to whip out to the side. Just 15 seconds earlier, we had all passed that guy at about 120 kph. Holy Moley, was that lucky or what?

There has been little opportunity to do much else other than get from A to B asap, however, we did spend 2 very enjoyable days in Paraty, where we spent a day on a beautiful old wooden yacht sailing out to some of the numerous islands that dot this section of coast. This was a tour highlight. Earlier, when we reached the Serro do Rio do Rastro (another anticipated highlight), it was shrouded in fog, so instead of riding this series of 180 degree turns which plummet from the mountains to near sea level in about a couple of kms, we crawled down in first gear riding the brakes with the hazard lights on. Visibility was about 10 metres, & with trucks taking up a lot of the road (dont these guys ever slow down?) it was fairly nerve wracking. We have also had to put up with more than our fair share of wet weather, & all the associated inconvenience & unpleasantness that go with it, but thats motorcycing. Sometimes we disappeared into the persistent clouds that seem to cover the flanks of the mountains at this time of the year, which was freaky. Generally, the ride up the coast in the vicinity of Paraty was great. The coastal scenery is very similar to Queensland, & it was a nice twisty road without too much traffic, for a change. Riding in Brazil appears to be a mixed bag. They put a lot af cobblestones on the road in some places, & this is probably the most uncomfortable road surface of the lot to ride on. I am not a fan of speed humps either, but they do actually alow the traffic, & often provide the only opportunity to pass. And riding into a road tunnel which has no internal lighting, while wearing sunnies, is an unforgettable experience.

We didnt ride all the way into Rio, instead finishing the riding in Penedo, about 3 hrs away. We spent a few days here & managed to get up into one of the National Parks where there was some good riding on both bitumen & dirt, & terrific scenery. We were bussed into Rio, & as we came in the back door, we were able to see some of the Rio that most people dont want to see, before being dropped at the central bus station, then getting taxis to the hotel, which is located a mere 3 blocks from the beachfront at Copacobana. The only bit of drama came when we checked into the hotel only to find that the hotel had cancelled our booking due to some oversight or other. This was duly sorted by our usually very mild mannered support driver Lisbet. (Bloody hell, dont make her angry!). The desk clerk got a serve he is unlikely to forget.

So, I did the tourist thing & went up to see the famous Christo Redentor statue overlooking Rio from the top of Corcovado, then took a cable car ride up to the top of the Pao de Asucar (The Sugarloaf to us) for an equally stunning panoramic view. I have no idea why the mountains are shaped like pointy turrets, but I did flunk Geology the first time around at Uni. The title of one of the worlds most spectacular cities is not an exaggeration, & the place fairly hums as well. Yesterday I walked the full length of both Copacobana & Ipanema Beaches, while humming The Girl From Ipanema. These icons are also deserving of their reputation, although the weather is cool so there is not much happening on the beachfront. Apart from some blokes playing a version of beach volleyball, where they use only their heads & feet-no hands- & some wackers pumping iron in a public "look at me" sort of way at the open air gyms.

I have observed that the Brazilians are big eaters, & it shows. Some of the women on the beach could block out the sun, but that doesnt stop them putting on a G-string bikini as though they were built like Twiggy. There are some things a man just shouldnt see! On the other hand, there are a lot of things a man should see. This place is the capital of cleavage, & the babes dont mind putting it out there on public display, although it must be said that some of them have been doing it since Dwight Eisenhower was President, & it is time they packed it in. But I guess that is what Brazil is all about. Outwardly at least, people just dont seem to care or get too hung up about stuff like that. I guess that says as much about us as it does about them.

Something else they dont tell you about is the pervading smell of urine along the beachfront & environs. I suspect this is due to the large number of apartment owners around here that have dogs. Every post, pole & treetrunk gets a regular dose, so it pays to not stand still for too long around here. On that note, I might sign off now.