Out of the bubble.........

Link to the next Bubble... out of it!

margitpirsch — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 23:56:00 GMT

.....https://bicyclediariesinfo.blogspot.com/

Out of the bubble, by Margit Pirsch

New journal platform!!!

margitpirsch — Sat, 2 Nov 2019 01:07:00 GMT

This is now my new journal platform and all my next posts will available under this link:

https://bicyclediariesinfo.blogspot.com/2019/10/our-first-little-weekend-in-7th-biggest.html

Bare with me while I stumble around in this new site to create a journal platform I can work with.

I am closing this journal with the summary clip of Brazil:

https://gopro.com/v/57bQvzmlg3MR8

Our first “little” weekend in the 7th biggest city in the world.

margitpirsch — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 06:07:00 GMT

Note: world nomads won’t let me insert any links or photos right now....I will try later...

October 14th.

Somehow we landed us a WarmShower gig at a retired university professor with his wife and her momma.

Riding up from the coast AND through São Paul to his home was one enormous day! Our park security friends back on our dream road had warned us about the favelas entering the city with it’s 12. + million people. My awareness was extremely heightened when we exited the highway following google directions. I felt like I had grown eyes all around my head and sadly enough every person was suspicious to me wanting to take parts of my Gurly, all of her, me, James, my money, my passport..... I don’t want to be that way!!! But I also don’t want to be “blue eyed”.....ignorant....... if not to say: stupid! We’ve been so lucky...no need to push it!

Keep moving...and -of course- we entered smack into rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon.

Off the highway, we crossed an 18 lane road (both ways) on a pedestrian pass which had a nice, wide, easy ramp up and then down on the other side. Now we had a sweet little bike path to follow for a while, but then we stood in front of some steep stairs with a 15 inch wide “ramp” at an almost 45 degree angle on a pedestrian bridge leading across a bunch of railways......: Not with our bikes....not with 60kg each. That narrow, sweet little bike path led us to this disaster, spiced with some shady personalities, undesirable fragrances and no other way out, no elevator, no handicap access.......railways on one side and 18 lane traffic on the other. James tried to scout out some alternatives, while I watched both bikes like a hawk. Two young guys watched us...others just picked up their feather light commuter bikes and hurried up and down the stairs while I got to watch. I chewed on my dirty fingers while I waited for James to hopefully come back with better news. It took way too long...with no rewarding news, except that there was an easy ramp down on the other side where we eventually needed to go.

How? Take the bags off the bikes? Leave them unattended while running up and down this thing? Leave the bikes unattended while picking up the bags? Not quite as bad as Sophie’s choice, but still....

The two guys were still watching...then they talked to each other....I looked at them....they approached....and in unmistakable gestures showed us that they are going to help us carry our bikes to the top. And they did!! Good people everywhere! Don’t forget! Big smiles....heartfelt “OBRIGADOS” (for that and other reasons: my faith in humanity restored..... yet again.) Our first human connection in the city of São Paulo: ✅

Our professor has much energy and seems to be delighted to take it out on us! With no days rest (after our arrival in São Paulo which was an adventure of and in itself as you probably read prior to this entry), we were invited to cycle to his little birth village of

Vila de Paranapiacaba.

This charming village was established during the middle of the 19th century; it was designed by Jeremy Bentham according to a prison model style.It was founded by the British-owned São Paulo Railway Company. The construction of this zig-zag railway line in the hilly local terrain was considered a feat by the British engineers and workers at the time. The town was built when the company built the railway line to export coffee beans from the area through the port Santos. The village prospered for 30 years, until automated machinery replaced the funicular, which was labor-intensive. The village's population suddenly declined and many of its buildings were abandoned.At one time, there were 4,000 workers, most of them British citizens. The last steam train in Paranapiacaba was deactivated for labor work in 1982.

Arnaldo’s father’s job was to keep this Lokomotive running.

City design:

Paranapiacaba was designed in a special model style. Because of its remoteness, the town has been well preserved. The buildings were all of English style (even the large homes were of Victorian style) built with wood and bricks.The houses in the town are all made of timber and looks like a mofussil area of Surrey. The town was laid out in the 1890s in a grid pattern. Even though Brazil attained independence in 1822, its architectural styles were influenced by Portuguese colonizers and by the British.The town is stated as having more English architecture than perhaps anywhere else in the country.

Here it’s remote location, so you get an idea.

Santo André - State of São Paulo, Brazil

https://goo.gl/maps/R6HgnTdUSK5EdYCt6

Sunday, Funday!

We met up with our host’s friend

and were safely escorted by the two of them through the funnest parts of the city’s downtown where the main road “Avenida Paulista”

first constructed in 1891

is closed to motor vehicles on Sundays. Here the history of Sao Paulo’s battle to become a cycle-able city. Super sad and terrifying but successful at the end:

and it’s famous park: Ibirapuera.

was packed full with “happy campers” of the city.

During the week, cycling is more about commuting and our host advised us to stay in his comfy home and rest. He has some night rides plant for us when the city is calmer and the “have to hurry” traffic is more subdued.

It is a pleasure to be guests in his house with his family members and the energy of cycling as a high priority.

We are pretty much staying put until that “big metal bird” will take us next Monday straight across the Atlantic, to another city, to another country, to another continent called: Cape-Town, South Africa.

The NO WAY to São Paulo or “Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt” (Who doesn’t dare, doesn’t win)

margitpirsch — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 11:59:00 GMT

Saturday October 12th.

We gathered a bunch of conflicting information how to get to São Paulo on our bikes. James and I were clear that we are going to cycle ....we both had no interest of taking the bus! We were told by one source “Bus is the only way”. Let’s challenge that!

We left early in the morning from São Vicente (near Santos by the coast) on a Friday. We were planning to beat the traffic...especially the truck traffic through the 13 tunnels leading up the mountains. Another cycle source told us they would ride it in the middle of the night on a weekend. All the roads in that direction are closed to cyclists! (Hence the bus)

We didn’t want to miss breakfast in our sweet little, cheap hotel, so we didn’t leave until 6:30am. Friday morning...really? Two mistakes right off the bat!

Weather was good ..but I was definitely feeling a little anxious.....or maybe just FREAKED OUT!!!

The parts where you can see all those bridges were enticingly beautiful ....the rest are tunnels...

https://gopro.com/v/36wdXbb1DGvnn

Major trucks already had the road...Friday morning rush hour traffic in full swing...what the heck were we thinking???

A police station by the road - YES! A Police man outside watching the traffic not far from this sign.

I am secretly thinking: We are saved!!! - They are gonna chase us off this crazy road before it is too late! But no, he waved “Bom dia” to us...is what happened! Ok, we are going to do this thing! I hit the pedals!

The first tunnel scared the crap out of me and it wasn’t even that long....second one we were followed closely by a huge truck. He could have passed us (no shoulder!)...others did, but he stayed behind and I got the feeling he was shielding us (positive thinking!). And yes, we had ALL our lights and flashers going...in case you were wondering..

By the time the next tunnel came around (we only had 11 more to go...some of which were 2km long) I was as calm as a clam now....eyes forward ...steady .....keep the goal in mind and go...don’t look behind....GO!!

BUT there was a car from “IBAMA” (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Institute_of_Environment_and_Renewable_Natural_Resources?wprov=sfti1) right by the tunnel entrance (I think he saw us and decided to do something about our suicidal actions)

And that friendly person pointed to a hidden road in the jungle - easily accessible from where we were standing “this is the old road and it is MUCH SAFER and SO MUCH MORE beautiful” is how he “sold” it to us. He winked an eye..and it leads back eventually to “our” highway on top of the Plato.

No need to tell us twice...

