Derek Jennings
Feeling On Top Of The World

Experience an account of 50 days on a bicycle over the Andes from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

Wednesday 28th October
Sao Paulo

We were turned out of the hall at 6am. Not able to do anything because we had no Brazilian currency (cruzeiros) we hung around until the Cambio opened at 8.30. We couldn’t do a thing and I was gasping for a drink. Martin was drinking the water from the toilet wash basin tap, but I wasn’t chancing it! 8.30 came at last and Martin changed $10 and we did get a breakfast of rolls and coffee. Rode into Sao Paulo eventually and Martin phoned the embassy to find there was mail to collect, so we aimlessly pedalled 5 miles out of the city to get it. I franticly hung on to Martin, I not knowing where on earth we were going (I don’t think he did either!) Returned after lunch. Messed about in the city changing money, buying a map and calling at the tourist office.

Having seen and done enough in Sao Paulo we thought we’d better make our way to Santos. That was disastrous! It was like getting to Cambridge from Oxford Circus by asking strangers the way. Half the people we asked, didn’t know and the rest could not understand or speak English! By about 3.30 we had ridden out of the city 3 times, each time getting lost and arriving back in the city centre. The 3rd time I felt like throwing my bike through the nearest shop window but a storm came and we sheltered in a shopping arcade. That resulted in us meeting a proprietor of six shops who spoke some English. It was at 5 O’clock we decided to call it a day! and found a room in the Hotel San Jorge 900 cruzeiros (exchange rate 125 to the dollar) wash basin in the room, hot shower and two towels. It’s about the swankiest place we’ve had (no padlock on the door), a proper Yale lock would you believe!!

Went out in the evening and in the arcade had another chat with our friend Peter we’d met earlier, he introduced us to some of his brothers in a hairdressing salon (another business he run!) looks like a Brazilian Mafia set up to me! Martin later watched a football match Brazil v Bulgaria on a shop window TV. My cold was at its height and a cough was developing, so I was off to bed. We still haven’t found our way out of Sao Paulo! Lets hope we make Santos tomorrow. We’re not getting very far! are we?

Thursday 29th October
Sao Paulo

Spent a bad night, (coughing kept me awake) and was up at 7, still heavy with this confounded cold. Said cheerio to our friend Peter and had breakfast in his arcade snack bar and gave him and two of his staff picture cards of London, they seemed delighted. We left the city, and after last nights chat with Peter and his 8 brothers!! we had got a better idea which way to go to get out of the city. Within 10km we were on a motorway but at 22km were stopped at a police control point. They were politeness itself and told us to ride another 4km and leave the motorway to a link road some 6km away on which bikes were allowed. We joined it at a vast VW plant but it looked like another motorway (we’d crossed from one called the Immigrantes to the Anchieta). Only rode about another 3km and was stopped again and told to go 4km to a control point, they can speak English! After 1km the Chief drew up (he’d come to meet us!) We were told to ride to the control post and there they stopped a truck and the driver was instructed to take us to Santos.

Apparently in the next 20km the road will descend a mountain and was too dangerous to ride a bike down (drivers do not like bikers getting in their way). At the top it was covered in low cloud, wet, humid and the views with the road winding below must have been magnificent but we couldn’t see a thing just the odd glimpses. Our insistence that we could ride safely because we would travel as fast as the traffic, (which wasn’t a lot) was not heeded and we had to obey and accept the truck lift!

We reached Santos (the famous footballer PELE played for the team) having a snack on the way. The black coffee is delicious served in small cups or glasses, with sugar and quite treacly like liqueur (nice with a piece of banana cake). Santos is a large town and seaport on the coast.

Rode 10km along the dockside to Guaraja and started a 30km ride to Bertioga. The first kilometres were beside the Atlantic Ocean where there was a lot of development taking place, apartments and villas which looked expensive. The road alongside the ocean was fringed with hilly regions abounding with tropical vegetation on one side although the road remained flat. Up in the hillsides perched above the road were wood and corrugated iron shacks and families living there. It was a nice ride and we reached Bertioga at 6 just in time to get the last ferry across. Quite small, but it had a holiday look about it, unfortunately we could not find a hotel and it was dark by now with a hint of rain.

We decided to camp on the beach, just across from the tent are two restaurants with a proper Panama look, just a roof over the dining area and a bamboo lined bar with blinds that pull down when the trade winds blow too hard! It is still quite warm and we’ve just devoured a Portuguese pizza each – Hard life EH!! Went down to the ferry for a coffee at a snack bar and spent an hour with some local people who were very friendly, all of us trying to communicate despite the language barrier. We admired a blouse with a bicycle motif design a senorita was wearing and she gave me a bar of Nestles milk chocolate for doing so. Not like Martin however, who in Sao Paulo, when he bought a map got a kiss from the senorita who served him! It was raining when we returned to the tent, a guy had said we could go to his house nearby, but we declined. It rained all night but I slept fairly well, no coughing and it remained warm all night.

