Pedal The Unknown: Media

Santiago, Chile

Nate and Caro

Hanging with Rodrigo

The Salvatierra brothers

Great time with their family

Back in Mendoza

Asada with friends

This nice guy gave me a lift to another bike shop, saving me about an hour of riding. Gracias!

David. The best bike mechanic I've ever seen, and a very crazy striking resemblance to one of my best friends back home.

Few of necessary things my Mom sent in a package. Thank you!

Saying bye to Javi and Romi

Out on the Pampa, and the first Rio sign I saw.

Still lots of cold days across the Pampa

With lots of days daydreaming about a wonderful fire and hot mate in the evening

Real lucky one night, found an empty campground. Even found pile of firewood.

New friends in Vacuña Mackenna, met at a gas station and invited me for asada they were having. Gracias!

Sure beats a pot of pasta...

Long, straight, and flat, for so long

New friends in Laboulaye, two days in a row

I saw lots of these signs, and didn't understand until later did I find out they are referring to the Falkland islands. Lots of people are real upset about it, and completely understandable. Apparently the islands are under British control, after having a short war with Argentina, even though the islands lie just off the coast of Argentina. Just the usual imperialistic nature of countries like the UK and US.

One really terrible section of wind. Barely making 10km/h on flat ground. Only a preview of what was to come in Brasil.

Gauchos heading out to work in the early morning.

They needed some extra help. They said the first thing was that the beard would have to go, fire hazard.

First and only time on the entire trip staying with firefighters. Real friendly and welcoming. The guy on the left even offered to accompany me to the grocery store, I think he was worried I might get lost.

and ping pong? What a great time.

Bucking the wind, or bouncing along

Real cold night. Frost melting in the morning, and enjoying the the sun

Real nice family let me camp behind their house (photo above), and even gave me a slice of homemade cake and coffee in the morning.

Lots of gas stations in between Mendoza and Buenos Aires are more like cafes inside, complete with a proper espresso machine and wifi.

Rough detour and shortcut, but worth having a break from the traffic

On the freeway getting into Buenos Aires

It was looking rough back in Mendoza, but held up all the way to BA. Ran this tire since San Salvador.

Darwin and friends. They made delicious chori-pan

Fixing another broken spoke. Third broken, and always on the the front wheel (cheap spokes)

Heading out with Darwin for a fun day touring on bikes

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ferry heading to Uruguay

In Argentina, the parks are always filled with people

Colonia, Uruguay

Like in Argentina, lots of parks in Uruguay

Montevideo, Uruguay

Relaxing at Alejandro's

Everyday, we went upstairs and had lunch with his grandma

Another great day touring the city

Showing me how to "properly" prepare a mate (20 minutes later and it's ready haha. Like in Uruguay, Brasilians are also very particular how to prepare and drink mate)

Alejandro works at a radio station, and got me on the air for a brief interview about my trip

Alejandro's music group, they get together and sing weekly

New chaiin and drivetrain cleaned up immaculate = next to godliness

Battling more tough winds

With winds that strong and temps like this, makes for some real cold days. Barely time to stop before getting cold fast.

Airplane wreckage next to the road. Amazing how still towards the end of the trip, there are still first times for things.

For the most part Uruguay was pretty hilly

Curious neighbors as I eat my lunch

Sunrise during breakfast

Enjoying the last peaceful section of the rest of the trip

Again another first, emergency air strip along the road for airplanes

So excite!

Such a great tailwind

Avenida Brasil, to the left is Uruguay, to the right is Brasil

The last border crossing of the trip

The only other cycle traveler I saw in Brasil

First night camping in Brasil. After asking a couple times at some houses, and not understanding much, found this side road near a marsh

Capybara, the world's largest rodent. This was a surprise one day seeing lots of these next to the road.

Blades for wind turbines

Motorcross track, wish I had a dirtbike

Pelotas, Brasil

Just another dumb animal surely doing something incompetent

Friendly cyclists, they caught up with me when I stopped to pull a piece of metal out of one of my tires. They're training to do a bike trip to Patagonia.

