Sao Paulo to Curitiba, Monday, 18 March 2013, Day 258

Is this how Philly is feeling at the moment?

I had breakfast with A & A as Jake and Andrea had already gone to work. A & A heading to the airport to catch a plane to Munich to pick up Gunnar (there Daisy) to then drive to Bucharest I hope the weathers is not to bad for them and Philly is heading South destination at this stage unknown.

A & A heading back to Bucharest so yet another bye bye photo been a few hopefully there will be more 🙂

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Jake and Andrea for being the perfect hosts to a total stranger at such short notice I am not sure you know how much I appreciate such gestures and how nice it is to stay at folks houses after you have been on the road for so long and I very much enjoyed meeting you and getting to share your bit of Brazil for an evening so for that I thank you 🙂

Daisy is looking cleaner which is a benefit of all the rain however my sheepskin is still wet and my riding kit is still damp but this will dry out on the way (Optimist). It was dull and overcast as I tried to find my way out of Sao Paulo back to the coast and before I knew it I was raining again so it looks like another wet day in the saddle and it was. It rained then stopped then rained some more  and I did not see much when it was raining it was probably a very pretty ride that I did but I was in the clouds or it was pissing down so I could not see much along the way. I had to be pretty focussed all day as roads where very greasy and treacherous when wet.

Daisy amongst the Bananas

As I was heading down the coast wet damp and not been able to see anything the thought that was going through my head was why am I doing this I should just call it quits and go home. I think I was a bit jealous of A & A who where on the plane heading home and just seen a glimpse of being at home at Jakes and Andreas and I was a bit road weary myself and it was going to be another month before I would be back in my little pad in Holland. So I was doing the calculation on how long I would need to get to Buenos Aires and could I move my flight forward could Sandra get Daisy on a plane earlier so in other words I was wet miserable lonely and I wanted to go home. But than the other side of the argument kicked in Phillip Dean Beckwith you jammy shit you are riding a wonderful motorcycle Daisy through Brazil you are going to ride down along the coast to and through Uruguay as well. You have the luxury currently of not having to work and the huge opportunity to experience stuff other folk’s just dream about and you are out there doing it now. You will be bored shitless after being back for a week wishing you where here just like how you are wishing you are back at home at the moment so in short after wallowing and feeling sorry for myself gave myself a little pep talk and at that moment the sun should have come out birds should have starting singing with nice music fading in but that did not happen it just kept on raining so I started the singing myself and I punched in Curitiba as my new destinations in my GPS as I am always happier when I have a target and it’s a good sign when Philly is singing as normally this means he is happy. About that taking it easy it was 2pm and Curitiba was 280km wet riding away so I also was happy at giving myself stupid hard stretch targets it leaves me less time for wallowing and feeling sorry for myself as I now needed to focus on the job on hand instead.

I pulled up at the place that I had punched into my GPS 4 hours ago with no feeling in my fingers as it was cold and I was soaked to the skin. I was not sure what the place I was heading for would be like but it turned to be an Hostelling International place so not to expensive and a courtyard for Daisy and a simple one bed room for Philly and across the road a shopping mall with a huge food court so in short everything I need after another long wet day in the saddle so I settle in hung up all my wet kit and went for some food and aI  wander then back to the hostel to update this and then to bed. I  had a blanket for the first time in ages it is a complete change in the weather from hot and sweaty to cold and wet so all I need is to get rid of either the sweaty and or the wet part and I would be much happier but as I have no influence on this lets just roll with punches and see what tomorrow will bring 🙂

Hopefully the sun will come out down the road and I will get to see what is hidden behind the veil of clouds and rain heres hoping 🙂

Curitiba, Tuesday, 19 March 2013,Day 259

Curitiba great Murals and artwork!

After my little bit of wallowing and self pity yesterday I have decided to stick with the original plan and just keep on rolling even though the weather and my mood is telling me to pull the plug earlier but after reviewing the situation I am going to try and relax and slow the pace right down and try to enjoy what is left of my trip so with that in mind I booked another night in Curitiba and after a long leisurely breakfast and instead of chilling and relaxing what does Philly do he goes straight out into town heading for a laundry round the corner and then spends the next 5 hours just walking around it as if he has no idea on how to take it easy. It was not raining and only drizzled every now and again so a lot cooler ideal condition for just wandering. A nice town with some interesting sculptures and murals doted all over the place and an interesting modern art building which looked fantastic.

Modern Art Museum Curitiba

I got back to the laundry place at 3pm and my laundry was supposed to be ready at 2pm but it still was not finished it had just come out of the drier so I am glad I did not turn when I was supposed to be ready. I went back to the hostel to have a bit of a rest and to try and get this bleeding thing up to date so I spent a couple of hours working on this and then of for another wander round town to find some dinner.

  

      

  

Back to the Hostel again working on this and doing some planning for the coming days and then beddy byes so that was a Philly rest and relax day I am going to have to work on my slowing it down skills as this is certainly not taking it easy but very enjoyable day none the less 🙂

Curitiba to Blumenau, Wednesday, 20 March 2013, Day 260

Blumenau in the Rain

Todays destination is a Germanic town of Blumenau that Jake had told me about all I know is that there is a huge beer festival every year biggest in the world after Munich and allegedly lots of pretty girls. Not to far so no hurry to leave weather dull and overcast as I leave Curitiba it sort of try’s to rain all day but not enough to put my waterproofs on but damp and greasy in places.

I am heading for a Posada I had the address of and just as I find the place after riding around in ever decreasing circles its starts to rain. I checked in and I was debating on how long to stay as I had no idea what there was to do in this place. There was a mini beer festival, which was starting today which is the universe way of taking the piss out of Philly as he had decided to stay dry till he gets home 😦  lady at the hostel is not sure she has space for tomorrow night so I book in for one night and go for a wander and it is really pissing down. I walk around in the rain for a couple of hours and I am piss wet through I am sure this may be a nice town but in this weather not that attractive a nice modern cathedral and German looking buildings dotted all over the place. I get in to ruck about 50 cents on a bill for a pasty and a coke I had so I am still in a looking for a ruck kind of mood or maybe I was just soaked and tired and sick of getting screwed even if its only for 50 cents so what has happened to the relaxed chilled out Philly it looks like he still hiding I need to drag him out or its not going to be a very nice couple of weeks. I headed back to the Posada soaked to the skin by now and I was going to take a look at the beer festival but it was to far to walk in this weather and the temptation to fall of the wagon and go on a serious bender was there and I am not sure that is the wisest move at this moment 🙂

I spent the evening trying to get my kit dry and reading I have started a new book as part of the lets get Phill to slow down and relax campaign John Grisham novel so not so taxing and easy reading.