World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: Brazil
30° | sunny | km 1584
Brazil and the infamous Copacabana beach
on 2018-02-03 in Brazil
[Fabi & Denis] Brazil first impression was very nice. Large green field with good roads and developed cities. The temperature was perfect for riding a bike, not to cold and not to hot. We were in contact with two Agents in Rio to get quotes one the bikes shipping cost to Portugal and after having tried to explain our situation to them we soon decided that it would be best if we would make it to Rio as soon as possible to clear thing up.
Thanks to our BMW friend in Thailand we also were in contact with a local BMW dealer from which we would once more receive the neccessary help with the crates for the bikes, the cleaning procedure and anything else we needed. This is also where we stored the bikes until we delivered them to the airport. A big thanks for the help with this matter once more the incredibly friendly BMW dealership in Rio. Now that we had set everything in motion we decided to make the best of our stay in Rio. Therefor we booked a place right at the infamous Copacabana beach where we would enjoy the sun, the water and hopefully some typical short bikinis. We were not disappointed by the first to points on our list, just the third one turned out to be a little nightmare. Although we found the stereotypical short Brazilian bikini pretty much everywhere, we were surprised that a lot the people wearing them had the confidence to do so. It was still a spectacle to us and we enjoyed the time at the beach very much. The only thing that did get a bit unnerving after a while was the amount of vendors walking constantly through the masses trying to sell anything and everything. On the weekend there was little to no time without someone holding his product in your face or trying to convince you to buy something.
After three day in Rio it was time for us to deliver the bikes to the airport. BMW had organized the pickup and delivery of the bikes and crates from there dealership and all we had to do is help them pack everything up and accompany the driver to the cargo area of the airport. After a couple of hours we met up with our Agent Eder from BlaBlaCargo who quickly started with the procedure of weighting the bikes and taking the necessary steps to get them on their way. In the end the price for the shipment of both bikes was only a staggering 2700$ (1350$ each). With the relieve of having the bikes all set up for transport we went back to our apartment and enjoyed the rest of our stay in Rio.
We even made it up to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio from which we enjoyed the marvelous view over the city and the coast. The landscape is simply incredible and the view from the top over the city was a lot more stunning to us then the view of the statue itself. After our short cultural excursion we went back to the beach and enjoyed the sun some more. Overall we stayed for about a week in Rio and we enjoyed the downtime very much, but in the end we were very excited to get onto the flight back to Europe. We knew that we had a couple of long possibly cold days ahead but nonetheless we were looking forward to them.
Thanks to our BMW friend in Thailand we also were in contact with a local BMW dealer from which we would once more receive the neccessary help with the crates for the bikes, the cleaning procedure and anything else we needed. This is also where we stored the bikes until we delivered them to the airport. A big thanks for the help with this matter once more the incredibly friendly BMW dealership in Rio. Now that we had set everything in motion we decided to make the best of our stay in Rio. Therefor we booked a place right at the infamous Copacabana beach where we would enjoy the sun, the water and hopefully some typical short bikinis. We were not disappointed by the first to points on our list, just the third one turned out to be a little nightmare. Although we found the stereotypical short Brazilian bikini pretty much everywhere, we were surprised that a lot the people wearing them had the confidence to do so. It was still a spectacle to us and we enjoyed the time at the beach very much. The only thing that did get a bit unnerving after a while was the amount of vendors walking constantly through the masses trying to sell anything and everything. On the weekend there was little to no time without someone holding his product in your face or trying to convince you to buy something.
After three day in Rio it was time for us to deliver the bikes to the airport. BMW had organized the pickup and delivery of the bikes and crates from there dealership and all we had to do is help them pack everything up and accompany the driver to the cargo area of the airport. After a couple of hours we met up with our Agent Eder from BlaBlaCargo who quickly started with the procedure of weighting the bikes and taking the necessary steps to get them on their way. In the end the price for the shipment of both bikes was only a staggering 2700$ (1350$ each). With the relieve of having the bikes all set up for transport we went back to our apartment and enjoyed the rest of our stay in Rio.
We even made it up to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio from which we enjoyed the marvelous view over the city and the coast. The landscape is simply incredible and the view from the top over the city was a lot more stunning to us then the view of the statue itself. After our short cultural excursion we went back to the beach and enjoyed the sun some more. Overall we stayed for about a week in Rio and we enjoyed the downtime very much, but in the end we were very excited to get onto the flight back to Europe. We knew that we had a couple of long possibly cold days ahead but nonetheless we were looking forward to them.
30° | sunny | km 863
On the longest beach in the world
on 2018-03-13 in Brazil
[Basti] In Brazil the border guy welcomed us extraordinary friendly and in perfect English. He filled out our temporary import papers, stamped our passports and was sorry that it took him so long.
All together it didn't take longer than 30 minutes! Nothing to be sorry for at all. We felt very welcomed and were happy to be in Brazil!
We rode directly to the beach town Hermenegildo, looked for a road going to the beach and there we were! A huge sandy beach as long as you could see, with almost no people around! We took the air out of our tires and rode into the sunset.
The sand was hard and easy to ride on, the breakers only meters away and we had 200 km to go! We couldn't believe it!
