Travel Journal

Live the adventures of Dan Walker's travels through reading his travel journal. The travel journals are listed below in descending order of date. To search the travel journals, use the keyword search at the bottom of the page.

Journal Entry:

Trips | Rolls Alaska To Argentina & Back 2011

Thursday, April 21, 2011 16:40:08
Rolls Alaska to Argentina & back: 25 Maceio to Santa Ines, Brazil Monday, April 18, 2011 Miles for the day: 181 (291 km) Miles to date: 14,420 (23,207 km) Mario's driver was waiting for us at the hotel at 8:30 AM to lead us to his home about half an hour away. His employees washed our car while we had breakfast tea with him. After saying farewell to Mario, his driver led us to a muffler shop where they repaired a rattling exhaust system caused by scraping over speed bumps. We took a back road from hwy 101 to the road to Belem. It was in good condition, traffic light and the route through beautiful hill country. We had planned to stay in Caracura, but couldn't find a decent looking hotel. Locals recommended we drive to Pasqueira, about 80 km away, to find a good hotel. They are few and far between along this route in spite of quite large cities. We went 10 km out of our way to the north on new four lane highway before we discovered we were going the wrong direction. At a police post we informed (in Portuguese & sign language) us that we had passed our highway before entering Caracura. The return was back through a horrible highway construction zone in the middle of town, but we finally were headed west on the right road. The City of Pasqueira is a major religious centre with loads of churches, sanctuaries, religious schools and shrines. The El Cruzero Hotel was reasonably good, with a huge pool that we enjoyed in spite of the water being pretty cool. It is a big hotel, with religious painting throughout. \It was full of women attending some sort of seminar or teaching course. There was only one sheet on the bed, and a light bedspread, something we will continue to run into. They had no blankets, but the internet worked. There were four beds in our room, dormitory style. The buffet dinner was plentiful, but not great. Tuesday, April 19, 2011 Miles for the day: 347 (558 km) Miles to date: 14,767 (23,765 km) The drive to today's destination, Quiricuri, was great, however as we were there before 1 PM we decided to carry on until we spotted another decent hotel. The road was good, traffic light and other than a couple of light showers it was sunny. The countryside is drier, with cactus among the vegetation. >From Quiricuri things went downhill. I hit two speed bumps that were not painted or marked with signs at a about 50 mph (80 kph) giving the car a tremendous bash (fortunately they were not the full sized car killing ones), and we ran into the most fierce rainstorm of the trip, which caused the car to leak inside in several places. Traffic crawled along in convoy, as not even the Brazilians dared to pass. There wasn't a decent hotel along the route. We finally found the Picos Hotel in the city of Picos, which was tomorrow's destination. They had good wifi, a pretty decent restaurant and indoor parking. This time there were three beds in the room, so we took the sheet and cover off the third bed to have one each! Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Miles for the day: 181 (291 km) Miles to date: 14,948 (24,057 km) Before leaving Picos for Teresina we stopped at a supermarket for some essentials. The weather and road were both good. We have now reached jungle, with many types of palm trees and dense vegetation. In one valley where trees were quite small, vines with bright purple flowers covered everything - the whole valley was bright purple. In another area we passed amazing red rock formations similar to those we saw in the deserts. Truckers often assist vehicles to overtake them, but the system is the opposite to what we are used to. Throughout Brazil the left turn signal means "danger, do not try to pass" and a right turn signal means "all clear - go ahead and pass". It gets tricky if the truck is actually going to turn! We arrived at a covered gas station in Teresina just before a heavy rain storm began, so sat it out with a number of motorbike riders. They recommended a hotel not far away as one of the best in town, and a biker offered to guide us there once the rain stopped. The hotel looked good from the front, but inside showed a serious lack of maintenance. It had a swimming pool with warmer water, which we made use of before having a late lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting caught up on our computers. When Marilynn tried for blankets they came up with a kind of bed spread, definitely a step up from the previous two nights. Hotel prices are high for what is offered. Thursday, April 21, 2011 Miles for the day: 217 (349 km) Miles to date: 15,165 (24,496 km) We were off to a tacky start this morning, driving miles out of our way into the heart of Teresina before realizing our mistake. When we finally found the right road it was in horrible condition - 10 mph quality. I was in a pretty black mood by the time we finally hit good pavement. Traffic was extremely heavy, as today is the first day of the four day Easter holiday. Up until now the main highway has been in great shape - even where there was the odd pothole they were easy to avoid and still maintain our 68 mph (110 kph) cruising speed, however today we hit a stretch where the number of potholes required a reduction to 50 mph (80 kph). During this stretch, in light rain, we ran into an unmarked, unpainted speed bump at 40 mph (64 kph). This was one of the car killers. The impact slammed the front end into the air, landing the centre of the car and muffler on the huge hump with a grating crash. I stopped to go over the car but didn't see any damage. How the front suspension survived is beyond me, but it still drives well. I'm really getting fed up with driving in Brazil. The interminable massive speed bumps are the biggest problem, but lunatic drivers, pot holes and overpriced inferior gas all add to the equation. Today we passed a lot of jungle type dwellings, with mud brick construction and palm frond roofs. It is incredibly hot and humid - we absolutely bake at low speed, our clothes are soaked in sweat continually and we don't smell that great either. Out target tonight was Santa Ines, a small city two more days from Belem. Many of the towns we passed through were well into celebrations, but Santa Ines was dead quiet. We checked into the Socic Hotel recommended by attendants at a gas station, which while very basic was at clean and low priced. The restaurant of the hotel is closed for the four day holidays, but the reception clerk walked us a few blocks to one of the only restaurants in town that was open. The meal was huge, tasty and inexpensive. We really should have split one portion, as we barely dented the quantity of food. They also plied us with various types of local liquor to go with the beer, which was very welcome! That meal definitely did for lunch and dinner plus helped with an attitude adjustment. We headed back to the hotel for a siesta, then to get some work done. I also spent some time going over the car including redoing a hub cap where the duct tape that was preventing a rattle had melted in the heat.

