When the loner travels as a couple

I have traveled nearly 40 km in 000 countries. One day, my sweetheart, who started cycling, joined me in Brazil to live my adventures with me. Look at an experience where nothing is planned.

This article first appeared in the excellent magazine Vélo Mag, May-June 2020 edition, and now online on their blog.

I also produced a one-day video of our adventures, available here.

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Traveling solo, that knows me. This is what I have been doing for a few years in my round-the-world cycle tour. However, I have co-ordinated my efforts a few times with those of old friends or others I have met on the road.

But what awaited me this time in the south of Brazil was brand new: to ride for more than a month in the company of the chosen one of my heart. Together for just a few months, this will be our first trip as a couple as well as their first experience in cycle touring. And finding a life partner doesn't necessarily mean you've found a travel partner. Anyone who has ever lugged a suitcase with their better half can attest: either all is well or all is bad ... You have to want to visit the same things, at a similar pace, and agree on a budget. On a bicycle, you must also start at the same time, go at about the same speed, be able to cover the same mileage, and carry your share of luggage.

Over the 1300 km to cover on Brazilian and Paraguayan roads, we will therefore discover this compatibility. In rain and wind, climbs and heatstrokes, defeats and daily victories.

Adaptation

I traveled all over southern Brazil to meet Gabrielle, who was arriving by plane in Rio de Janeiro. For lack of time and to avoid having to repeat the same route in the opposite direction, our first week was therefore made up of bus trips. From Rio, we came back to Ilhabela ("the beautiful island", which is aptly named), then to São Paulo, and then to Curitiba. Three trips that reminded me of why I was traveling by bicycle. I missed the slowness of the journey, the independence and the pride of covering the miles with the strength of my legs.

In Curitiba, Paraná state, we both couldn't wait to get on our bikes instead of putting them in the bunkers. Our tour would take us through this very agricultural territory towards Paraguay, further west.

For my beloved, this first outing of town is difficult. Riding a bicycle loaded with panniers is demanding, both because of its weight and its width. She must get used to guiding him and gauging his passage between the cars. I realize that I am too fast, so I wait for it.

Then we embark on the highway. Long transport trucks abound on the four expressways. Fortunately, the shoulder is wide and the long climbs and descents allow my companion to get comfortable on her mount. The noise of road trains may be deafening, it feels good to move and to strain a little physically.

In the evening, we stop at one of those places that I call a "luxury hotel", that is to say a gas station where there are showers. There is even a restaurant, which offers a unique dish of the day called "the executive plate": rice, beans, three pieces of greenery and a steak probably cut from a horse saddle. A treat compared to my usual ramen. In the grass adjacent to the building, I find a place with as little waste as possible, and I set up the tent there. Gabrielle makes sure there aren't any snakes, like the ones we've seen, beheaded, on the road all day. There's no denying it, I'm spoiling my princess.

The flood

Heavy rains accompany us during the following week. From morning to night, we are enveloped in clouds of water as the semi-trailers overtake us in big sideways rinses.

Gabrielle will admit to me later that she wondered what she was doing there. But she perseveres; she narrows her eyes and pushes on her pedals. Then, at the end of the roll, my sweet cries to the sky the name of a sacred object of the Church, a powerful invective that will get us out of this storm. The sun is back and a heavy vapor is rising from the South American vegetation. A large cluster of pristine white clouds forms on the horizon even as we exit the highway for a less traveled provincial road.

By bike, each emotion being increased tenfold, we feel at this moment an immense happiness in front of this new brighter chapter. Gabrielle understands that it is for these joys that she started cycling. “I don't want to travel by other means of transport from now on,” she exclaims, delighted.

Black and white

Cycling adventures are rarely easy. “We win, we lose”, I often like to repeat.

We certainly lose the night we stop at a makeshift hotel. The mercury having risen, we welcome with joy the presence of a shower and air conditioning in the small windowless room. The lack of hot water helps cool our spirits, but not as much as the air conditioning flowing in great streams on the bedroom floor. Apparently, no one had mentioned to them that they had to run the water pipe outside the walls. Wishing to avoid the flood, we will be quits for a simple fan in another equally poor room.

That said, the prize for the worst room would go, a few weeks later, to a Paraguayan hotel so infested with mosquitoes, flies, ants and cockroaches that we decided to pitch the tent directly on the two-person mattress. Although it protruded a little from its plinth, our nylon fortress led us across the night without stings.

We install our hotel on the bed of our hotel room.

Meetings

We may have often “lost” in terms of hotels or camping pitches, but we have also “won” some great encounters.

It is true that exchanges with the locals can become rarer when traveling in pairs. Speaking French among ourselves may discourage someone from approaching us. Also, being two represents an additional cost for a less fortunate host who would like to invite us to eat. But I also realize that people stay curious and we just need to be more proactive.

This is what happens at the exit of a village, when we pass in front of an accordionist sitting under the porch of a house. He plays loudly, with gusto, and I decide to turn immediately in his hallway to go talk to him. Between two songs for which he improvises the lyrics, he tells us that he has been married for almost 50 years and has more than 15 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, all this at only 67 years old! It also seems that God would have announced our visit to him… The meal is therefore already ready, and all that remains is to follow him to the kitchen.

The all-wood house lacks varnish. It's dirty and cluttered, which isn't surprising considering half of the windows don't have panes. The dishes are dented and bear the marks of knives from several decades. Everything here looks like an antique store or a house in a village of yesteryear. But the simmered chicken in red sauce, the pasta, beans and rice prepared by his wife are exquisite.

We then spend some time on his back porch, with lemonade and grapes from the vines he has planted himself. This family meeting, typical of cycling trips, is pleasant and full of generosity. We will keep a more lasting memory than that of the most beautiful of landscapes. Especially since I share it this time with someone.

Evolution

Continuing our route west, we will see the famous Iguazú Falls before crossing into Paraguay. The last ten days will be spent following the main road to Asunción, the capital.

Since we are now several hundred meters lower in altitude than the mountains of Paraná, the mercury tickles 40 degrees. Although the road is as flat as a pancake, some sections are quite dangerous given the traffic and the lack of shoulder.

Through the soybean fields of Brazil.

On a long highway in Paraguay.

Many animal carcasses are visible on the asphalt, none having been collected and sent to a better burial. We identify, among other things, several armadillos and iguanas, over a meter long. But after more than a month on the bike, it's no longer an old reptile skin lying on the ground that will scare Gabrielle. She even accepts my proposal to knock on the door of a Paraguayan fire station to beg for a shower and a place to put our tent.

See you next time !

During these weeks of living the daily life together, I sometimes noticed that my patience was less great than usual. In fact, the presence of another person can simply make us more aware of our emotions, caused by fatigue or stress. Alone, we are more in his head.

Unlike home, there aren't many places to find refuge either. This is why we often rode independently, although never very far from each other. At the same time, this exerts less pressure to move forward at exactly the same pace.

What I noticed most of all was how much I loved living these adventures with a loved one. As the stories unfolded, I could see us coming back to all of those memories.

For her part, Gabrielle got hooked on cycle tourism. We're already talking about the next time we pitch our tent together. Hopefully, it won't be on the bed of a hotel full of insects ...

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A day for 2.

In this video, I invite you to spend a day with us and discover what the daily life of a round-the-world cycle is all about.