Rio de Janeiro to Trindade, Friday, 15 March 2013, Day 255

Nice Spot on the way to Trindade

I am not in a hurry to hit the road, as I am not planning on going that far today only to a place called Paraty. Whilst having my breakfast I was chatting to a German/ Greek guy called Michael who tells me about a really nice hostel in a smaller less touristy village a bit further down the coast so I have a new destination that being the Kaissara Hostel Trindade.

I was going to follow the coast all the way down and I was expecting a gorgeous ride but for the first part it was not so interesting but it got slightly better as the day went on.

 

I stopped at a Nuclear Power Station on the way down which had an info center but unfortunately all in Portuguese and as yet I have not got a clue about the Portuguese language I am still trying to get my head around Spanish. However I do like the language as it makes me giggle as to say hello is oi! And the way the pronounce things is very amusing and very child like from my perspective so even though I do not understand 99% of it I do like listening to it been spoken.

They where painting the roof of the power station I do hope the rest of the maintenance was up to spec and a bit more safer than how they where doing the roof! as It looks like they missed a bit!

painting a nuclear power plant maybe that may be my next job!

    

A very pleasant run into Paraty, the GPS as usual is throwing a strop and sending me into the bushes and the jungle on non-existent roads so I am ignoring it as its well signposted here. Tight thin wiggly road to Trinidad but the views are spectacular down to the beaches then all of a sudden the road stops. I pull up behind a car that has also stopped and we look at each and ask what happened to the road?  there is a stream flowing over some rocks and huge boulder ahead so no way forward then another car appears from the right coming through the water and that is  when we both noticed the road is there to the right so just a minor stream crossing to negotiate.

My destination for today looks alright!

I found the hostel set in a rain forest at the end of a dirt track lovely little place I could spend some time here but as usual I had sort arranged to meet Alex and Andrea in Sao Paulo on Sunday as they where flying home on Monday but I still had a couple of nights here.

Kaissara Hostel Nice 🙂

I went for a walk and paddle along the beach and then back to the Hostel as George the owner was cooking and then I spent a pleasant evening on the veranda where there was a German guy Tom and an English girl Lucy playing the guitar and singing. Usually this kind of stuff is Phillys worst nightmare as I cringe whenever I see a guitar in a hostel as normally there is some talentless git crucifying your favourite songs trying to be as cool as hell and normally failing miserably. However these two could play and sing a bit as well so it was a very pleasant entertaining and relaxing evening. Hostel not so crowded so a very pleasant vibe just chilling.

Trindade and Paraty, Saturday, 16 March 2013, Day 256

Paraty Brazil Pretty!

Excellent breakfast and at a civilised time from 9am to 11am so I had a sleep in as well. Plan today was to catch a bus to Paraty check that out and then back to Trindade to see the other beaches and have a swim in the natural salt water pools. So another busy day planned so much for slowing down and taking it easy guess I do not do or cannot do taking it easy as I always seem to be busy doing something I very rarely stop for a breather as I get restless very quickly so I am always on the move so I guess that’s why I am always totally exhausted but in a nice way 🙂

      

                    

As usually Phillys is out in the Midday sun again but it is a nice bus ride to Paraty only about 40 minutes and I spend a couple of hours just wandering around this picturesque and interesting place and then back to Trindade where Toms joins me for the trek to the natural pools which is about 2km walk along the beach and up and down a couple of mountain paths but well worth the walk we spend a while swimming there and then its back to the Hostel.

One for the ladies 🙂

The Hostel is a lot busier than the previous night so no collective cooking tonight so I head out for a pizza and then back on the veranda just chatting to the folks there. At 12pm we head down to one of the beach bars and I was nearly tempted into having a drink but I have decided to stay dry until I get home so that’s 146 days without a drink and it will be 175 days in total so that is nearly 6 months dry it makes you want a drink! It is getting harder to abstain especially after a hot hard day in the saddle but I can go back to being a pisshead when I get home 🙂

Trindade to Sao Paulo, Sunday, 17 March 2013,Day 257

No photos at all taken today due to extreme wet weather conditions so a random shot from yesterday!

Today I had arranged to meet Andrea and Alex in Sao Paulo and they where staying with an American Chap called Jake who they had found via ADV Riders Tent Space and I had also dropped him a line a couple of days of ago asking could I also stay at the same time and the response was sure so I had a destination back to Sao Paulo the only problem was it was pissing down with rain but I guess this is to be expected when you are staying in a rain forest. So I packed Daisy in the rain said Tata to everyone I was a bit sad to be leaving as I could have easily stayed a couple more days in this great little place but you know me onward and forward it is unlikely that I will double back but I highly recommended the Kaissara Hostel in Trindade unless you are an arse then your are not welcome 🙂

It was further and longer than I thought to Sao Paulo you probably thinking its Phillys planning and map reading gone wrong again but today I will blame the weather it never stopped raining all day and I mean raining the proper hard wet stuff I was soaking wet all day.I had to negotiate some seriously tricky roads steep winding roads with cars crawling up the hills on roads that where more like rivers than roads it would be just about ok if no traffic but a huge amount of slow stop start traffic on very steep inclines with little to no grip so Daisy clutch was given a serious workout today I am trying not to stop as when you did you had to try a cover the back brake as the front had no weight or grip on it so it would lock and then start sliding backwards and I am not very good at going backwards some say not very good in going forward either 🙂  (ABS is no good in these conditions either)

But as Daisy is fully loaded and is pretty heavy so holding her up on one leg whilst sliding backwards and trying to cover the back brake as well is very difficult so there was a lot of cursing going on in Phillys Nolan Helmet today.

Then I hit all the tolls road into Sao Paulo so I had to stop and take my sopping wet gloves of pull out my soggy wet wallet to pay the toll a slow wet and unnecessary exercise in my view but I do not have much choice.

I was a wet soggy mess when I reached Jakes flat in the Sao Paulo after getting lost on Sao Paulo’s spaghetti junctions more than once.

A quick shower and I was sort of human again and had an excellent evening with Jake and his wife Andrea and A & A and little Olivia there 2 year old daughter keeping us all entertained. A Brazilian BBQ the meat it just kept on coming all night, which was fantastic for this hungry carnivore. So a tough wet day today but it finished with excellent company and the perfect hosts so a big thank you to Jake, Andrea and Olivia for being so hospitable to this wet weary traveller it is most appreciated.

  

Views from Jakes flat only took 2 piccies today due to bad weather

So after the perfect evening after a wet day in the saddle there’s was only one casualty that being Phillys Passport I had it in its usual place in my Rukka jacket pocket but I guess today there was just to much water as it was a soggy mess a lot of the Visas are ruined I think the Brazilian one is just about legible fortunately but lots of the others are ruined so this could be a problem further down the road. Last time I ruined a passport like this I could not leave the country for 2 months until I got a new one this and this was in Hong Kong in 96 just before the handover so I am hoping it will not be the same issue here!