Forget Riding. How About Walking In The Rain?

Arraial d’Ajuda, Trancoso and Itacaré Bahia Brasil Paradise. The pool area above the beach at my $23/night pousada in Arraial d’Ajuda. When the rain broke I packed up my Mac and walked the quaint village of Arraial (which means “Hamlet” in Portuguese). After a little time in the internet café and frustrated with poor bandwidth, […]

Painted Into A Corner of Espirito Santo – Trying to wade my way out.

Doc, hammocks and the comfortable Pousada Porta de Areia in Itaúnas, Brasil. The personable and extremely passionate Bixaõ owns the Pousada Porta de Areia in Itaúnas, a tiny off the map hamlet in the northeastern corner of Brazil’s Espirito Santo state. With a few strings of natural beads strung around his neck and long almost […]

Cachoeira to Itaúnas – Northeast coast of Brazil

Stirred most of the night. Took my first malaria pill and it set my stomach funny, mind whirling and left me with a headache. So got off at a reasonable hour today. I stopped at the Policia Posto just outside of town to revisit my friend who turned me on to the Rinkaõ Hotel where […]

Trying To Make Vitória – No Dice.

I got a late start this morning and thought I would be in Vitoria, the capital city of Espirito Santo. But as I rode by a police station on the busy BR-101, a police officer convinced me to forgo riding into the dark and advised me of a simple but good hotel in the town […]

Buziós For A Change

It’s amazing what things can cost in a country that imposes huge duty on imports. For Brazil would rather support its industry and manufacturing. But at $30, the cost of a BMW spark plug through me back. This is nearly triple the cost of the same exact product in the United States. But if I […]

Time To Get It On.

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janiero, Brasil. I’ve got to admit that keeping these journals up to date is a chore. And thank all of you who continue to send me e-mail prodding me to just skip the past and focus on the now. Good idea. But I just can’t. There are so many stories, pictures […]

Rio At Night.

The full moon rises over the beach from the view of my hotel room in Copacabana Beach. Like most culturally rich cities, Rio has its share of fine restaurants. Geró in LeBlon was a treat for me. The people watching was better than the food. Arcos do Lapa punctuates the vibrant street and nightlife scene […]

Rio: Another Photo Essay

While Rio is the sensual city and the people are laid back and take life at a pace much more different than São Paulo and the beach culture that permeates distinguishes it from any other city I’ve visited, I could never find myself living here. Buenos Aires, on the other hand, with its mix of […]

Who Gets Their Shoes Shined on the Beach?

Seems odd that in this country where everyone where’s Havianas (the ubiquitous and cultish flip-flop sandals of Brazil), that you’d see so many shoe shine boys parading up and down the boardwalks of Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. I’d soon find out that these fahvela kids have an incredible scam. I’d heard about it so when […]

Two Years And Counting.

I started my journey two-years ago today. With an interruption from January to October in 2006 due to my broken leg mishap in Bolivia, I’ve been on the road for 15 months, visited 17 countries and logged 35,228 miles. It was originally a two year journey. And it was about now that I HAD dreamed […]