It's party time in Rio!

Letters from a Small Bear
Chapter 5

Happy New Year to everyone who has been following our adventures, all of your good wishes have been forwarded to us via email.

Since leaving you when we arrived back at Fortaleza in Brazil, we have travelled over 3000 miles to Florianopolis south of Rio de Janeiro. There have been many little trips in between and lots of mini adventures.

We arrived in Fortaleza on a Monday, when a huge bar is open; it is in the Guinness Book of Records for having ‘The biggest Monday night in the World’ with live bands, dancing and something called beer that James likes to drink! We partied and danced and met lots of people, I was the only bear there, and James slept for nearly two days after it. From Fortaleza we cycled down the coast to a little town on the river, and then to a beach resort called Canoa Quebrada. Such a beautiful place with dark red rocks going down to a beach of startling white sand and greeny blue water. We spent the day there, James going in and out of the water and he tried the freshly roasted cashew nuts that the beach sellers had. It was just as well that he rested as there was some hard riding ahead.

We turned the ‘corner’ of Brazil and started down the east coast. James says that without a doubt it was one of the hardest and most stressful times of the whole trip so far. There was a constant 20mph headwind, which makes life very hard. In fact, he worked out that since Fortaleza, the extra energy he used to ride into the wind would have let him climb up a mountain 10.000ft high, that is serious effort. Even that was not as bad as the traffic, on this 1,000km stretch we were being run off the road constantly, how James was not killed was a miracle.

It was nice to arrive at Praia da Pipa, where the beaches and sea were like a balm to the soul after the mayhem of the cycle ride. The dolphins swam close to shore so James could swim with them and they were much more polite than the mad drivers of the past few days. James is getting very good at surfing, he is always thinking of ways to get me out on the surfboard, but I have said I will go straight home if he does that. I have made lots of friends here, and I was told that I am the most lovable bear ever invented, and would give Paddington Bear a run for his money. Sorry Padders!

There's the Andes ...and the bellies, and the footsies! haha!

We pressed on through Natal, Aracaju and on to Salvador which is the home of Afro-Brazilian culture. The centre is beautiful, with churches and cobbled streets galore. There are plenty of nice restaurants and bars, and to top it off they have things called “Blocos”. This is a roving percussion group which walks the streets every few nights playing some incredible drum music. To stand next to them in the street at night, sipping a caipirinha (James not me) and wondering if you will ever be able to hear again, is an experience. Unfortunately there is a downside to Salvador. Because there are so many tourists, it attracts many unsavoury characters that prey on the tourists. Pickpockets and muggers, James has been threatened, chased and had his pockets picked but all in all, he would not have missed a moment of it.

We did not stay long in Salvador as James has plans to spend Christmas in the Andes, that is some distance from here and as it was November already we needed to get cracking. We passed through many towns and crossed countless rivers to the beautiful town of Itacare, from there to the town of Arraial D’ajuda on the coast. Everywhere we go in Brazil there are parties going on, not in the houses but in the towns, and it seems the entire population join in. Arraial D’ajuda was no exception, there was a party of some 5,000 student lawyers there for a week of fun in the sun, it was a good week and James enjoyed himself.

After all of the good fun and nice people we had met, it was time for some horrible things to happen. We were riding in the middle of nowhere on a fairly good road and enjoying the nice downhill in the sunshine. We came whizzing round a corner to find that the Brazilian government had decided not to pave the road for a few metres. There was nothing poor James could do and he managed to fall in spectacular style, really hurting himself and getting more cuts and bruises to add to his collection; On impact the front wheel of the bike had exploded so we had a long walk to find a shop to repair it. It was our first big fall for nearly a year; even I managed to bump my head. However, we are both now recovered and a few scars from the trip mean we have some better stories to tell when we get home!

Me and my other best mate!

Finally we arrived in Rio de Janeiro. It is the most improbably situated city in the world, crushed in between steep mountains, with the famous Sugarloaf Mountain rearing up out of the harbour. Seeing sunset from the top is one of the most spectacular views there is, James and I were speechless. We also took a trip up the famous statue of Christ that overlooks the city, the view from the top is breathtaking and you can see almost every part of the city. We had fun taking photographs and I posed like the statue for James to take a picture of me, I hope you like it.

No trip to Rio would be complete without a visit to Copacabana beach, the most famous in the world. It is surprisingly good – great sand, fantastic setting against the city and the mountains, clear clean water and pumping surf. (No he still did not get me on the surfboard) On top of everything else there, watching the Brazilians posing in their tiny bikinis and swimming trunks is very funny, humans are odd, except for James of course.

James then took a tour into a Favela, the slums that are dotted around Rio. The one he visited was called Rocinha, and with 250,000 people living there, it is the largest in the Americas. A bus takes you to the base of the Favela, (it is on a steep hill) and then a daredevil motorbike taxi takes you to the top. From there it is a 2 hour walk back down to the bottom again, through all of the tiny alleyways and backstreets. James said it was unbelievable; the density of people, the pollution and the poverty is overwhelming. Paradoxically, the people there are some of the nicest and happiest you will meet anywhere. The little children were amazing, happy and mischievous, James was glad that he had left me at the hostel, or I would now be living in Rocinha. He says the experience of visiting Rocinha was one of the most shocking yet rewarding of the whole trip.

James. when can we go to Copacabana beach?

