On Wheels

Gallery: India

mutt — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:49:00 GMT

Gallery: Switzerland

mutt — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:26:00 GMT

Gallery: France - Alps

mutt — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:07:00 GMT

Gallery: Italy

mutt — Thu, 6 Sep 2007 22:03:00 GMT

Gallery: Croatia

mutt — Thu, 6 Sep 2007 22:03:00 GMT

From Romania 'till Today

mutt — Thu, 6 Sep 2007 21:59:00 GMT

Crossed into Romania and got welcome by a very similar language. From lots of gesturing and repating words louder and louder to be understood, I finally got into a country where Portuguese was the language of choice to get around.

Warned by other travelers, I had my eyes wide open to gipsys. I did see and meet a few, but they were not outsiders running around the country, they were locals who always lived on that area. Gipsys are part of the Romania culture.

People were quite nice and very friendly. On my way up to Timisoara, I met another cyclist. A sixty year old German who was biking from Berlin to Athens. While sittung at a police station waiting for an officer to ask for shelter, we sat and started to take our food out for our evening meal. I took out my bread, cheese, tomatoes and honey; he matched all my item and knocked me out with a 2L beer bottle.

We set camping at a near by soccer field (the officer never came), and in the morning we went on in different directions. I arrive in Timisoara, house of the legendary Tarzan. The actor Jonny Weissmuller, Tarzan, is a Romanian from Timissoara where I spent 2 nights, one camped in sport complex and the next at Mencaroni Mario's apto - an Italian spending a few months in Romania. Had a few beers and a great dinner with him and the next morning I headed to Hungary.

Crossed to Hungary and headed to Pecs, a city famous for being rich on culture. Indeed; quite beautiful, lots of monuments and a very rich architeture.

Spent a day around the city and keept on ridding on the way to the Croatia's border - Barc.

Already in Croatia, the weather had a switch from sunny and hot to wet and cold.

From Pecs, I rode till Grubina Polge, the top of the highest mountain after the border. There, I set camp on the lawn of a Bosnian family's house. Great ppl; I had dinner and breakfast with them.

After breakfast I went on to Zagreb. about 40km before Zagreb, I stopped at a barn to get shelter from a heavy rain that lasted about 30min. Had a coffe at this lady's house, got a pot of homemade jma and went on riding. Few km later I found a house to ask for a spot n their lawn to set camp. Ended up staying there for 3 nights - another Bosnian family.

Ivica Bozic and his family, Ilija & Ana (parents), Marko (brother), Marina (sister), and Marica (girlfriend). I was lucky to arrive on that evening, two days later, they were going to have a party to celebrate Ivica and his father's birthday. Ivica was building a house (himself) and there they prepared a room so I could spent my days well set. The next day, Friday, we drove to Zagreb, had a coffee and walked around the city. On saturday morning, Ivica woke me up to go kill a pig...I didn't kill it, but his father was quite fast on doing so. Fired started, and Bosnian style we kept on manually rotating a 35kg pig for about 4 hours...drinking Pan and Karlovachov beer.

The other guests arrived later and the party went on trough the afternoon 'till late at night. Sunday comes and I went back to the road. Ivica and his family tried to get me to stay a few days more, but it was getting too long, I had to get back on the road. I surely wanted to stay longer; they were very nice and we became great friends; plus, his mother was a great cook and baked delicious cakes...mannn , I miss those cakes!

Rode to Zagreb and on to Karlovac. On to the cross of a big mountain to the coast - Rijeka.

Croatia is GORGEOUS. If you are looking for a palce to see lots of green, relax, and even to spend time by the sea - GO CROATIA! Teh entire country seems to be a bigh National park with a heavy thick green forests, rivers, waterfalls, mountains, and a great coast.

Arrived in Rijeka and realized I had lost my passport...train back to Zagreb to make a new one.

Back in Rijeka, I kept on riding to Slovenia, where I just crossde about 50km 'till the Italian border.

Why did I kept on riding, not spending much time on the Croatian coast or in the Slovenia soil?

I wanted badly to arrive in Monfalcone, Italy, and meet my very good friend Savio Possamai who was supposed to be on this ride.

Here I am (DAMN HAPPY!), in Monfalcone with Savio. Already had 3 bottles of wine on the first dinner with Savio, Davide (a great cook) and Barbara, his girlfriend.

Today, resting to ride to Venice. Savio is riding with me 'till Venice - 120km.

to be continued...

