7/6/2014 Pedro Juan Caballero, UY to 20 km past Antonio Joao, BR
D91, T6, Av15.86, Max 57, tot 28212, 2670
Head winds from the north and a wet afternoon
Well an extra day was had in PJC, yesterday morning was wet, it did take much for me to change my mind.
Groceries were bought and a good supply of Reals were taken from An ATM.
I do not want to get caught short of cash here.
I studied a little Portuguese and wrote out some phrases I use a lot, like can I put my tent on your property or to that effect.
These were to give to Blanca to translate from Spanish to Portuguese.
I packed things, for the morning. My panniers are very full with extra food and lots of good Brazilian coffee.
This family had been so good to me me, they always had friends around who were always chatting. They fed me well and gave me good local knowledge about the town. My stay here was a pleasure to say the least.
The morning was good and dry but still overcast. My last Guaraní were changed and I headed to Migration in PY.
That was easy, then onto BR Federal Police who issue visa, they had computer problems so I left my passport with them and went to have a couple of Empanadas.
Arriving back, a local Paraguayo who knew his way around Brazil gave me some good tips for the route north.
The Police disappointingly only gave me 60 days on my visa.
Though, they did say I can get it extended at any Federal police station.
Once on the road a head wind greeted me, it was nice to be riding just pushing into it at 10km was all I could do.
There was no shoulder on the road and many trucks were using it.
Most were very courteous, many people in cars were speeding big time and passing in some crazy places.
Never before have I seen Toyota Hiluxes travelling at such speed. Many were doing in excess of 140km/hr i guessed.
Most trucks were stock truck, their distinctive smell left in their wake.
A large anteater was seen on the side of the road. Unfortunately. it had met its fate here. They are indeed a unique animal. Near the spot was a patch of bush. Otherwise most land is cropped or grazed.
My blood is still not right, two little wounds on my leg wont seem to heal. Not wanting to take more antibiotics I am going to leave them for a bit longer to see what happens.
The road was smooth and through rolling hill country with large sections very flat.
Maize was growing on the better flat land and cattle were grazing almost everywhere else .
A group of Emu like birds were seen running across a paddock as I approached.
Running out of water a stop was made at a fruit inspection station, just a small shack really.
Twenty minutes was spent here chatting with the three people in charge. The girl understood Español .
They topped me up with good cold water.
It was an easy 13km to Antonio Joao, here fruit was bought and eaten, also a couple of empanadas.
Just out of town it started raining, putting my coat on was not really necessary as it was quite warm.
From here it continued. The road descended for some 8 km which was great as it kept warming up.
At about 1730 it was getting quite dark. I had toped up all my water in A. Joao so I was in a position to camp anywhere.
There weren’t to many spots as it was all fenced.
Then coming down a hill was a kind of roadhouse come restaurant. I pulled in and asked if I could pitch my tent out the back. A tent interestingly here in BR is called a cabaña.
They were great and put me under the eaves of a house alongside the restaurant.
I bought some food there out of goodwill. .
Eating at the bar, a few travellers pulled we all had a chat, in Pot, Eng and Esp. Very enjoyable. I am trying to find as much out about this part of Brazil and the roads here as I can.
Again, like many South American countries many roads shown as dirt are now infact asphalt, they are all going through a huge road improvement program.
By now, a dry northerly had picked up after the rain. My gear was dry even before I went to bed.
Warren the owners son came over for a chat. Talking about the birds he said they were called Ema,s, makes sense to me! He is 23 and never been to the coast, like Australia, BR is a huge country.
It is interesting, he understands little Español and I a little Portuguese and yet we both worked out what we wanted to say and understood each other.
It’s great, maybe as time goes on with a little Portuguese and my existing Español, it might be not so daunting from a communication point of view, afterall.
It was great to be under shelter, overcast conditions with possible rain, have been forecast for the next few days.
8/6/2014 20 km past Antonio Joao, BR to Bela Vista, PY
D53, T3, av15.94, Max44, 28265, 2714
Overcast morning with rain for the rest of the day.
Arising early, a gale was blowing out of the northeast.
The stove was taken around the other side of the building just so the flame would not get blown away.
