Another reason for not having an intense Carnaval was after going hard for the first few days, I had little desire to go nuts for days four, five and six. There were others in the hostel who felt the same way, so it did not feel like I was being a party pooper by sitting around and missing the street parties. It was more of a "been-there-done-that" attitude.
Once I got my ATM card, I jumped on my bike and headed south along the coast to check out the beaches of Brazil.
Here are a few notes from the five days of riding:
DAY 1. Recife to Porto de Gallinas
Managed to find my way out of city, but Garmin tried to get me out if the way, making a loop through mangrove and forest areas. Sometimes cycling and auto routes are way different paths.
Set out goal of getting to Cabo since I left at 12:30ish. Made it to Cabo with ease, so I kept going. After passing Ipojuca, which was just another 20 km, I decided Porto de Gallina was the destination. Arrived at 4ish. The town used to be a clandestine slave trading port. To keep things secret, traders would call the slaves chickens as they made arrangements to receive them from boats and sell them.
Posada Colibri was where I stayed. Clean, spacious rooms (I had 1 queen and 1 twin bed) nice enough bathroom. Balcony with clothes hanging options. Pool and fridge with electronic keycard for electricity. free breakfaast. A/C. A welcome break from staying in a dorm room with seven others.
Big beach. Near other pricy resorts and residential homes. Warm water;
Pizza Ruffles were being sold. While it did not taste disgusting, it wasn't awesome either. It just tasted like pepperoni pizza on potato chips.
Carne de sol w/ cheese and salsa with tomatoes and onions and black eyed peas for dinner. The meat was sundried, but I didn't notice a difference.
Left at 9:15, arrived at 3:15
Lotta trucks staying the course when they pass me. There may be room for them on their left side, but their attitude is if they can pass me without hitting me then they do not need to move a little to the left.
Drinking a coconut water almost every opportunity. Maybe every 15 km. As the woman said in Idiocracy, "It's got electrolytes"
Haven't seen many beaches because road is inland for most of the ride.
HOT! Not much in tree cover
Started with rolling hills, then flattened out as I was hoping to find the coast.
Pousda Oveleivo-- run down, but on beach. My jailcell had two beds. Toilet was carved into wall in bathroom. Someone just took shower in there before my arrival, but instead of complaining, I just took the room. The ride took a lot out of me and I just wanted to take a shower. A/C broken, fan tied to the wall and pointing directly below to the bed worked just fine. Free breakfast.
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| notice that instead of moving the toiled, they just nocked the corner of the wall to make room |
Good street food scene. Kebabs- beef wrapped inbacon and wrapped around cheese. Made to order Pastels- discovered "charque" - dried beef, kinda like jerky. Guarana amazon style- milkshake with granola, Milo, guarana syrup and a few more ingredients.
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| human bicycle centipede... with a game of dominos on the streetcorner |
Day 3 to Barra Santo Antonio
Cattle auction on channel 13 on Brazilian basic cable. Scenes of herded cattle go left and right across screen as auctioneer rolls off numbers. Actually there are three out if the thirty channel options that have separate cattle auctions.
The day began the way I envisioned the whole ride- along the coast or at least within eyeshot. Until I get to Porto de Pedras, midway through the ride. Went inland too far before realizing error. Garmin showed new route which would get me back on coast within 15 km. But road was nonexistent. Or at least noone could understand which road I wanted to take as I asked around. Garmin also told me of another road to take. It may have been there, but if it was, it was just a dirt road with no signage as to where it may go
Lotsa drivers wanna cut it close to me on turns. I think they all secretly want to be Formula One racers and take the turns as fast as they can.
Really hot inland. Should've turned around to the coast back at Pedras.
Pousda Ventos da Barra for the night. Really nice place. A/C. TV fridge. Very clean. Lotsa storage space with shelves. Breakfast and water cooler. Barrio is on edge of area of residential island.
Beach water was warm. Breezy all day, warm even at night. Long beach, not much development for tourism. I did not make it to secluded beach 7k away , but got close enough. Fine white sand that crunched when stepped on. Saw dead blowfish on shore. Looked bigger than the one I saw in Thailand. Reminded to always bring camera.
Not sure if I should have eaten at a restaurant called "Restaurante Deth", but it was the best only option at the time,,,
Pork, beef, charque skewers and condor on a stick (though I think it really was just a quail or pigeon)
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| Gringo Domingo lunch (aka Sunday Funday ) |
Fish with coco sauce
I stayed an extra day to get off the road for a while.
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| losta satellite dishes for a small town |
Day 5 to Jequia da Praia 9:15am to 4:15pm
Started off great as I went along the coastline again. It stayed that way until the last couple of hours when I passed Barro de San Miguel.
From then on, it was rolling hills, one after another for no more than 100 meters at a climb. Only a couple of flat areas, and at times when I needed it the most. The problem was that I could only go fast enough down a hill to get me up halfway up the next hill. Heavy mountain bike with phat tires.
Getting to Maceio was too easy, especially since I was under the impression that it was 70 km away. But I got there within ninety minutes. I contintued on until hunger set in and I stopped at the closest beach for food.
Cloudy start with a drop of rain as I left the hostel. Sunshine as I left town. Sunny until leaving Praia de frances, then slightly overcast as I arrived in Jequia. I even took off sunglasses for last hour.
Entered Jequia and found one closed hostel (that was in good condition) and one that looks like it was under construction, actually just some rooms next to a general store. Big enough room and cheaper than all others so far. Bath is not the best, but defintely not the worst. A/C was weak and only cools every three minutes for three minutes. $40R not even sure if it has a name beyond Pousada with an arrow.
Very small town. Ate a chicken pocket, ham n cheese empanada and X burger (which is a burger with fried egg, slices of ham and cheese). The burger patty was half the size of the bun:
Day 6 to Penodo 7:15am to 3:30pm
Starts off pleasantly along the coast with sunshine, palms and the sea. Then I go inland and it gets hot. At least the rolling hills are at a minimum and flat stretches that border on being boring due to monotonous scenery. Then the construction started. The first stretch went for a hill's length that had road crews on both sides of a loose dirt road allowing for only passage on one lane. After that came a brief moment of flat pavement (or am I dreaming that up now?) before at least 10 km of worse than washboard dirt road. Something was used to make one inch deep and three inches wide holes in packed dirt. Then sometimes that disappeared and changed into very loose dirt and sand. Or old pavement that has eroded and crumbled with dirt.
Just as I was about to hit another mental wall encouraged by not eating much before and during the ride. Thirst played a role because it was hot inland again.
Managed to find a tienda that replenish my water and also has food to eat, both of which I had not seen for quite a while. This day was less populated than up north.
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| Two women that served me rice and beans for lunch. They were fascinated with my necklace tattoo |
Garmin again directed me to take a dirt road that was only marked with a sign that said Piscina Konrad (the lastname is definitely began with a K).
I was probably on dirt roads for at least 20 km before getting back on highway 101. It was flat roads and open fields. A couple drunks on a mule-pulled cart raced with me to hustle for beermoney.
Hotel Colonial in Penodo $120/ R nite. Ac. Three twins. Fridge. Cafe great colonial decor with view of Rio. Four windows on corner room third story. Big room tall ceilings.
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| view outside window |
Penodo was a nice colonial-esque town with some nice building architecture designs and is strategically located along the Rio de São Francisco
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| Coco pralines- just like they make in New Orleans, except coconuts are added! |
At this point I was annoyed at the Garmin and lost any desire to continue because most of the roads were not going to hug the coastline. It was time to jump on a bus and go to Rio!
Here is a quick video of where I went along the coast:
Here is a quick video of where I went along the coast:
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