Off on my bike : Feira de Santana to Manoel Vitorino

Plenty of room for me on the shoulder.

Think I am due a day off, and the internet comes up with a cheaper hotel in Feira de Santana, more central too - spitting distance from the cathedral.  Good to rest, and the bike gets some TLC too - two new inner tubes, and I get the saddle raised a bit - explaining that was very hard.  Hmm, the poverty I didn't see in the small towns is in evidence here, plenty of homeless beggars.  I guess, the economy here is in decent shape, wages aren't that low, but there is simply no welfare state, with all that implies.  Still, they've got the church... that evening I drink a beer or two in the square by the cathedral, some sort of event is happening, there is music, singing, chanting, preaching, even fireworks.  The street people sleeping around the square don't pay much attention...

The love that lacks the capacity for language required to speak its name.

Next day the road improves, dual carriageway even, the shoulder is smooth tarmac and fully two meters wide, this is good, I manage sixty miles to Itatim, nice place nestling in the shadow of some steep sided hills - bit of a mountain climbing destination it seems.  Some event is happening, maybe a political rally?  Music and fireworks anyway, and I enjoy, yes, beer and pizza for a change.  People ask where I am from and where I'm going, and other questions I don't understand, don't think they are used to tourists here, no coach parties, no backpackers even, I am off the beaten track.  Well, except for all the lorries anyway.

Itatim!

Onwards, the road continues to have a proper tarmac shoulder and I manage a fair pace, although it is getting hilly, makes for pretty country anyway.  Worst are the steepest slopes, hard work of course, but also my shoulder tends to turn into a crawler lane and I have to trust the truck drivers to give me space, not ideal.  Eventually I realise the thing to do is ride on the other side where there is still a shoulder - I see locals on the wrong side even when it's flat...  On to a settlement that has grown up around a road junction, doesn't seem to have a name but I find a bed and some food, all good.

Rio de Costas.

Then an easy fifty miles or so to Manoel Vitorino, I don't have a spare day to rest but it's good to flake out for a few hours of an afternoon.  Again, not much of a place, little more than a truck stop really, plenty of pousadas though.  Wish I could find a restaurant, I suspect the value here is street food, little cabins have various pots on the go, but ordering would need a better grasp of the language than I have.  I get a burger anyway... not like I am short of calories, not least I generally get breakfast, here for instance there is bread, mortadela, melon and best of all, cake fresh from the oven.  And then, back on the road.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.