A dream road: back in time....jungle twisting, moss growing, flowers blooming

frogs hopping

and snakes snaking road. It was winding around upwards, surprise waterfalls waiting for us...

https://gopro.com/v/dMWm82wELbLdo

only those pillars and truck/car noises came around every once in a while to bring us back

“to reality”, but often we were further away listening to jungle noises only. Half way through a small car caught up with us - park ranchers? Security Police! Private road! No access allowed!

We told them about the IBAMA guy...Oh, well, he wanted you off the no -cycle- highway - he didn’t want to be responsible for you and we want you off this road, because we can’t be responsible for you either! You can’t be on this road! It’s closed to the public! It’s private park road!

Well.....? Now what...? We are already on it...what you gonna do with us?

And -as in typical Brazilian fashion -they looked at our bikes and became distractingly curious: What are you doing? Where are you coming from? Where are you going...? (Clearly impressed....jaws dropped....mouths wide open...)

We chit -chatted for a while and then: Ok, you can ride the 11km to the end, but promise us to never, ever ride this park road again!

Promised!

And so we had an escort - they waited at turns where it wasn’t clear which way the road was going. We helped them clear a big branch off the road with James’s machete (alway handy to have!!!) We looked together for frogs who had survived the fallen branch.

They showed us pictures of a snake we had missed (not venomous).

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3hJ08zF1pmle1H91ZgvMsf8-uKxsvKu2LMWWo0/?igshid=118hzijvv5yty

We exchanged names and learned that all four of our last names start with a P! We became friends on FB and Instagram. All this, until we had to part and the big highway had tamed...no more tunnels and bridges and a nice wide shoulder. Our little dream road came to an end....It had kicked us off with some brutally steep sections and a dusty, lumpy/bumpy full of muddy/puddle section by over 100 degrees F...but it was still dreamy.... a happy, dirty dream at the end.

Riding into São Paulo delivered us with another set of challenges, but after this introduction, we were blissfully ignorant and anyways: all is and went well.

São Paulo close in reach and a ticket to leave.

margitpirsch — Tue, 8 Oct 2019 06:35:00 GMT

October 1st.

Zigzagging our way north. Brazil is cool! There is ALWAYS good food around and people to be friendly with. This country is easy to travel in and I am already “homesick” for it when I think about leaving this great place.

A whole new world will start up in Africa - in a way I am looking forward to communicate in English again...at least in S. Africa, but I also know that new adjustments will have to be made and that is why I travel, right? Wouldn’t you know how fast you can create that “bubble” again ...that place where you are back in a new comfort zone only to break out again, struggle a bit and then get that cushy bubbly feeling where you think you got it all figured out - or at least mostly.

But we are still in Brazil and we rode through the mountains and the forest back to the coast after we checked out some caves, traipsing through deep waters and hanging on for dear life under waterfalls that have never seen daylight....checking out creatures that have no eyes, because they don’t need them in the dark.

We squeezed between rocks in the dark (but with headlights, thank god) wondering if our guide will ever find the way out again. Check it out in this little clip summary of our cave adventure:

https://gopro.com/v/vPNJayPBqKe8q

We could have stayed longer in this park, but the legs want to pedal and the coast was calling again. Caldo de Cana

armed with my favorite juice - it’s all just a breeze and the mountains don’t seem quite so high anymore and the sun/heat was just perfect for those couple of days until we could put our feet in the salty water of the Atlantic Ocean again, slurping ice cream.

We camped in Peruíbe, a little private campground ...riding over a very steep, short, old concrete bridge and then struggling in the deep sand trying to turn the Gurly wheels... by the end of the day, we almost gave up! Google has sent us to places before that don’t exist (anymore?). We were a bit suspicious to say the least, but we kept going. It was the only official camping on that stretch. And there it was “Camping por do Sol” a little sign on the wall and the Brazil version of Mogli came out to greet us and confirmed we are in the right place! A real jungle boy with wild, curly, black hair, a white speckled horse and a couple of 4 week old, awfully cute puppies. Mogli’s name was actually Gabriel. His eyes were a little blood shot and the faint smell of marijuana accompanied him.

I don’t think many travelers find this little place after leaving the pavement a few miles back in the actual village of Peruíbe here at the end of a sandy road, past barking dogs, broken cars and raggedy ball playing children with their jaws wide open when they see something that doesn’t look like it belongs in their neighborhood. It was one of those gems I cherish and I am bummed I didn’t take any photos, but I hope some of these words help describe the scene.

Google said we have 14km to go to our destination for the next day: Cicloturistas Ciclistas Itanhaém

but on the road, the sign said: 28km. That is twice the distance! At the end it was 24km. So what the heck?

It was a short day, but on long days on the bike, 14km makes a huge difference at the end of a day.

We are here now at the Casa ciclista , playing “house” with a sweet traveling partner couple from Buenos Aires. The rain is back and it’s cozy as can be....

Our Atlantic puddle jumping tickets from São Paulo (still 100km) to Cape Town (South Africa) are booked for the 21st of this month and we have a few more days...couple of weeks actually...to make a few detours around the big city along the coast or mosey directly into the big metropolitan closer to the airport. But for right now it‘s raining again and we love “our little house” here with Patricia and Juan, sharing food, travel stories and -believe it or not - the same “Bates Motel” addiction while we actually let it be drippy and grey outside without any judgment.

Morretes, Curitiba and beyond

margitpirsch — Mon, 7 Oct 2019 03:30:00 GMT

September 24th 2019

We cycled away from the coast again after saying good bye to Renato in Vila da Gloria..

through the rain to the train in Morretes

where that little fancy hotel made us feel like king and queen. We packed up the bikes and used that wet day chugging up to Curitiba through the mountains through the jungle and though we wished we could see the incredible scenery through the fog, but it still had its charms just watching the dripping and listening to the rhythm of an old train making its way through that jungle.

Curitiba was cold and gloomy at first, but our hosts were most heart warming and took us into their tiny little apartment as if we were old friends just stopping by. The most impressive bakery with home made cakes right around the corner

and the incredible Oscar Niemeyer Museum

made the time in this city most memorial. But our hosts “took the cake” by being so much fun! (Again, we wrestled 4 languages, which always adds to entertainment). There was a huge city market and when James and I decided to get a salmon for dinner we didn’t know we would actually make the best salmon dinner we ever had. Thinking about it still makes my mouth water...and we all talked about it for days.

When we left, the weather improved and we were joined for a while by one of our hosts and got sent in the right direction over some impressive mountains with breathtaking views and deeper into the forest.

My legs were aching - they haven’t been worked like this for weeks and Gurly started making some scary, deep groaning, unhappy noises - she sounded just like I felt that first day after leaving Curitiba. My pain subsided with more pedaling the next day, but Gurly got worse.....in fact she sounded like she is going to quit on me. It wasn’t obvious what was wrong with her, so, at the end of that day James and I looked her up and down gave her some TLC, cleaning this and that, rubbing and oiling various parts and changing a cable, adjusting the tension and voila! next day she was humming again like a little bird - my Gurly bird!! Carrying me to and through these places....( I think she didn’t like all that rain)

Now I feel like a can cycle the world again and off we went onto dirt roads into the Petar -Alto Ribeira State Park.

Here we took in the view on a little cut out by the narrow dirt road when a van pulled up with three guys jumping out asking questions and the next thing we knew, they pulled out their film camera and all the equipment to shoot a little interview/documentary about us and that is how we earned our hats.