The sore on the back of my calf is getting worse, I broke up an Amoxyloin tablet and rubbed the powder into it, in the hope this may work on the now 10c piece size infection..
Warren was not up when I went to say goodbye, another woman was there, they had not yet opened up the restaurant.
Off in the distance to the west was the sound of thunder at 0830 in the morning.
The wind here was getting sucked into the low pressure, the clouds were rather darkish out there.
Once on the road, it didn’t take long to forget about the ach in my leg.
Some 15km down the road a car stopped, three people got out to talk to me, I too had stopped.
They were from Dourados here in Mato Grosso Do Sul. Their trip was taking them to Pedro Juan Caballero to buy electrical goods .
These encounters always spur me on especially when conditions are a little trying.
The road was the normal black strip in a huge undulating landscape. It was up gentle hills and back down again. It was enjoyable riding.
Soon the descent on the profile map was reached, this was a nice 5km downhill.
Near the top The rumbling of thunder had turned to rain. Pulling over everything that I didn’t want wet was put in panniers, i.e. my camera and speakers. I pulled out the Go Pro to shoot in the rain.
Well it started coming down big time. At times, the road ahead was visible for only a few hundred metres I had my tail light going.
By the time I got to Bacaja it had abated somewhat.
Here a drink, some oranges and empanadas were enjoyed. Further on from here another front passed over me.
This time the rain was heavier.
Luckily, all my gear is now in large plastic bags within each pannier. I got these from China Shopping. They will have a life a lot longer than most bags from there I feel .
The rain was reasonably warm so there was no point in wearing a raincoat.
I was totally drenched, at times there was surface water all over the road.
Being Sunday, there was little traffic.
This rain did not let up for at least an hour. There was lightning and thunder mixed in with it.
At one point, some lightning was uncomfortably close, the thunder was almost simultaneous and gave me quite a scare. In this situation, I speed up considerably.
My mind drifted to thoughts of being hit by lightening. Unlike in a yacht my speed was hopefully fast enough to distance myself from this threat.
Like a yacht, my bike was a piece of metal out here in the middle of nowhere.
That huge thunder clap was thankfully the storm bading farewell as they often do with one huge crack to say, “See you next time baby”.
Knowing I was nearing Bella Vista in PY, the turn off was taken when reached. It was a gravel road I had taken, it lead into a village.
I asked a woman in a car where the road was to the border. She kindly led me there in her car.
I was back on asphalt again. It was a descent into town and a left turn in town took me into PY without any border problems.
Asking a guy he told me of a hospedaje.
This was booked. I was feeling pretty dodgy. Coming along the sandy road my rear wheel was rubbing on the brakes.
After things were unpacked, another broken spoke was observed. My supply is getting low. I must be doing something wrong when replacing them .
I knew some of the spokes had different tensions I would see to this when replacing it .
On my computer, I have a scanned copy of a book “The bike book” A great English publication..
I read the procedure of replacement and truing carefully.
It is ultra important to follow the existing pattern of the spokes. This had been over looked, two were over instead of under the adjacent spoke.
This was sorted and much time was spent getting all the tensions equal whilst truing it .
I am using DT Swiss spokes that are as good as impossible to get here. With only 3 left, this had better work.
I finally succumbed to the annoyance of these infections and popped an antibiotic. I will take the for 8 days instead of the 3, up until now.
The need to get rid of this problem once and for all is urgent.
Lunch of chicken was enjoyed in town .
The town, very small is prosperous due to Brasileros buying goods here. They accept Reals and Guaraní.
A good hot shower was enjoyed and a movie watched.
My body is not in perfect working order, occasionally I feel nauseas. It is this infection.
The temperature here is about 25 degrees and only cools to about 15 in the night.
The room had only a sheet on the bed and one to sleep under .
9/6/2014 Bela Vista, PY to Jardim, BR
D90, T10, Av16.41, max47, 28335, 2804
Overcast, no rain
A good nights sleep had been enjoyed after a bowl of soup and the movie.
My body felt alot better, the antibiotics work very quick, this time I will do the full eight days course.
Getting up, the urge to visit the loo arose, in no uncertain fashion I might, grabbing my toilet paper, a quick trip to the out house was made. It was occupied. Focusing, things were held under control.
