Sunday Mar. 30, 2008
As I rode north, nearing what appeared to be the eastern-most point in the Americas, I wondered why it was so different than the northern and southern-most points. No signs to take a photo beside, no stories of riders triumphs here. Just the simple fact that I was now twice as close to Africa as I was to North America.
I'd received an E-mail from Tacio, the owner of TOPMOTO Suzuki in Recife inviting me to visit (seems like all the moto clubs in Brazil know I'm here). And even though I'd heard that Recife was another city to stay clear of, Buzz was running rough again on this strange gasoline. I also needed to change the oil, tires and check into a small radiator leak that had developed again, so I decided to take him up on it. Tacio didn't know I was riding a Suzuki, he simply loves all bikes and long-distance travelers.
As a veteran overlander who's ridden around the world himself, Tacio knows what this life can be like. He opened his shop to me as if it were my own, gave me the keys to another V-Strom to ride while I worked on Buzz and insisted I stay in his beautiful, spare, 11th floor apartment on the ocean front. It was a very welcomed break from the shoestring lifestyle I've been on and somehow 10 days managed to slip by as I enjoyed the company of this interesting man.
My rear tire with the cut or split in it that I first noticed in Sao Paulo 5,000 kms (3,106 mi) ago was now completely worn out at 12,671 kms (7,873 mi). And after repairing my original radiator once more, now with 138,880 kms (86,296 mi), I sent Carlos at the Suzuki factory in Sao Paulo an E-mail with pictures describing my history with small radiator problems since the week before I left Edmonton. He responded immediately by sending me a new one via courier express, at no cost, so that I didn't have to worry about it anymore. His exact words were ""Your motorcycle are on our care at Brazilian territory".
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Tacio also gave me a small tour of Recife and neighboring Olinda one night where I managed to see the pretty side of these big cities. Sadly though, large parts of every Brazilian port city I've visited are still plagued by noise, air and water pollution (although the alcohol fuel and high percentage of newer cars seems to have helped the air pollution noticeably). Sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm in the 21st century while sitting in traffic beside a stinky sewage canal carrying effluent and garbage right past the traffic and out into our oceans. I assume that's where the radiator coolant that I changed in Tacio's modern shop also went when they dumped it down the sink drain.
I usually carry my camera with me everywhere and try to take lots of pictures, but one night while riding with Tacio I was without it as we passed a weary old horse walking down the right lane of a street. Light traffic was flowing around him as if he was just another slow car, and he had his head hung down looking very depressed. I felt like stopping to see if he was alright.
I've also noticed that it's common for cars to wander between lanes or hover half in 2 lanes for a long time, as if lanes don't exist and there's nobody else on the road. Other drivers simply swerve around them, instantly becoming part of the ripple effect of bad driving. This was also common in Peru (where I thought I'd seen the worst drivers so far), but here they rarely honk their horn.
I heard something I never thought I'd hear one night. It was a guy in a pizza shop talking to me about Buzz and he said "I have a Harley, but I'm trying to sell it so I can buy a Suzuki".
I rode along the coast out of Recife to Prahia de Pipa, hoping to see the dolphins that are supposed to swim close to the beach, but all I found was rain, so the next day I continued riding.
Next stop was Canoa Quebrada for a night where I found a nice little beach town with dune buggies and paragliders cruising back and forth along the sand cliffs next to the beach. It was a nice place that I could have easily spent more time in, but I was now in traveling mode.
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