Beruška´s being a bitch!

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For the last month, week after week our hopes of finally starting our trip were dashed as we found more and more problems with the car. The latest snag happened on Wednesday night when the rusted screws holding the engine in place came loose and one-by-one fell out as we drove. The car eventually gave up after all but two screws had popped out. With cruel irony, this happened right outside the house of Valquer, the seller of the car, when we came by to finally say good-bye. In what we can only attribute to a combination of Salvadorian hospitality and an extremely guilty conscience, Valquer - who in the past few weeks had already given us back R$1000 (about R3500), chaperoned us as we shopped for various tools and accessories for the car, taken us to see a soccer match, a music band, and his parents-in-law outside Salvador - offered to pay for this final service as well.

So after yet another session at the mechanics, the car would at last lead us out of Salvador incident-free…right? Wrong. On the highway, about 30km out of Salvador, the accelerator pedal, which was always extremely stiff, suddenly became worryingly easy, and the car sadly slowed to a halt, as did we. This time, however, the hours spent watching at the mechanics finally paid off as we quickly found and repaired the accelerator cable, which had come loose.

So, after numerous failed attempts, we can now confirm that we have, at long last, successfully left Salvador.

Odometer at Start: 33 900 km
Odometer now: 35 134 km

Note on the odometer - You might be wondering why this 25 year old car had only done 33900 km when we bought it. Well the silly thing with these cars is that the odometer only has 5 digits, so every time the car passes 99 999 km it reset to zero again. So, there is no way of knowing whether the car has travelled 333 900 km (as Valquer reckons) or 1 033 900 km!

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Photos

Why does it always rain on me?
At one of the many different mechanic shops we have visited so far. Although his workshop looks like a dump, the owner was a real pro and, incredibly, has been working with Bandeirantes for over 40 years.

Championes!
Of course with us lucky charms around, Vitoria (Valquer's team), although they were the under-dogs, thrashed Atletico 4-1. Just wish we could bring the same luck to the car now

Boogie Down
Valquer and his wife, Ana, showing how it’s done here.

Our Guardian Angels
Some chill-out time with our extremely helpful and caring friend Eduardo and his family. Eduardo looked after the car and after us when things weren’t looking good.

Our Guardian Angels
The little one had this really cute habit of needing someone’s earlobe to play with whenever drinking from his bottle.

Barra Beach
Our new suburb in Salvador for the last couple days. After an extended 2-month stay, we finally moved out of Nanda’s place.

Friends - new and old
On our way up north from Salvador, we decided to re-visit the paradise of Mangue Seco, where we met with our old friend Ana and, as promised, gave her the pictures Tom took of the village church. They are going to be made into postcards with Tom’s name on the back and sold at her shop.

Rod-less Fishing
On the boat trip to Mangue Seco we spotted a group of dolphins in the lagoon. The boat driver tried to take the two of us nearer but they swam away, leaving only the result of their morning’s hunting – a decapitated fish, which he gladly collected and proudly waved around, gloating to the fisherman on the nearby boats.

Coconut King
This legend not only collected fresh coconuts for us, but also miraculously managed to find our small camera battery from under the sand when we lost it in some random spot on the beach.

Beach Shower Invention
The talented coconut guy also made this. Sweet water is extracted from under the beach by passing this pipe down a deep narrow hole and pulling it out using the rope.

Beach Babe
Lib and Renata, Ana’s daughter, on the boogie-boards.

Uhh...here´s fine thanks!
This German couple that we met in Mangue Seco, gratefully accepted when we offered them a lift up north to Recife. We´re not sure whether it was the fact that they had to push-start the car a couple of times, or the noisy truck-like engine that scared them off, but after not even 100km they politely asked to please be let out!

Berimbau
Our capoeira friend Carlos showing us how you play this Brazilian instrument.

Fernando & Fernanda
What would a visit to Olinda be without some time at the local mechanic? This father and daughter team not only did a good job on our car for next to nothing, but also served as a tourist information for us, and also told us about a little-known bar 100km north where they have crabs that can hold a beer bottle in their claws...but you´ll have to wait until next time to see photos of that!

Comments

[greg]

"red devil is seems all to tempting a name".salvador looks awesome guys,but talk about paradise wow mague seco looks sick,sick boy sick

[Nat]

hey sexy
haha finally got a chance to see you both in sexy outfit haha. Tom you're a bit too hairy :( Lib looks great ! background of the pictures is absolutely gorgeous. Is it a good season or its always like that in South America ? Envy you guys.

[Svenson]

Green with envy..
Tom and Libs, you guys look like you're having such a freakin' good time. I had a revelation that I just might do the same thing one day soon! Tchau :)