Friday 30th October
Bertioga, Brazil

Up at 7 waiting for the rain to stop (which it didn’t). Down to the ferryside snack bar to breakfast on roll and butter, jam and coffee. Bertioga is a nice place, an Atlantic coastline with a beach on one side and a promenade with tropical gardens on the other. The riverside shops even sell flip-flops, beach balls, and buckets and spades, I suppose they get visitors here although there are none now. It is interesting to compare this lifestyle to that where we were a week ago. Food is more varied, clothes and transport, leaning more towards the pattern at home. No sign of the basics – bread, rice and pasta. It didn’t stop raining until midday and we made a move to find what we knew was going to be 100km of dirt road to Sao Sebasteo. We didn’t get very far! 1km down the road was a Dutch restaurant and Martin called in for a chat. We didn’t leave until 4 after being given lunch of fish, rice, and black beans. The proprietors wife spoke English so I talked to her.

Set out eventually under cloudy skies but quite warm and after about 5km the road ended and became the beach, absolutely incredible!! Miles and miles of sand about a quarter of a mile wide, the Atlantic on one side and tropical vegetation on the other rising to high mountains. Funny to see cars, buses, and trucks passing to and fro on a beach. The sand was quite firm and rideable. Every now and again a high hill peninsular protruded into the sea and the road went inland to get round it, then back on the beach again. We rode until dusk picking up some food at a small peninsular mini-market and pitched the tent on the beach, there was a hint of rain.

Saturday 31st October
After Bertioga

Rose at 6 to clear skies. As the sun came up I went for a “skinny dip” it was the first time we had seen the sun since we had been in Brazil! We had no food with us so at 8am we set out in hope. Continued the ride along the beach with the odd excursion inland, it was a real treat, with clear blue skies and the Atlantic rollers, but the bike was heavy going on the sand. There were a few people on the beach, camping and picnicing, not that many but I expect they were weekenders. Watched a Saturday morning football match played in bare feet, while we ate breakfast outside a general store under a bus shelter.

In the afternoon the pattern changed, no longer did the road go along the beach, it was a gravel road and it went over the mountains, which were very steep! I had to stop for a rest on an exceptionally hard climb and a jeep with four lads stopped and asked if I wanted to jump in. One was an Aussie on a Rotary exchange for 9 months. I chose to continue alone and they went on and later arriving at the top I found them talking to Martin. They must have asked him how old I was! and said to me “didn’t I think I was a little too old to start travelling around the world. I agreed YES! and said that I had already noted that fact in my diary. The coastline was a dream, with beautiful beaches, a blue green sea, mountains and tropical vegetation and flowers.

For about 30-40km into Sao Sebastiao the road was lined with beautiful villas (walled) with grounds going down to the beach, they looked very attractive. Martin was having back wheel bearing trouble, making a terrible noise! and also the chain was dry. The last 20km went to paved road, but still up and down the mountains, we arrived in Sao Sebastiao at 5.30 and ready for a meal. On entering the town we bought a can of oil in a garage and gave our chains an oiling, that sand riding in the morning had played havoc. We’d covered 80-90km all day and decided to camp just outside the town on the beach. Went back for coffee after we’d put the tent up and ate bananas that had been given to us.

Sunday 1st November
Sao Sebastiao

Well today we really sampled Brazil – weekenders style. Alongside white sandy beaches with odd excursions round the side of the mountains, the sun shone all day and it was a really beautiful coastline. Quite a lot of development, condominiums and villas etc being built, some already completed which were terrific. The beaches were lined with tents, erected for the day. We soon stopped for our first coffee and then at 9.30 we attended a small community R.C. communion service about 200 yards from the beach. I once again was extremely thankful that I had been protected from the extreme dangers of the journey and hoped that all the family were safe, and prayed for all those things. Stopped at the next place to try and cure Martin’s bearing trouble which turned out to be the bottom bracket. Took it all apart with difficulty and regreased the dry bearing. More rolls coffee and ice cream and we finally got going at 1.30.

A whole afternoons riding took us through holiday towns of Caraguatatuba and Ubatuba where we met and spoke to Peter (whose grandparents were from Kent) along with a Dutch colony policeman. Rode out of town to find a place to camp but there was not a suitable spot (no overnight camping on beaches). We rode an hour in the dark hoping to find a commercial camp but came to a scenic lookout and picnic spot, newly constructed with every facility, picnic tables, toilets! water and a magnificent view out to sea containing numerous mountain islands, which we didn’t notice until morning.