Thursday, April 21, 2011 16:40:08

Rolls Alaska to Argentina & back: 25 Maceio to Santa Ines, Brazil

Monday, April 18, 2011

*Miles for the day: 181 (291 km) Miles to date: 14,420 (23,207 km)*

Mario's driver was waiting for us at the hotel at 8:30 AM to lead us to his home about half an hour away. His employees washed our car while we had breakfast tea with him. After saying farewell to Mario, his driver led us to a muffler shop where they repaired a rattling exhaust system caused by scraping over speed bumps.

We took a back road from hwy 101 to the road to Belem. It was in good condition, traffic light and the route through beautiful hill country. We had planned to stay in Caracura, but couldn't find a decent looking hotel. Locals recommended we drive to Pasqueira, about 80 km away, to find a good hotel. They are few and far between along this route in spite of quite large cities.

We went 10 km out of our way to the north on new four lane highway before we discovered we were going the wrong direction. At a police post we informed (in Portuguese & sign language) us that we had passed our highway before entering Caracura. The return was back through a horrible highway construction zone in the middle of town, but we finally were headed west on the right road.

The City of Pasqueira is a major religious centre with loads of churches, sanctuaries, religious schools and shrines. The El Cruzero Hotel was reasonably good, with a huge pool that we enjoyed in spite of the water being pretty cool. It is a big hotel, with religious painting throughout. \It was full of women attending some sort of seminar or teaching course. There was only one sheet on the bed, and a light bedspread, something we will continue to run into. They had no blankets, but the internet worked. There were four beds in our room, dormitory style. The buffet dinner was plentiful, but not great.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

*Miles for the day: 347 (558 km) Miles to date: 14,767 (23,765 km)*

The drive to today's destination, Quiricuri, was great, however as we were there before 1 PM we decided to carry on until we spotted another decent hotel. The road was good, traffic light and other than a couple of light showers it was sunny. The countryside is drier, with cactus among the vegetation.

