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.