After half a minute, the occupant was making no sounds of having finished his visit.
I was desperate. Something had to be done and quick.
The yard was enclosed and all concrete. A “free ranger” was totally out of the question, had someone come along, it would have been beyond embarrassing. Not to mention the clean up.
There was a bucket in the yard, this was fetched, knowing there was no water in the outside taps, yesterday, it had been noticed that water had accumulated in a plastic bowl in the rains. This was hurriedly poured into the bucket and a rapid somewhat awkward retreat made back to my room and privacy.
This had been a close call. Some time ago when fishing in Alaska from a friends boat we had always used a bucket with just a little water in the bottom for our ablutions, it works a treat, floating the produce, so as to keep the bucket clean.
This knowledge had averted a potentially unenviable situation, it was just a simple case of slipping into the loo unseen with the bucket, this was done.
Needing some more antibiotics, a trip was made into town to get some. A better AR brand was bought.
Bread and tomatoes were also purchased.
Riding out of town, a stop at the border was made, the decision to go to PYC to enter BR was a good one. There were no federal Police here. I would have been unable to get a visa.
Ruta 60 was taken, on my map it is shown as dirt but was infact asphalt. It was a bit rough in places but very little traffic was using it. This was so nice after the last couple of days.
In future I will try to locate these secondary roads between these towns. In the Mato Grosso here there are not to many roads and the main ones are very busy.
The weather was holding with overcast conditions, the cloud was high which was a good sign. Importantly there was no wind.
It didn’t take long to get into the old rhythm.
The country here is vegetated with the Cocos Palms and most vistas contain the grey Brahman cattle.
After 45km, it was decided to stop for lunch. Here, bread and salami with onions and tomato were savoured, along with a great fresh coffee and some sweet biscuits.
This was just like riding back in Peru. In the pattern again, lunch at about 50km for an hour and ride till late.
The sun actually came out, it gave an indication of the potential humidity here.
Riding on, some people were seen picking oranges from trees in their front yard. I yelled out to see if i could buy some.
Leaning the bike against a solitary small roadside tree I wandered in to talk to them.
They were all about my age, four of them. A woman sitting in a plastic chair, a man up a homemade ladder propped into the large orange tree, another woman picking an adjacent tree with a scoop on a pole and a fourth guy putting the booty into plastic tub.
The oranges were wrinkled and didn’t look much but had loose skins and were easily peeled. I offered some money but they said just have some.
It was a relaxed atmosphere in their midst we chatted, me in Español they on Portuguese.
Peeling my first orange whilst sitting on the edge of the deck my taste buds were blasted by the sweetest most juiciest orange flesh I have encountered in all my time here.
Sitting there chatting, seven of these tree ripened delights were consumed. While we were chatting the house cow and some of her mates came over to check us out. Unnoticced she found a bag of Mandioca leaning against hte fence and started helping herself.
Once spotted she was moved on very promptly.
It truly was a situation that only cycling can offer.
Sitting here with these rural Brasileros chatting away in two languages and just enjoying the afternoon sun, low in the sky across the north bound road, with animals in company and just the best oranges being enjoyed as much.
They said I could take some with me. Needless to say this was done.
Still riding in pastured land, further up the road, native vegetation was encountered on my right.
A bird noise was heard from the canopy of a roadside tree. Here up in the lower branches was a Toucan feeding, I was quite amazed, what a beautiful bird and to be so close to it.
Now that their call was known , a watch for them was kept every time a similar tree was passed, more were seen. This for me was something special to see these iconic Brazilian birds.
Nearing the edge of this native vegetation another treat was experienced, as I approached, two red and blue Macaws flew from a roadside tree. Unreal .
It is amazing how big their wingspan is.
Out here on this little used road, the two most typifying birds of tropical South America were spotted, I had been spoilt in a big way.
From here, I stopped at Boqueron for water.
Talking with the teenagers that gave it to me, conversation got around to the world cup.
They are all a little concerned about their team and feel Croatia will not be a walk in the park. This is not the first time Brasileros have told me this.
Loaded with water but in no hurry to camp, the late afternoon warmth was being enjoyed.
Two men on bikes were accompanied for a few kilometres.
