ironically, i don’t really like driving that much. i find it boring, isolating and polluting. however, in today’s world, it’s probably the best way to explore latin america as i have been doing. well, ‘best’, depends on the metrics you’re using….in my case, it means seeing a lot of cool stuff in a short amount of time. i’m not a great driver, but so far, i haven’t been in any accidents on this extensive roadtrip….so i guess that’s something (the most serious accident was when i naively drove into a flooded street). also, my driving endurance is getting much better. today, i drove almost 12 hours non-stop….and, except for the giant urge to pee at the end, i was fine.
i’m especially concerned about getting in an accident in brasil; not just because it’s the end of the trip (the odds are beginning to add up) but because i’ve seen so many overturned trucks here. today alone i saw 4. that’s more than i’ve seen in all the other countries combined. it did rain pretty hard today, but even so, brasilian truck drivers seem to be at risk (or, perhaps they are the risk). i wouldn’t have expected brasil, because the roads are quite good and 99% of the trucks here have auto-inflating tires (tubes run from all the tires into a central on-board pump). argentina had those too, but not as much as brasil.
part of the reason brasil’s roads are so good is that there are a lot of toll ones. in previous days, some were pretty expensive ($5 per 50 miles). today, however, they were cheap: $0.65 per 50 miles from belo horizonte to sao paulo & $0.90 per 50 miles from sao paulo to curitiba. the toll booth attendants are usually very friendly and usually female. it seems like a constant battle to get rid of the change. they’ll give me 5 coins which equal 50 cents as change…..then i’ll hand the stack back to them at the next toll station. i even got a 1 real paper bill (the first i’ve seen, since they’re usually coins). in the end, i won the battle, handing off the last of the steel over to them at the final toll booth.
on the road today, i saw a truck that puts the fedex logo to shame…although i think they may have overdone it a bit.
brasilian roads have quite a few radars. sol, one of the guys we met in the pantanal, ended up getting two tickets 6 months after the infraction. i wonder how many infractions i have piled up waiting for me. will there be a warrant for my arrest if i ever come back to brasil?
sao paulo seems to have traffic all of the time. on the way to rio, we hit rush hour (at 3pm)….and on the way down today, i must have hit the ‘coming home from church’ traffic. today’s traffic was a bit lighter, though….i wonder how many brasilians go to church on sunday. the traffic is frustrating, but what is even more annoying is the placement of the road: right next to a canal….which oughta be nice, but instead smells like raw sewage.
when i arrived in curitiba, i went to the hostel here. surprisingly, it was completely booked (last time we were here, it was completely empty). so, instead i’m staying at the more expensive hotel adrian and i stayed at when we were here. for one person, the hostel is significantly cheaper (almost half the price)…although it’s still overpriced. for two people, the hotel is a little bit more, but you get your own room, better location, etc. tomorrow i might check with the tourist office for a cheaper alternative (since i might be here for several days).