WOW...Bulgaria and ALL its beauty!

mutt — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:17:00 GMT

Exhausted of going up on Bulgaria's hilly roads to Sofia, I finally arrived. The nature in Bulgaria is stunning.....but, the women are out of this world!

I was quite impressed with the country's nature 'till I got to Sofia, where nature is not so strong for a big city? however, the beauty continued with its women.

After long time sleeping in benchs and in my tent, I slept in a Guesthouse - Motel Hostel. It was a great guesthouse, clean and very safe. there I met an Spanish guy, who spoke Bulgarian, as well as 6 other languages. I asked him why did he learn Bulgarian; he answered: Have you seen the women outside? very funny guy. We had a couple beers togheter, he told some more about the region, and about his traveling on East Europe. We stayed up till 4am drinking and laughing. Next day, I left on my waz North, to cross to Romania.

More climbing...Right after Montana city, the highest climb on Bulgaria started. I went for about 25km up...steep up hill. Stop and asked to set my tent at this old couple's yard. The old man and his wife, who was blind, took me in and made me dinner. I got drunk with the old man who wouldn't stop pouring rum made by himself, out of grapes...better than the regular vodka. It actually tasted like the Brazillian rum - cachaca.

Next morning, I had breakfast with them; he gave me some honey, extracted by himself from a dozen of little houses packed with bees on his backyard...(sorry, I dont know how are those called)

I left for some more climbing 'till I reached the top and went about 20km down hill...great ride!

Stopped by Lom river where I washed my clothes, made dinner, and spent the night. Lom river is a river coming from Lom city, from the so famous Danubio river. (just to make it more special)

Next morning, I rode to Vidin city, where I had to take a ferry to cross to Romania...ohhh, the ferry was crossing the "so famous Danubio river" :)

Before I got to the ferry, I rode for about 15km by the Danubio river. I had no idea how big...wide, was the Danubio. It's quite beautiful, but it starts to look quite dirty when aproaching the ferry area. I stopped to make some coffee by the river before I arrived Vidin...got to see some big fish jumping out of the water.

Arrived at the ferry area and met a German guy, Georg, who was following the Danubio from Germany, by bicycle.

Crossed the river and arrived in Romania where Portuguese would be more useful than English...

to be continued...

Gallery: Hungary

mutt — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:34:00 GMT

Gallery: Romania

mutt — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 03:27:00 GMT

Gallery: Bulgaria

mutt — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:25:00 GMT

Greece to Bulgaria...Gorgeous!

mutt — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:01:00 GMT

Int eh Europena side, I met Yusuf, my long ago friend. We had a good time around Istanbul - lots of walking and going up stairs. It was great to meet someone who I already knew before.

Spent around 4 dyas in Istanbul, met Jason once again for a friends gathering at some other biker's house. Has great food and some more laughs with Jason.

Next morning I left Istanbul with Homer, Yusuf's friend. He drove me 'till Silivri where his sister was waitng for him. From there I made my way to the border with Greece.

Crosses to Greece and headed to Alexandroupolis. The weather was very hot and humid. I got to Alexandroupoulis late afternoon, just in time to eat and fine a place on the beach to set camp. The city was quite busy in the evening; lots of ppl were driving around, sitting at bars near the beach...rich beach city.

Woke up and saw a tent set near by where I was. It was a polish guy who was hitchhiking around East Europe. He told me about the beautiful nature and ppl of Bulgaria...it stayed in the back of my mind.

Left to Kavala, where I went online to check my options on my route. Realize that I would have to spend around US$150 with visas to 3 coming countries...changed my route. From Kavala I went up to Drama city then Exochi border - Bulgaria.

Arrived at the border around 11:45pm. The Greek officer told to go back 'cause I didn't have visa to Bulgaria (I dont need visa). Lots of talking, I insisted he checked again, he insisted that I turned around and headed back to the next city with an Embassy to get a visa - Athens.

I said: No visa needed, no problem! He said: Visa, problem!Go back!

Another officer shows up, I called him; they talked and he went in the back to call someone. I was pissed; I knew I didnt need visa, and that dumn-ass wouldn't go check. He kept pointing at some paper he had glued to the wall where it said Brazil needed visa to go Bulgaria.

The other officer comes back and says: "No problem sir, you dont need visa!"

I went crazy angry, got my hand inside the boot and pulled the paper out of the wall, gave back to the officer and told him: Throw it away and go find a new job! He didnt understand, but gave a look like he knew what I was saying. The other officer told me to go away, I did!

