What More Can I Sáo?...Paulo

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No small dogs in Chihuahua, no nuts in Brasil, and now no biscuits in Sao...Huh?
Thumbs up for Brasil tho´....the thumbs up sign is universal..the affirmative for everything, greeting, acceptance, admiration...like a lot of people see the bike and just give the thumbs up..it covers everything agreable, positive, conspiratorily (as in catching someone´s eye who has also just watched the same chica walk past)...but I think its only a bloke thing...I can´t recall any chicas doing it..maybe one or two up north...
That last entry was a trial...went for dinner with Luis to a pizza place...seemed like fantastic pizzas, maybe something dodgey in the salami as I had ingested something that wanted to get out and proceeded to do so during the night...both-end-itis not to put to fine a point on it..so the next day I was feeling a bit knackered and stiff...so we went to the BMW dealer again...they were not impressed and failed to find anything so I told them to just put it back together and we headed off.....
The right fog light just gave up about 4 weeks ago but the left still worked so I figured a blown globe..then a couple of weeks later the left busted off in the sand drop so I tried to get the globe out but couldn´t figure it (turns out it comes with a wire and clip attached!)...a week or so later the fuel guage stops functioning..when I fill the tank it shows nothing, after 250 - 300 kms it sometimes shows 5 bars, about right for half full...it then works down properly to empty!....anyway, the BMW guys in Sao reckoned there was no power getting to the right fog light, took off the tank dovied into the loom, tell me someone has been stuffing around with the wiring(Huh?)..had it fixed, but only til the next morning....I´m also getting some oil weeping from the rear booty on the drive arm...so, I´m looking to book it in for a going over, under warranty I trust.....in BA!!
Anyway, sore and sorry, spitting bits of corn and tomato, spitting with rain, overcast and threatening, liners in, jackets on..sweating it out...off again...fortunately Luis led us out onto the road to Iguacu...in fact it was a lot simpler than we´d expected...and again back to just the 2 of us.
We struggled on...Grant was suffering a milder dose of the same thing so we only went a couple of hundred kms and found a newish, mega-servo with clean rooms and everything you´d want...I tucked in to the great spread of tucker then crashed..its a popilar form of grazing in Brasil, great spreads of all sorts of dishes, big meat, chook, fish, all manner of veges, salads, maybe 50 trays of food...you wander around loading up your plate then they weigh it at the end...pay by kilo...(so while you move around you try and stuff as much in as you can!)
Next day was brilliant....we were both feeling fine and it was a clear and surprisingly cool morning...off by 7.30 and clocked up over 700 kms before we stopped for the night...Must have been about 1/12 so first day of summer!....
We rode along really good roads, lots of divided highways, not just grade separation, sometimes the opposite carriageways were way over on the other side of the valley...good asphalt, nice curvery, rolling hills. When it reverted gradually our highway went back to 2 lane but with many kms of 3rd lane for passing trucks...also the occasional ´barrier´roadblock for works or accident clearing...these give us the chance to shoot past hundreds of trucks and cars, get to the front of the line!!
Where could we be?..rolling hills of patchwork crops and cattle grazing, cornfields as far as the eye can see, enormous fields of wheat across to the horizon, rows of harvesters carving alien patterns into the fields....(and great swathes of trees, often gums, left throughout the wheatfields!)...grain trucks on the road, off to the side absolutely gigantic grain storage facitities, like bigger than the MCG....everything is BIG in this country....along the roadside, lots of stretches of eucalypts, and several varieties too...some real whoppers, must have been here for 50 years at least...many planted for decoration at gateways, in towns etc ..not all used for charcoal, paper or timber.....and again, brilliant bursts of colour from flowers on bushes and trees, brilliant purples and blues and pinks, the flaming red of flame trees..brighter than any flames, almost hurts the eyes to look...this is quite different country from the North..just like Oz, we are now getting down to Northern NSW latitudes and the country is so familiar looking, gums, bracken, a line of hydrangeas, farmland...
So we pull off into some small town just off the road...Ha, I have the name..Guaraniaci...mean anything?...I could have said its Gujabugalugga...you won´t find it on many maps I´m sure!..
It´s a small rural Oz town, wide, deserted main street, couple of barbers, stock agent, Stihl chainsaw agent, Vet, a couple of those classic country-town-clothes shops with dusty displays of cotton frocks and RM Williams gear....space/time warp time again...also, to add to the image, in the morning in the dining room (for the obligatory and nearly always brilliant Brasilian breakfast, always consistent..juice, ranges from fresh to cordial!, plates of fruit, slices of watermelon, canteloupe, melon, pawpaws, bananas, apples, mangoes...coffee, tea, hot milk, the freshest crusty rolls, slices of ham and cheese, several cakes, sliced bread, and a selection of cakes!..often scrambled eggs as well...just fantastic..always feel bad because I´m usually still stuffed from the night before !!and can´t take full advantage!...anyway, in the dining room at breakfast were a dozen or so of your absolutely classic country travelling salesmen...some on the mobiles already, some checking order forms,,all at individual tables, not talking....getting ready for another day on the road!
So, we´re off again and only 200 odd kms to the famous, foaming, frothy, Foz...they should get Fosters to sponsor them....do Iguacu...there should be a cidila under the c but I´m back on an español keyboard....and its a smicko place, they even have the Euro symbol!...
I was starting to crank it on and really looking forward to this place, another seminal moment on the trip..the Falls and the end of Brasil!!
I´m going to try for some photos and then I´ll tell you about the falls....

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Photos

The End of the Road
1km of road and beachfront real-estate gone!

At the Head of the Queue
Great chance to pass 200 trucks in one hit!

Crab Pigout
One of the suprise, sleepy, fish ports