Rio de Janeiro in Numbers and Pictures

1960: The year Rio de Janeiro stopped being, being the Capital of Brazil, that is.

6.5 Million People, the population the City of Rio de Janeiro

12 Million in the Metropolitan Area of the City

2nd largest City in Brazil

1'021 meters over sealevel, the highst point of Rio

0 meters over sealevel, the city's lowest elevation

199'000 people: The capacity of the Maracanã Football Stadium, once the world's largest.

1950: The opening game was played in the Maracanã

1182 square kilometers: The Size of the City

35th largest City by population

1565: The year the City was founded by the Portuguese

811'443: Population of Rio de Janeiro in the year 1900

102°F/39°C: Highest ever recorded temperature in Rio

50.2°F/10.1°C: Lowest recoreded temperature in Rio

1.7 Million Tourists visit Rio each year

2'181 Hours of sunshine per year in average

0 milimeters of average snowfall per year

5 Million gallons of tears were cried when Brazil dropped out of the FIFA worldcup 2014

1905: The year the Teatro Municipal downtown Rio was built

2012 was the year UNESCO named Rio a World Hertiage Site (for Culture)

1822 the year when Brazil became an independent Empire, Rio de Janeiro remained the capital

109 days per year with rainfall

90% of all guns in the City are in private hands, about 50% of it ilegally, 10% belong to the governement

1% of all Homicides in the City are being successfully investigated

35 Partner Cities: Rio de Janeiro has Partner Cities in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Central and South America

For more pictures of Rio visit my german blog HERE!

Things that make you go: Mmmmhhh???

There is something wrong here!

I know, you figuered it out right away!

The Lady doesn't have a nose!

Come back soon for many more pictures of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro. 

Brazil in the 70ies?

Not really, this picture was taken in August 2014.

So many cool VW products in Brazil.

See more classic cars on the Panamericana HERE.

Just a view examples of what you might find when clicking on the link above:

Peru 2013

One of many VW's on, along or aside of the Panamericana.

Not all US-Americans retire in Florida, this one did in New Mexico.

Utah, USA 2011

Arizona, 2011

Lima Peru, 2013

Lima 2013

Brazil, 2014

Buenos Aires, Argentina 2014

How to extend your Brazilian Tourist Visa

Brazil has lots to offer, why would you leave so soon? - Here is a guide how to extend your 90 day tourist visa for Brazil. 

Please note: The process described here is applicable for the European Schengen Countries. 

A couple of years ago Brazil has changed the tourist visa rules for Europeans. Since then you will usually get 90 days to spend in the country per calendar year. But contrary to many things I heard from other travelers while on the road it is possible to extend it by another 90 days. Keep on reading and you will find out how.  

Where? 

I have done it in Rio de Janeiro. The only place you can do that in Rio is at the International Airport, Terminal 1, 3rd floor at the end of the hall at the Policia Federal. When you come up to the third floor with the escalator you have to turn left, walk all the way down the hall, pass the passport office for Brazilians turn left at the end of the hall and you will find a counter with a sign “Foreigners”, most probably you will find a long line of people waiting, before you can even read the sign. Get in line! – For the overlanders arriving at the Airport by car: When getting to the Airport, follow the signs for “Estacionamento Terminal 1” there is a pay parking lot and parking garage right in front of the Terminal building. If your truck is taller than some (estimated) 9ft 10 respectively about 3 meters you will not be able to get in and you will have to find some other place to park or leave your truck in town or at the campground and come with an Airport Shuttle, Taxi or Bus.

How to proceed? What to bring?

·     You will have to do it before your initial 90 days are over. (While I was at the counter a Swiss girl who had overstayed here initial 90 days by just two days was sent away with the order to leave the country the fastest way possible, and she had to pay for overstayed days).

·       You will have to register at https://servicos.dpf.gov.br/gru/gru?nac=1&rec=2 before hand. The code you will have to use in the mandatory field “Código da Receita STN” is: 140090. The amount in R$ 67. You will have to fill out one form for each person travelling even if you are family. After hitting ‘Enter’, you will get a form with some personal information and some bar-codes on it. Print it. You can do all that at the Cyber Café on the ground floor of the Airport Terminal 1, same building as the Policia Federal office is in, for a couple of R$’.

·     Take this form and go to the “Loterias” office on the third floor of Terminal 1 at the Airport. When you come up with the escalator it is on your right hand. A little glassy kiosk with 3 counters. One was open at the time and a girl with unusual bad mood for Brazil and more glitter in her hair than you would wear for your Halloween Party was taking the form. So, slide it through the crack in the window and pay the R$ 67 in cash to the moody beauty. In return she tears the form apart, in two pieces, staples a printed receipt to one half of your original form and hands it back to you. Take that and walk along the hall to the Policia Federal.