Leaving them, it was getting late, my rear light was switch on in the fading light, it is getting darkish now about 1630.
At one point a roadside community of homes built from plastic and any other water proof material were seen for about 1km. There were cooking fires burning and people washing in a creek.
Passing this, it was now pretty much dark. Having been in this situation before there was still no need to get anxious. I needed a good private campsite.
Most land was fenced. Coming across a track i stopped to investigate, it was ideal, little used and private.
The bike was pulled off the road.
Whilst checking it out, the two guys I was riding with spotted me as they rode past.
Shit, the only campsite seen and people knew I was there. I had to leave, it would have been impossible to sleep. They could have easily told someone I was there.
It was now dark, some 4km up the road the lights of Jardim could be seen, I still kept looking for a site, al laws fenced.
It was to be another night in a hospedaje, arriving in town i asked around and found a place on a side street.
Sometime was spent in a little pharmacy where they said I could drink water from a chilled complimentary water bottle they had.
They owner showed me the room, it was large but looked like someone had just moved out, the hot water didn’t work. I tried to get him down on price but he would settle for no less than R30 that’s about $A15.
I took it. My options were limited.
Going to boil water it was found my Resistencia had ceased working, the element only warms.
I have had this for nearly a year, it is used in all lodgings to heat water to save on fuel .Tomorrow I will have to try to find a new one.
I really can’t do without one of these. It is so convenient for boiling water. It saves me a lot of stove fuel.
A cold shower was endured and a movie watched after a great tuna pasta concoction.
I slept fully clothed, not wanting to offer any possible bed bugs a full banquet. The pillows even had the smell of the previous occupant.
Oh well such are things one has to endure. It was raining outside I was dry and cosy.
Really it was all good .
Blanca and Celestino phoned me for a chat and to see how I was. They are such nice people.
Just reflecting on the day, having seen the Macaws and the Toucans, feelings of elation saw me fall asleep.
The person who occupied the room prior to me definitely wasn’t female!
D91, T6, Av15.86, Max 57, tot 28212, 2670
Head winds from the north and a wet afternoon
Well an extra day was had in PJC, yesterday morning was wet, it did take much for me to change my mind.
Groceries were bought and a good supply of Reals were taken from An ATM.
I do not want to get caught short of cash here.
I studied a little Portuguese and wrote out some phrases I use a lot, like can I put my tent on your property or to that effect.
These were to give to Blanca to translate from Spanish to Portuguese.
I packed things, for the morning. My panniers are very full with extra food and lots of good Brazilian coffee.
This family had been so good to me me, they always had friends around who were always chatting. They fed me well and gave me good local knowledge about the town. My stay here was a pleasure to say the least.
The morning was good and dry but still overcast. My last Guaraní were changed and I headed to Migration in PY.
That was easy, then onto BR Federal Police who issue visa, they had computer problems so I left my passport with them and went to have a couple of Empanadas.
Arriving back, a local Paraguayo who knew his way around Brazil gave me some good tips for the route north.
The Police disappointingly only gave me 60 days on my visa.
Though, they did say I can get it extended at any Federal police station.
Once on the road a head wind greeted me, it was nice to be riding just pushing into it at 10km was all I could do.
There was no shoulder on the road and many trucks were using it.
Most were very courteous, many people in cars were speeding big time and passing in some crazy places.
Never before have I seen Toyota Hiluxes travelling at such speed. Many were doing in excess of 140km/hr i guessed.
Most trucks were stock truck, their distinctive smell left in their wake.
A large anteater was seen on the side of the road. Unfortunately. it had met its fate here. They are indeed a unique animal. Near the spot was a patch of bush. Otherwise most land is cropped or grazed.
My blood is still not right, two little wounds on my leg wont seem to heal. Not wanting to take more antibiotics I am going to leave them for a bit longer to see what happens.
The road was smooth and through rolling hill country with large sections very flat.
Maize was growing on the better flat land and cattle were grazing almost everywhere else .
A group of Emu like birds were seen running across a paddock as I approached.
Running out of water a stop was made at a fruit inspection station, just a small shack really.
Twenty minutes was spent here chatting with the three people in charge. The girl understood Español .
They topped me up with good cold water.
