“If I ever
get on a sailboat like that again for 6 weeks with three smelly boys
to cross the Atlantic ocean please feel free to hit me over the head
with a large hammer”
I say while
laughing out loud with a huge smirk at the Sao Luis, Brazil
immigration official. Perspiration drips from my upper lip. Cycling
in 100 degree humidity has gotten the best of my sweat glands.
His English
is strong. His sense of humor is not. His wide bronzed left hand
holds my faded blue passport. His sweaty right hand holds my country
visa entry stamp.
“So sorry
misses, but I cannot stamp you into Brazil because you have already
cycled 900km into Sao Luis, where is the sailboat, why didn't you
stamp in when you got here?” He rightfully questions, why I am on a
bicycle and not a boat.
( I am such a girl sometimes. My new Helliberg Jannu matches Pandemic)
The boat
of boob-heads came here illegally, I didn't know when I volunteered
to crew on the captain's boat. A remarkably offensive man who I have
nick named Captain Banana Hammock after his squeevey red speedo. Ah
speedo my libido one final time, I chuckle to myself while realizing
perhaps the official doesn't need to know the whole 'I bailed off the
boat' story. Or, my belly aching that I will not be getting a valid
visa or an extension or be able to cycle across South America via
the amazon of Brazil.
“The
sailboat is not here Sir,, they have left Brazil, what should I do?”
I ask with a time rich, cash poor traveler’s willingness to be
flexible.
Life is
what happens when you are busy making other plans I think to myself
knowing this situation is either going to take time or money. The two
great riches of slow bicycle travel.
“
Go to the border, go be illegal and take care of it
then. You have 12 days” The official utters. The damp pocket of his
lime green cotton shirt hangs forward. His silver immigration badge
dangles. It is shimmering in the glow of the humid rain season air.
Brazil, a
massive country is bordered by about a quazillion countries. North to
French Guyanna is expensive, the Bolivian Andes my first choice is
12+ days of non-scheduled boat travel and a week of pedaling. South
to Argentina is a 3 1/2 day bus journey, buses have never been my
chosen method of forward travel. My only real goal is to see the
Andes and cycle across my final continents...finish this full-time
world cycling this.
(memories...when riding in humidity was so much more fun)
“Thank
you sir, maybe I will go be illegal” I
smile, the irony not missed about how there are illegal immigrants
all over the world and here I am 'illegal' in Brazil. I leave the
stuffy building and head towards making a decision....
Ok there
is no bad weather for cycling. If the weather is gonn'a be extreme, as in
boiling in Brazil, it might as well be beautiful. This is just a false
start in South America, that all it is. I will bus to the Iguazu Falls border and cycle to Uruguay to pick up gear and start again at the bottom of the continent. I know it's winter in the
southern hemisphere that close to Antarctica but f##ck it that is
what I am gonn'a do, I just need the right gear and a little luck with sponsors.
---------------------------
(Absolutely
humbled by Iguazu Falls, Argentina. Back to the bike. Iguazu Falls to
Montevideo, Uruguay to pick up gear. Thanks sponsors, my family and all those involved with int'l shipping for sending me the gear)
Winter
Bicycle Touring Gear List
Feet:
Neo villager overboots (Amazon.com cost $60 USD
Fleece
lined Neoprene socks (E-bay $10 USD)
Baffin
synthentic booties (Amazon $30 USD)
Keene
sandals ($80 USD)
(Neoprene socks inside these sandals. Neos Over shoes over top when it gets slushy)
Hands:
Overmitts
(cost $30 USD, not label)
Fleece
mitts (no name cost $6 USD)
Fingerless
“magic gloves” (no name cost $1 USD)
Legs:
Gortex
pants (15 years old, cost $99 USD)
Wool
thermal bottom (icebreakers-sponsor)
Prana
pants ($100 and worth every penny)
Ex-offcio
¾ length Capris
Ex-officio Nomad shorts
Upper
Body and Head:
Wool
thermal zip tee top (icebreaker-sponsor)
Nano
puff patagonia jacket ($160 USD ½ price online clearance)
Rain
shadow patagonia jacket ($100 USD E-Bay)
Synthetic tank-top (3 USD in Zambia)
Icebreaker short sleeve wool t-shirt (second hand)
3
Buffs (One arctic fleece and 2 synthentic, $20-30 USD purchased in
Namibia)
Sleeping:
Bag:(sponsor) Jacks R Better High Sierra Sniveller down quilt. It is a
warmer bag than my
present 3 season mountain hardware
bag which is approx. 950 sleeps old)
Mat:(Thermarest X-therm, it is more quipped for consistent sleeping on
snow. A replacement of my 3 season $38 USD no-name mat
from South Africa)
Tent: Helliberg
Jannu (sponsored) (4 season mountaineering tent)
Eating:
Koveo
Extreme Stove with fuel compressed gas fuel cannister (I find it to be more reliable than my MSR int'l multi-fuel.
I am sleeping with the fuel
canister to keep it warm)
30
x-L Seal-Line dry bag (sponsor). Winter touring takes about twice as
much food. I'll also beeating sweetened
vegetable shortening by the spoonful. A trick for the skinny
that I used while living
in Alaska for 9 years.
Bicycle
PandemicThe Magic Bicycle (enough said)
2 comments:
Ironic to encounter difficulty with Brazilian Border Control after crossing so many "third world countries" in Africa. Good luck with winter cycling. You continue to amaze!!
Sorry to hear the Brazilian Amazonian expedition was stymmied by the sluggo-wearing Capitan. (Perhaps my consistant back luck with worming my way onto a sailing boat is actually good luck in disguise... those sailing boat people always have struck me as somewhere between sleazy and shadey.)
Keep warm. Keep pedalling.
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