Brazil is an amazing country. The only thing i knew about Brazil before going there last year was what i had read in newspapers. And of course the sensational is what gets reported, which is why it is better to see a country for yourself. i didn’t find the slums of Rio dangerous. i found them colorful and alive. And the people are warm and inviting. Especially when you get out of the big cities and into the countryside. Which is what i was doing back in the middle of December.

Leaving the sleepy village of Itacaré on the coast at dawn:

I headed inland towards a national park that had been recommended to me. I had never heard of Chapada Diamantina National Park so I had no idea what to expect. The weather was quite nice riding down the straight roads of interior Brazil:

i hadn’t seen a flaming orange tropical Royal Poinciana tree since i lived in Hawaii years ago. It was beautiful weather in the central Brazillian state of Bahia. Blue sky, warm weather and little traffic. There were quite a few brush fires along the way: