Recife , the most east city of continent and Dakar the most west city of African one, this is the smallest trip to go across Atlantic . Recife is a huge harbor and a 3 million industrial city; the whole story of the region is kept in old city of Olinda , 6 km further north.  This morning, on the top of Olinda , I was looking at the Ocean in front and the City below with multiple churches and colonial houses and I imagined ships arriving from Dakar or other African harbors with slaves.

Catholic Church has supported this horrible traffic? A slave under baptism counts for 1, how much counts a free man but w/o any religion? 0, is it? A slave who escaped was considered as Devil’s son. Oh God, I am not dreaming, am I?

Tchao , tchao do Sul! So many souvenirs, how will I digest all this? Thanks to Alain for your advices about Magic, OK for the end of the trip.

Yesterday morning at 11h38 ( !), we went through the cap of 40 000 km. It will be a trip all around the earth at the , we stopped on the side of the road, Magic has been treated with some flowers and me with a nice beer of 600 ml! The 100 000km were in , 20 000km in , 30 000 km in … no 50 000 ahead !

 

Really nice this road all the way toward Recife . I have taken the road closed to the sea sometimes: we can use small taxi boats pr go through the Rios, which will prevent me from long roundabout ways. Sometimes I take the road in the middle of the can sugar fields as it is the times of crops. I have been conquered by , people are always very cheerful and positive ! The great common sign is the finger up and to stand up at all occasions. It’s only a gesture but it’s amazing how it creates energy and complicity. We sometimes reduce to football and Samba, but there’s much more: the Brazilian are less addicted to football and the Peruvians, they like to party and they are hard workers.

 

The poor are well respected and have their own place in the society: in the big cities, sometimes there are favelas closed to the central square and it doesn’t seem to bother anybody. On the side of the roads, some shelters are gathered under the red flag “Association of rural workers with no land”, that’s a great way to use these 50 to 100 meters of land neutralized on each side of the road. In , it would not be possible for them to stay there. L’Abbe Pierre would have had a lot of work in but he would not say so often “but it is not possible !!”. North of Brazil is told to be dangerous, another stupidity ! It’s poorer than the South but much nicer ! But poverty is far more sympathetic and welcoming! But poverty is scary … all the more if it’s black ….

 

I will arrive to Recife tomorrow, it will be a bit like a marooned against winds and ocean tides. I’m looking forward to stop and calm down a bit.

 

Black is the color of the North-East of , when I see a white man, I think “who’s this man, he has a strange appearance”. It’s a really poor area but so touching! The favelas of Rio are 5 stars compared with these shelters made of black plastic which I often see on the side of the roads, but once again, it is not misery and people are in a good mood. 30% of unemployment, an backward educational system, still a lot of development to be made.

 

What a difference with the modern countries, there are people everywhere: along the roads, in the villages … one has to go and look for water, wash cloth in the river, sell anything on the side of the road. One never feels lonely, we talk and we laugh a lot as well. I have arrived in Salvador de Bahia. I’ve cycled 300 km by bus because I have to be in Recife for the 29^th of December (plane for Dakar finally). I haven’t seen the state of Espiritu Santo as I slept only 6 hours in the bus. I will cross the 40 000 km for Christmas.