After a long and hot ride, we have arrived on the island of Santa Catarina, and the city of Florianopolis…
For the most part we were on a boring highway, that ran through what must be one of the most fertile areas I have ever seen…!!
Miles upon miles of dark earth where it was being tilled and plowed, and huge swathes of Maize, Soya, and other cereal crops…
“The farmers here must be doing very well…!!” Said Roger during one of our stops…
The ride from Osorio to Torres was the best part of the long day....
We passed massive herds of fat cattle, all corralled in huge paddocks and munching contentedly of lush green grass… Brazil has just been declared the fith largest economy in the world, knocking the United Kingdom down into sixth… If the agricultural sector was anything to go by, I could see why this was…!!
The best part of our ride was when we tired of the highway and decided to ride up the narrow sliver of land that separates the Atlantic Ocean from a series of long narrow lakes…
Just short of Torres, we stopped for lunch at a roadside stall that sold a vast array of curios made from wood and textiles and also doubled as an open-air restaurant…
We were plied with samples of a variety of cheeses and sausages, and finally settled on a plate of grilled sausage which we shared…
We were also served a plate of pineapple pieces, as succulent and sweet as any we had ever tasted…
“This is the life…!!” I said to Roger between mouth-fulls… “I could ride and stop to enjoy this kind of food every day…!!”
The group of youngsters that served us wanted our autographs, which we were rather embarrassed to give them, but they were so taken by us in our riding kit and our big bikes, that we humoured them as best we could…!1
At Torres, we stopped for a light lunch and were served by these young kids...!! They were more than intrigued by the two Gringos and their bikes...
I came within a whisker of running out of fuel a few hundred kilometres north of Torres, and found a service station at a place called Laguna, just as the little tell-tale vibration the Big Fella send through the seat to tell me that he is not prepared to go any further…
"Before I met that fella over there, I had a full head of hair...!! You should take my advice and stay well clear of him...!! The man is a menace...!! He won't refuel until he runs out completely...!!"... Roger Arnold chats to the locals in Brazil...
Statue of Liberty in Brazil...
Staying on the highway, we made the final run into Florianopolis, and got into the Centro part of the city, which is on the island of Santa Catarinha, just as daylight was beginning to fade…
We passed a large Statue of Liberty outside one of the many shopping malls on the way over to the Island expressway…
We would see another statue just like this one a few days later on the way to Rio…
The bridge over the channel that separates the mainland from the island, was clogged with rush hour traffic, and as we came off it onto the island, we took a wrong turn that forced us to ride down into the old part of the city, before we found the large open square…
We parked on the slippery cobblestones, and tried to figure out where we should stay…
We wanted to be close to were we could easily leave the island, but also near restaurants and other facilities that we would need…
We checked listings on our GPS’s and then rode a very short distance to a steep road that led to wherever it was we were heading to…
Just as we turned, we saw a sign for the Hotel Valerim, and decided that we had had enough of the traffic, so pulled over onto the sidewalk to check it out…
We were more than happy with what we discovered and checked in a few minutes later…
- Heading for the bridge that takes us into Florianopolis….
“That was a good ride, Bro…!!” as we parked our bikes in the basement of the hotel we agreed to stay at…
The Big Fella wait patiently on the sidewalk outside our hotel in Florianopolis, while Roger goes in to see about a room...!!
Now I need to get some tyres and try to find an I-Pod… Riding without music is driving me crazy… Whistling to myself just isn’t cutting it…!!
©GBWT 2012
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