Two Wheelin

Wooohooo! Got my bike today and I forgot how fun that is. I got a big honda off road bike, all black and rough lookin. I pretty much rode all day and night. I forgot I was supposed to be looking at beaches and stuff, I was having so much fun. This was my first time on a bike with a clutch, so I was a bit nervous at first. My first and only other motorcycle experience was in Bali. Vanessa inspired me to get a motorbike, since she had one and then we could ride around. The cool thing about those bikes was that there was no clutch. There were gears but most people just rode around in third all the time, even started in third. It was a piece of cake. Well excpet that in Bali we ride on the wrong side of the road, and we are in asia. That means, chickens, dogs, kids, old ladies, bicycles, tricycles, with and without motors, other motorcycles, small cars, big cars, and really really big tour buses that take up the whole road and don´t slow down for anyone. Once I got on I couldn´t get off. I would wake up in the morning excited- not that I was in bali, but that I got to ride my motorcycle around all I wanted.

Since I´ve been in brazil the opportunity has presented itself, and since transportation is usually an issue it would have been great, but so far I´ve chickened out. Today I went for it. As I stared at the bike as if it was a foreign object, the guy asks- you ride motorcycles right? Yup. Doubtful, he asks if I have my drivers license. I try this line- It´s been a little while, can you show me how it works? Luckily he´s a nice guy and turns out to be a musician too. He takes me to a flat spot, shows me how your have to pull the thingy, twist the other thingy, step on that thingy, and be careful with that thingy, and we're good to go.

On Noronha I´ve been to all the spots I could walk to, as well as a couple that a reasonable person wouldn´t try to walk to, but I 've been hearing about some other places, and today I saw almost all of them. You may recall me mentioning that most of the vehicles on the island are dune buggies, or bugres as they call them here? Well that´s because the roads here are pure crap. There is one main paved road across the island, then all other roads are basically muddy ruts on steep slopes, with boulders strewn about to control erosion. I don´t don´t know if they control erosion or not, but these are some big, slick stones, making for some highly technical riding. I stayed on the road at first, building my confidence and keeping it simple. Soon my confidence was hugely inflated. This is easy. What could go wrong, anyway. About then a bumble bee hit my right eye at about 50 miles per hour. Or it would have, if I hadn´t just flipped down my visor because my helmet was wanting to blow off. OK, so, there´s one thing that can go wrong.

I stuck to the main road and saw some sights, then while I was taking in the view at Bahia Sueste, and waiting out a light rain, I saw a dirt track leading to Ataleaia, another beach of note. I putted down it. Before I knew it I was fish-tailing through slick mud, bouncing over boulders, careening up and down hills, and slipping in and out of deep ruts, on my way to this beach. After some time, and realizing going back was probably worse than continuing on, I got to a locked gate. Oops. Anyway, I was getting a decent feel for this stuff, and decided to take the scenic route out, ie another dirt track that led who knows where. I spent the day getting lost and seeing sights, and at the end wound up at the best spot ever.

Called Praia Sancho, this pristine cove is completely ringed by 200 foot sheer cliffs. Lizards crawl about, big birds wheel above the beach but below me. All sorts of jungly trees and vines grow up to the cliff edges and down their faces, roots wrapping sinuously around rocky outcrops. Below a pristine sandy cove, with scattered rocks and coral, excellent visibility, no people, and no access. At either end of the cove the rock juts out to sea. After circling the cliff top and snapping some shots, I follow some people down a trail hoping they know something I don´t. We meet a group of goats on the trail and they turn around. I guess they are afraid of goats? Maybe I should be too? I ask them if I can get down to the beach and they say yeah, follow us. As it turns out there is a big crack in the rocks that leads to a fissure, a cave with some steel ladders welded into it, and that is how you get down. Cool. Like pirates we file into the secret entrance. After a 100 steps or so we are on the sand, and it is even better from there. Perfect waves break in the cove, birds dip and wheel and roost in tall trees. Turtle tracks criss cross the sand. This could be the set for Jurassic Park, or The Land of the Lost. The animals are acting like they´ve never seen humans before, unafraid, slightly curious. My companions have snorkels and fins, and start geting ready. I just happened to pack my handy swim goggles, so I pull them out and wade into the surf.

As I stand waist deep, getting smacked by the odd wave while I try to spit in my gogles and get them on, I notice how clear the water is. Looking down, I can see everything with perfect clarity, the grains of sand, pieces of shell, the ray by my foot. Wait, there´s a ray by my foot! It´s beautiful, kind of bluish grey, gracefully floating over the sand with its long tail. It´s a sting ray, you know like the one that killed Steve Irwin, maybe two and a half feet long, and it´s really barely two feet from me, getting swept about by the surging tide. About then a wave churns the water up and I can't see anything. I resolve to stop walking and start swimming. I pass a nice 45 minutes diving with the trigger fish, looking under rocks for morays, and exploring the cove. As I wade out of the surf, I think again about my friend the ray, and how he was in an awkard spot. Turns out he still is, right there by my feet again! Rays are generally harmless, unless you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. In life I tend to believe everything will be OK, and of course it was. My day wrapped up with a sunset from the cliff tops, and a short trek over to the neighboring bay, Bahia dos Porcos, another amazing vista. Oh and then a long muddy bounce home on my new toy.