Day 1 - Wednesday, January 5
The journey begins at 8am today at kilometer 626 in the town of Franca in the state of São Paulo Brazil.
Weather is a part of every adventure - not something to be scared about, just part of the fun or challenge of it and it hasn’t stopped raining since we arrived in Brazil which for the Caminho, or trail, that means it is very, very muddy. The dirt is red and clay like so when it is flooded, it become like wet concrete adhering to already heaving wet shoes. If we were using mountain bikes, the mud would muck up the brakes and chain which would make the bikes unridable. In our case, moving with concrete blocks, the water on the skin for extended periods means rashes and blisters. On the bright side, it means the sun isn’t beating down on you at 100° and humid but rather a pleasant 70 degrees!
I have learned over the years that the strategy to success at least on the Camino is to fly overnight without good sleep, arrive early the next morning and use the day to get to your start point. We get in late in the day, have a meal and literally pass out as early as we can so that we can “kind of” catch up on sleep and get ready for day one. Day one is 50% of the normal day which for us will be around 30k where we can assess our equipment, state of mind and how we are doing physically before we lock in on 50-60k days.
Leaving Franca we got lost multiple time as the yellow arrows we live by did not work out all the time and required us to double back looking on side streets for them as the turns on the Main Street did not exist. Memo: we need to talk to the National Federation of Caminho arrow painters, Franca is a disaster for navigation!
We finished the day running 33km in a little town of 14k people called Patricio Paulista. At lunch, we met 30 year old Jorge who is leaving tomorrow to chase his life long dream of becoming a catholic priest. He was kind enough to give us an interview.
I’ve added a progress tab if interested in following the towns on a map.
All for today.
Thank you for your support.
Cheers,
David.
The first dogs of the Caminho appear in the distance…
Rain continue to pour down on us
Another shy dog appears and then runs off into the high grass
Another one darts around us
As we come into town there is some garbage along the juncture of dirt and asphalt, home to more street dogs
Finishing is always sweet
Two days and two great lunches that included fresh salad, fish, beans, farofa, rice and desserts.
A cousin of Lucky?
After a healthy lunch we indulged in pastels and cold beer for dinner
Jefferson has owned this bar for 57 years, before any streets or building existed. He still cooks all of the food and he learned everything from his mother.
