Brazil Minas Gerais - Governador Valadares

Brazil - Posted On

Brazil is like a never-ending road with from time to time lunchtime restaurants, buffet style, rice and 'feijoes' (black beans) for 6 réais (2€). It's also in shops a large variety of 'doce de leite' (cream of milk), sort of a delicious South American nutella. I know for sure we find it at least until Argentina (where it comes from), thanks God for this!

Hospitality is given only after long explanations, and often next to bad luck at some houses.

Either the boss is not here or the husband...

Some people show me petrol stations: I understand here, that Brazilian people, during their nice family holiday, must necessarily enjoy having their camping in petrol stations. How wonderful!

From time to time a car stops, wave at me, camera out, few words are enough to get invited for dinner, or for the night. People I meet are usually with their families, country people, not much young blocks from my age, either much older or kids, much younger. I miss hanging out with some friends of my age.

I now get off the shore line and blow my nose far west in some strange roller clusters full of 'morros', sort of huge Cyrano nose skyscraping high in the clouds.

Equatorial weather: quite easy forecasting. At 4pm: shower, no further discussion. Any other hour of the day: bloody hot.

A strange bird sings every night, really sounding like he's cutting a tree off. I eventually find out he's a fat insect lazing in the high grass.

Minas Gerais is the first place I get (many time in a row) my tire flat. Next to 5000kms, I say it's ok. Except when it's damn starting to rain hard at that precise minute!

Governador Valadares: mythic spot for flying, free flying, especially for cross country. The peak is left alone in the middle of a relative flatness and four roads are going in every direction: easy to get a ride back, mate! Warning though! Few years ago happened some aggressions on pilots and nowadays it's quite clear that there are much less foreign pilots than before.

I am quite astonished to have to pay a pass for "free" flying next to come up here by bike and on my feet.

That sort of thing is really bad under my point of view for what means free flying for me.

However I am not in my country here and I quickly understand that pilot = wallet in this city.

Thermals seems to sleep for a while, I just enjoy a nice sleady giving me a view on the country around. Rio Doce under my feet is flooded, that gives us the idea with some friends to surf the biggest wave of it! Completely blow minding!

So often, people ask me the same leitmotiv of questions. I hate those questions; it seems that people can't think on their own way, when you get them 15 times a day:

- Where do you come from? (da Francia) - da FRANCIA? (si si da Francia = 17 times a day easy. NO ONE can get the idea NOT to repeat this seemingly surprised 'Da Francia?'! Next time I’ll just say 'OH NO! No, no, da Francia!' just to have a good laugh.

- how long did that take for coming here?

- where are you going?

- all on a bike? Ooooooooh!

- how much kms?

...

That sort of Panurge' type of thing push me in the solitary way, far from the crowds, seeking for tranquility.