We have yet to find that gig about us on their website:

http://g1.globo.com/sp/campinas-regiao/terra-da-gente/

And then pedaled on to explore caves and waterfalls in the warms and sunshine of the promising summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

Back to the coast!

margitpirsch — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 10:57:00 GMT

Sept. 18th 2019

We’ve been so used to dilly dallying, that we can’t find a reason to cycle any faster than 20- 30 km a day. That is less than what I rode daily at home on my way to work, plus I took power yoga and inferno Pilates classes ever day as well.

https://vimeo.com/361147770

I’ve been feeling blissfully lazy, bathing in the comfort of our hosts and beautiful surroundings. The Atlantic Tropical Rainforest

has a grip on us and there is no other reason than slowly crawling along between the ocean and the forests enjoying the gifts it has to give: Waterfalls, beaches, villages, bakeries, tropical plants/forests, ferries, boats, ice cream, chocolate, swimming holes

https://gopro.com/v/62O6LP0V9VRZv

amazing food, teeth cleaning, poker games

kids

and most importantly welcoming, interesting and fun hosts who seem to honestly enjoy our company

The sun hasn’t been out to greet us for days now and it doesn’t even bother me ...much.....The temperatures are reasonable and the sunny greetings of the locals, who integrate us into their daily lives every step we take, is intoxicating and we basically stumble around like drunk, making little headway. And?: who is counting? São Paulo is not going away any time soon (on a negative note though, when I look/listen at/to the news, I believe human kind could be extinct sooner than later...not in our live time? Ya, right!) ..and Africa isn’t either!

The closer we get to the big metropolitan area of this big city of São Paulo the more I feel like we have tons to do for the next jump over the puddle, but right now and right here we are still far enough away (360km) that I don’t quite feel the pull. When that magnet starts pulling I’ll jump in the saddle soon enough and get excited -I know - and until then we are going to keep that goofy pace.

Blumenau, Brazil, on September the 16th 2019

margitpirsch — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 10:38:00 GMT

And now we are in Blumenau. A wanna be German town. Dr. Blumenau and his wife were actually the first settlers of this town. It was highly recommended to us - especially to me. But - even though it has it's German roots - it was mostly a facade and Octoberfest, Lederhosen, Dirndel and -of course- beer are the attractions.

The highlight for me was staying in Adelaide's home, meeting her family and friends and also meeting up with Philipp (a German world cyclist who we met in Iguaçu and who has been "chasing”after us since we said good bye back at the falls to bring us some items we had forgotten back there).

We were A's first WS guests and she enthusiastically opened up her home and herself to us. She spoke some German, some English, Spanish and -of course- Portuguese. Seldom have I met such a curious, tireless and excited woman -in the midst of a full work schedule none -the -less -to patiently share and continue to learn all those languages, listen and tell stories and be fully and joyfully present. She also dealt with James’

https://gopro.com/v/m0VwKKZE2VPo3

and Philipp's birthday's

when we basically took over the whole kitchen, baking Bienenstich

cooking Spätzle and Kartoffelsalat. James cooked a traditional Brazilian dish (moqueca) and the kitchen was ours for days.

The conversations were a mix of all four languages. My brain goes automatically from Spanish to German..rarely to English, but the Spanish/Portuguese words are bouncing around pretty loosely in some parts up there in my head. I don't even know what language I spoke in that mix at a given time, but phenomenally A and I got across what we wanted to say to each other most of the time and when we didn't we “cheated” with the iTranslate app. All the while looking for clues in the eyes and/or the facial expressions....even body language... of recognition/understanding for what one of us had just said......and then - a lot of the time - especially with the chance of 4 languages...one word, sentence or what - ever......”will bring it home” and that little spark in the eye will communicate that the efforts were paid off and were transformed into a happily confirming: é isso!! (That’s it!).

A joy for all and a happy ending for each given moment and there were so many, that we were not as much exhausted as we were elated by the whole experience. An incredible mix of cultures on the culinary, language, tradition and behavior level. Thanks to all the players in this game: I wouldn’t have want to miss it for the world!

Balneário Camboriú, Bates Motel and a riddle

margitpirsch — Sun, 8 Sep 2019 10:44:00 GMT

September, Monday the 2nd 2019

Such a silly thing to do is to get hooked on a TV show like “Bates Motel”, right after finishing being entertained by “The Marvelous Mrs Measel” why isn’t there a 3rd Season and why then even tell me it’s “coming soon” but not in my location? So, we are stuck watching “Bates” and got hooked. Though it gives me the heebie jeebies - I get itchy under my skin. Not sure if it is the actual content of the show or the affect of the screen while binge watching (oh, this one has 5 seasons with each 10 episodes). Watching movies or series on my iPad in the tent or anywhere is the new kind of traveling. It’s cozy, it’s weird, it’s familiar, it’s a little home it’s something to retire to when we are not social with who ever we are staying with.

Ok, back to “our” reality....... we were also weirded out by the skyline of Balneário Camboriú

2019

above is a before and after picture (1945 -2010)

but our WS host in this town is in love with it, yes, it is her Paradies as she waves her hand and proudly invites us to walk on the beach while we hear stories about this place and how “money laundering” makes it possible for rich people to stay rich or get more of what they think makes them happy with “dirty money”. 30% of these high rises are empty, cluttering the shoreline to make their money legal. Underneath all that weirdness, there is something fascinating in this picture for me. Humans and what they do for what ever their motivation is, they do. Selfishly ...fishy is part of the word. Still, I look at it and I am part of it...in it...deeply, if I like it or not and so it is!

It’s a jumble of blocks - each one a different color, each one a little different...looks like it’s put together by a giant kid playing . And happy people live here too who are not part of the laundrying! Working “real” jobs doing their thing. There was a little beach around the corner at the end of the long lined up building on the left behind

some rocks that looked like giant frogs....

and I fell asleep in the sand exhausted from walking (and not cycling!) and from looking up to see the end, each top of the cloud-scratcher while getting dizzy. The waves played their ancient song and lulled me into forgetting where I was ......just for a little while.

Beach sand on my hairy legs..is what that is!

Going the extra Km - August 30th

margitpirsch — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 06:10:00 GMT

We are taking detours from 101 north and space from “keep going” and are rewarded even though a lot of the little (but paved) roads are steep as hell - we even had to push our “plus size wire horses” at times......moans and groans accompanying us as we did. If a 20% grade makes sense to you, you know what I mean.

You see, there are quite a few “peninsulas” reaching into the Atlantic along the way and they have some hidden treasures.

The few hotels have become close to USA prizes - even though it’s still winter, so, we have done some pretty sweet free “wild” camping and today we are in a nice little campground right at Estaleirinho Beach. The rhythm and sounds last night -a lullaby the ocean is singing to us even during the day -convinced us to spend another night/day.

The time has us...we don’t have it - it has us and all we have to do is trying not pretend to be in control. Watching the waves today as a big portion of the day...there is not a single wave like the other. I don’t know if it is visible in the photos, but the beach is wavy...can’t you see? The water is sculpting the sand ....like the wind forms the dunes. I have never seen a “wavy” beach like that! (Perpendicular to the water)

I am feeling myself falling in love with this particular beach - it’s calling to me from different angles. I saw myself as a little girl climbing the cliffs on those islands I spend in the summer in the Mediterranean. Climbing around on the edge of the water, barefoot, getting sprayed by the waves ... a lot of the times I took off by myself which displeased my mother greatly, but my father “let me go” and often I wouldn’t come back until almost dark. I remember feeling proud and amazed I had that kind of freedom, even though that big body of water could swallow me up any time. Sometimes I just kept climbing so high I hadn’t realized how far down the water was all of a sudden. My father’s confidence filled me with confidence and I took special care not to disappoint him and me.

This little beach and the rocky shore here brought back those memories those feelings of “the lightness of being”.

A lot of times, when my father and I climbed the cliffs those days, we shared this “bubble” and we were alone together and “out of this world”

If my father would know I am 60 years old now (he died when I was 44), riding my bicycle around the world, he would quietly shake his head and say lovingly and with admiration (even though most of the time he did not understand what I was doing with my life): My old, crazy daughter.

Florianópolis, August 25th 2019

margitpirsch — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 05:34:00 GMT

Time to relaxe, being at ease with the people around us - not even speaking the language. Take the ease and don’t think about it!