We left Rio behind and headed on to a place called Ilha Grande. It is a big, mountainous; forest covered, sun-soaked Island, about 30 miles from the Brazilian coast. There is only one village, and from the hostel we stayed at the end of the little harbour, the view of it all is incredible. To add to this, there is a wonderful beach on the other side of the island. To get there we had to walk through a rainforest for two hours, and we listened to the monkeys chattering as we passed, they sounded a bit like the people in Rio!

While we were at the hostel we met a fantastic dog, his name was Haze. He was the oddest-looking little thing as both eyes were different colours, he was full of fun and always ready to play. Whenever James jumped into the sea, Haze would leap in after him and try to catch him. I think he must have been the dog-Olympic champion swimmer, as he was much faster than James. Haze would catch James and push him under the water so he was nearly half drowned when he got back to dry land. I stayed well hidden from him, he did like to chew things and I did not fancy coming home with only one leg.

We left the island of Ilha Grande and rode along what is considered to be the most beautiful road in Brazil, and it rained. Over the next week we experienced the most difficult conditions in which to ride a bicycle that can be imagined. We had three days of continuous rain, very strong headwinds and hills so steep that it was almost impossible to push the bicycle up them. Near the end we rode down what is considered to be the second most beautiful road in Brazil, it goes through the most fantastic valleys from the mountains to the lowlands. Wouldn’t you know it, that day it was foggy and we did not see a thing. To make matters worse, to slow the traffic down on this road they cobbled the whole thing with millions of stones. At the end of the ride James just could not feel his fingers or anything else! And I was all shaken up too. We were both glad to arrive at Florianopolis, an island in the south. It was very relaxed and the stop gave us both plenty of time to recover feeling in our respective bits! James did some more surfing and I have slept in the sun, a week of being carefree and indolent.

After our rest we were ready to make our way South towards Uruguay, but only 20 minutes after setting off our adventures started again.

To reach the island of Florianopolis, you have to navigate a long and busy bridge. The trip across had been hair-raising, Brazilian drivers are wild! We were not looking forward to the return trip, and were therefore surprised when, for some reason, the traffic this time gave us a lot of space as we travelled across the bridge. As we pedalled at top speed we thought that this behaviour was very un-Brazilian, and only on the far side did we find out what was causing it. There had been a police car driving right behind us across the whole bridge! They pulled us over and spent 10 minutes shouting at James about how dangerous it was to cross the bridge on a bicycle, (we had realised that) It was not a very nice experience but eventually they calmed down told James not to do it again,(no, I doubt if we will pass this way again)! And drove off, without even giving us a fine. James reckons I bring him luck and says who needs a rabbit’s foot when you have a six inch travelling bear.

The sunsets are so beautiful

We had an uneventful crossing at the border into Uruguay, even though James had outstayed his visa. Again he said it was because I was there, the custom officials were delighted to stamp my passport and wrote little messages in it. James says it does help to smooth the way if you are small and covered in fur and will I go with him to all his future job interviews as good luck and a distraction.

We did not stay long in Uruguay as we wanted to get well into Argentina by Christmas, so we headed for Montevideo and the ferry. The river Plate or Rio de la Plata is a huge expanse to cross and it was a very special moment when James and I received our Argentinean passport stamps – proof that we had ridden from Alaska to Argentina. It certainly made us both feel super happy for the next few days and we hope that the feeling right at the end will be just as good.

Buenos Aires is a city which lends itself perfectly to aimless wandering. Though vast, it’s mostly a very walkable place, and orientating yourself is made pretty straightforward thanks to the city’s regular and logical grid pattern. The city is approximately triangular in shape and its boundaries are marked by ‘Avenida General Pas’ to the west, the ‘River Plate’ to the northeast and by its tributary, the ‘Riachuelo’ to the south. Holding the whole thing together is ‘ Avenida Rivadavia’ an immensely long street (Portenos claim it is the longest in the world) which runs east to west for nearly two hundred blocks from Plaza de Mayo to Moron, outside the city limits.

The other great thing about Buenos Aires is the football; James managed to get a ticket for the final of the South American Football Cup. This is the equivalent of the Champions League in Europe, where all the top clubs from the different countries play for the cup. Luckily the biggest team in Argentina, Boca Juniors, was in the final. It was an exciting event and it seemed as if all of Argentina wanted to see the match, the fireworks, confetti, flares and music from all around only succeeded in adding to the excitement. The crowd was so active that when they all jumped up and down together it made the whole stadium shake beneath your feet. On top of that James was thrilled to see Maradona as he was paraded about the field. He said it was a strange experience to stand there and cheer Maradona when you are English, a fact he kept secret from all around us.!

Oh! No! ...More Mountains

From Buenos Aires we had a long, long ride to the mountains, Christmas was approaching and we wanted to be well into Patagonia by then. It was not going to be a Christmas like any other that James had known, no tinsel covered trees, no carol singers and no roast turkey. Instead the big day was spent camped outside a petrol station in the middle of nowhere, and James’s festive dinner was a tin of tuna and plain pasta. It made him realise how much he has missed his family and friends, without them Christmas day was just like any other.

We have finally made it to Bariloche in Patagonia and are on the lookout for some Welsh speaking natives, no doubt more adventures await us on this our final stretch of the journey.

So until next time friends

Tolly and James