From there on, the cold was officially gone. Now back to pouring sweat all day.

From Pelotas to Porto Alegre, they're in the process of putting in another road next to it. Definitely needed, the current one is choked with traffic.

Friendly couple that pulled over to chat with me.

For some reason, I've always had good luck finding places to camp at brick manufacturers. Here, they even gave me a room with a small cot. Obrigado!

Passing through a small area of construction, I saw this guy pass me on his brand new GSX-R. He passed slowly and cautiously. Up ahead, I saw a plume of black smoke, and thought that someone was burning trash or something (like so man times I've seen). Then getting close seeing this. I have no doubt that some idiot hit him. He looked alright, just a bit dazed on the ground.

Enjoying some of that fresh black top.

Porto Alegre, Brasil

Such a treat and reward after about 10 days on the road since Montevideo.

Guarana. Tasty soda unique to Brasil. Atila told me it's the first thing he misses leaving Brasil.

In the other countries, the driver handles the money and drives. In Brasil, there's another person who handles the money.

Seeing the town with Atila

Definitely back in the humid tropics, the trees and everything are covered in green. Feels much more humid too.

Getting a coffee inside an old vault of a bank.

Lots of shady places, grass and mold grows from the damp air

The last really pleasant day of riding for a long time

Arriving at Mallman's, bbq and beer, Tramandai, Brasil

The local pub was closed, so we went to a local convenience store and drank beer and played music

Enjoying some mate with Mallman.

What would have been a nice day on a side road with little to no traffic, turned out being a day (and many more consecutive after) fighting a fierce head wind. Look closely at the pond of water, even as small as it is, there's chop on it from the strong wind.

They obviously don't get many cycle travelers in Brasil. Apart from people staring, so many people like this pulling over, curious where I'm going and coming from

Really nice camp spot far from the road.

New favorite snack of Brasil, ground and pressed peanuts with sugar. Perfect in the morning with some coffee

Friendly farmer with his family that let me camp on his property (above). One of only a few people that was friendly and let me camp.

Tobacco

More people pulling over, this kind trucker pulled over, wanting to give me a reflective vest to put on. I got the hint and put mine on.

Massive area of large scale brick manufacturing. Brasil has the largest industry out of all of the Latin countries by far.

Road obstacles

Even fell to the road below

Crossing the bridge to Cabecudas, and turning into more terrible headwinds

So strong, I stopped and considered walking, maybe one of the strongest I've ever encountered

Getting the idea how bad the winds were?

White caps on the ocean from the ridiculous headwind

Fernando saved my sanity, pulling over on the highway and inviting me to stay with him and his family for the night.

View next to their lakeside house

Enjoying homemade lasagna

More unusual things encountering on the road

Yet another concerned motorist, this kind guy wanted to give me another reflective vest (I put mine back on). I was just about to cross the bridge to get to Florianapolis and he told me how dangerous it was. He lost a couple friends that cycled across it, killed by dumb animal drivers.

Bit dangerous indeed (yes I know, but I had to get one photo crossing at least)

Biked with Richard to see a gay parade.

Turned out to be just a massive party on the street.

Peculiar sight, never saw a star/planet oriented with the moon like that.

View from the mirador, riding over the hill to go see lagoa and the beaches of the island.

More ridiculous north winds. Leaving Florianaoplis.

Several times in Brasil, seeing special lane for cyclists and pedestrians. Normally in the other countries, there's nothing of the sort.

Finding camp where I can, realized quite early that Brasilians are not friendly to me looking to camp somewhere.

You just never know what you'll see on the road...

Real lucky the night before getting to Curitiba, found a nice creek to camp next to.

Nothing like dipping tired smelly feet into some clear running water after a hard day on the bike.

Heading up to Curitiba, much more pleasant up hill than the one getting to Sau Paulo

Although there's always this passing

Remains of a tire that exploded on a truck next to me. Fortunately happened just ahead, and this chunk of metal and rubber landed just ahead of me.