Tracing some of James’ stomping grounds from 25 years ago. Hitting some resonating, good nerves and letting it all come in and do it’s thing.

Not all people he knew then have survived the last 25 years, but a lot of the houses, corners, rocks and trees are part of the memory too. The Matadeiro Beach has and had no road access, just trails and little bridges through the jungle and the whispering leaves singing their song alongside the Atlantic Ocean. We are transferred in time and yet, I wasn’t here 25 years ago...I know nothing about it and the now mixes with the past...all ancient around here ...even the laughter of the kids....the old whale bones from a time long, long ago when these beautiful giants got killed and the bones left. This information link about the Matadeiro Beach does not tell you about the bones, that are still found in that area as benches or railings or just “hidden” reminders here and there. James pointed them out to me...they are hard to detect: White washed from weather and time and not out of place.

https://wikimapia.org/121441/Matadeiro-Beach

Leaves me melancholic....but this buzzing, Brazilian life keeps going in these corners als well.

Our WarmShower hosts took us to another corner of the island to pick up some fat, tasty oysters. We cycled there - of course - picking up Caldo de Cana. Sugar Cane juice with lime and or ginger, like you woulnd’t believe! Last time I drank this energy giving elixir was in Ecuador (6 years ago) and I had almost forgotten about it....now I feel the same again, even though I lived fine all those years without it: I want this in my life! My judgement when I read “cane sugar” on the ingredient label of any food product- especially when it lines up in the first 3- hasn’t changed..but, really, what’s wrong with it? These amazing plants are born from this earth and when you run it through a machine and squeeze the juice out of it .....it taste like heaven to me and apparently to a lot of people.

It is advertised as a healthy drink and why shouldn’t it be? Full of the sweetness of the earth. I can’t get enough of it! That is what is happening and now, just writing those words, makes my mouth water and pine for more. Enough to want to make serious plans to start a business when I get back home to CA. I’d like you all to experience this fine addition to your life’s energy.

That day was “a day to write home about”. No doubt about it!

When we got back to M and N’s home we got the grill going and threw ourselves in action to create the meal of the day - me still buzzing from Cana Energie...(the other‘s second round was beer)

Gordo oysters like I have never seen before!

The night came late and we piled into a home a couple blocks down the road to enjoy a local Brazilian Band and I was mesmerized by sounds/visions/sensuality, beauty and language. Nobody - but my hosts- payed attention to me and I was happy to be a “fly on the wall”, drinking in the energy of the true Brazilian atmosphere. When I opened my eyes, I saw swaying bodies...lots of waving booties, dancing couples everywhere, from the kitchen to the gate outside, close to the music and far away from it. Seems like they were all “here now” Singles were riding the waves too...moving to the music, eyes closed or not...the mixes of all cultures representing human beings from all corners of our Mother Earth, not intentionally but organically. This feels like heaven!

Atlantic, here we come!

margitpirsch — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 04:07:00 GMT

We left after the rain and now we only have 130km to go to the Atlantic Ocean.

Another cold snap and a bit of head winds, but the roads are good with a nice comfy shoulder and the traffic is acceptable.

August 22nd 2019

Amazon fires: Record number burning in Brazil rainforest - space agency

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49415973

Well, a few days later and here we are. Don’t judge the day before the evening - it was a hard 100 km..only the last 30km were a breeze. There was a mountain range to climb over before getting to the coast, don’t you know? And funny: after a too long day we seek out the one hotel in that one little town Santo Amaro de Imperatriz, miss the road into town, go too far, but make a little detour, get back in and find, that only hotel is on top of the steepest hill. It was too late for any shenanigans so “we took a bite out of that sour apple” (German expression, in case you haven’t guessed) and climbed up that damn hill with our sore and noodle tired legs and settled into an ok situation with a drunken and too talkative host, but an ok situation to be able to take a shower and sleep well enough in a clean bed. We only had 30k to go and that gave us the last umpf the next day.....mostly downhill, traffic and the ocean breeze right in the face, but hey, who is complaining? The sight of the Atlantic the goal for the last 2 weeks...we gonna “jump” this puddle sooner than later to get to the other continent we have also been longing for: South Africa! But for now, this is amazingly good! I feel the connection....but James and I both don’t quite know what to do next. The Amazon is burning. Do we still want to ride north closer to São Paulo and closer to the hot, sad places of the burning jungle? The lungs of the earth are on fire while we are busy making other plans.

The political situation in Brazil is more than hostile. Under the corrupt regime of the currant president, Brazil has become a sad state of events at this time and I don’t know if we should just get the hell out of here, take the bus to the big city and fly away or just keep going as originally plant, which was riding the coast up north some 700km to São Paulo, also visit Rio de Janeiro and then fly either out of one or the other city.

We have a few days here in an incredible WarmShower situation. Recoup, recover and replan, besides, sleeping, eating and visiting the water where it meets the land.

Making headway to Florianópolis

margitpirsch — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 11:59:00 GMT

August 15th 2019

Moods change like the weather -while touring, the weather and the moods are even more unpredictable it seems.

It’s getting warmer and that helps. We also took a little shortcut on a gentle dirt road in a most beautiful area.

https://vimeo.com/354116363

I had a “cranky outbreak” and it was good...but for now I want to share how we have managed to get into places that are officially closed. In fact, it’s becoming one of my favorites: Since we are not in season around here (it is winter, remember?) a lot of the campgrounds are closed. They all have a guard to protect the premises and since we are in Brazil, Portuguese is the spoken language and here in this country people do NOT want to (or can’t) speak Spanish or any other language. At least in the remote areas where we are tumbling around these days.

Portuguese is so new to me, I can’t understand a thing (I had been making good progress with my Spanish and now it’s all gone to hell in a hand basket)

One of the places we came to was a good ways downhill. We had stocked up on food and water and headed down to the lake where the campground was - but closed! Super closed! Gates and all...dogs barking again. I see a person, but she looks the other way - I can tell, she was hoping we would just go away. But we didn’t! We waved her to come over and we “talked” ....man, she talked ...no matter how many times I gave her blank looks - gesturing that I don’t understand ...we don’t understand! It’s pretty clear she is adamant: CLOSED!!! Go way! In many, many, many more Portuguese words.

I learned to understand the tipping point....when I can hook in with smiles and gestures ...a friendly pat, but this one was tough. Well, I wasn’t going back up that 14% hill again on my 140 pound bike that late in the day. There was so much room down there by that lake....- I explained our tent, our independence in Spanish, German, English...but it’s all in the eyes...I could see it, she started to soften after about 15 minutes of back and forth without a word either of us could understand. There were moments of long silence too, but neither of us moved. I love that moment when I can recognize an understanding in so many other ways than words and I think she did too. A few long minutes later she opened the gates.

We had a sweet place to set up tent and minutes later the whole family came by to say “hi”, make sure we had enough drinking water from the well and electricity to charge our devices and a light to cook our dinner. Next thing you know we shared hugs and chocolate and the waving good byes in the morning were truly heart felt, but she was and remained super shy...so, no pictures...

There will be days like this....(heading east from Iguaçu to Florianópolis)

margitpirsch — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 10:47:00 GMT

....when we keep going and going and don’t seem to be able to find a right place for the night...and we keep going some more...another uphill..way too steep with pot holes to balance around and trucks to avoid ..another downhill ...there is a village somewhere ...maybe we ask somebody to let us camp in their yard. We could get water and then camp in the woods or ..maybe there is a lake, a river, a creek without shit and garbage...somewhere...there is a place for us.....

Sometimes I feel so drained or even a bit shy and I don’t want to ask a stranger, but then again..why not? Or....a little village with a hotel, but then there were people and nobody opened when we rang the bell (or was it disconnected and didn’t even ring?)..there were windows and voices and dogs barking, but nobody came. So, we went to the Police (military) Station. We had luck with that plenty times in the past, but this one (across from the hotel) was locked up with the security cameras running, the TV running in a different room (we peeked through the windows)...another room with bunk beds and a backpack...kitchen with Yerba mugs and the hot water still steaming, but nobody answered...

