Rainy and twisty.

Long kilometers for the first day leaving Rio.

Second day, long day again with very slow traffic and even slower towns and villages, and pouring

rain, did, I mention the rain…

Drying out

Getting into Oro Preto next. It is a beautiful town with very tight and steep cobblestone streets.

A great town to walk around in and explore but less so park the tour van.

Getting into Porto Seguro was a bit of an easier, it was a shorter day, with sunny skies on departure then unfortunately again slowly turning overcast then to rain.

Speed cameras that don’t tell you your speed.

more speed cameras that tell you your speed

police speed control stations

speed humps and people crossing, on a 4 lane highway Brazil has a strange way of controlling vehicular speed. Every so often, I mean, very often, they have

permanent photo radar set up, and they warn you in advance that it is coming so you just need to slow down for that split minute, and then be on our way again.

Also plenty of police stops that do the same thing, just slow you down and rarely stop you for anything.

You can see the speed signs coming 100 – 80 – 60 – 40 then back to 80 or 100. I gotta tell ya, this way is a lot better than the millions of annoying speed bumps peppering the continent for speed control. Of course Brazil has plenty of those as well, just in case.

Ray gets a new pillion, Rachel

Cover from the heavy rain, that comes and goes as it pleases

The van looking cool

A local taking cover with us

The girl worked at the petrol station, and that is her bike, and now is also a fan of Compass

On to Salvador, the original capital city of Brazil before it was passed to Rio. A long day again with over 700 km, arriving into a huge city in the dark to top it off. Everyone needs a big congrats on that day.

The ride was awesome though, going through the fruit areas, fresh fruit being sold at every speed bump, papaya, cashews, bananas, home made coconut treats, and a huge assortment of other fruits and handicrafts.

Getting into Salvador we had just missed the huge downpour, an hour or so before, that flooded the city and left the streets with mini lakes and pools everywhere. What luck, the last thing you want or need is to get soaked just before getting to your hotel room.

On to Maceio, it was another very long day.

all from Olinda

Then, finally, we had a short ride day to Olinda arriving in the mid afternoon and enough time to enjoy the surroundings, and chill out a little bit. An old Portuguese town right on the ocean. It is beautiful sight with its old architecture and cobble stone streets. You could swear you were walking down the streets of Portugal. Unfortunately most of the buildings have been updated with many a color by the local graffiti and tag artists.

Not only in Australia! Road trains exist here as well, although I never did see one personally in real life, but there were plenty of signs along the highway claiming of their existence.

Ted got himself some prayer streamers and attached them to his GS. When they fray apart, your prayers are released and answered

Do not urinate on the floor?

Another interesting sign at a truck stop. It is telling you to not pee on the floor…well, darn good thing there was a sign posted!

Then we are on to Praia de Pipa, meaning Kite Beach, the cool hippie surf town, was also a short ride day, and arriving for early gave us time to have a nice group lunch together at one of the local fish joints.

Here we stayed for two days to do some R&R, beach, pool, and catch some rays.

More to come…