After maybe 50 km of riding with the waves Raphael found himself suddenly flying through the air as he oversaw a small sandy hill. After landing his bike carved too deep in the sand so he fell down. Luckily nothing bad happened and we had the bike and him back up in no time. But we decided that it would be time to look for a place to camp as it was getting dark anyway.
At night we enjoyed the starry sky on our endless beach and made some long exposures.
The next morning we started by having a bath in the ocean! We still had 150 km of beach riding in front of us. The distance is unbelievable!
We saw a dead whale lying on the beach and witnessed the recovery of a truck who got stuck in the sand. I tried to avoid riding through the sea water while Raphael played surfing from time to time. Anyway we agreed that we would have to clean the bikes immediately after.
We arrived at Rio Grande around mid day, looked for a bank to get us some Brazilian Reals and found a gas station with a car wash in the back. The guy cleaned our bikes superb and if we wouldn't have insisted it would have been for free.
It sounds easy, but now nobody spoke Spanish any more, not to mention English. So our ability to communicate was back to hand signs...
Same thing at night. After we had tried several camp grounds - they were all either closed or not existent - we finally found one where we could open the door ourselves. It was already pitch black and we didn't had much choice. After a while a truck came by and the nice guy made us understand that it's all right for us to stay here. He showed us the showers and wished us good night.
The next morning Raphael had a look at his rear brake pads or to be more precise at the metal frame where the pads should be. He even had new ones in his bag! The inevitable change took maybe 10 minutes.
When we looked for the guy to pay he was nowhere to find. So I left him the money in the cabin at the entrance and we drove out. Just when we hit the main road I recognized him in a car driving in the opposite direction. We decided to turn around. He was happy but not surprised that we paid. It was probably more important for us than to him.
That way we left a bit late but still wanted to make as many miles as possible in order to get close to the Argentinian border. We had our first interesting Brazilian lunch in a small town and at night we were lucky and found a small farm track where we set up camp on a hill with a beautiful view.
Before leaving Brazil and with the tax free border town Chuy in mind I wanted to find oil in the border town Uruguaiana. Thanks to a nice lady who escorted us to a bike shop we found some and packed it up. I wanted to do the oil change somewhere in Argentina where we had planned to stay a few days at one place.
The border itself was quick but we couldn't find a place on the Brazilian side where we could give them our temporary import permit. We asked everywhere but nobody cared... Since I wanted to enter Brazil again, I was a bit nervous about that, but what could I do?
All together it didn't take longer than 30 minutes! Nothing to be sorry for at all. We felt very welcomed and were happy to be in Brazil!
We rode directly to the beach town Hermenegildo, looked for a road going to the beach and there we were! A huge sandy beach as long as you could see, with almost no people around! We took the air out of our tires and rode into the sunset.
The sand was hard and easy to ride on, the breakers only meters away and we had 200 km to go! We couldn't believe it!
After maybe 50 km of riding with the waves Raphael found himself suddenly flying through the air as he oversaw a small sandy hill. After landing his bike carved too deep in the sand so he fell down. Luckily nothing bad happened and we had the bike and him back up in no time. But we decided that it would be time to look for a place to camp as it was getting dark anyway.
At night we enjoyed the starry sky on our endless beach and made some long exposures.
The next morning we started by having a bath in the ocean! We still had 150 km of beach riding in front of us. The distance is unbelievable!
We saw a dead whale lying on the beach and witnessed the recovery of a truck who got stuck in the sand. I tried to avoid riding through the sea water while Raphael played surfing from time to time. Anyway we agreed that we would have to clean the bikes immediately after.
We arrived at Rio Grande around mid day, looked for a bank to get us some Brazilian Reals and found a gas station with a car wash in the back. The guy cleaned our bikes superb and if we wouldn't have insisted it would have been for free.
It sounds easy, but now nobody spoke Spanish any more, not to mention English. So our ability to communicate was back to hand signs...
Same thing at night. After we had tried several camp grounds - they were all either closed or not existent - we finally found one where we could open the door ourselves. It was already pitch black and we didn't had much choice. After a while a truck came by and the nice guy made us understand that it's all right for us to stay here. He showed us the showers and wished us good night.
The next morning Raphael had a look at his rear brake pads or to be more precise at the metal frame where the pads should be. He even had new ones in his bag! The inevitable change took maybe 10 minutes.
When we looked for the guy to pay he was nowhere to find. So I left him the money in the cabin at the entrance and we drove out. Just when we hit the main road I recognized him in a car driving in the opposite direction. We decided to turn around. He was happy but not surprised that we paid. It was probably more important for us than to him.
That way we left a bit late but still wanted to make as many miles as possible in order to get close to the Argentinian border. We had our first interesting Brazilian lunch in a small town and at night we were lucky and found a small farm track where we set up camp on a hill with a beautiful view.
Before leaving Brazil and with the tax free border town Chuy in mind I wanted to find oil in the border town Uruguaiana. Thanks to a nice lady who escorted us to a bike shop we found some and packed it up. I wanted to do the oil change somewhere in Argentina where we had planned to stay a few days at one place.
The border itself was quick but we couldn't find a place on the Brazilian side where we could give them our temporary import permit. We asked everywhere but nobody cared... Since I wanted to enter Brazil again, I was a bit nervous about that, but what could I do?