When it gets dark and all seems weird, I think, staying with the police might be a good thing, so, let’s just sit here until somebody comes back. Somebody MUST! People have been staring at us the last few days - almost causing accidents while sitting on their little motorcycles, passing us, staring, turning their heads while they keep going. It’s been an issue for me...Brazil has such variety of mixed cultures, I really didn’t expect to be stared at like this! Friendly curiosity is one thing, but this doesn’t seem that friendly..or is it me? Have I gotten cranky ....lost my sense of curiosity/humor?

Anyhow...after an hour or so, the police came back ..with blinking lights. They had stuff going on...domestic crisis...or something. We finally settled between the “hotel” and something like the town hall building- somebody brought us bottled water which was filled with tab water. Thank you! But I didn’t feel it. I felt unwelcome, a bother. I don’t understand...am I just spoiled? This little video does not reflect the dreariness of the situation...but it was the morning after and the sun was shining...looking at it, I can even see a palm tree now.

https://vimeo.com/354115057

It is not easy for me to stay focused on the good stuff when I get that cranky. The road get’s tough and the trucks annoy the crap out of me and I wonder where the hell are they going and why? Why is nobody fixing the roads...there ought to be a shoulder and why are the trucks honking for us to get out of the way, instead of slowing down and waiting for a moment to pass us cyclists in a sane way? I feel the anger rising and I want to shout!

Passing chemical plants that advertise their goodness so the farmers can grow good food...yeah, right! The currant Brazilian president is allowing these companies to advertise and sell their poison to the farmers for better harvests, destroying the soil ....aside from killing the Amazone for profit

The Amazon rain forest in Para State, Brazil. Deforestation is increasing in the country, but the current government has reduced enforcement of protective laws. (NYTimes)

This is effecting us all! The whole planet!

I am not in the best mood here, can you tell?

And then it got COLD!! Below freezing! Ice on the tent!

That’s just enough to wanna go home to my perfect little Marin Bubble in the summer and look the other way. Do I want to deal with this country’s politics? At some point we all have to and as we all know...it’s not only Brazil...can’t hide...can’t get away..we are all in it. Bike touring or not!

Photos: Brazil

margitpirsch — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 04:06:00 GMT

Argentina/Brazil...Iguazu Falls with all the trimmings.

margitpirsch — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 03:50:00 GMT

August 4th 2019.

The reward is in the pudding....something like that.

It was a long ways coming with a few minor “speed bumps” and here we are in one of the most stunning part of nature the world has seen.

We just about froze again a day prior with ugly rain and temperatures close to freezing at night. I really thought we were done with it, but no!

The town of Puerto Iguazú is all -mostly expensive -hotels. But we lucked out again and found a guest house hidden away from the main drag. A family situation and we left the bikes and TOOK THE BUS! to the falls. That 17km (one way) narrow road with busses, trucks and no shoulder...we cycled getting to town, but it also leads to the falls....we didn’t need to do that again. We spend all day walking the perfectly laid out network of trails. On a Saturday there weren’t that many people and it was fairly cold, but so crispy clear! We couldn’t have picked a better day if we had actually picked it! Rainbows at every turn....the water doing it’s thing and the goosebumps on my skin were not about the temperatures.

No words can describe this powerful feeling and this feast for the eyes. I am doing my best with this little video clip to give you a taste:

https://vimeo.com/353120215

About Iguazu: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls

And here the summary of our experience in Argentina:

https://vimeo.com/353120089

Routa 12 - 200km to Iguazu Falls.

margitpirsch — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 04:14:00 GMT

...and summer hast started! We are taking a day off - it is July 30th of 2019 - in a ..not too fancy...not too expensive...perfectly comfy and clean hotel.

We knew that big -one night - rain, thunder and lighting was approaching last night! One of the thunders just about threw me out of bed....SO FREAKING GLAD we were NOT in our tent for that one!

We had some more cold/grey days since our “hunker down” time in that crummy hotel and spent another night since then in a fine Casino hotel with a pretty lousy dinner (excellent breakfast to make up for it), but room to spread out and play “washing machine” in the bathtub (which consists of throwing all our dirty, stinky clothes in the tub, unwrapping the complementary little soaps, put it all in the mix and walking around on our clothes/soaps while taking a shower...pretty much like good wine was made.)

We have a laundry line and clothes pins and put the heater on full blast. The next day we left the premises with dry gear, smelling like roses while the grey sky persisted.....it helps!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0-JgfpZI2OpnsZ3ob3Adnfmkw

In my imagination I saw us hitting summer as soon as we leave 14, turn north/west on 105 and get back on routa 12 along the Paraná River all the way to the Falls.

And yes, we are 1400km north of Buenos Aires and closer to the Equator.....things are getting warmer around here......

I already got 4 mosquito bites yesterday while having lunch on the side of the road!

We also had some memorable camping sites along the way...generous people who let us use their stage

their water, their electricity...play with their funny dogs

https://share.icloud.com/photos/00YOFkI7oV7zPvr4qoFb6l3NQ

and pretty much leave us alone after we denied drinking Yerba Mate late at night (I don’t really feel good about that, but, heck, that stuff would keep me up tossing and pedaling my feet in the tent all night).

The scenery changed noticeable - flat turned to hilly (quite steep at times too)

winter turned to a springy summer... more tropical.

Only thing I need to complain about - and there is always something to complain about - is the freaking traffic and the narrow road without shoulders. Even on Sundays the traffic doesn’t seem to lighten up! James and I call “bail” to each other when one or the other truck doesn’t budge when passing us on a skinny. On those hills, they get their momentum and just let it rip (like we do)..but they are bigger and faster...bailing onto the gravel, the ditch, the grass is not the most desirable solution, but it does seem to be necessary for survival, so it seems. Stressful and tiring is what it is.

I noticed myself slacking - getting used to the danger. My alert level lowering to a more sustainable level .....they can watch out for us those big fellows...they don’t want to kill us either. We are in agreement here!

I don’t know...it is what it is and James and I are aware ...we even talked about hitching a ride to the Falls in a bus. Can you believe it???? We must be getting old!

Tomorrow is another day and it will find us on the road again, pedaling away strong and capable.... north...towards the sun.

This cold and constant rain is getting to me!

margitpirsch — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 06:27:00 GMT

July the 25th La Cruz, Argentina on route 14

After riding ourselves soaked for three days we are giving up on the good weather for now and staying put in a little hotel here in La Cruz, Argentina on Route 14 north. The depressing, dark and dirty room the day before just didn’t cut it. It was a cheap hole next to the road - leaking roof and spotty electricity ....a little wifi, just enough for a tease.

This town here could be nice....it has some colonial architecture and beautiful parks that even look good on a grey and rainy day.

The muddy, slimy, uneven cobblestone roads make it hard to take the raw eggs from the groceries store back to the hotel, though.

We got here mid day yesterday...took a while to get comfortable figuring out the wifi, heater, the defective outlets, leaking faucets, the bidet.....oh, the bidet...I have a love/hate relationship with it: Ultimately every bathroom should have one, in my book! This is the best invention since sliced bread!

But, they’ve got to work properly! In these cheap little hotels (surprise, surprise they even have them) one or the other faucet of this contraption doesn’t work, or the cold is were the hot ought to be and numerous times I turn the middle for the spray while I stand there looking at it and it shoots up in full force sending me screaming out of the bathroom, hitting the ceiling after it either hit my face or something else....

