{"id":793,"date":"2011-10-16T16:24:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-16T23:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2016-01-25T21:23:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T04:23:05","slug":"estrada-real-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/?p=793","title":{"rendered":"The Estrada Real"},"content":{"rendered":"

I resist the urge to sprout roots in Rio and I’m on the road again. Since it’s my intention to return to Bolivia for a redux I note that every mile I ride north puts me a mile further from that reality. \u00a0I had originally wanted to ride to Salvadore but there are times on a trip where logistics trump desire and this is one of those times.<\/p>\n

I divert my route northwest for Minas Gerais<\/a> and the Estrada Real<\/a>. This historic road dates back to the colonial times and \u00a0was built to facilitate the extraction of natural resources and movement of people by the Portuguese.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I retrace parts of this colonial route as I loop through the state working my way south to Guarapuava where I will visit my friend Rodrigo. \u00a0I’m reminded in the coming days it’s rainy season so short days turn into long days as I battle intermittent deluges of rainfall and roads are replaced by rivers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I spend a few days in Ouro Preto<\/a>\u00a0drying out and waiting out the storms. The Portuguese colonial architecture of the little mountain town is quite a contrast to the Spanish colonial architecture I’ve become accustomed to while traveling in Latin America.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I spot an opening in the clouds and hit the road again chancing my luck with the rain gods. No dice, again I’m sliding around in the orangish clay mud of Minas Gerais and seeking cover from torrential downpours. Periodic stops at petrol stations to dry out and power down thousands of calories at the food buffet are all that sustain me through storms that seem biblical at times.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rain follows me through the state of Sao Paulo and doesn’t let up until I’m well into Parana state. I look forward to drier days in Guarapuava<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I resist the urge to sprout roots in Rio and I’m on the road again. Since it’s my intention to return to Bolivia for a redux I note that every mile I ride north puts me a mile further from that reality. \u00a0I had originally wanted to ride to Salvadore but there are times on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[269],"tags":[30,68,256,75,277,105,8,106,276,279,278,110,27,9],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/mapa-estrada-real2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Lnhy-cN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":885,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ichasehorizons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}