Pleasant Surprises

Leaving Brazil and crossing back over the Rio Uruguay to re-enter Argentina wasn’t smooth sailing, just like the other river crossings we have had to do.  We were stopped at the bridge and told by this man monitoring traffic that no bicycles were allowed to cross.  He spoke in Portuguese, obviously as we were still in Brazil and I don’t know any, so I responded in English.  I soon noticed he wasn’t going to let up so I started to show my frustration and got annoyed with him.  There was a sidewalk and not much traffic.  So to me this was a ‘policy says no, therefore I can’t let you cross even though this isn’t practical and effectively quite stupid and really you should be allowed to cross with your bikes but computer says no’.  Anyway, he got annoyed back and we bickered for a bit.  Then he told us to just step aside and wait.  I thought he was going to wave down a truck so we could hop on and cross the 2km bridge but that didn’t happen.  Instead, he all of a sudden became nice and friendly and said okay, now we can cross.  I guess my persistence paid off.  We booked it across and were back in Argentina, where we stocked up on food aka dulce de leche once again.

Back in Argentina we cycled through a lot of miserable weather and eventually made it to Posadas with the plan to enter our final South American country, Paraguay.  I enquired earlier at a tourist information office if we can cross the bridge over from Posadas to Encarnacion on our bikes and they said yes, so we kept on.  We arrived at the busy bridge and surprise surprise, bicycles could not cross.  I didn’t get very annoyed as we had the alternative plan of just staying on the Argentine side and going up to Puerto Iguazu instead.  That is what we did but the Ruta 12 became quite busy early on.  I was driven off the road a couple of times as some drivers just can’t be bothered to hit the brakes for a brief second or two and give a bit of space.  Nope, instead they honk their horn like an idiot and just keep on driving straight while increasing their speed.  This of course forces me to cycle into the dirt shoulder and immediately after yell out profanities at them even though they can’t hear me.  So enough was enough and we decided to get off Ruta 12 and detour well out of our way.  We got back on the Ruta 12 later as Trevor saw some pictures of the road on Google Earth and saw that there was… get this… a hard shoulder later on!  Wow!  So it wasn’t that bad, except for the fact the terrain was nonstop undulations.  Straight up only to go straight down.  Repeat.  Always has to be something for me to get pissed at.

Amazingly, there were no problems crossing over the Rio Parana from Puerto Iguazu to Foz do Iguacu and then over to Ciudad del Este.  But I have to say, South America has got to step it up with these river crossings.  They just aren’t bicycle friendly.  Build a walkway on the bridges or at least have boat crossings if bicycles aren’t allowed to cross.

Getting to Asuncion there was a lot of bumpy road.  But there was generally a hard shoulder all the way and the price of food in Paraguay wasn’t that bad.  So comparing it to the other South American countries we have cycled in, it fared very well and was a pleasant surprise.  We camped the first night in the country but got a hotel the second night since accommodation isn’t extremely expensive.  And with that hotel, we both had a much needed shower, something we have done without for just over a month.  It was nice to be somewhat clean again.  This was the longest on this trip we have not showered.  The last time prior to that was in Pucon, Chile. 

Once in Asuncion we headed for the Botanical Gardens and looked for the campground.  While searching for it a cyclist approached us and tried to help us find it.  There didn’t seem to be a cordoned off area for campers and to make matters worse there were plenty of people at the park.  It was a Sunday after all.  The cyclist, named Carlos, said that camping at the park is dangerous and offered for us to stay with him and his family.  Nice guy and we of course accepted.  We cycled to the waterfront and there waited for a cycling group he is part of.  While waiting we were approached by many people wanting to know who we were and about our trip.  One conversation we had was with two girls and one of them said I was like Forrest Gump.  The other commented that meeting us makes her not worry as much about her future since I guess we appeared to be carefree and what will be, will be.  Que sera, sera.  I guess I should take that as a compliment.  Though believe it or not, I actually fret a lot about the future and what is next (my mom can vouch for this).  I still have no idea what to do after this world tour.  Trevor is lucky, he has a plethora of ideas and things he wants to do or try to do after this trip.  Anyway, the cycling group arrived soon after and we met more friendly people.  One of them, named Israel spoke excellent English and had lived in Vancouver for 3 years a couple of years back.  What are the odds?  So he became our translator for the night and even interviewed us for the group’s Facebook page.  We also met Carlos’ brother, Jose, who formed the group Lamberbici, which promotes cycling in the city.  Good on all of them for getting involved with cycling.

In other news I have uploaded the next lot of videos on Youtube.  My ramblings in Australia, New Zealand and South America are now on the channel. 

In a couple of hours we hop on our final airplane journey to Miami and enter our 41^st and final country on this trip before getting back into Canada.  Once off that plane, the only thing separating us and Vancouver will be a lot of asphalt.  Bring on the United States of America!

This sucks.  Just getting drenched back in Argentina.   

A first for us: camping behind a billboard sign. 

Shut down trying to cross over from Posadas to Encarnacion.  But I try to be a positive person, always looking at the positives and never the negatives.  There were a few: our Argentine pesos could go much further in Argentina than exchanging them, the terrain is a bit flatter (or so Trevor told me), and there would be less border crossings since we were originally planning to hop over into Foz do Iguacu. 

A rebel without a cause.

Jungle camping outside the Iguacu National Park in Brazil.  Not a huge fan of camping in thick jungle as there are lots of noises throughout the night and we even had 3 people near our tents late in the evening.  I have no clue why they were tramping through the jungle late in the night.  All I know is I was freaked out they would tramp right into my tent.  But thankfully they didn’t.  Seriously though, who takes leisurely strolls through thick jungle late in the evening? 

Trevor, who loves his waterfalls, was actually impressed with the Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian side.  And he stated they were the best waterfalls he has ever seen.  I was surprised by this given most every attraction he has seen usually disappoints him or doesn’t live up to the hype.  But the Iguazu Falls stepped up the game.  And that was even on a gloomy day.  Imagine if he had seen them when the sun was out!

I couldn’t leave Brazil without an acai sorbet hit.  I was introduced to this stuff when I first visited Brazil many years ago.  Not the cheapest treat but very delicious.  And high in antioxidants! 

Pretty much all of the gear we wear has holes or rips in them.  And when walking through supermarkets and in public places it probably isn’t great as a lot of skin is on display.  I say it provides good ventilation.  I hope I can wear everything all the way through until the end but am not so optimistic.  Trevor sadly had to stop wearing his shoes as they have become a hindrance.

Paraguay gets points for having a hard shoulder but the big downside was they have bumps like these pretty much every 30m to 50m.  So lots of accelerating only to slow down, hit the bump and then accelerate again.  It wasn’t bad though in the middle portion of the stretch of road from Ciudad del Este to Asuncion but in and around the big cities the bumps were out in full force.

Great times cycling with the Lamberbici group.  They even gave each of us their cycling jerseys.  So now I can wear something that doesn’t have a hole in it!  And Trevor can stop wearing his tattered t-shirt which he uses as a cape.  We cycled into the night and later were treated to some delicious grub at this meat joint.  Good times. 

A massive thanks to Jose for all the hospitality provided while in Asuncion.  He drove us to the bike shop and arranged for our bikes to be packaged away.  And then from there took us to the airport.

Goodbye Asuncion.  Definitely exceeded expectations and was thoroughly surprised by the warm hospitality the people provided.