It was an easy 13km to Antonio Joao, here fruit was bought and eaten, also a couple of empanadas.
Just out of town it started raining, putting my coat on was not really necessary as it was quite warm.
From here it continued. The road descended for some 8 km which was great as it kept warming up.
At about 1730 it was getting quite dark. I had toped up all my water in A. Joao so I was in a position to camp anywhere.
There weren’t to many spots as it was all fenced.
Then coming down a hill was a kind of roadhouse come restaurant. I pulled in and asked if I could pitch my tent out the back. A tent interestingly here in BR is called a cabaña.
They were great and put me under the eaves of a house alongside the restaurant.
I bought some food there out of goodwill. .
Eating at the bar, a few travellers pulled we all had a chat, in Pot, Eng and Esp. Very enjoyable. I am trying to find as much out about this part of Brazil and the roads here as I can.
Again, like many South American countries many roads shown as dirt are now infact asphalt, they are all going through a huge road improvement program.
By now, a dry northerly had picked up after the rain. My gear was dry even before I went to bed.
Warren the owners son came over for a chat. Talking about the birds he said they were called Ema,s, makes sense to me! He is 23 and never been to the coast, like Australia, BR is a huge country.
It is interesting, he understands little Español and I a little Portuguese and yet we both worked out what we wanted to say and understood each other.
It’s great, maybe as time goes on with a little Portuguese and my existing Español, it might be not so daunting from a communication point of view, afterall.
It was great to be under shelter, overcast conditions with possible rain, have been forecast for the next few days.
8/6/2014 20 km past Antonio Joao, BR to Bela Vista, PY
D53, T3, av15.94, Max44, 28265, 2714
Overcast morning with rain for the rest of the day.
Arising early, a gale was blowing out of the northeast.
The stove was taken around the other side of the building just so the flame would not get blown away.
The sore on the back of my calf is getting worse, I broke up an Amoxyloin tablet and rubbed the powder into it, in the hope this may work on the now 10c piece size infection..
Warren was not up when I went to say goodbye, another woman was there, they had not yet opened up the restaurant.
Off in the distance to the west was the sound of thunder at 0830 in the morning.
The wind here was getting sucked into the low pressure, the clouds were rather darkish out there.
Once on the road, it didn’t take long to forget about the ach in my leg.
Some 15km down the road a car stopped, three people got out to talk to me, I too had stopped.
They were from Dourados here in Mato Grosso Do Sul. Their trip was taking them to Pedro Juan Caballero to buy electrical goods .
These encounters always spur me on especially when conditions are a little trying.
The road was the normal black strip in a huge undulating landscape. It was up gentle hills and back down again. It was enjoyable riding.
Soon the descent on the profile map was reached, this was a nice 5km downhill.
Near the top The rumbling of thunder had turned to rain. Pulling over everything that I didn’t want wet was put in panniers, i.e. my camera and speakers. I pulled out the Go Pro to shoot in the rain.
Well it started coming down big time. At times, the road ahead was visible for only a few hundred metres I had my tail light going.
By the time I got to Bacaja it had abated somewhat.
Here a drink, some oranges and empanadas were enjoyed. Further on from here another front passed over me.
This time the rain was heavier.
Luckily, all my gear is now in large plastic bags within each pannier. I got these from China Shopping. They will have a life a lot longer than most bags from there I feel .
The rain was reasonably warm so there was no point in wearing a raincoat.
I was totally drenched, at times there was surface water all over the road.
Being Sunday, there was little traffic.
This rain did not let up for at least an hour. There was lightning and thunder mixed in with it.
At one point, some lightning was uncomfortably close, the thunder was almost simultaneous and gave me quite a scare. In this situation, I speed up considerably.
My mind drifted to thoughts of being hit by lightening. Unlike in a yacht my speed was hopefully fast enough to distance myself from this threat.
Like a yacht, my bike was a piece of metal out here in the middle of nowhere.
That huge thunder clap was thankfully the storm bading farewell as they often do with one huge crack to say, “See you next time baby”.
Knowing I was nearing Bella Vista in PY, the turn off was taken when reached. It was a gravel road I had taken, it lead into a village.
I asked a woman in a car where the road was to the border. She kindly led me there in her car.