·       You will need:
a) The form as mentioned above.
b) A printed bank statement to prove you will have sufficient money to spend another 90 days in the country; the bank statement has to be in your name.
c) An Airline departure ticket. Note: Since I travel by car I did not have that but I brought a confirmation along from the booked trip with the vessel leaving South America from Montevideo, Uruguay, three months down the road from the time I applied for the extension. After some explaining it was accepted. Even if you are overlanding by car or truck, you will need some kind of a paper they can staple to your application. So if you have not yet booked a ship or flight I would recommend presenting a proforma booking for a hotel in a neighboring country or something alike. You will have to have something in lieu of the Airline ticket.
d) Your passport with the initial stamp from entering Brazil.
e) Your tourist card (Cartão de Entrada), issued when entering Brazil less than 90 days ago.  

Take all that along with a lot of patience. You will have to wait in line, get a number and when called move on to the back office where only tourists seem to be handled. But be aware there are hundreds of others that apply for student visas, working visas, permanent residence etc., etc. So you’ll never feel alone. I expected the whole process to take about a day and we’ve walked back into the parking lot about 4 hours after we have entered. The time includes about 1½ hours while the computer system was not working and we were asked to come back later and were not allowed back in without getting in line all over again. When leaving the Policia Federal you should have the following: Your passport with a new stamp allowing you 90 more days, a little bar-code sticker in your passport just above the stamp, which will allow the officer when you leave Brazil to back-track what you have been doing to get the 90 additional days, you should get your original tourist card back, and you'll have R$ 67 less in your pocket.  

Important: If you want to spend more than 90 days in one calendar year in Brazil, this seems to be the only way to do it. I know from other overlanders that leaving Brazil for another country once the 90 days were used up and come back within the same year does not work: They were not allowed to come back in and were sent away/back at the border, respectively at the Policia Federal responsible for the entry procedures.

Note for folks travelling with a foreign registered vehicle: Currently there is no paperwork required when entering Brazil on the land way with your vehicle. That means you do not have a temporary import permit or anything alike as you might be used to from other South American countries. That said, there is nothing to do for your motorbike, car or truck with foreign plates when you extend the visa for yourself. Just keep on trucking.

Note: As any border crossing, visa application, extension and such, these things might be different each time one does it and might differ greatly from the process described above depending on the officer at the desk, full moon, your haircut or anything else. The process describes how it worked in September 2014 at the Policia Federal at the Airport in Rio de Janeiro. It may or may not work tomorrow or at another location in the country. – Good luck!

Enjoy Brazil, it has sooooo much to offer. 

A Quarter of a Million Kilometers

The blue truck has recently done a quarter of a million kilometers. Just a little short of 150'000 of those have been done on the American continents. But since pictures say more than many words check them out:

On the road in Louisiana, USA

Dalton Highway, Alaska USA

In the background Deadhorse, the most northern Town of the Continent. 

Dalton Highway, Alaska, USA

Arizona, USA

Arizona, USA

Geronimo! 

Desert Cruising, Arizona, USA

Forgotten bodies in the desert of Arizona, USA

Primitive Road, that's when the fun starts, Arizona, USA

You feel pretty alone out here. Arizona, USA

Arizona is dry and hot, but there is some of that too.

That's the way they recycle cars in Arizona, USA

Dry and dusty, Arizona, USA

Ghost mine in Arizona, USA

Kaibab National Forest, Arizona, USA

It wasn't my lunch, Arizona, USA

Crossing the Golden Gate in SF, California, USA

Sharing the road, San Francisco, California, USA

Sharing the Highway, California, USA

Heading to...

...the Keys, Florida, USA

So many lanes, heading into Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Hiding behind the desert Flora, New Mexico, USA

In the footsteps of "The Gadet" the first ever Atomic Bomb Test, White Sands, Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA

New Mexican Ghost Towns seem to come unfiltered directly out of a Spaghetti Western. Only they are real, no Hollywood moke-ups. 

Even if I am trying to go fast. Those US-Truckers beet me every time. 

While I had the pleasure to life and work in Dallas ,Texas some years ago, I once flew from a business meeting in the North East back home to Dallas. While chatting with the lady in the airline seat next to me she said: "Oh? Texas - they really like their concrete down there". I guess she was not all that wrong. Texas, USA

One of my favorite US National Parks, far away from all the West Coast National Park Crowds. Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA

Yes, they do have mountains in Texas.

And beaches too. South Padre Island National Park, South Texas, USA.

Texas, USA

A quarter of a million k's but my seat don't look like that yet. Arizona, USA

Monument Valley, Utah, USA.

Harrison Hot Springs Road, British Columbia, Canada.

Dempster Highway, Canada.

The blue truck meets some dead guys, Alaska, USA

Alaska is breathtaking - Really!

Diesel and dust, Baja California, Mexico.

Muddy fun, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

Muddy adventures in the search of forgotten Maya ruins. Felix should eat some more, he's just not making enough weight on the front axle. 

La Guajira Peninsula, Colombia. The most northern point of South America. 

How deep can you go? La Guajira, Colombia.

Riding a Ferry in Colombia.

Landslide or the end of the Road, Peru. 

Desert Driving in Peru.

How did those shells all end up in the Desert, Peru.

The air is getting thin up here, climbing to nearly 5'000 meters over sea level, Andes, Peru.