My frist city in Bulgaria was Gotse Delchev - small town. On my first night, I slept on the back seat of a VW Passat. A guy on a gas stationoffered me and I accepted...damn it, it killed my back.

Headed to Razlog...up and down, but extremely gorgeous. Bulgaria is amazing and it has just started...

to be continued

Gallery: Greece

mutt — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:19:00 GMT

Goodbye Asia...Hello Europe!

mutt — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:27:00 GMT

Back to the beach! Black sea was a great adding to my riding in Turkey. It was quite hot during the day; I enjoyed the sea and the water falls across from the sea at as much as I could. From the border 'till Rize, I had the sea on my right, and waterfalls on my left. The roads were great and the ppl were nice.

Things changed... The prices were sky-high and the so spoken "generosity" went out the window. I was now closer to Europe, and things were more about $$$. Turkey ppl were nice and polite, but the usual muslin feeling I was use to 'till then, was long gone. Everything had a price and sometimes.

I was in the north coast, an area were the main business seemed to be tourism, so...I was a tourist like any other.

Rode all the way to Samsun, where I turned south to the more country area. It did change a little, but not much. The road to Istanbul were either up mountains or rollinhg hills. Ppl kept saying it was flat all the way ahead of me. It did not get flat'till I got to Greece.

Turkey was nice, its nature out of the coast didn't change much, but it was nice. Met a biker on midway, Philipe from France. He was biking from Istanbul to Yerevan, Armenia. We stopped for a little chat, exchanged e-mails, info, and went on our way.

In Samsun, I had e-mailed my friend Yusuf who lived in Istanbul; he was my only contact in Turkey (old friends from TW). By the time I got to Gerede, about 350km from Istanbul, I decided I wanted to ride as hard as I could to arrive in Istanbul, wehre I had a friend.

After sleeping only 3.5 hours, I got back on the road rushing to reach Istanbul on that same day. I was then in Acaparazzi..I think...150km from Istanbul. Later on on the road, I stopped for a rest, looked at the trees down the road and thought of taking a nap; it was hot and I was sleepy. Then; I looked back from where I came from and saw a bike coming...probably a local guy going home or whatever, I thought.

Wait..are those panniers? Yap, it was Jason, coming from Africa. We had a chat and I decided to ride with him to Istanbul. It was all I needed, a company to keep me awake and riding. He planned to sleep before Istanbul and arrive next morning at the Bosphorus where the Turkey Rowing Federation was waiting for him to help on hs cross - rowing. We stopped around 25km before Istanbul and slept at a car dealer who was nice enough to let us stay in his shop overnight...after we been rushed out by this women at a mosque near by.

Arrived in Istanbul early enough for a coffee before meeting Jason's contact. I checked my email and got Yusuf's email. Called him and got his location - Studio Ugur at Beshitash.

got a ride on another boat and watched Jason row his way to Europe's side of Turkey. Funny to see him going around the back of a huge ship coming on his direction.

Crossed...I was now in Europe...Asian was finally done. IT was a big step for me. I great feeling of acomplishment...I DID ASIA!!!! ;)

To be continued...

I got a sheep killed!

mutt — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:07:00 GMT

Yup...they killed a sheep right there. It took about 25 minuted 'till the boy opened, cleaned, and got it on the grill - delicious.

At the same place, I made other friends who helped me out getting in touvh w/ my contact in T'bilisi - Jumber Lezhava. Jumber holds the Guinness Book record of the most countries visited by bicycle - 238 countries in 10 years. He's recognized by UN as a "world citizen" - no visa needed on any country which is part of the UN.

Went to T'bilisi, joined my new friends to celebrate a new-born from some other guy. Got drunk in their house, spoke about the Russian war, gave them hell (joking)about them making my ride through Afghanistan a hell 'cause of the land-mines left by them. I actually met a few soldiers who were there during the Russian-Afghan war. They told me some ugly things, including the fact they killed children 'cause kids were also carrying guns...well...mmmmm!

The next mornig, on my first hung over, I met Jumber at his office. We had a chat and went to his sister's house for lunch. Iso, his sister, is the sweetest...she kept saying: "Jame Rodrigo, jame!" (Eat Rodrigo, eat!)She was always putting food in front of me, taking me to restaurants, with Jumber, to her frineds house, and was always concerned about what time was Jumber going to take me back to her house, where I was staying. She knew I had to rest, so she kept on making sure he wouldn't keep me out for too long.