It’s nice to have a kind, old and willing host who tries to get us comfortable enough, so we decided to stay another day/night. He even got us a heater, after we asked. The water in the sink is “portable” and we got ourselves some food (yes, all six eggs made it without a scratch....I cycled SO SLOW, like riding on raw eggs...I even got off Gurly to walk across the railroad tracks!). I got us some movies downloaded on my iPad- TV series like “The Last Czars” and Keith Richards “After the Influence” and even a silly, but fun series called “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” takes us out of here and into a different world for a little while. Aside from that I also got some great books to listen to or read...thanks to my new love, the kindle, I got plenty - no need to panic. The thick wool blankets in the room help a lot when nothing dries - not even with the heater going 24 hours a day. BUT, it’s part of traveling the world and in some ways, I admit, I like it! Every little bit we get accomplished (like getting the eggs back to the hotel) gives me some kind of a thrill. I also know all is temporary - the good times don’t last forever either. I am just tickled pink that I am able to do this!!!!! I am sitting here with my down jacket, double layer of still dry pants, my feet under the wool, the heater humming (I hear it, but can’t feel it), clothes and gear hanging on every ledge I could find in this tiny room

a cup of Yerba Mate in reach, my iPad on my knees, Lucinda Williams singing about “Lake Charles”

while the rest of the world is burning up....THAT is scary...looking at the news, the whole middle is in a heat wave and people are dying...global warming is a real thing.....and listening to some/most Argentines talking about world politics is also a real thing and scares me out of my mind. What happened? Why are leaders like Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro popular in Argentina?

Maybe the language barrier is a good thing in this situation.

Not quite sure how to act/think about this...it never helps to argue anyways.

Getting hungry...the rain doesn´t let up, but there is a little family restaurant 30 muddy steps away....guess we are heading that way. Cooking in this tiny room is always a gamble - carbon monoxide is a real thing too.

Movies for dessert!

More than half way.

margitpirsch — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 10:41:00 GMT

July 22nd

Hot Springs! Yeah! Not only do we get to be clean, but also relaxed...floating around in these nice minerals must be doing something good for us, if not only for the soul..the mind...well, is there a difference? This is what I read on the web: They both come from the inner part of a human being, particularly her brain and maybe her heart. The soul is the spiritual nature of humankind. It is the incorporeal essence of humankind, and it is thought to be separable from the body at death. ... The mind is women's faculty of thinking, reasoning, and applying knowledge.

Anyhow...it’s been more than pleasant riding our bikes again in Argentina, though we had to tear ourselves away from our wonderful hosts Marisa and her beautiful twins in Buenos Aires! They snuck into our hearts and we are still remembering daily about events, gestures, songs ...walking. Estefi took her first few steps:

https://vimeo.com/349571456

...and get that funny soft look on our faces..... you could call pathetic. It doesn’t matter, because it really was THAT SWEET! And we did, we left anyways..heading into the wild unknown - north towards Brasil..north to the Iguazu Falls to catch a glimpse of the most beautiful, impressive waterfalls of this earth. I am excited and curious, but we have a ways to go!

By now we covered about 800km, still 640km to go.

Yesterday we experienced the 3rd day of strong headwinds and it got SO BAD, that it was just about impossible to keep a straight line to pedal forward with no shoulder and lots of cars. At 3pm we were done (even though we finally found some real nice dark chocolate at a gas station and tried to get some energy for the next 40km where there would be a hotel we can hang out while a storm is washing over us). With most of the chocolate in our bellies, we tried to ride about 2km and just gave up...meaning we gonna hitch a ride to the hotel. I liked that!

Back at the gas station I had asked if there was a hotel near by...no, was the answer...the guy had a pitiful look on his face. One could tell he was not comfortable giving me the bad news. Camping wasn’t on the menu that night, because a storm was brewing and we weren’t really up for that. Yes, we are too old to suffer! Which also includes not riding in this ridiculous headwind! We stood about 45 minutes with our thumbs sticking out, when a motorcycle seemed to be slowing down and stoping right in front of us: it was the guy from the chocolate store....gas station. The one I asked about the hotel!! He took his helmet off and made sure we remembered - of course!!! In our broken Spanish we did manage to understand that he was inviting us to his big, huge, grande house across the street from the service station to spend the night and get out of this f.....ing wind! Twist my arm is what I was thinking and the two miles, which took us about 25 minutes, took us less than 8 minutes in the other direction....besides that we were “fired up” the tail wind also helped!

He was waiting for us - open arms and open garage door. The house was big, yes, and we set up camp in the garage....really, one of the nicest garages..with a barbecue inside it!

Shower, laundry, a pet calve named Sofie in the back yard (geez, I forgot to take pictures!) and then the man served us grilled meat - all different kinds!!! lots of it!!! Yep, he grilled it in “our” bedroom and he also served us his home made sauce ..some awesome moonshine liquor, bread, beer and vino.....ALL OF IT! A good time was had while we - ever so thankful - filled our bellies and our savior was as pleased as us...at least I could tell by his smile and his big hugs when we said our good byes the next day. He handed us a “doggy bag” for lunch

with more goodies and then we set off in a TAIL WIND. The storm had washed over us and the wind had changed direction while we slumbered.

Heading north from Buenos Aires.

margitpirsch — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 10:33:00 GMT

July 18th 2019

Next goal: Iguazu Waterfalls and hopefully into more warm weather. We are such sensitive creatures ....there is only a certain range where the temperatures are comfortable for humans and then there are also individual preferences.

We left hot, uncomfortable Florida in the middle of the summer: From the frying pan into the cold. To be fair, it really isn’t THAT cold here. During the day it’s been quite comfortable in the late 60s or even beginning 70s - at night it varies between 42 - sometimes even in the 50s. We don’t have our puffy, fluffy down, super warm sleeping bag with us anymore, so we dress up with most of our clothes when we head to our comfy bed in the tent with the light, thin “summer” sleeping bags. So far, we were able to set up one night with the kind Bomberos (Firemen)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/aphs.worldnomads.com/margitpirsch/58009/IMG_1516HEIC_Thumbnail0.jpg

and then another porch kind-a-situation in a campground near the river. We were the only guests and the owner let us build our tent in a sheltered area, off the wet, cold ground with a sweet view of the sunset.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/aphs.worldnomads.com/margitpirsch/58009/IMG_1531HEIC_Thumbnail0.jpg

Why I travel the way I do: I like having my few belongings that all fit on my Gurly bike all there right with me...never need to go far to get my cup, my tea, my toothbrush, my lotion, my food, my book, my glasses...everything I want/need is right there in reach. My personal life has shrunk to the bare necessities and I know exactly where everything is (it usually takes a few days after leaving home, before I get it down). I hardly ever put something in a different spot and when I can’t find something....well, let’s not go there....

Establishing everything I need and all is in the right spots, the world around me is huge and changes daily. I am OUT THERE ! Exposed, free, vulnerable for better or worse. This is the world we all live in, love in and it owns us! I dive in... every single day.

And then there is this thing about differences.....the frustration not being able to communicate in my languages ...getting around words and “speaking” with gestures and all I can come up with. Misunderstandings....different products. I can’t get that chocolate that I love and I am used to, not the toothpaste I declare the best, not the food, the spices, the teas ....I can’t get the right fuel for my camping stove....not the body lotion, not the sauce I like for my pasta. And then there is something else...new things that don’t exists in “my” world....the funny thing is, I can’t think of anything right now! Ha!!! What I am saying is, that I am deeply humbled - over and over again starting with every country new again and again. I stand there like “a cow in front of a closed gate” and can’t figure out how it works and how I work in it, but it takes a while and then I can.....slowly....and what was important, isn’t anymore .......Doesn’t sound like it is for everybody........Me? I am thriving: my heart, my soul, my intellect, my body gets tickled through this kind of life. It’s not comfortable or easy and I like diving into a book, staying in the same place for a while and take a breath...”veg out”.

