Granma what big (paw) paws you have!

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Ah, a friendly lttle bookshop with an upstairs couple of machines and a comfortable chair......in this episode we move on down the coast, just a few observations and then to Rio.
We´ve been thru big cane, big cashew, big banana, now it seems to be big pawpaw, or papaya again or another local name I haven´t fathomed...and really, its ´small´pawpaw not big pawpaw, but perfectly formed, of course....everyone seems to be planting pawpaws and theres been some genetic monkeying about as these ones have 15 or 20 smallish fruit clustered around the trunk just under the leaf canopy like some multi-testicled ostrich-gone-vegetable....
And the reactions altho´not any more frequent have been spectacular...like one little kid, obviously been waved at by Ted, he was about 10 or so, scrappy rags flapping as he jumped up and down, he was hysterical, mouth open shrieking with delight, eyes bulging, little arms pumping the air, he was about to wet himself....thats what makes waving worthwhile...the rest...stony, stoned, silence..
A million more miles of eucalypt plantations, and I found out the majority of it goes to making charcoal for all the millions of little brick, tile and ceramic places...they´re everywhere..churning out bricks and tiles and ceramic stuff...the earth here seems prime for it, all along the road I see great pinkish gashes on the hillsides, terracotta coloured really...definitely no shortage...
The gum plantations are set out in exquisite precision, looking into them from the road I see hypnotic trompes dóeiol, they only have leaves at the very top and up the trunks those little branches that die off and bleach (great for kindling) so looking into the forest its spooky, misty, cobwebby and impossible to guage the depth...don´t look for too long, more potholes!...looking down on the plantations from the hilltops I see an Escer like pattern of green diamonds, all shades of green, constantly changing shapes and textures.....the homesickness in some quarters is palpable..addictive, cumulative and possibly contagious as I feel like pulling off into the gums, boiling a billy, having a cuppa, rolling a smoke....and along the way I´m sort of waiting for a bloody wombat to fumble onto the road..
Then we come over a crest and in the distance the most bizarre skyline of bluey mountains, or hills, when does a hill become a mountain?..anyway, they are so jagged, wierdest shapes like a bunch of kids blocks, as we get closer, sheer rock faces, huge rocks thrust up out of the ground like whales broaching or breeching or whatever they do...we pull up for a photo op...Ted wants me to go down a dirt track off the main road...theres some great shots here, he says...too many great shots in the cocktail bar on the square last night, I reply!!...eventually I go down, towards the structurally suicidal single plank bridge...aarrgghh...Ted assures me the centre is solid......you´ll see them on his site.
All of the bridges, and there are lots, some big brown rivers down here, they all have a cast concrete framework parapet about 1 metere high and nearly always theres a worrying gap or 2 where vehicles have taken out a couple of sections on their way over!!...I think they leave them un-fixed as a reminder!
I come sweeping into a chicane, right-hander, small straight, left hander...the bitumen has fantastic grafitti style swirls of black, circles and loops, just beautiful...then I see, on each side of the road, the piles of the remains of the loads of the 2 trucks that have gone spinning and sliding into each other, then off, one to each side!!...there are a few truck smash remains along the way..about the only contribution to any distribution of wealth as the locals quickly plunder the scene..
We tuen off towards the beach for a night...maybe Conciacio de Barra...wild, dirty, howling gale as we get there...deserted buildings, only a couple of places open, the network of a dozen streets each way looks empty, on the inlet side theres a bit of shelter and a few dozen fishing boats...a few fishermen...I look at their feet...nothing to write about there!...we find a hotel and get a couple of rooms...the downside of travelling in the off season is everything is shut!...the upside is you can negotiate a v good deal if you can find somewhere open!..we did....I went to the square, near the fleet and had a beer...a few guys hanging around..I´m a little chesed off...after going thru all these little towns with thousands of gorgeously friendly women we´ve ended up where all the men went!...eventually a restaurant, set out over the water, opens and we troop in...surprisingly fantastic meal...recipes later...a one-woman show, this fabulous, jet black woman of indeterminate age, with a blindingly white-toothed smile that she had constantly on her face, brought drinks, some crabs to start, with wooden platters and hitting sticks to crack them...the crabs, idiot!...later she came out with 2 huge casseroles of crumbed chicken in red sauce...just fantastic...I went and checked out the kitchen...thats when I saw it was a one-woman show..she´d done it all on her own in a pretty spacious but basic kitched...just another lttle vignette where we have been utterly surprised by not just the food but the whole ambience and this woman´s performance..extraordinarily satisfying evening....and in the morning a little market..nothing different except for the bunches of crabs...crabs are so stupid, you just tie three together..they can never get their act together and go one way or they´d all be free...no, you just tie them together and they clack and scrabble but never get anywhere...and a little old lady, forlornly standing by a sheet of paper with four little piles of chillies, like 10 or 15 in each pile..and 2 sad lttle bunches of chives...I gave her some money just for being there!..and Spiceman´s stall..aahhh the smells of all the fresh herbs and spices..took me back to maroc..but, we´ve gotta go....
Rollercoaster roads, up and down, round and round, some extremely long and steep runs, often the slope tucks right in near the bottom so when you come over the brow you can´t tell if someone is coming the other way until you are right on them...scary when you´re passing trucks over the brow!...on a fairly long flat I pull out to pass a truck and see its a 7 or 8 truck convoy!!...all nose-to-tail....I´m trying to crank it on gently as she´s pinging like all shit with the crap fuel we have to suffer...and the truck at the front is a three-dog log train...and theres a bit of a rise ahead...can´t see for shit...but of course it all works out and I get thru´...
The weather has been variable and unseasonably cool for this neck of the woods...we´re still well in the tropics, like Cairns sort of way, but its been raining and cool at nights...enough meteorological stuff, you can get that off the weather channel!
I´ve seen a few trucks with giant granite blocks on the tray and now see the little stoneworks appearing...massive flywheels and dual blades slicing cheese-like slivers of granite, marble and slate..the blocks are 1.5 to 2 metre cubes......so the places we stay, and eat and everything, all the buildings have amazing timber, granite, marble and slate..beautiful green slate flooring..massive timber beams altho´I suspect the adze effect is faux!...marbellous wall panels etc etc...
We are riding thru hilly/mountainous country now, perfectly hemispherical grassy hills, vertical rock faces, rounded fingers of stone pointing upwards, and in the distance bigger, wilder, violent skylines of the same shapes...
Another night another town another surf spot..but the weather has been so crap the beaches are hardly bearable..we pull in to the refreshingly and irresistably named Buzios (pronounced Booze-e-os)!!
a town after my own heart!...altogether forgettably wonderful..what was the stand-out in Buzios?...oh, maybe Canadian Dave, the owner, good to catch a real English speaking local to give us the good oil!...
Planning, then changing plans, and not for the first time, we head off for another beach, get waylaid, misplaced and decide to push on to the big Rio.....rain, shine, rain again, separation, reunion, more rain and finding a hotel...easier to write!...next I´m going for the photos again...chau
PS..they´re just taking too long so this is all for now...see photos at www.tedgrambeau.com

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Photos

Big Gym
in the harbour of no-girl town

Boats
in the harbour of no-girl town

Market
in the harbour of no-girl town

Market in the morning
In the harbour of no-girl town..Spiceman´s stall..you could smell all these fantastic herbs..mmmm