>From Quiricuri things went downhill. I hit two speed bumps that were not painted or marked with signs at a about 50 mph (80 kph) giving the car a tremendous bash (fortunately they were not the full sized car killing ones), and we ran into the most fierce rainstorm of the trip, which caused the car to leak inside in several places. Traffic crawled along in convoy, as not even the Brazilians dared to pass. There wasn't a decent hotel along the route. We finally found the Picos Hotel in the city of Picos, which was tomorrow's destination. They had good wifi, a pretty decent restaurant and indoor parking. This time there were three beds in the room, so we took the sheet and cover off the third bed to have one each!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

*Miles for the day: 181 (291 km) Miles to date: 14,948 (24,057 km)*

Before leaving Picos for Teresina we stopped at a supermarket for some essentials. The weather and road were both good. We have now reached jungle, with many types of palm trees and dense vegetation. In one valley where trees were quite small, vines with bright purple flowers covered everything - the whole valley was bright purple. In another area we passed amazing red rock formations similar to those we saw in the deserts.

Truckers often assist vehicles to overtake them, but the system is the opposite to what we are used to. Throughout Brazil the left turn signal means "danger, do not try to pass" and a right turn signal means "all clear - go ahead and pass". It gets tricky if the truck is actually going to turn!

We arrived at a covered gas station in Teresina just before a heavy rain storm began, so sat it out with a number of motorbike riders. They recommended a hotel not far away as one of the best in town, and a biker offered to guide us there once the rain stopped.

The hotel looked good from the front, but inside showed a serious lack of maintenance. It had a swimming pool with warmer water, which we made use of before having a late lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting caught up on our computers. When Marilynn tried for blankets they came up with a kind of bed spread, definitely a step up from the previous two nights. Hotel prices are high for what is offered.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

*Miles for the day: 217 (349 km) Miles to date: 15,165 (24,496 km)*

We were off to a tacky start this morning, driving miles out of our way into the heart of Teresina before realizing our mistake. When we finally found the right road it was in horrible condition - 10 mph quality. I was in a pretty black mood by the time we finally hit good pavement. Traffic was extremely heavy, as today is the first day of the four day Easter holiday.

Up until now the main highway has been in great shape - even where there was the odd pothole they were easy to avoid and still maintain our 68 mph (110 kph) cruising speed, however today we hit a stretch where the number of potholes required a reduction to 50 mph (80 kph). During this stretch, in light rain, we ran into an unmarked, unpainted speed bump at 40 mph (64 kph). This was one of the car killers. The impact slammed the front end into the air, landing the centre of the car and muffler on the huge hump with a grating crash. I stopped to go over the car but didn't see any damage. How the front suspension survived is beyond me, but it still drives well. I'm really getting fed up with driving in Brazil. The interminable massive speed bumps are the biggest problem, but lunatic drivers, pot holes and overpriced inferior gas all add to the equation.

Today we passed a lot of jungle type dwellings, with mud brick construction and palm frond roofs. It is incredibly hot and humid - we absolutely bake at low speed, our clothes are soaked in sweat continually and we don't smell that great either.

Out target tonight was Santa Ines, a small city two more days from Belem. Many of the towns we passed through were well into celebrations, but Santa Ines was dead quiet. We checked into the Socic Hotel recommended by attendants at a gas station, which while very basic was at clean and low priced. The restaurant of the hotel is closed for the four day holidays, but the reception clerk walked us a few blocks to one of the only restaurants in town that was open.

The meal was huge, tasty and inexpensive. We really should have split one portion, as we barely dented the quantity of food. They also plied us with various types of local liquor to go with the beer, which was very welcome! That meal definitely did for lunch and dinner plus helped with an attitude adjustment. We headed back to the hotel for a siesta, then to get some work done. I also spent some time going over the car including redoing a hub cap where the duct tape that was preventing a rattle had melted in the heat.