Yesterday we rode all day in the headwind ...gentle rollers, big highway, trucks swooshing by, cars honking....we were pretty much done when the sun threatened to deprive us from its last warming rays. James and I stopped at a turn to a village and discussed wether to turn in and look for a campground or keep going and take a chance to find something near the road we are already on. Somehow I felt pretty confident to keep going, even though my “cranky meter” had gone up into the red.....James’s wasn’t much different, but he hadn’t seen the little sign: “Termas” on the side of the road a few km before. We don’t know at all - could be closed (after all, it is winter here and we are so off season)...could be long gone...could be nothing....could be great...big range of possibilities and the setting sun in the west. James said: “your call” and we went (of course!). It was about 5km after the last turn of our “last chance” to head into the (safe?) village..........A big, lit up gate, a welcoming smile....a reasonable priced heated room ...use of the hot springs until 9pm...breakfast delivered in the morning at our door. Yep, you guessed right: Our moods switched instantaneously - we played in the hot, healing, salty springs until we were pruned up, fell into our comfy, warm, clean, huge beds and didn’t even remember the day in the headwinds.

The Aduana Experience

margitpirsch — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 08:12:00 GMT

July 11th 2019

We sent our camping stoves from Florida to Buenos Aires ahead of our flight, because we wanted to make sure they get there! Reason why: Our camping stoves had been taken from us at the airport in Buenos Aires when we flew back to the States 5 years ago...TSA deemed the empty of fuel, super clean stoves dangerous and there was no arguing about it. They took them without giving us any other options except for missing our flight.

So now we payed close to $60 for our precious (for us), antique Svea Stoves to be send by snail mail - seems like a reasonable assumption they would get to their destination, since we also had a reliable address in Buenos Aires, AR.

The track number on line showed us a rapid arrival in Buenos A..only a few days after they were sent and a day after our arrival in the city ourselves. Now all we had to do was wait at our friend’s house to receive the package in the mail....or at least a notification.

Checking the whereabouts of our package daily, we noticed it wasn’t moving anymore and seemed to be stuck in Aduana (customs). One day, 2 days, 3 days and 4 days...nothing seemed to happen anymore. Finally I checked on line ....what happens if you send a package to AR...answer: you can kiss that package good bye!

Nobody knows exactly why, but sent boxes (big or small) get stuck in customs here in Argentina and - if you are super lucky - you MIGHT get it months later. If you had sent anything of value: FORGET IT! Argentina seems to be famous for this.

One possibility was to go to the Correo International (thanks Lonely Planet to suggest that this is where the package most like is held), hope that our box with the stoves is actually there.

We went right away, armed with a native speaking and friendly local and so the story begins:

One other problem was, the package had only our friend’s name on it, so she wrote a letter, explaining that the item belongs to us and we are authorized to pick it up. We also had our passports and a photograph of her passport as well as the original paper with the tracking number from the USA post office.

We took a number and waited at the Correo ..probably 1 hour and 1/2..pretty busy place.

Lots of Spanish, lots of explanation, lots of paper, lots of questions...finally we got pointed in the direction of the Aduana (luckily in the same building, across the hall)...waited another 1/2 hour. A lot of the crowed consisted of guards at each door except at the Consultas - nobody there!

There we were told we need to come back tomorrow, early and go straight to the Aduana, not to the Correo.

Fine, got up early..this time it was just James and I (since our helpful person had to work), still armed with all the paperwork (we got more forms from the Prost office) and hopeful that some worker bees there will remember us from the day before. No such luck! The guard said we HAVE TO GO to the post office first...take a number and wait...I was persistent and said: No!! We were told to go straight to the Customs desk and that is where we gonna go! Arguing back and forth speaking half German, half English and a little Spanish, he insisted we stand in line for the “priority” at the Correo...which still took more than 1/2 hour. The new clerk asked us the same questions and more, like the woman the day before. I pointed to her and informed him: we already cleared everything up with her yesterday....to no avail...He had to do it his way, but filled out THE SAME PAPER (so now we had two of the same from different clerks)The most difunctional bureaucracy I have ever experienced right in front of my eyes...

We were sent back to Aduana for a stamp and a signature - this time we had to get a number...six digits ....and look at the monitors hanging from the ceiling to wait for our turn....

took 1 hour and 1/2 again until our number finally showed up. Again we explained to the new person what we were up to, but we really had some “workable” papers (which ever ones they were, I couldn’t keep them straight anymore), because this time things went pretty quick: we got a stamp and a signature and were sent back to the Correo for payment. Back to the “priority” line we waiting another 30 minutes - got the same clerk and were informed to pay 140 pesos (about $3). We payed and then got sent back to Aduana with the paper of our payment...I lost it at this point! I got my Spanish together as much as possible but all I needed was one word: PORQUE?????? He knew straight away what I meant ...with a bit of a smirk he raised his shoulders and sent us on our way across the hall to the Aduana - hopefully for the last time AND THEN we received our package! We had to open it to show the content and then go to the guard by the door who checked to content again and asked if I was Marisa (our friend who’s name was still on the package) - I just said “yes” (without showing my ID), took the package and we left the building after 4 hours of dealing with the most obscure lines of action to get a package which didn’t have any valuable (except for us) or hazardous contents. On the way out I asked the door guard at the main building: PORQUE ??? He also knew and gave me the smirk with the shoulder action...

Maybe they are all just happy to have a job and don’t care what they do...or they feel they are actually doing something important. Their posture ..their whole demeanor underlined the importance of this circus - to be there in dreamland of efficiency. I will never know...

And if you found yourself bored reading the listings of action we had to go through, then, forgive me, I HAD TO WRITE IT DOWN! It felt like Christmas holding the package.

It was probably illegal to take photographs, but I got my share of entertainment ....

...and the obvious reward!

Winter in Buenos Aires!

margitpirsch — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:05:00 GMT

July 1st 2019

At the Miami airport:

Smooth “sailing” with a few speed bumps, like having to wrap - and pay for - each peace of luggage (except the bike boxes)

in blue nasty plastic, arguing with the nice woman at the ticket counter about not having a return ticket: She: We can’t let you fly to Argentina without a return ticket. Us: No, we are not coming back to the US in a few weeks......no, we are not flying out of the country.......yes, we are leaving Argentina in about a month - riding our bicycles through Uruguay to Brazil....yes, we know we can only stay 90 days.....yes (again) we are going to leave the country...riding our bikes out of Argentina, no, we are not flying.......

I guess it is hard for people to grasp the concept of not having a return ticket. Especially at the airport.

She said, after talking to her supervisor: Ok, we will make an exception.

Here we are, after a 9 hour sleepless flight:

It took us almost 4 hours to put our bikes back together!

After an Airport Starbucks experience (it was about the caffein) we wiggled our way out of the airport and on route to Buenos Aires city to our friend Marisa’s house, which took us another 4 hours...Marisa later told us that we were pedaling through some “questionable”/very poor areas, but we were greeted by friendly and none threatening people we passed on the way.

I slipped right into the understanding on how the traffic works - mentally and physically I seem to remember when I left this beautiful city five years ago: there is an order to the madness! The flow of traffic is based on intuition, not on rules! I don’t know if it makes any sense, but, in other words: anybody participating in traffic in any shape or form (that includes pedestrians, cyclists, horse carts ...and so on..) is expected to do what ever they deem fit at the moment, which results in everybody having sensitized their radar on maximum and has no qualms about people crossing at a red light on a super busy road downtown...... jay -walking..anything like that, pretty much ALL THE TIME. What it looks like is an entire different story and it appears that people are nano seconds away from getting hit (which is true, but it doesn’t happen any more/or less than in countries where rules are respected) what is missing in all that is: aggression/violence!

