Acabo de colocar no ar o novo site do iAi? Instituto de Artes Interativas!
Baseado no Ning - o site se tornou uma espécie de rede social tipo Orkut ou Facebook.
Como novas datas para o Curso de iPhone SDK - Xcode, Interface Builder, e Objective-C continuo com meu esforço de montar a escola!
Participem!
Another item about my school (www.iaibrasil.com.br) published, at my request :)
Mac Magazine thanks to Rafael Fischmann!
Uff!!
Finally I put all the information in the right places and my school's website is up!!
Will be translating it into English and Spanish shortly... for now here it is in Portuguese:
www.iaibrasil.com.br
Now I know where I got my adventurous spirit from!
Sagatiba - a Brazilian premium cachaca - a distilled drink from sugar cane - hired me some months ago to do their iPhone application.
It got approved by Apple to be placed on the App Store this weekend - for free.
Check out Sagatiba's web site.
Yesterday Marc and I were interviewed by Marcelo Godoy who runs New TV - an online TV show about mobile technologies. Here's the video:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Great to be back home and see all of my family and friends...
Marc and I went to the coast of SP with NO computer and no video camera - a break from the blogging - but not from the bikes.
It rained a lot in Barra do Una (north coast of Sao Paulo state) but then when we went to Rio on the 28th the weather opened up to great sunshine until the 1st of January.
In Rio we had a great group - Stephanie, Jonathan, Dahlia and Glen - along with the "locals" Miguel and Renata who were our guides once in a while.
We had an amazing time in Rio eating at BBLanches almost every meal, going to the beach in Barra and going out at night.
New Year's Eve in Copacabana - millions of people peacefully and democratically united on the beaches for the 20 minute long uncoordinated fireworks spectacle. Very cool.
Back to SP on the first on the bikes we got one of the heaviest rains we saw in the entire trip down from the US!
And now back to real life!!
Some more pictures from the arrival:
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
My sister did a cute little animation for the invitation to our arrival in Sao Paulo:
My grandfather went today after a fruitful life of impressive discipline, determination, focus, honesty, and vision.
A leader, a gentle boss, stern but not harsh, quiet but attentive, a traveler and explorer.
He has always been the solid and stable figure of the family.
He went at home this morning.
A simple burial with only the direct family.
Woke up with Pedro and Armando who had arrived on their bikes from Sao Paulo :)
Had some breakfast and went over to Sao Paulo with about 12 motorcycles!!
Very cool and different riding with so many bikes.
Arriving in Sao Paulo was quite emotional... great feeling to have completed the journey!
Arrived at my Dad's house and there were about 30 people waiting for us with banners, champagne and lots of happiness!
What a reception!! Very very cool.
Stayed there till a lot later and then went to my Mom's where there were yet more people later on since it was her birthday the next day.
Great to be home!
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
Quick post - no internet here - morning spent getting Gui a new tire
then driving the entire afternoon (300 miles) to get to Campinas and
then to the farm where Dudu (another cousin) was waiting for us :)
Now doing some churrasco (barbecue) and drinking some beer :)
Tomorrow day 80 and Sao Paulo!!!!
Great day - visit to Usina Vale do Ivai in the morning - sugar and alcohol production plant - always learn something new when I go there.
It's one of the most self sufficient industries I know of:
- Sugar cane by itself is a renewable source of energy
- The fibers of the sugar cane are burnt to produce enough electricity for the entire plant + surplus to sell back to the grid
- The soot from the burnt fibers is spread on the soil as a fertilizer
- The unused/old yeast is used as an additive to livestock feed
- The "vinhaca" - a bi-product of the fermentation process is used as a fertilizer as well
- The yeast-cream is bought from breweries around the country to produce more dried yeast, which comes with 6 alcohol by the way, for "free"
- The residue from the sugar process is sent back into the alcohol plant to extract even more sugar
- The water used to wash and cool is always filtered and could be bottled for drinking
... and the list goes on...
