Goiás State

Officially we are now in central Brazil and it shows. Look at the reception we got at a gas station in Goiás State:

They weren’t in the least intimidated by our foreignness nor our inability to speak Portuguese and they joked about coming on our trip -“adopt me!”- and at last we felt like we were no longer in the far north where the locals act distant and fearful around strangers. 

The countryside is changing a bit too, and the change was subtle but we started to see rolling hills and a few peaks too. 

The fields are cultivated and agriculture has replaced forestry and ranching.

It’s hotter here with an afternoon high of 91 possibly thanks to less rain and a spring like burst of sunshine. 

We are 15 degrees south latitude because when we crossed the Amazon we also crossed the equator and spring is in the air.  

Greens are very green and trees are sprouting new leaves and the grasses are thick at the side of the road. 

We took a Rusty stop and he decided a nap in the grass was perfect. 

Traffic is heavy on BR 153 but it moves along. We have met some slow moving trucks but they are easy to pass on the long straightaways but we aren’t nearly as aggressive as the locals.  

Getting this close to the Federal District means the  road surface is improving too and driving is more relaxing. For some reason there are hundreds of trucks driving north in long lines.

We stopped to do laundry at one of Brazil’s famous automatic laundries. Actually we’d never heard of them but they are brilliant. Naturally the first one we tried on this road didn’t accept our credit cards so we pressed on but once we left Tocantins State and entered Goiás, the magical land of people kind to strangers we found a laundry at a gas station that worked perfectly and even allowed dogs. 

You show up with dirty clothes and “register” your name and phone number as a foreigner on the key pad. Brazilians enter the tax id number. Why? I have no idea but we got the foreigner button and put a made up passport number in. Stupid bureaucracy. Then tap your credit card and the washer adds its own soap automatically. Tap your card again for a drier and you’re done. Amazingly simple and rapid and one of several features that make Brazil easy to travel through. 

We stopped for a late lunch at a place that was getting ready to close for the afternoon and instead of a buffet they made us up a plate of meats, rice, beans, tomatoes and plantains and we sat outside with Rusty and it wasn’t too hot at all. 

Evening started to close in but noticeably later than further north as the sun is traveling lower in the sky here. The road passed through very few towns or settlements and we were wondering where we might find dog friendly accommodation but then Pirenopolis came over the horizon. It took a few Whatsapp messages but we found a place that looked good in a quiet neighborhood, not cheap at $70 a night but…

All to ourselves and GANNET2 fits easily in the courtyard off the street. And Rusty approved. 

The two young ladies who helped us settle in made us a jug of açaí juice, gave us some mangoes off their tree  and ordered pizza for us to be delivered saving us the agony of ordering in Portuguese. 

Rusty inspected the neighborhood outside the walls and approved of what he found. 

We are thinking of staying an extra night to clean and organize our battered living quarters, wash the van, enjoy the pool and visit what is supposed to be a tourist town set at 2500 feet among these hills. Time to be tourists for a minute before getting too mechanical in the capital. It’s nice to be tourists for a while and no longer explorers.

Closing In On Brasilia

 I checked last night and we are 183 miles from Brasilia the artificially created capital of this vast country and our destination for this leg. 

The drive from the Amazon to the capital has been what you have seen, a highway of varying qualitythrough countryside of no great account touristically speaking among Brazilians who are not used to seeing foreigners in their midst.

Yesterday was more of the same as we continue to balance making miles with not wearing out our travel companion.

The day started with the usual extraordinary breakfast buffet in the hotel. In Brazil breakfast is called cafe de manhá, which literally means “morning coffee” and is a lavish spread.

We usually see scrambled and fried eggs, hot dogs in tomato sauce, cold cuts, cheese breads, sandwiches, cakes, pastries, fruits and juices and elaborate selections of cakes. 

It sets you up for a day of driving if you stick to proteins and avoid a carb coma I find. Lunch is a snack when we buy dinner to go so we can collapse in our room in the evening. 

I know foreign travel is always exciting and remarkable but unfortunately we are on a mission to get to the capital to get our second alternator, the one that charges our house batteries repaired or replaced which we hope to do in Brasilia. If we succeed we will drive for the coast and spend December at the beach. If we fail - unthinkable- we will have to plow on to Uruguay where we eventually want to rebuild GANNET2’s well worn electrical system. 

Besides all that we had to get away from equatorial Brazil and try to find our way back to more interesting destinations in this vast country. As it is these are the agricultural flat lands of Brazil. Imagine driving I-80 across the Midwest.

This, folks, was the reality of our Saturday. 

And of course the ever present random speed bumps: 

And unstaffed Federal Highway Police Checkpoints.  

Check out the quality of the surface.

The parade of trucks northbound was endless. 

Huge doubles hauling I can’t imagine what fill the highway. 

This is not the Brazil you hear about and the locals who prove to be quite friendly under the surface are perplexed by our presence in their self contained world. Gas pumps covered in protective plastic…Regular with 30% ethanol is about $4:20 a gallon. 

Exempt vehicles and motorcycles use manual booths I think is the meaning of the road sign as we approach the toll booth.  

Not speaking  Portuguese has been a lesson for me struggling with Spanish and Italian to understand rapid fire gibberish. A $1:75 toll seems like an insult on these stretches of poorly maintained highway. 

If you think Spanish and Portuguese are similar check this warning not to toss trash roadside: 

Three bucks? Daylight robbery. Grrr. 

No clue what this means:

We saw no more tropical vegetation. 

A hill: 

All good things come to an end and just after five we arrived at our reserved hotel, pet friendly with off street parking. 

We fit… just about at the Rio de Ouro (“River of Gold”) hotel parking lot. 

I will start the final leg to Brasilia by reversing out of this narrow lot, round the corner and into the street.

Walk Rusty, unload the luggage and turn up the a/c as in Porangatu, this odd little stop astride the highway we find it unnaturally hot and humid once again.  

For dinner it so happens a man is grilling meat right outside the hotel and it was delicious.

Our hotel clerk looked like a movie extra.

And can any engineer explain why the a/c controls have 15 buttons? I had to get the clerk’s help to get the room cool. 

For evening entertainment they put on a parade for us.

The town of Porangatu rang to the sounds of fire crackers horns and yelling, none of which disturbed our dog fast asleep on Layne’s side of the bed. 

Actually it was in celebration of a soccer victory. 

How banal; did no one tell them there were foreigners in town?