Once one gets used to the chaos - at least for me- it actually feels safer than somebody speeding up to scare me, because I didn’t stop at a stop sign or walked across the street when the light had barely turned and on top of it yells profanities in my direction, which is pretty much what happens in the countries I call home (Germany and the USA). There is a calmness in this chaos, if you understand what I mean? With a slightly different flavor, but same concept, I have experienced this in India/Nepal and pretty much all of Latin America. There is less “personal space” too, like standing in line for a bus, people actually stand together much closer or accidentally run into each other without apologizing....either oblivious or a friendly nod is all you get.

My Spanish is lacking...embarrassing how much my brain did not retain over the past 5 years! Language wise I’ll be tossed around enough on this tour, I am afraid...we’ll be riding out of Spanish speaking territory pretty soon....driven by the cold climate.....I feel a bit like I am in a hurry. We sent our winter stuff home to CA...I am afraid how our nights camping out will be? First too hot now too cold ...oh, well....traveling the world...

For now we are “stuck” here in Buenos A. It appears that our precious, antique and very useful but rare camping-stoves are held in Argentine customs: We played it smart and sent them boxed up via USPS ahead of us, since TSA took ours away 5 years ago when we flew back to the States. We acquired another beautiful set of the same kind of stoves (thanks to a little help from our friends) and thought this was the best way to make sure nobody takes them away from us.

I don’t really know what the story is and why this is even an issue, so, I’ve been reading up on Argentine Internacional Correo...not very promising! I am worried, ....we may never see our stoves again in spite of all the precaution!

But here we are, winter or not, stoves or not, this city is a gas and staying with Marisa and her more than adorable twins is beyond description.

We had four days all together before Marisa had to go back to work and the babysitter spends all day with the twins. It was a holiday here as well: ArgentineDeclaration of Independence. What today is commonly referred as the Independenceof Argentinawas declared on July 9, 1816 by the Congress of Tucumán.

Now we gonna focus on getting our stoves back...what the hell?

Summary movie clip from our last days in the US of A:

https://vimeo.com/346718532

https://gopro.com/v/Nlq116XQao2Qm

Florida Keys

margitpirsch — Sat, 6 Jul 2019 00:44:00 GMT

June 30th

Ok, really, we are going to leave the USA, I promise!

The heat and humidity made us give up our plan to get to Cuba

- even though there is a travel ban for US citizens, but exceptions always underline the rules and I was pretty confident we could have found a way...if there is a will...but, there wasn’t anymore and I also think we can get ourselves there some other time. We also wanted to go island hoping in the Caribbean and gave it up for the same reasons mentioned above. Most of my life I’ve been afraid of the cold (except when I can go skiing/play in some nice powdery snow with appropriate clothing) and felt pretty confident, that, when it get’s too hot, I can always find a way to cool off - like eating ice cream, for example....and finding some cool water for swimming, to acclimate. On this stretch I’ve learned, by getting overheated and not able to sleep, swimming in over 90 degrees water (even though it is wet and beautiful) AND losing my appitete for chocolate, boarders on a life threatening situation and I am ready to change plans:

Leaving tomorrow on a jet plane to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Bikes are in Boxes, rental car arranged for the drive to Miami tomorrow, spreading “our” wings at 6:40pm.

In the mean time, we are experiencing another amazing stay with John and Beti here in the Keys. Such a beautiful place, such beautiful people and almost daily outings on one of the boats with the dogs - or at least one of them. “Boots” got to go last night for a “before dinner” cruise.

https://vimeo.com/346417223

But before that, we cycled down from Miami, spent another grueling night amongst almost unbearable heat, humidity and plenty of bugs to just want to run away for ever. When John said in a text they “only” have an open space under the house, enclosed with mosquito netting and a few fans for us, I was delighted and couldn’t get there fast enough. It was a “Durststrecke” a “Spießrutenlauf” of 122 miles. But luxury was waiting! We were welcomed and taken in like old friends. With all the boating and fun we were invited to, the heat was a lot less of a problem - and our sleeping quaters where not only beautiful, but spacious and ever so comfortable. Thank you again and again John and Beti for taking us in and making us feel like home.

Now, a week later, it’s - again - hard to leave, but we are SO EXCITED to finally have a plan: We are flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina and continue where we left off 5 years ago! We’ll head north to Brazil, take our time to visit places like Iguazu Waterfalls before pedaling further east to catch a plane to jump the puddle to S. Africa. So the plan!

Photos: Argentina to Brazil

margitpirsch — Thu, 4 Jul 2019 05:42:00 GMT

Further South through the heat, humidity and the Everglades to Miami and an “almost happy ending”

margitpirsch — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 07:33:00 GMT

We left Sarasota and our dear friends Erika and Achim ...they rode us out of town for a while on the Legacy Trail to Venice:

Not too far down the road, when it was just James and I again for a few miles, one of us realized we left some very practical items at the house back in Sarasota and after a good old downpour we checked into a sweet little Motel on the side of the road. We called E and A and they promptly showed up by car to bring us the stuff. We launched on the comfy beds and then E and I left in search for dinner. Our favorite Publix got us both inspired and we came back with 10 one serve bags of Margaritas including two cups full of ice and two big containers of our favorite ice cream. The guys were not really that thrilled, but dinner was served and we dove in....Another good bye well done!

The next day we landed on Estero Island...quite fancy....and though we should be off season for this area (in case you don’t know: Florida get’s unbarably hot and humid in the summer) tourists were swarming. The bus stop was just barely sufficient to shelter from the hard downpour that afternoon and while we were hanging out, some interesting guys started up talking to us. One of which was Leon, who lives on his boat anchored off shore near by. He had a wealth of information about where to go and what to do if you don’t fit the category of “main stream” tourist.

Lucky for us......after we checked the Red Coconut Campground on the island where they wanted to charge us $65 smackaroos to set up tent.....we headed to the place Leon described to us and if it wasn’t for the bugs (mosquitos and noseeums) it would have still been tough just because of the heat and humidity. Under the circumstances it wasn’t easy to enjoy this beautiful free camping spot, but it helped....

Naples came next and after an enormous electrical storm (we found shelter in front of a Publix, but the thunder came split second after lightening, was so extreme, I could feel the sound waves in my chest and I actually screamed out loud, crawling up on James to hold me) then we entered the Everglades.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades_National_Park

The plan was just to blast through it - 72 miles and be done with it since we anticipated more of the above reasons for discomfort - but then we heard about the State Parks along the way. Parks that actually allowed tent camping for a reasonable price.

We spent two nights in the Everglades. Not once did we detect an alligator, but we really wanted to see a Florida Panther which is supposed to roam around in this national park.

Airboat rides were advertised and available almost around every bend on the road through the Everglades - with all the protection balancing the sensitive ecosystem I don’t quite understand why this extreme form of noise pollution is excepted....and I can’t find an answer. We saw some awesome bugs and creatures

and beautiful swamp water reflections....

that’s it..no alligator, no panther.

And then we were in Miami - rewarded with a county park to write home about! Interesting story:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_and_Penny_Thompson_Memorial_Park

$16 a night, swimming pool, no bugs and an air conditioned dining room open until 9pm. Enough to wanna stay for a week, but two nights helped us recover quickly and the not-so-far Trader Joe’s let us replenish our dwindling supplies. I have to say, it was only 57 miles from our last camping sight and riding in traffic, the extreme heat and impatient drivers left us somewhat cranky. Entering the park, “smelling the barn” I sped up a bit only to come around the next bend to surprise two brown, young men standing in the middle of a single track path of the park at a “happy hour” lunch act which consisted of a very private, very intimate sexual act ...or about to...I was so close and not able to stop in time, so I yelled out: HELLOOOOOOO!! Which made them jump apart from each other ...the one in front of the other hastily pulling his pants up and the one behind..behind....all he had to do was zip up his fly and hide his private parts quickly enough, that, when James came around the bend all looked decent....we are talking seconds!

I kept on riding.....James missed the scene entirely, but for me, the image followed me for days ....pending between shocked and entertained and I’ll leave it at that.