Second and Third day

I woke up early at 6am I was ready to go. But, where did all trucks go? It seemed I woke up too late, exactly.

All trucks were passing through the gas station was stopped by me until I get a ride at 9am. The ride I got was to Uberlândia (the next main city), almost 300km always and around 4 hours by truck. The trucker was an elderly man well known as “crazy Chico” because he manipulated the register of the truck to speed up a bit. He taught me about trucks and roads. He even called his daughter who was studying English to talk with me to check if she was really studying. She was shy and didn’t talk much, anyway, “crazy Chico” was fucking laughing about the situation he put her daughter.

On the way I saw a queue of trucks. The queue had around 20 km of trucks parked aside the road. So, at this point I figured out where all trucks had gone when I woke up.

Truckers on Strike

Somewhere between Cristalina - GO and Uberlândia - MG

 He dropped me off at a gas station in Uberlândia around 1.30 pm. I didn’t get any ride afterwards. I passed the day writing on my diary book and trying to get a ride. At 7pm I set up my tent below trees and went to “bed” under the rain.

The following day I woke up even early at 5am (I didn’t sleep at all, to be honest. I was sleeping above cobblestone – the only place I could set my tent) and started to hitchhike. I got a ride to the next city, Uberaba, 1 hour away by truck. The next gas station (the only way to get a ride in Brazil) I got a ride to São Paulo.

The trucker asked me if I was carrying drugs with me. I said no then he gave me a ride. We talked a lot about trucks, roads, politics, religion, travels and so on. It’s incredible, once you introduce yourself, the truckers tell you everything about their lives. They tell you even how much they earn, without ceremony. Before getting São Paulo I supposed to take other road to go to Curitiba. It was when an unusual thing happened.

Church in Campinas - SP

Saving moments

Train bridge somewhere in São Paulo state

Tietê river somewhere in São Paulo

The trucker I was with asked another trucker, during the traffic when the trucks and cars were side by side, when he supposed to drop me off to go to Curitiba in order to go to São Paulo. The other trucker said that 12 km away had an exit where he should drop me off and then I had to walk 6 km to get the first gas station. Then the traffic flew and he went away. Few minutes later the other trucker stopped aside the truck I was and said he was going to Curitiba and he couldn’t take me ‘til there because he was carrying dangerous materials and he didn’t have 2 safety kits, but he could take me to a better gas station to hitchhike. Then both trucks pulled over and I changed trucks at the busiest road in São Paulo.

The trucker who offered me a ride said he offered it because I transmitted good energy. I was pleased. Without asking he told me his life story since he was a kid until that day. You couldn’t believe how crazy his life was. Anyway, after 3 hours driving he dropped me off somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was a gas station between São Paulo and Curitiba.

I reached this gas station around 9pm. I just set up my tent at the truck park and went to sleep.

To be continued...