Miss you Iso - Jame Jame!

Spent a few days in T'bilisi. Jumber drove me everywhere, north, south, east and west of T'bilisi. I got to see Mschetta, the Georgian ancient capital - gorgeous. Met some of his good friends, great ppl. Many of them were gold medalist of some kind or Guinness Recordist. I went to a few dinners on their houses. Georgia was certainly the country I best ate. Tried all kinds of food, including some animals' brain. Also, had lots of beer and wine.

Jumber took me to a festival near Iso\s house. It was the last day; lots of young ppl, bads, art exposes, dancing and drinking. Georgians are very joyfull ppl; I'm affraid they take Brasil's title of happy ppl. They are always singgin' and dancing - before, during, and after drinking. They all seemed to know how to play an instrument or sing very well...great ppl. I no longer had Officer "whoever" on my mind. Georgians were great and they wouldn't stop feeding me or singging for me.

During dinners, they would always raise a toast...wait! No, they would always raise a hundred toasts.

A toast for friends, a toast for Jumber (his birthday and who he is), a toast to me, a toast to the other 2 guys...to me and the Brasilians...to Brasil...to the other 3 guys on the left...to me and Jumber...to the 2 guys and the 3 others on the left...to family...ppl that passed away...my frineds...our frineds...etc

Really! That many and more! Alwyas raising and drinking...funny guys!

Jame Jame Rodrigo! Here I go, eating and eating as much as I could. Georgian food is D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Lots of cheese, salads, meat...I really miss it. Jumber went all the way top B'atumi's border w/ Turkey to make sure everything would go OK, and iot did. After visiting some of his toehr friends in the mountian area fo Georgia, and eating, drinking, and toasting some more...I left to Turkye.

Back to muslin...the end of Asia...a new sea - The Black Sea.

To be continued...

Gallery: Iran

mutt — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:00:00 GMT

Shot out 2

mutt — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 17:54:00 GMT

THe first shot missed me for a table...I kept still on my chair, but my concerns were growing as I saw ppl moving around near me.

As expected, the shots didn't stop and the third one came straight to me. No way I could dodge it! As my friend Ivan Berzin, vulgo Botelho, warned me: "Don't say no to vodka shots, you might start a fight!"

And so I didn't. Shots of vodka kept on coming; everybody wanted to have a shot w/ me. It was a familiy party. It was a party for Muzaffar, a little boy who was about to get his circumcision done...and they celebrate it w/ a big party. I got invited to join the party, but I had to introduce myself on the mic to everybody...after the shots. The band started playing some spanish song and they asked me to dance...I did...damn shots were working quite well.

After the party, I went to sleep at the refugee area. An area built by ASEAn bank and Azerbaijan governament to the people whi were displaced during and after the Armenia invasion - 20% of Azerbaijan territory was overtaken by Armenia army.Some say that it was actually the Russian army who did it once they were helping Armenia duting the war.

Houses, community center, playground, and other necessities were built to accomodate thousands of refugees. Evrything looks pretty nice, but like they say: "It's not home!"

Made some great friends. Murad Muradov took me to his uncle's house where I spend the night. He made sure I had everything I needed and let me w/ Asim, Bahruz, and Rufat. In the mornign we had breakfast togheter and a great chat about Azerbaijan's history.

Letf to Ganja city. Got there and found a Orthodox church; asked for a place to sleep, they gave me: a room, dinner, breakfast, wine, fruits, and great company. Padre Andre was very kind, and Maria his wife a great cook. Also met his sister, Iliana and their children. Spent 2 nights in Ganja, got my bike fixed and headed to Kazax border.

Got to the border and was refused visa - I had to go back to Baku (500km) to get a visa. However, at the Georgian embassy in Baku, I read a note saying I could get the visa at the border, so I went to the border. Officials at the Azerbaijan side were trying to help me, but the Georgian officers were insiting on not giving me the visa. Then, a soldier from Azerbaijan side came with news: "They will give you the visa, but you must give them US$300."

CORRUPTION, clear case of corruption. I refused, set camp near the border, and called the Margo in Baku to contact the Georgian embassy. Next morning, Margo told me that the embassor had confirmed what I knew - visa at the border, but only US$25. Happy and excited, I headed to the border, spoke w/ the officers (Azerba's), they went to Georiga's custom - NO, no visa for Brasil was what they said. I insisted, but not a chance. I called my friends at the BR embassy in Pakistan, hoping they would tell me my options of whom to contact.