In any case... after the visit we had lunch at the farm, had a nap and headed towards Londrina - only an hour and a half away.
There we met Otto and Guilherme who rode their motorcycles (BMS 1200GS and a BMW 800S) from Sao Paulo to meet with us.
Later on we went to another cousin's house - Adriana Carioba - to have some beers then dinner.
Very pleasant dinner at a Japanese place in town.
All drunk from Saque now going to bed :)
Short but exciting post!
At my family's farm in Parana, 450km northeast of Foz de Iguacu, +/- 1000km west of Sao Paulo next to a small town called Sao Pedro do Ivai.
This is where I spent most of my childhood vacations and have many fond memories of.
Very cool to arrive here by motorcycle, especially coming from so far away.
It all looks great, smells wonderful, and tastes amazing. We had some chicken with orange sauce along with wild rice and beans and salad. All local produce and by default "organic".
All day tourist day :)
Tour bus picked us up at 9:10am and took us to Iguacu Falls - very cool walk along the pathways and very impressive the size, noise and amount of water of the falls.
Amazingly few Brazilians - most Argentineans and Europeans... interesting... well... not so surprising - I've lived in Brazil most of my life and never even thought of coming here to see this!
After the falls we stopped at a buffet style restaurant where we ate a bit - well - more like a lot - feijoada, cupim, farofa, guarana, suco de acerola and all the Brazilian food I missed quite a bit!
The afternoon was dedicated to Itaipu - the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world in terms of megawatts produced.
It's a "joint" project of Brazil and Paraguay but the story goes that Brazil basically paid for it... Paraguay pays it's share now with electricity.
Paraguay uses only 7% of the energy produced, selling the remainder 43% back to Brazil. This 7% supplies 90% of Paraguay's needs.
Brazil in turn utilizes 93% of the energy produced supplying 20% of our energy needs!! Crazy.
Apparently the new Paraguayan president wants to increase the price at which they sell the electricity to us. According to the deal signed back in 1973 the price cannot be readjusted until 2025. This has been causing some friction between the two countries along with a land reform the Paraguayan president promised the people before being elected. A good chunk of land in Paraguay is owned and run by Brazilian farmers. The people are now protesting against this Brazilian position and demanding that the Brazilians leave their country and land... uff...
Back in the hotel waiting for the torrential rains to go by and then go out into the city again.
Tomorrow we'll be back on the bikes riding to Sao Pedro do Ivai - Fazenda Barbacena!!
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
Some of the TED Talks I liked in no particular order...
BRASIL!! We have arrived!!
Easy day of riding, some more turns than yesterday thankfully and a little bit more mountainous terrain but not that much :)
We arrived in Puerto Iguacu and stopped for lunch and some tips as to where to stay - Brazilian or Argentinean side.
We got an irrefutable offer from Alejandro - a good rate a Hotel Suica and a free tour of the falls and Itaipu tomorrow!
The border crossing was one of the easiest and fastest ones we've done so far - we both got 40 days to stay in Brazil - I came in with my Italian passport thinking it would give me some advantage over coming in with my Brazilian one - effectively I would not have been allowed to come into the country with a used motor-vehicle!
We found the hotel after some running around, called our folks, and jumped into the pool... very nice :)
Now going out to check the town out and celebrate our arrival in Brazil!
Hum... straight roads... very green... very humid and hot... lots of Brazilian trucks on the road.
Presidente Roque Saenz Pena is a cute little town with a few restaurants and quite a few people cruising along the roads - nothing compared to Salta, which has a vibrant street which is shut off to cars and people just walk up and down two large blocks filled with bars (boliches) and restaurants.
Posadas also has a lot going on at night at the Avenida Constanera - an avenue that runs along the river where people drive up and down on their cars and motorcycles to see and to be seen. The bars and restaurants along the avenue are all packed with people and the avenue is lined up with parked cars with their back door open blasting music to the ears of the crowds around them.
