2-18-06

At this rate of travel we might not make it home, but we don’t care. We are in Brazil and all is well in the world. We made it through the border in fairly easy manner with no long lines and he border folks were actually very nice. That is a BIG difference from other borders we have gone through. Jim remarked at how different it is down here compared to the Central American countries. Yes indeed, quite a difference. It is hot but not as hot as it will get I am sure. It is humid here as well and I am sure it will get wetter as we get further north. I did read something in the guidebook about a desert that we will be crossing through so my spirits picked up dramatically.
We are in Iguazu I think that is the name of this town just across the border from Iguazu, Argentina. We pulled in here rather late after a slow start looking for maps and dealing with the border paper work. We only have 45 days on our visa but that should be plenty unless there is some problem down the road. We asked for a 90-day visa but were only given the 45. They say it is not big problem to extend it if necessary.
When we got into town we decided to go right away to a bank and get some BZ money. I found two big banks right across the street from each other and when I went in and tried my card it said it would not allow it as it was cirrus at one bank and wouldn’t give me anything at the other. I couldn’t read the reason as it was in Portuguese, I guess. Jim is having some real fun with that language. He is learning from the border guards as well as the restaurant owner we met down town. The owner turns out to be Palestinian and sure is a nice guy. He has good food too and when it came to pay, he allowed us to use Argentine money. At these South American borders there are not the guys with wads of bills ready to change your money. The restaurant guy not only let us pay but changed our money into BZ money. I don’t think we got that good of a rate, but now we had the currency of the country we were in. I actually had some when I changed my Chile money two days before.
We went out looking for a map and another bank to try. Jim finally found a bookstore with maps and we found a pharmacia that had a bank machine in it. bingo! More cash now so we were feeling good. I checked with the pharmacia and they had some of those pills that I took back in Cuszco that got rid of my diarrhea. I bought a couple of doses and figure that they could come in real handy down the road.
We were going to hit the Paraguay border and ride up through the eastern side of the country but were warned off of that route by several locals as well at the border army guy that helped Jim figure out some details on his map. They warned us about that part of the country being a network of drug trafficking as well as it has the worst roads anywhere in South America. I don’t think the trafficking and the bad roads deterred either Jim or me, but neither of us really wanted to go to Paraguay. It is just another border and we would have to buy another visa.

2-19-06
A view of the top of a wall that surrounded the place where we parked the bikes last night. This sort of thing is very common everywhere in south and Central America.
Glass top wall X

We rode through farm country again as the ground opened up and there were farmers growing soybeans and corn. There was other stuff growing, but that and grass was the main crop.
Farms X

We stopped at a service station for Jim to have a smoke and use the toilet. When I came out from the toilet a guy driving a tractor pulled up next to the yellow dog and went in. I like farm country, it makes me feel at home.
Tractor and yellow dog X

We stopped at another station and this guy comes up and starts talking to me. I eased him over to Jim but he then switched to English, well sort of. He was hard to understand but I got out of him that he was a farmer around there and had been for fifty years. He said that farming was no good now there. I took it to mean that there was no money in farming anymore there. I think that is a common reality all over, at least I think that is getting to be the situation in the US. The banks and other financial organizations are making money as well as chemical and energy but the farmers are just hanging on. There was a water dispenser at that station and it was in this old freezer. It had two spigots and a tin cup on a string for people to drink. I watched several folks drink out of that cup while I was filling up with gas. I don’t think I have seen a communal drinking cup for a long time. I guess there are no communicable diseases down here or they don’t care.
Cold water X

Here are some guys planting corn. There was corn in every stage from just planted to being harvested with combines. In yard gardens, they had corn growing in several different stages from six inches to ready to eat.
Corn x

I caught this combine harvesting soybeans. Some of the fields were dried off like this one, and some guys were harvesting what looked like green fields. Not sure what the deal is on harvesting green soybeans.
Combine X

We passed a few of these shantytowns that were right along the right of way along the highway. They were mostly made from wood scraps and plastic. They must be terribly hot in the day. They were mostly closed up today and not sure why. It is Sunday and maybe they are gone to town or maybe they are working someplace else. There were a few residents around and I saw a few little two wheel carts made from old car axels and a couple of old very skinny horses. These folks must work on the farms around here but not sure why they have to live on the highway.
Shanty town X

We rode through mostly overcast skies this morning and got into thunderstorms in the afternoon. The thunderstorms were mostly just around the edges and all in all it was a wonderful day on the road.
Thunder storm X

We made it to Dourados in late afternoon and cruzed into town. It is a nice town and we rode around looking for a hotel. We finally found one after I asked a guy by tilting my head with my hands for a pillow and saying ‘hotel’. My old sign language and English seems to work even down here in Portuguese speaking land. Jim is having a great time with the locals learning new words and making new friends as usual.

