gone back to our little table by the
riverside for more had we stayed
another night.
On the road again we headed to-
wards the Pacific coast. It had been a
long time since we’d been to a beach,
I couldn’t wait.
I’m not a sun seeker, but I do love
the ocean and walking along the
shore.
It was a beautifully sunny day.
We’d made our way to a small ferry
port in Matinhos. The locals ushered
to the front of the queue. The fair
was cheap as the ferry took us across
the estuary, saving us a very lengthy
detour and added something a little
different to the trip.
A local man came and shook our
hands, then gave us a couple of
stickers of his bike club. We returned
the gesture and gave him a couple of
ours. He was very happy.
The ferry dropped us off in Guara-
tuba, a small beach town that I’m
sure would be crazy and busy in the
summer. It was nice and tranquil at
the end of Autumn.
We found our way to pousada Ma-
ria Helena and got ourselves sorted.
The lady on reception was happy
conversating on Google translate and
enthusiastically showed us photos of
her husband on his bike who was cur-
rently off on a little trip of his own.
Carefully navigating their wooden
boats in the surf, we watched the fish-
ermen come in to shore along a beau-
tiful beach to be greeted by a group
of guys who’d run down to them
with wheels for the boats. The boats
were hauled up the beach before the
fishermen proceeded to gut and clean
the fish on the wall running along the
beach.
The area was beautiful as we
discovered another beach around a
peninsula. Large smooth rocks, ideal
for sitting on, amongst the larger
waves gave us a perch as we watched
the boats bobbing by.
There was even a chance to go
body boarding. I hadn’t been in the
sea since Ecuador over a year before-
hand, I was loving it. Although the
end of Autumn in Brazil, it was still
a pleasant 25 degrees Celcius and
bright blue skies, and without the
crowds it was just heaven.
After a few days enjoying being
by the sea, we made our way further
south to Pirabeiraba.
Walter Schaffer, an amazing guy
living in Paraguay who’d travelled
South America in a Citroen 2CV
(modified to a 4x4), had put us in
touch with another great guy called
Sergio Hardt.
Sergio is Brazilian born and bred
but of German descent like many
other people in the area. He also
had some lovely friends, Merin and
Marcelo, again Brazilian born and of
German descent, but they’d also lived
in Scotland for a while, so they spoke
great English.
We only contact people to ask for
information about areas we want
to travel, to meet new people when
we’re there but normally always sort
ourselves out in terms of food and
accommodation however, Sergio was
having none of it. He invited us to
stay with him and his family and then
there had been arrangements made
for us to stay at Merin and Marcelo’s
little oasis of a home a short drive
out of Joinville, right in the middle of
lush woodland.
We were spoilt and over the course
of almost a week were taken to some
truly beautiful places varying from
huge Brazilian monasteries to epic
look out points, to German villages,
stunning waterfalls, military forts,
beaches, beer factories, Brazilian buf-
fets, quaint villages and much more.
Some days we were chauffeured by
Merin and Marcelo, and on the oth-
ers, we took the bikes out with Sergio
who was also a biker and relished
the opportunity to get out and show
us what his beautiful country had to
offer. Not only that but Marcelo was a
damn awesome chef and ensured we
were fed like Royalty the whole time
TRAVERSE 29
we were there, his BBQing skills were
exceptional!
On the day we’d arrived, Sergio’s
mother had put on a whole spread for
us, with tasty feijoada and a scrump-
tious selection of cakes. The hospital-
ity of the Brazilian people was defi-
nitely second to none.
We received a warm farewell from
Sergio and his parents as we bid
farewell and headed again south to
Balneario Camboriu. Following the
coast, we peeled off the main highway
as soon as we could. A recommen-
dation had come to take a ride on the
famous cable car however, the area
was filled with dense fog. We decid-
ed to give it a miss. Perhaps a wise
decision as the area was swarming
with people. Instead, we stopped at
a beach for a rest where it was a bit
quieter.
A local couple approached to talk
and ask us about the bikes. Thankful-
ly, they spoke Spanish as well so we
were able to have a reasonable chat
… I was still struggling to get my head
around Portuguese.
The day’s biggest challenge was
finding a cash point that could pro-
vide us with money.
We stopped at multiple banks to try
and withdraw cash, but all said “NO!”.
Bugger!
I tried to find a place that had
a cambio (exchange) so we could
change some of our emergency US
Dollars. It seemed nowhere could be
found until we came across a super-
market in Bombinhas with one. Upon
entry we discovered it was no longer
in service.
A guy in the supermarket came to
our rescue and agreed to exchange
US$100 for us at almost the exchange
rate. Most cheap hotels in Brazil don’t
accept cards, so we had to have cash.
Saviour!
The next port of call; Florionapolis,
a small little island attached to the
mainland by a big bridge. Off-sea-
son and during the week I managed
to get an amazing deal on a hotel