It seems like everywhere you go, no matter what country you are in, how "remote" it is in your head, you always find people doing all of the same things... going out, socializing, mingling, and trying to have a good time...
Getting closer and closer to Brazil now... Foz de Iguacu tomorrow!
Long day but AOK!
Woke up at 8 to get some breakfast and go change my tires and balance my wheels.
Turned out to be a long process that lasted till around noon but everyone was very nice, curious and impressed by the trip.
In the pictures you can see the missing counter weights, the chewed up and the good side of the tire and some other pics :)
Back on the road with new tires and balanced wheels we left Salta after saying thanks to Alberto from Division 2 Ruedas and buying some chain lube for my bike.
We did about 600km today on a very straight and boring road - very humid as well.
We stopped a few times for gas and for breaks... tried to get food in this one town but everything was closed - Saturday + siesta time!
All throughout the day I listened to the TED Talks Podcasts instead of music - VERY cool - made time actually go by faster it seemed - well - depending on what speaker that is :) Very interesting projects, people, lectures and topics!
We arrived in Sans Pena at night and found a descent hotel to stay in...
Tomorrow the ride should be a little bit more interesting in terms of scenery and towns.
Right on schedule for our arrival in Sao Paulo around the 19th...
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
Wow - what a day - yes another one of those!
Breakfast, bike packing and gas routine in the morning. Last night we had dinner with Steve and a friend of his - a girl from Hong Kong who has been traveling through South America for the past 6 months alone! Great dinner and conversation.
Ran into two the Brazilian motorcyclists we had met at Valle de La Luna while we were looking for the gas station in San Pedro this morning - cool guys - they were going to the Pacific to check it out... we were heading towards the Atlantic ;)
We did our Chilean exit at San Pedro in no time and we were on our way.
The road was pretty incredible - we went up and up and up - gently though - up to 4800 meters - got quite chilly but bearable.
My wheel wobble would come and go - I guess the rubber would wear down and the wheel would stabilize for a little while but then it would get unbalanced again - very annoying and very unsettling on the turns - the whole bike would be loose and did not feel very stable.
But we kept on trucking...
The Argentinean border was about 1 hour and half away from San Pedro and took a little longer just because there were quite a few people there at the same time but went through smoothly.
The descent from Suques into Purmamarca was quite nice - lots of incredibly tight turns. By that time I guess I got used to the wobbly bike and enjoyed it a little more but still definitely not at my full potential.
We stopped at a nice little hotel by the road where we had a quick sandwich. I asked at the hotel's reception if they knew of any motorcycle stores or repair shops in San Salvador de Jujuy or in Salta. An Argentinean guest immediately jumped to help me calling a friend of his who gave him the phone number of the owner of a motorcycle store in Jujuy who in turn said that he had tires for my bike AND balance the wheels!
I was ecstatic... but did not last very long because once we got to Jujuy we found out that not only they did not have the tires, they told me that the only motorcycle wheel balancing machine was in Buenos Aires - and that there was only ONE there!
I think that was one of the lowest points of this trip - my tire was down to the bone - I could probably only drive on it for another day before it literally would rip apart - and even if I got new tires, without balancing the wheel, I would wear it down in another 6 days I think. I was miserable. I even started contemplating putting the bike on a truck and sending it to Brazil.
But there was still hope... Salta is a larger city so I asked the guys to find a tire in Salta for me... they did!! Not the exact same tire but it should do. And to balance the wheel I would go to a car mechanic and have him create some kind of an adapter to fit the bike's wheel on the car wheel machine...
Off we went to Salta - only 70km away but took us almost 2 hours - we got some back road which was beautiful but my bad mood prevented me from enjoying it...
But then again it all changed when we got to Division 2 Ruedas in Salta! The not only had my tires but they knew of a guy in town who would balance my wheels!!
What a relief!!!
And what a great hotel we found for a great price! Now all showered and ready for some dinner!
