- lots of barking dogs, which seem to get together at night. Why do people own them and how does it not irritate them?
- cockerels, none of which seem to know they are only meant to crow at dawn! Again, above comment applies.
- road humps, everywhere, even on motorways.
- the women all wear sprayed on shorts and jeans. I wish my Portuguese was better cos I really want to know how the heck they get in and out of them.
- jugglers, unicyclists and kids selling fruit and small electrical items at traffic lights
- lots of police check points taking our information and no doubt filing it somewhere that no-one will ever look at it again.
- lots of different names for toilets...it can take a bit of thought.
Sick member of the team on the front bench, birthday balloons
A big truck day to get through that no man's land separating Brazilia from anywhere good. Saw something I have never seen before, a rainbow coloured cloud! It was rather good and I am sure has a special name. I must remember to google it next time I get some wifi. Pete found our next bush camp down a road behind a load of trees, next to what appeared to be a small local air strip. The owner popped along when we were eating our dinner and ready to be evicted, he jumped out of his car, shouted 'gringo's' and shook Pete's hand. He then encouraged us to stay longer (we couldn't) and mentioned there might be an early incoming flight (ooooh, exciting). What a nice chap.
Several of us found ourselves hooked on nature's tv that night, watching the most active lightening storm any of us had ever seen. Too far away to hear thunder, it must have been a mile or two wide and it flashed every few seconds. It kept going for hours and pinching the truck to go storm chasing was discussed.
Family pet at one of the hotels
800km from the Northern Pantanal, our next destination but as Jane had a birthday in Salvador, when we were separated and today as Pete's birthday, we decorated the truck cab and truck body with balloons. :-) Unfortunately, our plans were scuppered by rain (the road to the N'thn Pantanal would be a mud bath) and then a crash immediately in front of us. Sobering and sad (whilst some basic first aid by one of our overlanders saved the motorcyclist's life, ultimately he'd taken on a truck (not ours) so may not have made it in the end). I was struck by how much this country is still very much developing. The police and ambulance arrived only after at least 20 minutes, closely followed by 2 tv news crews and one newspaper reporter. The journo's trampled the scene, the camera men stuck their camera's into the ambulance and the paramedics wrenched the motorcyclist's head 90degrees. All filmed on mobile phones by locals who came to watch. As witnesses, crew had to hang around till released by the police, which took a couple of hours. So, instead of a bush camp, we went to a hotel and took Pete to a (a BBQ meat based buffet) to try and 'birthday up' the day.
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