On the way to São Paulo

We are currently on the way to São Paulo. It is 1,500 km through endless pasture land in Brazil. It reminds us a little of the interior of Uruguay, farm after farm and pasture land after pasture land. This makes finding a place to sleep quite difficult. The only free land where one could possibly sleep is the 2-meter green strip between the road and the fence. It is clear that this is not nice or relaxing. So, we are going for the emergency solution as in Argentina and Chile: gas stations. It is damn practical, you can drive until shortly before the sun sets and then simply stop at the next gas station. Overnight stays are free, they always have clean toilets and showers, and usually Wi-Fi. Nevertheless, we spend a lot of time in the car because sitting outside with a camping table and chairs at a rest area among noisy trucks is not that great.

As I currently have a lot of time and boredom as a co-driver, I can write a little bit about Brazil in general. So, I have already mentioned that it is not as cheap as expected. We are very impressed by the variety of animals, but it must also be said that we only see them along the road and 99% of them are roadkill. So far, we have seen an armadillo, a crocodile, and an anaconda. For some animals, we are also glad that we didn't encounter them alive. What we often see in the trees along the roadside (alive) are toucans and parrots. Toucans are a bit shy, so I only managed to capture one on camera and since I was chatting as usual on the side, the picture is blurred. Yes, I will no longer become a photographer.

We are extremely sad that we cannot communicate so well with the people here. We speak to them in Spanish and they respond in Portuguese. The mean thing is that they understand us well and we don't understand them at all, which often leads to very puzzled looks. But they always try and the people here are really nice, interested, and open.

It is also worth mentioning that Brazil is the cleanest country (so far) in South America. There is no garbage on the roadside, and we even saw a person bending down to pick up trash and throw it into the trash can. We have not seen that in 8 months in South America.

The dirtiest were definitely Bolivia and Peru, where a lot is still sold in plastic bags, often triple wrapped. When the contents are consumed, the packaging ends up on the ground where you are. We don't want to mention everything that is thrown out of car windows. In Chile and Argentina, it is not that bad, mainly junk and tires, which is not necessarily better.

Another unique thing in Brazil: speed cameras. So far, we have only seen a few sleeping policemen with radar guns in Argentina. But in Brazil, there are speed cameras every 50 kilometers, and in the cities, it's like in Switzerland. Sometimes the speed limits are so low that you can only drive into them. But fortunately, it hasn't happened to us yet.

We arrived on the coast today and will continue driving to Paraty and from there back to the south. In 10 days, Jonas' brother and friend will visit us. We will pick them up at the airport and drive down the coast.