Short post today - slept in till a bit later than usual had some breakfast and then came back into the room to rest a little more.
Around 11 we took off on the bikes to explore the region. On the way we missed an exit and ended up on another route that turned out to be OK. Went to see these two lakes up in the mountains. Not bad but I think we got spoiled by the Valle de la Luna yesterday evening - that
was just spectacular - these lakes were very pretty but nothing too impressive.
On the way back we headed into the desert to see the Lago Sejas - a lake with high concentration of salt where you float a lot - dirt roads and lots of sand - pity that the video battery died - I was doing a little off road, throwing some sand up in the air while Marc
was filming.
The lake itself was pretty cool as well... I didn't swim in it just because I forgot my swimming suit and it would be annoying to put all my gear back on with salt all over my body :)
Back at the hotel we ran into Steve, the American we met yesterday on the road on a KLR. He was going to the Valle de la Luna - we decided to stay in and rest some more... we're going to meet later on tonight for dinner or drinks.
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
What a day! Last night was kind of cool as well - we went around town to look for a restaurant and ran into Fernando, a local Iquiquean who showed us around and had a couple of beers with us at a bar/restaurant along the beach. Nice town.
Well... today started out with a wonderful breakfast on the 15th floor of the hotel we stayed in.
Then I went to the Yamaha dealer to see if they had a spare tube for my rear tire which I completely forgot to look for yesterday.
I ran into a Brazilian couple - Marcos and Antonela - www.motoconesul.com - who are rode from Brazil to Machu Picchu and are now heading back the same way we are going, just a day later than us!!
Then I met another motorcyclist - a Swiss guy on a Tenere 600 who's name I didn't get unfortunately.
The spare tube turned out to be a lot harder to find than expected but finally got it at a Michelin store.
We headed down the coastal road to Tocopilla - beautiful desert and ocean scenario!
At a checkpoint we stopped at a bar where we saw 3 bikes - another 3 were leaving. There was a 1200GS Adventure, an F800GS, and a KLR. The GSes were being ridden by a British couple in their 60's - very cool couple - they had done the entire world already - amazing! They were going North though so our contact ended there.
The KLR was being ridden by Steve (southatsixty.blogspot.com) - an American living in Panama. He was going the same way as us.
My rear tire was still vibrating annoyingly so.
In Tocopilla we stopped for gas and to take a look at the wheel. Yesterday a mechanic said it was because the tire was being worn down unevenly, another said it was because the inner tube had formed a bubble. Finally the tire repair man in Tocopilla nailed it - some of the weights that balance the wheel out were missing!! The wheel was out of balance!! OBVIOUS!!
Unfortunately no one in that town performed that service.
So we kept on going and stopped in Calama to see if we found someone who would balance my wheel - no again. Nice little town though...
Then we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama!!
Before we got into to town though we took a right into the Valle de la Luna to see the sunset.
PERFECT timing - we got there - walked up the hill and saw the sunset.
We ran into 3 Italian guys who had rented 3 KTM 990's just like mine in Santiago and were going up to the Salar de Uyuni - a stretch we skipped due to lack of time - next trip :)
We also met some Brazilians who were traveling through the region on a van and 2 motorcycles. They gave me some good tips about the road we're going to take through Argentina.
We have never ran into so many motorcyclists in this entire trip - was pretty cool - I guess this place is pretty special - so we also decided to take a day break here - our second PLANNED break so far :)
The town is amazingly cute, full of tourists and nice hotels. We are staying at the Terrantai hotel.
Tomorrow we shall do some "real" tourism :)
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
Heheh... totally unrelated video to this blog at this moment but had some time to kill this morning and found this video... cracked me up!
I am loving this country and as I said previously it's the "civilized" country of South America... and maybe a bit too "civilized".
Check out their Coats of Arms:
Por la razon o la fuerza!!?
Allright!! Moving forward again!!