1-20-06

Another nice day to ride.
Good road X

We stopped at a gas station for some lunch and Jim sent a guy over to talk to me. It turns out he is a farmer and Jim said I needed to talk with a farmer. They guy was Brazilian but spoke really good English although he hadn’t spoken it in quite a while. He runs about 2600 cattle on a ranch just north of Bonito but he lives in Sao Paulo. He was one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. He said that the farming cycle was very short here and it was at a low peak now. I guess there is some sort of disease like mad cow or hoof and mouth that is going around and their export business is dead. I asked him if he raised the Brahma cattle but he said that they were not raised here but they raise Zebu cattle from India. He said there were maybe thirty different kinds of Zebu cattle but most are white or light brown. He said the European cattle don’t do well here in the tropic region but the Zebu with their light skin and short hair, do very well. He doesn’t raise cattle but just buys calves and feeds them on his grass. He has three cowboys that look after the cattle but I think that was only part time. He said he has plenty of grass even if it doesn’t rain for 60 days but he says it always rains and the grass stays green from the ground moisture.
White cattle X

The guy was so friendly and asked many times if he could do anything for us. he sure wanted to please which seems common around these parts.

We finally pulled into Bonito which is a tourist town for visitors to the panatal which is a major wet lands here. We stopped at a tourist information place but that guy sent us on to a little hotel and tour place where he said the guy spoke English. It turned out to be a really nice little place and the young man spoke very good English and told Jim all about the tours that were available. Jim is going on a tour in the morning and I didn’t want to go but when the owner came in from his farm and found out that I was a farmer, he invited me to go out to the farm tomorrow and visit it with him. He says he loves it out there and it is just a small farm, but he doesn’t care. He said that land prices have gone up three hundred percent in three years but the farms don’t make any more money. It is probably just that the land prices were so low and people found out about it and the area will develop as a tourist center. Too bad for this area in some ways but good in others if they control development in critical environmental areas. He said if I wanted to he would give me the key and I could set up my tent and camp next to the river for a couple of days. That seems to be the way these people are down here. Cool eh? I will go out with him tomorrow and check it out. He is actually Argentinean and married a Brazilian woman. He has spent time in Canada and lived in Alaska years ago. His English is a little hard for me to understand, as is all language with my poor ears.

2-21-06
Jim baled out on going on the eco tour after deciding that I would have a lot more fun going to the hotel owners farm and seeing real stuff. I am certainly sure he was right considering how he is familiar with being run through the chute at many other tourist places. I guess he decided that he didn’t need that professional experience here in Brazil in the tropical forest after all.
While we were waiting for the owner to show up a guy came into the yard and asked if we wanted to buy some beer. He showed us a bottle of homemade beer. I think Jim would have taken him up on it if it had been later in the day but at eleven in the morning, he passed on it. it looked pretty good though.
Beer X

We loaded into Mario’s truck and drove around town picking up some cowboys that he hires to work on his farm. Mario is really quite a character and we started having fun and learning about the country right away.
Mario X

One of the first things we saw was one of these mounds and I have wanted to ask someone what the hell they were. I thought they were either termite or anthills. It turns out that they are termite hills. He says that they have to use a bar and something like a small post hole digger to make a hole in them and put poison it the hole to kill them. they are very destructive to the trees and need to be controlled.
Termite hill X

When we got to the farm, there were dogs to pet and I took advantage of that to give out a few pets I have been saving up for just such an occasion.
Dog pets X

Mario said that the big black dog is some sort of dog that is raised around here and is used to hunt or protect from jaguars. Evidently they are not afraid of them and will try to kill them. She was a fairly good pet but didn’t love them nearly as much as the brown dog, she likes pets a lot.
Good dogs X

A nice flowering bush was there and I snapped this photo for my flower friends.
Flowering bush X

We went out to see Mario’s cattle. They are the Zebu cattle and they all looked in very good shape. You have to watch the cattle and look at them differently than the ones I am used to looking at so see they are really nice stock. He buys weanlings and keeps them for two or three years and then sells them. they don’t make a lot of money but they pay the expenses of the cowboys and the farm. He was very pleased that I liked his cattle.
White cattle X

He has a couple of new building on his place, one for his cowboys and the other is a place for his family when they come out. This is the stove in his place.
Kitchen stove X

We went by a place where I think the cowboys cook. It was a really cool stove and it looked like it had just been given a new coat of mud ‘paint’.
Cowboy stove X

On the way home we met some cowboys on the road. I had told Mario that a friend in Montana named Charlie that had asked me to send photos of cowboys if I got a chance. I have not taken photos of people mostly because I don’t like to impose on them and some folks don’t like it. Mario stopped and asked these guys if it was ok for me to take pictures. They said sure and I was able to walk around and talk and take photos. They were really nice and thought it was fun. I really liked these guys and wish I could have really talked with them.
Cowboys X

Rope X

Stirrup X

Vet stuff X

Young cowboy X This was a very cool little kid and so proud to be with the men.

Knives X

I looked at a set up like this in a store and one of them is a steel for sharpening the knife.

This Mario is quite a guy. he speaks five languages and his use of the english language is fantastic. he worked for american express for years and did well and saved his money and uses it wisely. we talked of politics and world affairs and are both of the opinion that we can do well without politicians. Rx