Off on my bike : Juazeiro do Norte to Bedengó

Padre Cicero watching over Juazeiro do Norte.

I have a fun free day in Juazeiro, walk out of town, over a river chock full of terrapins, then up to the main tourist attraction, a giant statue of Padre Cicero overlooking the city - the Padre was a prominent clergyman and politician in the early 1900s, there are statues of him everywhere.  The attached museum is filled with thousands of votive offerings, mostly carved wooden legs or hands, rather bizarre...

Back on the bike, I am sure seeing a lot of Brazil.  I like the small settlements I pass through, many just a few houses but every one has a bar or two.  Little football pitches are common too, even in places where I wonder how they can get even a five a side team together.  Also lots of 'clubes', music venues by the looks of it, again I'm not sure where they get the crowd from.

Roadside repairs.

I ride up a monster hill, then through a high altitude forest - actually a national park, I reckon I could camp here.  But no, service station pousada again, can't go wrong for fifty Reais - twelve pounds or so.  I've hit a busy trunk road, still just two lanes, but many lorries so I am stuck on the bumpy shoulder, not ideal.  Not least the various bits of tyre and other debris are probably responsible for my first punctures of the trip, well a chance to use the repair kit I've carried all the way from London...

The mighty Rio São Francisco.

It's hard to make much progress, what with having to bump along on the shoulder, and indeed stop at intervals to pump up the tyres, or sometimes put in a new, or at least repaired inner tube.  Gives my poor backside a rest from the saddle at least.  And towns big enough to show on my map are far apart now, so finding accommodation is a bit touch and go.  One day I find myself at a 'posto' - service station, more or less - at 2:30pm, I manage to ask how far 'til the next one, ninety kilometres they say.  Well, I really need to get further, but with only three hours of daylight left I am not doing ninety kilometres.  I'm thinking about getting the tent out, but in fact after a couple of hours more there's a tiny village, with a roadside restaurant / pousada.

Sunset at Bedengó.

I get rice, beef and beans, it's good, nice to have something that isn't pizza.  The lady whose restaurant it is discovers that if she writes things down I can understand - yeah, basically that is because it forces you to say one word at a time.  And on I go... next day, again I hit a posto mid afternoon, and decide to call it a day, the attached village, Bedengó, is big enough to have actual bars which is enough to decide me.  Barefoot kids play football on the square in front of a little church, and I consume a few beers and a vast amount of food - carne do sol, chicken, sausage, rice, pasta, beans, salad... can't complain.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.