But first an update from last night... we ran into two Argentineans who were leading a motorcycle trip around this area... they were the guides of a group of friends who had already left back to Buenos Aires by plane. Nice guys...
This morning we went to court and my guess was right - we got summoned because the guy from SAG - Servicios Agricolas e Ganaderos - was pissed that the guys from immigration and customs were ignoring him and not sending people to his booth... well not quite like that but we were the second or third case this week which had missed some steps at that border.
The judge, a nice lady, who I think is one of the Argentinean's "girlfriend", took our statement and told us that since nothing wrong was found in our bags nothing would happen to us. She also said that she understood that the procedures were not too clear and said that there were some animosity between the public sectors at that border. Our statements would be used to improve that process!! Cool!
We then went to Carlo's place to see if the parts (break pads and visor for helmet) were going to arrive today or not - they weren't. So we decided to leave.
We thanked him profusely for his help and gave him a bottle of wine and one of whiskey.
As we were about to leave, Mauricio - Carlos' son - stopped by to say goodbye and then proceeded to drive us out to the highway also giving us some tips on where to stay in Iquique!
Thanks to the Herrera Guierra family!!
Here's Carlos washing my bike :)
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
I guess we were tired from yesterday - we slept till around 10am today!
Around 11:30 Carlos stopped by to pick us up and go to "Marcela" - his garage/beach house where we... well... his employees washed and waxed Marc's bike! Mine was done after lunch so we had to do it ourselves... oh... such a drag! Hehehehe...
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Well still missing yesterday's video but we finally got good and solid internet so I updated the videos - check on the posts below for them.
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
Ok - this was probably the most eventful day so far.
Started out of La Paz OK - we saw Jorge, an Argentinean on an old (1979) Kawasaki 660 - he's on his way back from a "short" ride from Buenos Aires to Machu Picchu and back.
Gas was hard to find on the way out - we wanted at least 90 octane fuel and to pay with a credit card - yeah right! Settled for 84 octane and paid in US dollars at a bad exchange rate.
The GPS was routing us back through Peru and when it finally found a route through Bolivia to Chile it was not showing the roads we were actually traveling on.
I then almost ran out of gas getting to the Bolivian border, which was very easy.
The Chilean border was further down the road and probably the most scenic border you'll ever see.
We arrived along with a big bus full of people... and got into the line that they were standing on.
Turns out we had to get a piece of paper from office number 1 who told us to go to immigration - house number 3 - who told us to go to customs - house with no number - who told us we were done!
We happily took off noting that there was a 4th step - police - which I assumed was further down the road. I also assumed that house number 2, agriculture and sanitation was for trucks carrying cargo.
15km down the road a check point. It did not look good when the officer called someone and talked to them for a couple of minutes.
We had to go all the way back because we had forgotten to get "a stamp". Marc asked if we could just do it there but the officer was stern and said that we had to go back - no way of getting through that point without going back.
So we back tracked - a very annoying thing to do on a trip - and got back to the border where we were told that we had not completed house number 2 nor house number 4 - we fled the scene - and that was VERY serious.
I explained that we were told that we were done and police check points usually are further down the road from the border.
He didn't really care and said that we would have to appear in court in Arica so that a judge could decide what course of action to take with us. I continued arguing that it was an honest mistake and that we had no intention of not following their procedures but the officer was
unmoved and started writing up our summons.
Another guy was being booked for having a mango in his car - he also had forgotten he had it - and was going to have to show up in court on the following day (Monday).
"Wait, isn't Monday a national holiday!?" said one of the officers.
So now not only we had to show up in court, we would have to stay an extra day in Arica to go to court on Tuesday!! I insisted in trying to make the problem go away right there to no avail. The officer filled out what seemed like 10 forms and instructed us to go to Arica and appear in court on Tuesday - so we're stuck in Arica on Monday - a Chilean national holiday - waiting for our court appearance on Tuesday 10am!
After making sure we had completed all the required steps we were finally riding in Chile - and a beautiful one I must add.
