Santa Barbara to Buenos Aires, and then some...

Caught the late ferry from Colonia, Uruguay to Buenos Aires Tuesday night, October 14th. Summary: Rode 8,247 miles = 13,272. kilometers Orange is the route of Brazil 2014 trip. Brazil 2014

Twisting the throttle - heading south.  Even with significant road work and delays I still made 725 km today. After 30 minutes of lane splitting I took to the dirt and rode around another ~10 km of traffic backups. This will be an amazing road when it is finished - but stopping at toll plazas every hour sucks - sell me a disposable RFID pass good for a day/week/whatever...

Bypassed Sau Paulo and headed inland to meet Melissa's cousin Jerry and his family - great people, fun and very welcoming.  Touring a wonderful little piece of Holland in southern Brazil.   Cheers, Nick from my phone.

Búzios is the best of Santa Barbara and Carmel surrounded by amazing beaches for 300 degrees -  it's the 60 degrees of Compton/Tijuana that you have to drive through that's the killer.    There's a little housing development just down the street with a heliport and a lethal electric fence that suggests there's an alternative.  Did I mention the beaches are amazing? Cheers, Nick from my phone.

Arrived Búzios.  Now I understand why helicopter are a part of urban Brazil.  60 + kilómetros of bumper to bumper traffic with stop lights,  large speed bumps from hell, and speed cameras (a hundred plus) to get to...  paradise (?).   I was expecting a semi-tropical Carmel... a closer approximation might be driving through downtown Tijuana without the benefit of Mexican food.  I'll reserve judgment on Buzio until tomorrow and a fresh day because after 7 hours to travel 250 miles (in the rain)  I'm a little cranky... I'm planning to stay for a few days.

I've rounded the curve of the horn of Brazil.  I finally saw a fellow Adventure rider after 3 weeks -  he was riding an almost identical v-strom no less., but traveling North,  the wrong direction. Later in the day I met and rode with a local Brazilian on a Triumph 1200.  Unfortunately he was ending his ride in Aracaju.  We ended up riding the rest of the day and then sharing  a late lunch and beers with friends - I got a room, and later that night was invited to dinner with the family. Like I've said - I've never met a bad adventure rider.   A nice  bike!  He's planning a big trip South in March and I hope to host him on his way through BsAs. Natal to Salvador could have been done in a day but beer intervened and Aracaju was very nice. I've checked into a place right on the waterfront in Salvador and tomorrow I'll go play tourist. It's Brazil,  there's a beach,  it's evening...

Kids playing futbol on the beach at night.  Spent the day in Natal yesterday -  the nicest place I've visited.   Beautiful setting on the coast with beaches stretching for 12 km; an amazing mix of old and new with huge swaths of natural vegetation integrated into their development and an actual traffic plan. I could live in Natal. Today I traveled South jumping over Recife and then cut over to the coast and drove secondary roads along the water most of the afternoon.   I ended up in Maceió arriving after dark so no clue except for the HUGE new mall I passed coming into town. Did I mention that Natal was pretty special -  a 9 compared to Fortaleza's 7. Natal from southern most point.  The old district,  with interesting and less sterile places to stay.  Beach from 19th floor at dusk,  near northern point looking South.  Cheers, Nick from my phone.