Brazil - Rio

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Dear family and friends

When we crossed the Amazon river we also crossed the equator – we are now back in the Southern Hemisphere, on our way to Tierra Del Fuego (Land of Fire) at the southern tip of the continent – which is about the same (sub-antarctic) latitude as Macquarie Island.





Our southward migration though Brazil took us past endless kilometres of eucalypt plantations (celulose pulp for paper), sugar cane (for sugar but mostly for ethanol fuel) and cattle grazing land, and also beach after beach with sunbathing Brazilians on holidays. We saw relatively little native vegetation.

We loved Brazil, mostly because of Brazilians who are so friendly, and Brazilian food is great. However, apparently the bike didn't like Brazil – as we had our share of problems on the way.





You can buy just about anything on the beach, if you happen to have your credit card tucked into your bathers...


Mobile cocktail bar.


Mobile disc-jockey (a guy - yes that's a dummy in his mouth!), and Carmen and myself after too many Caipirinhas....



When I grow up......






Travelling though mangroves in a dug-out canoe, near Itacare.


The bike had been idling roughly for the past few days (probably bad fuel I thought) then in the middle of nowhere the motor died and we rolled to a stop. No amount of coaxing would make it start. As I was getting the tools out a young guy appeared  – said he loved bikes and could he help? We spent the afternoon beside the road under the shade of a tree pulling the bike apart trying to find the problem, which turned out to be a blown rubber seal in the fuel pump assembly located (inconveniently) inside the fuel tank. The seal is part of the high-pressure (50 psi) fuel injection system – not something you can fix beside the road. We needed to get the bike to a Honda doctor.

Using some rope from Carmen's small travel hammock, our friend towed us with his (small) 200 cc bike to a service station that was (fortunately) only a few km up the road. That evening we loaded our bike on a truck that took us 100 km to Campos, which was the nearest town.


Small bike towing a big bike.


The next morning I took the bike parts to the Honda dealer. Bianka (I think she was supervisor of spare parts) spent about 2 hours phoning around to try to locate another fuel pump assembly (typical of spare motor parts, you can't buy just the 50-cent rubber seal, you have to buy the whole $600 fuel pump assembly). None available in South America and things were not looking good as we'd probably have to wait 30 days for one to arrive (and FedEx courier was apparently not an option) (I'm wracking my brains at this point- did I know anyone in Spain who could buy one from the Barcelona Honda factory and send it FedEx??). Waiting 30 days blows our chance of going to Tierra Del Fuego and completing our circumnavigation of South America.

Bianka had another idea and argued over the phone with the head office to get permission take a fuel pump from one of the display bikes (and replace it later), but she had no luck there. Not giving up so easily, she knew a mechanic in town who might be able to help – he came out to the Honda shop and took the fuel pump bits and pieces away, saying give him 4 hours to see if he can fix it.

Bianka and Jonis (a young mechanic from the Honda shop) dropped by the hotel after work with the great news that the mechanic had fixed the problem using a similar seal from a car fuel injection system and some O-rings. Jonis and I spent about an hour in the hotel carpark putting the fuel pump back into the bike and checking that all was OK. The bike ran beautifully. When I asked for the bill, they said “nothing, happy to help”. We were emotionally moved by the generosity and persistence of Bianka, and also her amazing mechanic friend and her colleague Jonis - it was worth having the bike problem just to meet such wonderful people!



Bianka and Jonis, who helped get us back on the road.

We spent a few days in Rio de Janeiro doing the usual touristy things - cable car to SugarLoaf Mountain (views to Rio and the huge statue of Christ), walking on Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, etc. We joined the long queues to get to the top of Mount Corcovado to the statue of 'Jesus Christ the Redeemer' (probably the most famous icon of Rio) but standing in front of the enormous statue, all we could see were the huge feet – the rest was obscured by cloud!



Mount Corcovado and the huge statue of Christ above Rio de Janeiro


Famous Ipanema beach, Rio de Janeiro



Roadside lunch-stop, we enjoyed the tropical fruit.

For us, the highlight of Rio was the Botanic Gardens, and the surrounding Atlantic Forest. Thanks to Jim Croft (Australian National Botanic Gardens), we met up with his friend Eduardo Dalcin of the Rio Botanic Gardens, and we were given a VIP 'behind the scenes' tour of the herbarium and gardens. Eduado (a real character) is involved in an ambitious project to convert over 1 million pressed plant specimens into a 'virtual herbarium' – which requires millions of high resolution photographs and petabytes of computer storage space. In addition to the flora, the birds in the garden are wonderful – we were fortunate to see several Channel-billed Toucans.



Botanic Gardens, Rio de Janeiro



Botanic Gardens, Rio de Janeiro



Atlantic Forest around the Botanic Gardens, on the slopes of Mount Corcovado (higher slopes covered in cloud).



Carmen and Eduardo (holding a Brazil-nut pod), Botanic Gardens, Rio de Janeiro


Famous musician and composer Antonio Carlos Jobim ('Girl from Ipanema' etc) was 'instrumental' in establishing the Botanic Gardens and wrote many of his songs under this tree.



Dusky-legged Guan, Rio Botanic Gardens

South of Rio, in Florianopolis, we had another mechanical problem (front sprocket and spline). As I was trying to find parts in the Honda shop (none available in Brazil and a 20-day wait for them to arrive), standing next to me was José from Argentina, who was on holidays with his family (Rosa and the two kids). José knew most of the bike parts shops in Florianopolis (he owns a bike parts shop in Buenos Aires) and he and his family spent the afternoon driving me around Florianopolis trying to find the correct parts for my bike (but no luck).  Carmen stayed with the bike and was surprised to see me return in a large van with a family! José had a look at the bike and temporarily fixed the problem using parts from another bike – hopefully sufficient to get me 1500 km to Buenos Aires, where he had the correct parts in his shop.



José and Rosa, with kids Maximo (visiting Brazil to represent Argentina in motocross) and Melany. I don't think we would have made it from Brazil to Argentina without their help.


We left Rio and headed to Sao Paulo, one of the biggest cities in the world (20 million people), to catch up with Fernando, a friend who we have not seen for 20 years (since the days when we all worked on Cane Toad ecology in Venezuela). Amazing how time doesn't seem to pass between good friends, and it was great to meet his wife (Mary) and young daughter (Ayme).



Fernando and Mary teaching young Ayme to dance (starting at such a young age, no wonder they grow up to be great dancers in Brazil and Venezuela).


Strange rock formations (covered in lichen), Seven Cities National Park (Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades).


Fuel stops are often a social affair - we've met many other bikers, such as the Brazilian 'Comanche Bike Club' in this photo. In a typical scenario, we had a 20 minute chat and then they said good-by like we're family by giving us big bear-hugs.