Halfway down the road we stopped at this small "complex" where you could get fresh juices, lodge, camp, go on archeological tours and even do astronomy at night. We walk in to find a Canadian girl and four children eating at a table watching TV through a PowerPC
Macintosh computer. The "man of the house" was baking some bread. We were welcomed and got some juice and a sandwich. We were told that all the electricity comes from solar panels and wind powered generators.
Very interesting place.
Further down the road, 40km or 1/2 hour to get to Arica I start feeling my rear a little wobbly. I kept on thinking in was merely psychological but at one point I stopped an my fears were confirmed...
A FLAT tire!!!
I proceeded to remove the wheel from the bike and getting to the inner tube when some bikes stopped by to see if we needed help. At that point things were looking good buy we gladly accepted one of the guys help to remove the tire from the rim. They soon left and we were left
there with the task of replacing the bad tube with the spare I was carrying.
I've changed plenty of bicycle tires before but a motorcycle tire is an entirely new ball game. The amount of strength you have to put on it to place the tire back onto the rim is pretty awesome.
I couldn't believe that the tire would simply plop back on to its proper position once you inflated the tube - which we were trying to do with an electrical compressor connected to the bike's battery. It did not look promising because of the rate at which the compressor was
filling up the tire and because of the position of the wheel on the rim.
So I removed the tire from the wheel again and started it all over thinking I had done something wrong.
Turns out I was doing everything correctly... but the spare tube I had was either damaged as well or I damaged it in the haste of putting it back into the rim!!
So we were stuck in the middle of the road with no way of fixing it there on the spot.
I crossed the road and went up to a couple that was talking in front of a parked truck. Turns out they were having a fight or a big talk - they were both crying! So I diverted to talk to some other people to see if they had a cell phone so that I could call one of the guys who had stopped previously.
"Sure but there is no cell phone coverage here!"
Back on the bike Marc had pulled out the satellite phone! Perfect!
Not so... we kept on getting invalid number...
The sun set and it got dark...
Plan B - put the wheel back on the bike and push it to the other side of the road and leave it there for the night - next morning we would come with new tubes and a mechanic to help us out.
As we were waiting to cross the road 2 motorcyclists and a car stop to see what happened...
"Wait here - I am going to get my pick up truck and we'll take the motorcycle into Arica!"
HA!!! 5 seconds later they would have missed us!
20 minutes later we put my motorcycle on the back of his truck and he takes us to his house - well - his garage - which had about 20 cars and some motorcycles and a bunch of people helping out.
"Leave the bike there for the night and tomorrow we'll deal with it. Take a car so that you can take your stuff to the hotel and that can drive around - or do you want to take a motorcycle?"
I settled for the Mercedes (M-class) where I put all of my gear and then proceeded to follow him on his truck and his son on another car to the hotel. Marc followed us on his bike.
At a gas station Marc and I just laughed at the whole situation - this day was getting more interesting by the minute.
At the hotel Carlos negotiated a special deal for us and told us that he would stop by in one hour to take us out for dinner!
11:30 we hop back onto my new ride and follow his son who came pick us up on his car.
We arrive at the restaurant - probably the only one in town open so late on a Sunday night - and wait a little for Carlos to arrive.
Turns out Carlos did a motorcycle trip to Brazil when he was 21 - 4 months on the road as well - so he understood our pain.
As the conversation went on we told him that I needed new break pads and that Marc needed a new visor for his German helmet - both hard to find parts in this area.
No problem! They whipped out their cell phones and started making calls. A friend of theirs races KTMs and is going to find these parts on Tuesday morning and take them to the airport so that they arrive in Arica Tuesday early afternoon!!
We tried to pay the bill but his influence over the waiters was greater than ours and even though Marc had given them his credit card at some point during dinner, Carlo ordered the waiter to not take it and paid for dinner as well!
WOW - what a day and how lucky we were to have run into them! Endless generosity!
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| From Motorcycle NY to SP |
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