I was back on asphalt again. It was a descent into town and a left turn in town took me into PY without any border problems.
Asking a guy he told me of a hospedaje.
This was booked. I was feeling pretty dodgy. Coming along the sandy road my rear wheel was rubbing on the brakes.
After things were unpacked, another broken spoke was observed. My supply is getting low. I must be doing something wrong when replacing them .
I knew some of the spokes had different tensions I would see to this when replacing it .
On my computer, I have a scanned copy of a book “The bike book” A great English publication..
I read the procedure of replacement and truing carefully.
It is ultra important to follow the existing pattern of the spokes. This had been over looked, two were over instead of under the adjacent spoke.
This was sorted and much time was spent getting all the tensions equal whilst truing it .
I am using DT Swiss spokes that are as good as impossible to get here. With only 3 left, this had better work.
I finally succumbed to the annoyance of these infections and popped an antibiotic. I will take the for 8 days instead of the 3, up until now.
The need to get rid of this problem once and for all is urgent.
Lunch of chicken was enjoyed in town .
The town, very small is prosperous due to Brasileros buying goods here. They accept Reals and Guaraní.
A good hot shower was enjoyed and a movie watched.
My body is not in perfect working order, occasionally I feel nauseas. It is this infection.
The temperature here is about 25 degrees and only cools to about 15 in the night.
The room had only a sheet on the bed and one to sleep under .
9/6/2014 Bela Vista, PY to Jardim, BR
D90, T10, Av16.41, max47, 28335, 2804
Overcast, no rain
A good nights sleep had been enjoyed after a bowl of soup and the movie.
My body felt alot better, the antibiotics work very quick, this time I will do the full eight days course.
Getting up, the urge to visit the loo arose, in no uncertain fashion I might, grabbing my toilet paper, a quick trip to the out house was made. It was occupied. Focusing, things were held under control.
After half a minute, the occupant was making no sounds of having finished his visit.
I was desperate. Something had to be done and quick.
The yard was enclosed and all concrete. A “free ranger” was totally out of the question, had someone come along, it would have been beyond embarrassing. Not to mention the clean up.
There was a bucket in the yard, this was fetched, knowing there was no water in the outside taps, yesterday, it had been noticed that water had accumulated in a plastic bowl in the rains. This was hurriedly poured into the bucket and a rapid somewhat awkward retreat made back to my room and privacy.
This had been a close call. Some time ago when fishing in Alaska from a friends boat we had always used a bucket with just a little water in the bottom for our ablutions, it works a treat, floating the produce, so as to keep the bucket clean.
This knowledge had averted a potentially unenviable situation, it was just a simple case of slipping into the loo unseen with the bucket, this was done.
Needing some more antibiotics, a trip was made into town to get some. A better AR brand was bought.
Bread and tomatoes were also purchased.
Riding out of town, a stop at the border was made, the decision to go to PYC to enter BR was a good one. There were no federal Police here. I would have been unable to get a visa.
Ruta 60 was taken, on my map it is shown as dirt but was infact asphalt. It was a bit rough in places but very little traffic was using it. This was so nice after the last couple of days.
In future I will try to locate these secondary roads between these towns. In the Mato Grosso here there are not to many roads and the main ones are very busy.
The weather was holding with overcast conditions, the cloud was high which was a good sign. Importantly there was no wind.
It didn’t take long to get into the old rhythm.
The country here is vegetated with the Cocos Palms and most vistas contain the grey Brahman cattle.
After 45km, it was decided to stop for lunch. Here, bread and salami with onions and tomato were savoured, along with a great fresh coffee and some sweet biscuits.
This was just like riding back in Peru. In the pattern again, lunch at about 50km for an hour and ride till late.
The sun actually came out, it gave an indication of the potential humidity here.
Riding on, some people were seen picking oranges from trees in their front yard. I yelled out to see if i could buy some.
Leaning the bike against a solitary small roadside tree I wandered in to talk to them.
They were all about my age, four of them. A woman sitting in a plastic chair, a man up a homemade ladder propped into the large orange tree, another woman picking an adjacent tree with a scoop on a pole and a fourth guy putting the booty into plastic tub.
The oranges were wrinkled and didn’t look much but had loose skins and were easily peeled. I offered some money but they said just have some.