Getting close to Curitiba, I stopped at a Macdonalds to use the wifi and check my map. Siting on my bike outside, employees were having a meeting at a table. Upon noticing me, they all came outside, shocked and curious.

Delightful recovery food. Bowl of mixed fruit with Acai

Much prettier in the wild

Getting lunch with everybody from the apartment

Apparently this guy's been strutting for years now. Pretty normal sight for a lot of people

Curitiba, Brasil

Riding with Pedro on the ciclovia to a local park

They even have pedestrian only areas

In Brasil, it's not illegal to have alcohol outside. At lots of pubs, there's often more people outside and out front of the place, than inside.

Goodtimes at the flat

Igor jamming

Comfortable and dry

To rainy and uncomfortable

A great example of a dumb incompetent animal. Obviously going to fast for the turn, loses control and flips the truck

Just glad I wasn't on the shoulder when it flipped

Later on just down the road, dozens of massive steel pipes fell of this truck. Glad I wasn't on the shoulder... again.

Happy that at least for about a half hour, the highway was mine

Wet day after wet day

Real wet

Just happened to check the odo, to see it click over. 12,000 kilometers since changing the batteries in Medellin, Colombia

Sometimes little things like these endless cracks in the road drive me mad

Riding the main pistas, every once in a while these building have a nice lounge area with a couch, with coffee and water. Nice break getting out of the rain

Taking a moment to gather myself on the worst hill of my life. Dumb animals passing

Another wet camp, finding a nook in the jungle, and excited to dry off in Sau Paulo

The trail going back to the highway

Sometimes there's just strange things I see and find. Like this fenced and covered pit. No idea what it's there for. A well, sewer, pit for dead people?

Entering Sau Paulo, happily passing the km's of cars and trucks at a stand still

Flat on the trailer

Arriving in the city

This kind gentleman wanted to take some photos of me, then bought me lunch.

Pingado (coffee with milk) and Foyado (empanada type sandwich with chicken). My favorite meal in Brasil

Arriving at Las Magrelas.

Talita and crew working at Las Magrelas

Getting dinner with Felipe. Heading out a long bike trip himself.

Key to success, bike maintenance. One last big clean for the big push to Rio and the end

Sau Paulo, Brasil

Annual South American bike polo tournament

Bruno dj'ing

Trying to keep the batteries charged for the music. Isn't this supposed to be a day off from pedaling?

A little rain and a quick break to shuffle off the water

Heading out of the city, much more difficult, dangerous, and longer than entering

Happy to be out of the city. Next stop, Rio de Janeiro and the end of the trip

Hidden spot camped below the highway out of view

Just another day in the life. Pitching the tent in the rain and with slippery stakes punching holes in my hand

Brasilian country side

This guy pulled over to give me a bible

Destruction and damage from tent - eating ants

At first glance, looks like a great spot to camp

Until you see these (Note: the size of the smaller ants you see are what I would consider "normal" size, use them for scale to get an idea of how large the bigger ones are)

Nasty buggers

Was unaware that Brasil has nuclear energy/fuel (not only that but was later surprised to read that they even have nuclear submarines)

Over those hills ahead lies the end

Finally getting some wind in my favor

With a lot of extra fuel to burn, the first and only time I pulled out my stove for lunch

Last camp of the trip. Eager to get on the road for the home stretch

Few last hills to get over

First glimpse of the start of the urban area that makes up the surrounding area of Rio de Janeiro

Long stretch riding the freeway

Navigating traffic

Somehow ending up on the freeway unintentionally several times

Good thing I started real early. The first of two tunnels not allowed to pass. Ended up being an 8 hour day and did 146km

Tunnel #2 can't enter

Carlos was a huge help, hearing me ask for directions, helped me find the other tunnel I could get through. Obrigado!

Lapa


Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Group of friendly guys that helped me call Beatriz

Celebrating

Pao de Azucar

Even got to do a critical mass before packing up the steed

Good friends and good company

People always talk about El Cristo, what I never heard about was the view. The view was much more impressive to me, even though most of it was cloudy when I went.