I was now finally in Brazil. One of the very few American countries which requires Canadians a Visa. It’s also said to be one of the most diverse when looking at natural beauty, but that was left to be seen.
One major mistake was that I entered the country without exchanging any money. I thought I would do so in a town near the border. Well, in that town there was no exchange place and surprise, surprise, Brazilian bank machines only take up to 5 digits on your bank car pin. Mine had 6 digits. The gas station didn’t wanna take my credit car either for some reason so I was a bit pooched. I decided to continue till the first city and try my luck there. About 12km out of Rio Grande, I ran out of fuel… for the first time on my whole trip! Lucky me, I had a hose but unlucky me, Brazilians were not stoping as often as people in the other countries to come to someone’s rescue. There must have been 100 cars that passed by and even though I was showing them with my canister that I was out of gas, they would accelerate instead of even slowing down. Brought back memories of North American culture… Anyway, after a long while a nice gentleman with his mom stopped by and spotted me with a couple of litres of gas. I didn’t have any Brazilian money to give them and the only thing I had was a 50pesos from Argentina so I gave them that. They said they would keep it as a souvenir.
I made it to Rio Grande and found a bank machine that took my card there. Only one type of machine would work for me in all Brazil! It was called a 24hr ATM that dealt with a lot of different banks but could only be found in rare locations. I also spent a couple of days in Rio Grande but I don’t think I took any pictures. It was mainly raining and I hung out with some cool Argentinean guys most of the time. I think we even made it to the beach for a half a day between the rain.
From Rio Grande I headed inland to see the amazing Foz de Iguacu. They had been made into a natural wonder that same year so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.
It took me I think 2 or 3 days to make it. The roads going inland can be a bit boring with lots of farm land left and right. I took advantage of these lands to hide off the main road and set-up camp in the fields at night.
And then I made it. The amazing Iguazu Falls. I camped on the Brazilian side one night and checked them out then I headed over to the Argentinean side as well.
Here are the pictures from the Brazilian side:
And now… the best of 2 sides…. the Argentinean side!
The train that takes you in:
Visiting the falls was a truly out of this world experience. I had never seen so many falls in one place. It was mesmerizing! The carnival was coming up fast though so I had to start heading towards Sao Paulo.
Calgary to Brazil on a KLR 650... 