Back at the border, I was again refused visa. Not a chance; I exchanged my money back into AZ's currency and got on my way to Baku. I had decided to go up to Russia or...whatever.

"Come back! Come back" said an officer inside the Georgia Border partol vehicle. I kept on riding and waved him away. He stopped the car in front of my bike and said: "Visa OK!"

There, I realized that someone must have called them and ordered them to give me. Well, I was frustated and angry, so it was my time to be dufficult. Rode around the vehicle and told them: "Go away, I'm going Russia!" They insisted and asked me to go back. I stopped and made them talk a little more; then, I went back. Got my visa and heard Officer Michell say:

"You thanks to me for visa!"...mmm...Best thing to do, keep my mouth shut and get my visa. No I didn't! I looked at him and said:

Thanks to whom called you, not to you. Your border is corrupted! (AZ's officer told me that somebody from their embassy had called givin' them hell about causing problems w/ a Brazillian cyclist - me)

Cross to Georgia. For the first time, I cross a country with a down feeling. Usually, I would cross a border and do the first 50km quite fast, excited about being in a different country - not this time. I was angry and frustated for spending 2 days at the border, and had a bad feeling about Georgia. Would everybody be like this? It was my frist Christian soil since the start...would it be a deception?

Well; Georgians would have to be very nice to get that feeling away from my mind.

wwoooww...killing a sheep right here...and BBQ it for me...Damn Georgians, 20km and they already got even.

To be continued

Gallery: Turkey

mutt — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:57:00 GMT

Gallery: Azerbaijan

mutt — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:33:00 GMT

Gallery: Georgia

mutt — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:26:00 GMT

Shoot out

mutt — Tue, 7 Aug 2007 19:04:00 GMT

Sorry, I had to stop at that question. Just the memory of it gave me a black out and I passed out.

There they were: Turkham (Tuka) and Margo. Tuka was who I had been contacting by e-mail, but Margo was who had set my stay in Baku. She was staying at a host-family in Seattle who knew about my website and the mother, Raquel, is Brazilian…here and there…they e-mailed me offering whenever I arrived in Baku. Here I was: in Baku with Margo and Tuka. They told me to follow them to meet their mother who was waiting by the car. A very beautiful woman stood by a very nice car at the parking’s exit. I looked back to the crowed that was making me company and I saw the smiles on their faces that said: You REALLY are a lucky guy!

I had three beautiful women waiting for me to show me the city around. No complains on all the guys that helped me, but…this was quite a way to spoil me. From there we drove to the flat I was to stay for my next few days in Baku.

We went for dinner, got better introduced, more details on ourselves, spoke about our experience traveling, had a delicious dinner and wine….unbelievable.…it almost sounds like a bunch of lies – beautiful women going around the city and having dinner w/ me, drinking wine…yup, it all happened. After passing trough countries where women are so hidden away from men, and alcohol is a NO! Ok, but hide it! You give much more value having a dinner w/ the opposite sex and sure appreciate a good wine. (Secret: I had a good wine with Shafar, but keep it in our circle)

I had a great time on their company. They were what some ppl call “more open” muslin, but they had not lost what impressed me on every muslin I've met – kindness and generosity. They dropped me at a flat where I spent 4 days on my own, left a computer so I could work on my dıary, and kept on checkıng on me to make sure everythıng was ok. Great girls!

The folowıng week, they were a lıttle busy and so was I tryıng to update my dıary. Went to a dentıst to check a swollen on my left cheek - bad news. I had a tooth tryıg to come out ın a ackward posıtıon. Two days later I was on a dentıst's chaır gettıng ready to spend US$150.

Got it done, rode the the Georgia embassy to get my vısa, but ıt was closed. A note on the board ınformed ıt was possıble to obtaın the vısa at the Kazax border. Got things ready and left. Crossed Azerbaıjan from East to West ın 4 days, met a bunch of ppl, slept ın ppl's house...had lots of fun. Trıed to get a short cut on, got to a desert area, cut to a mountaın, and got back on track. Arrıved in Mıngachevır where Azerbaıjan's heart ıs (that's how locals called ıt.)Mıngachevır has the bıggest water reservoır ın the country. Durıng the war w/ Armenıa, Azerbaıjan army had a strong defense on the area to assure ıts safety.

Stopped at the rıver sıde, had a coffee, and met some good ppl. Everythıng was calm and relaxıng; then...The fırst shot comes...

to be continued