YAOGBB

As I reluctantly leave Brazil for Paraguay, according to my guidebook, the most corrupt nation this side of Africa, it is foggy, but looks to be a warm sunny day.  Yesterday and today I am riding through more forest and less field.  There is always something to look at and photograph.  The forest is, according to my guidebook, 'sub tropical', hardwood, with the odd banana tree, there is a lumber industry here, and I see the first wooden houses since leaving the US. Portuguese still has its challenges, which little door would you choose? Plan Alta, where I stayed overnight in a 20 Real Hotel (~12 bux) is only about 170 km from the Paraguay border at Foz du Iguacu.  I was a bit nervous about Paraguay, given its reputation.  The border is a large river, Rio Paraguay natch, which flows into the Rio Plata and the ocean.   I have to check out of Brazil, get my exit stamp on my passport and hand over my temporary import certificate for the moto.  Th...

It rained all day today, but I was warm and dry thanks to my rain gear.  It is very beautiful open country here, but the rain makes it hard to take any pictures.  I got lucky with this one, I had just pulled off during a brief respite from the rain when these gauchos appeared on the hill above the road.   This cat below I saw in downtown Cruz Alta, where I am overnighting, so he might be a 'farmacia gaucho', or not, apparently to be a gaucho in South America is not as romantic as being a cowboy in AB, according to wikipedia, gauchos are considered by many South Americans to be a troublesome pain in the.., which come to think of it, could also apply to cowboys back home. Guachos are famous for consuming mate, a collection of herbs that may consist of coca leaves among others, ground up and put in a pot with hot water, like tea, except that mate pot is filled to the top with the green stuff.  The mixture is consumed through a metal straw that has a filter thin...

 This is my view heading north in the morning, the sun will be in my eyes until I cross the equator again.  Surprisingly, it is not at all disorienting to have the sun on the wrong side of the sky.  It heads up that way every summer in Edmonton, that must be why I don't find it strange.   The border crossing at Acegua was great.  here I am getting my oficial welcome from the Brazilian Police, so far the only Brazilians I met who speak English.  They were pretty chuffed about me being from Canada, the head guy on (on the left) wanted to take my picture with his camera, "Make sure  to get the license plate,",  I was worried it was going to end  up in all the Brazilian Post Offices, but no, he wanted it for himself.  So I handed over my camera to the oficial police photographer designate and got a pic of me as well.  There are no barriers or anything looking like a border in Acegua, so I actually drove into Brazil had breakfas...

Another Sunday election, this time in Melo, Uruguay, about 70 km from the Brazilian 'frontera'.  There were other elections as well, Maldonado was having one too.   They don't shut down the road through town here, but judging by the excitement, elections are an important sport, the level of excitement and activity outside my window is about the same as an Oilers playoff game in Edmonton, flags on vehicles, horn honking, everybody doing loops down the main drag on their unmuffled motos.  I think they are local elections (intendente, whatever that is). This part of Uruguay is cow country, and Melo is a typical cow town.  Here cowboys are gauchos, they look the same, drive pick up trucks and drink Mate. A young guy stops to admire El KTM in Maldonado tells me his girlfriend is from Calgary, bet she's a cowgirl too.   Uruguay is also 'big sky country' south. Rolling hills, cows, high clouds, and dusty little towns, hard to believe that just a few hour...

If you are 'a man (or woman) of wealth and taste' do not go to Uruguay, because if you do you will never want to leave.  If I had to describe the Uruguay I have seen so far with only one word, it would be 'manicured'.  The cities and towns look like what would be wealthy suburbs in North America, and the countryside looks like a well groomed park. I am on the east coast, which is a major resort area for the rest of Latin America and Europe.  Apparently the only Canadians who frequent Uruguay are Quebecois.  "Non, je ne parle mucho Francais either, gracias very much."  As it is the beginning of what passes for winter in a place where palm trees grow outside, the resorts are pretty quiet, which is nice for me, as I pretty much have the place to myself. Atlantida looks like it fell out of a "Leave it to Beaver" episode, the architecture appears to have involved actual Architects, who seem to nearly outnumber Lawyers and Doctors.  The house style i...

This morning I woke up to rain and about 10 degrees C.  It really is fall in every sense here.  My bags were packed, all I had to do was swing by the Embajada de Paraguay, pick up my visa and passport and find the ferry to Uruguay. The previous night Marcello from Informoto interviewed me for his  revista, an Argentine moto mag. I had sent them an email after I picked up the magazine at a newstand. Marcello's English is better than my Spanish which was good for both of us.  I asked him to send me a copy when if the interview is printed.   Fun. No problems with the ferry, other than finding it.  Did I mention that Buenos Aires is huge?  Trying to find anything is a chore despite well marked streets laid out in a grid pattern, it's the diagonals that get me.  Fortunately for lost Gringos, a much larger proportion of people in BA speak English than most other places I have been except maybe Colombia.   The ferry ride is about o...

My stay in Buenos Aires has been longer than I planned.  I am getting visas for Brazil and Paraguay, and for each country I have to leave my passport at the embassy so they can paste the visa with my photo inside, which means I can only do one country a day instead of both on the same day.  I will be picking up my Paraguay visa tomorrow on my way out of town. I have been enjoying my extended stay here, especially the restaurants. I can't remember what this was called, but it consists of thinly sliced beef, like a schnitzel, covered with a Holandaise sauce along with pan fried potatoes.  If you have small kids bring em to Argentina, they will love it, you will notice that there are no green vegetables on this dish, and that goes for about everything else I have tried here. Everywhere I have been south of Estados Unidos, dogs roam freely and get into all the different kinds of trouble that roaming dogs get into.  In Buenos Aires there are very few strays, dogs ar...