Andes, Peru.

North Chile.

On Lago Titicaca, the world's highest, largest fresh water reserve, Peru.

Death road, Bolivia.

Surizplaza, North Chile.

North Chile coming down from the Andes thru the desert towards the Pacific Coast.

One of the most impressive places I've ever been...

...Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.

Among good company, Pantanal, Brazil.

Moving my over 3 tons of blue truck over some... mmmmhh? ...questionable bridges in Brazil.

In Argentinas Andes.

Andean Roads.

Taking the long way around. On a mountain pass in Argentina's Andes.

From here it will go down hill with me only. Argentina.

Argentina.

Carretera Austral, Chile.

Taking the Ferry to Tierra del Fuego, on the way to the world's most southern City. Chile.

Patagonia...

...and Patagonia...

...and Patagonia, just can't get enough of it. Crossing borders back and forth between Cile and Argentina, the Andes and the wilderness of Patagonia are breathtakingingly beautiful, adventures and wild. 

Some of the 250'000 kilometers were pretty dirty ones.

Routa 6, Paraguay.

Backraod driving...

...and river crossing in Brazil.

Through the sugar cane fields, Brazil.

How ever this rock came down and on what ever, the sign to the right says "Cementery", Andes of Peru.

Moving Mountains. Mining in Peru.

Peru.

For my US readers, 5'059 meters are 16.579 feet, Peru.

Roadblocks of political Demonstrations, Peru.

The blue truck at the Panama Canal. 

Cruising around Panama has it's very own sets of risks, like poles in the middle of a brand new road.

At the Border Costa Rica - Panama

Threewheeled-Manpowered Taxis in the Streets of Central America.

Baja California, Mexico.

Cooper Canyon, Mexico.

Nicaragua.

Mud and more mud in Guatemala.

On the road in Guatemala and...

...at the end of the road in Ecuador, building a ramp to keep going.

Public transport in Colombia.

Can't get enough of Costa Rica!

My little dead-angle mirror 

Guest Passenger on the Guajira Peninsula, Colombia.

The little Granny is a blue truck fan - Colombia

Carrera Austral, Chile

One of many border crossings between Chile and Argentina.

"This was Spain" says a wierd little concret monument on a little Peninsula near Punta Arenas, Chile.

Tierra del Fuego, Chile

At some hot springs in the deserted north of Chile.

Dempster Highway Canada.

Fullspeed ahead on the Airstrip, Dempster Highway North West Canada.

Crossing the Arctic Circle, Dempster Highway, Canada.

Making the night to day without partying, 23:02 in Inuvik, Canada

Sharing the road in Canada.

Flower-Power, Alberta, Canada.

Red, green, blue. Brasil.

On the Trans-...

...pantaneira Highway, Pantanal, Brasil.

Everyone said you can't cross the Pantanal, the worlds lagerst swamp by car from East to West, the blue truck did it anyways. 

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia.

To be and drive...

...on the Salar de Uyuni was one of the most sureal experiences of my life. You feel like on an other planet. There is absolutly no life, visibility is so clear you can see for miles, navigating with the GPS on the Salare reminded me of cruising in a ship or flying in the air with a moving map GPS.

Cattle drive, Pantanal, Brazil.

Crossing from Chile to Argentina at Passo Roballo, Patagonia.

The mandatory picture when leaving Ushuaia, the world's most southern City, Argentina.

Can't get enough of Patagonia, Argentina.

Beautiful drives in Patagonia, Argentina. Even better hiking by the way.

No it's not snow, millions of butterflies, as many actually that they clogged up the radiator of the Toyota and let him run hot the first and only time of its 250'000 k's.

Sometimes you gotta build your road. In the Andes, Argentina.

Not what your tires preferred terrain. Andes, Argentina.

Down we go, Argentina.

It looks all near but will take so long to get all the way down into the valley. Andes, Argentina.

Beautiful and thanks to the limited oxygen very slow travelling high up in the Andes.

Suriplaza, North Chile.

Some of the blue truck's first miles with mud and gravel on the tires. Off-Road training among some other 4x4's in Ins, Switzerland.

First trip, to the Alps with the roof tent on.

Coming back from the Alps getting ready for the City again, Zurich, Switzerland.

Touring the Alps of Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Slovenia with my friend Mops.

Yes, we do have roads like that in Europe. In the Alps, Italy.

On the Erzherzog Eugen Strasse, Italy, 2009. 

Down we go, gravel road in the Alps, South Tirol, Italy.

When shipping the blue truck from Basel to New Jersey, USA. The last picture of the Toyota in Switzerland, 2010.

A travelling virgin: Winter 2009 in Zurich, before the mods were done and the pop-up roof was installed. 

Right now the Toyota has some 253'000 kilometers on the clock and is touring Brazil, bound to ship home and set wheels on European grounds after more than 4 years for the first time by the end of the year.

Thank you for following the trip of the blue truck on this blog and being part of this epic journey.

Should you still not have seen enough pictures of the way to a quarter million on the clock of the Toyota, check out my post on my german blog HERE.