Blumenau and Morretes

Leaving the island we headed south on the 101 and then west on the 282. From here we were on pavement, cobbles, and dirt on and off for 180 km to Blumenau.

We were parked out on the street in front of the hotel and a guy walks up to Dan and says in perfect English “ I saw you on Instagram!” Since we don’t have Instagram we did not believe hi, and what are the chances anyway, but he was correct since it was the kite surf shop on Florianopolis who had posted it!

German immigrants originally settled this town, and the historic center reflects that.

The largest rodent in the world can be found here. The capybaras are related to the Ginea pig, which is up to 4.5 ft long, 2 ft hight and 110 lb. They reminded us of the ROUS from the Princess bride.

It is HOT here and humid. It is only pleasant out at 8 am and after dusk. We are so glad we went with light colored suits and helmets for this exact reason. Today while riding it hit 38 plus the humidity. We headed out of Blumenau and north to Morretes in 225 km. This involved a short stint on the 101, but mostly on the secondary roads.

There was also a short ferry ride, which offered quite a nice breeze! The ferry loaded from the side and so it was roll on roll off for sure.

Arriving in the town or Morretes we were very hot and while I was looking for a hotel, Dan was chatting to some locals who also have an 800 GS. We settled for the place on the river, mostly because it was the cheapest and had air con. We were practically melting by now.

It poured rain all night and so we followed the advice of riders Tomas and Claudia who we met in Quito. “ If it is raining just stayy another day and go tomorrow”. So we did that and wow is it so much nicer and cooler today at 17 (94% humidity). We decided to do a little canoe float down the now very full river.