Monday 2nd November
Outside Ubatuba

Beautiful sunny morning, the first couple of hours spent packing, eating and diary writing from this lovely spot overlooking the sea, seated at this very conveniently placed picnic table and chairs. Got away at 9, but no beach riding this morning.

It was up and down the foothills of the mountains some km’s in from the coast and very hot. No coffee shop for 32km but eventually one showed up right beside a huge waterfall, so it was hamburgers, soda pop and coffee and a nice swim in the waterfall pool, Martin climbed under it to bathe, the locals said he was mad! The bar proprietor handed out free pineapple (abacaz) and as we left a Brazilian family asked if they could take our photo. Gave them my card so they could send us a print, they also insisted that we took a melon, it was absolutely delicious!

Twenty kilometres on and heading for Parati we stopped at a viewpoint and spoke to a Brazilian in a car with 3 other guys who invited us to his place 6km off the road. We declined but had an interesting talk about travel and how it lessens the divisions between people. He had travelled in Europe, studied in Holland, spoke English and was a member of the Dutch church. Today by the way is a religious day in Brazil (the day of the dead) so everybody has a holiday.

On then to Parati harbour town of historic interest. It has pirate connections and is preserved as a national monument. The buildings and houses are of course old, but beautiful, plenty of people about. Had some refreshment but before we left Martin spoke to people who lived in the town and had been to Holland. A couple with two children, they were artists and we were invited to stay in their studio. Took a look around town, sampled a pizza meal and a glass of crushed sugar cane juice and liked that. Papaya fruit grows in the gardens here and by the waterfall this morning bananas were growing. My picture was taken by a day visitor to the town, and I’m still having problems with swollen ankles, I suppose it’s the heat, and my legs are covered with bites and irritate like hell, especially at night.

 

Tuesday 3rd November
Parati

We are still 253km from Rio and our stay in Parati was unplanned. We expected to get further yesterday so we’ll have to get a wiggle on today if we are to get to Rio at midday on Wednesday. Martin rose early and roamed the town taking pictures and after saying our goodbyes to our artist hosts and breakfast in the coffee shop we rode out of Parati at 9.am. The road changed again today, rising and falling round the foothills of the mountains and revealing delightful secluded blue-green lagoons from the high points. The towns and communities were 5km from the road so we didn’t visit any today and kept to the main road.

By dusk it was still 95km to Rio but we’d reached the slip road down to Praia Bravo and here we stayed. The rain had just started, there were a few houses and a bar so we made ourselves at home under the porch with a few of the locals and ate what the bar proprietor had to offer, which wasn’t much. His “bangers”, our bread, a packet of cream crackers and swilled down with Guarana coffee and a couple of bottles of beer. Eventually the bar owner said we could sleep on his porch. The roads today were lined with banana trees and here we are not watched by crowds of people and treated like someone from another planet. People speak to you here, but not as a curiosity.

Wednesday 4th November
Praia Bravo

It rained and blew quite hard during the night, but we kept dry under the porch. My ankles are still swollen and the bites on my legs look a mess and irritate. We were up early – 6 o’clock, Martin said he was too excited to sleep. A sandwich roll breakfast and we were away by 7.15. After about 10km of undulating road, it flattened out and the rain had stopped. The mountains were now 5 – 10km from the road and we settled down to knock off the final miles but it was interrupted by a few stops. One for a Guarana (fruit drink), another for a drink of cane sugar juice, and finally a stop for a Churrasco meal that Martin says we must have before we leave Brazil. It consisted of lettuce, beetroot, tomato, and potato salad, haricot beans, savoury rice, fried bananas, meat pasties and chips. Then followed an army of waiters continually serving every kind of meat from long swords until you cried for mercy!! Ham, chicken, beef, lamb, veal, sausage and kidneys. A bike riders paradise! It’s a pity we haven’t got them at home. I suppose you could call it a Brazilian carvery!

And so we eventually arrived at the outskirts of Rio. The ride through the suburbs was not pleasant, lots of traffic, travelling fast and cutting in front of us on to slip roads. We found our way to Copacabana beach by 3 o’clock, on the way speaking to a German couple in a car who were canoeists, they gave their address and asked us to visit them before we left Rio. We prepared for a celebration swim and a voice on the promenade said” You don’t really come from Becontree do you?” (they had spotted the name on my club jersey). It was John and Julie from East London on holiday. Martins arrival celebration was diving into the sea fully clothed but I donned the more conventional “cossie”, mind you it was BERMUDA style! Martin then went off to find a friend of a friend of his who we hoped might offer us shelter overnight. It failed! they denied being a friend of a friend, so we rode to Ipenema beach nearby and called on our friends the canoeists (they hadn’t figured on seeing us that early!) We talked all evening with them, the wife spoke English and the husband spoke German. We were invited to stay with them in their second floor classy apartment, right at the end of Ipenema beach, overlooking the promenade, A choice place to end the trip!!