It was a relaxed atmosphere in their midst we chatted, me in Español they on Portuguese.
Peeling my first orange whilst sitting on the edge of the deck my taste buds were blasted by the sweetest most juiciest orange flesh I have encountered in all my time here.
Sitting there chatting, seven of these tree ripened delights were consumed. While we were chatting the house cow and some of her mates came over to check us out. Unnoticced she found a bag of Mandioca leaning against hte fence and started helping herself.
Once spotted she was moved on very promptly.
It truly was a situation that only cycling can offer.
Sitting here with these rural Brasileros chatting away in two languages and just enjoying the afternoon sun, low in the sky across the north bound road, with animals in company and just the best oranges being enjoyed as much.
They said I could take some with me. Needless to say this was done.
Still riding in pastured land, further up the road, native vegetation was encountered on my right.
A bird noise was heard from the canopy of a roadside tree. Here up in the lower branches was a Toucan feeding, I was quite amazed, what a beautiful bird and to be so close to it.
Now that their call was known , a watch for them was kept every time a similar tree was passed, more were seen. This for me was something special to see these iconic Brazilian birds.
Nearing the edge of this native vegetation another treat was experienced, as I approached, two red and blue Macaws flew from a roadside tree. Unreal .
It is amazing how big their wingspan is.
Out here on this little used road, the two most typifying birds of tropical South America were spotted, I had been spoilt in a big way.
From here, I stopped at Boqueron for water.
Talking with the teenagers that gave it to me, conversation got around to the world cup.
They are all a little concerned about their team and feel Croatia will not be a walk in the park. This is not the first time Brasileros have told me this.
Loaded with water but in no hurry to camp, the late afternoon warmth was being enjoyed.
Two men on bikes were accompanied for a few kilometres.
Leaving them, it was getting late, my rear light was switch on in the fading light, it is getting darkish now about 1630.
At one point a roadside community of homes built from plastic and any other water proof material were seen for about 1km. There were cooking fires burning and people washing in a creek.
Passing this, it was now pretty much dark. Having been in this situation before there was still no need to get anxious. I needed a good private campsite.
Most land was fenced. Coming across a track i stopped to investigate, it was ideal, little used and private.
The bike was pulled off the road.
Whilst checking it out, the two guys I was riding with spotted me as they rode past.
Shit, the only campsite seen and people knew I was there. I had to leave, it would have been impossible to sleep. They could have easily told someone I was there.
It was now dark, some 4km up the road the lights of Jardim could be seen, I still kept looking for a site, al laws fenced.
It was to be another night in a hospedaje, arriving in town i asked around and found a place on a side street.
Sometime was spent in a little pharmacy where they said I could drink water from a chilled complimentary water bottle they had.
They owner showed me the room, it was large but looked like someone had just moved out, the hot water didn’t work. I tried to get him down on price but he would settle for no less than R30 that’s about $A15.
I took it. My options were limited.
Going to boil water it was found my Resistencia had ceased working, the element only warms.
I have had this for nearly a year, it is used in all lodgings to heat water to save on fuel .Tomorrow I will have to try to find a new one.
I really can’t do without one of these. It is so convenient for boiling water. It saves me a lot of stove fuel.
A cold shower was endured and a movie watched after a great tuna pasta concoction.
I slept fully clothed, not wanting to offer any possible bed bugs a full banquet. The pillows even had the smell of the previous occupant.
Oh well such are things one has to endure. It was raining outside I was dry and cosy.
Really it was all good .
Blanca and Celestino phoned me for a chat and to see how I was. They are such nice people.
Just reflecting on the day, having seen the Macaws and the Toucans, feelings of elation saw me fall asleep.
The person who occupied the room prior to me definitely wasn’t female!
 Blanca and Celestino, such wonderful helpful, humorous and friendly people.
 First night on the road, great of the owners to have me under here.
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 Ready to roll into Brasil, federal police station Punta Pora. Unfortunately with only a 60 day visa. Though able to extend it at any Federal Station
 Heading back to Bela Vista, PY for cheap accommodation, wet as a shag!
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Roadside trees had these guys in their branches.Ruta 60 Mato Grosso Dol Sul
