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.
